DDW will be scarce

[dizzle]

Well the countdown to our house remodeling is nearing the end and I will be scarcer than my normally interminably slow self in responding to debates, and shame to all of you who are not participating in my Home Ec remodeling thread.

[Piebald]

Well the countdown to our house remodeling is nearing the end and I will be scarcer than my normally interminably slow self in responding to debates, and shame to all of you who are not participating in my Home Ec remodeling thread.
Shame on you for thinking you can just disappear for a while!

[luv1another]

uh what remodelling thread :huh:

[dizzle]

The thread called "I am tiling my house"

[trueseeker]

Well the countdown to our house remodeling is nearing the end and I will be scarcer than my normally interminably slow self in responding to debates, and shame to all of you who are not participating in my Home Ec remodeling thread.

You should just admit that I beat you in our debate, then you don't have to go into hiding.

[dizzle]

Ahhh fear is making you incoherent.

[trueseeker]

Ahhh fear is making you incoherent.


I do remodelling and construction consulting for a living, what all are you doing to your house? Any questions I can help with?

[dizzle]

I do remodelling and construction consulting for a living, what all are you doing to your house? Any questions I can help with?

We are going in phases. First we are tiling the whole thing - that is the big improvement, and we are ripping out the baseboard in the whole house and replacing it with the wider more modern baseboard. We have a tile company comng in to do the tile work, but my husband is going to be doing some of the other stuff. We are replacing our fixtures and switches (will put in dimmer switches) that he and a friend are going to do. We are getting rid of the majority of our furniture and doing something modern and contemporary looking.

We have a very small house (about 1100 sf under air - though we have a large garage and patio) so it is not too hard to make significant and noticeable improvements. Our next project hopefully is kitchen countertops. Also we are not touching the bathrooms yet except to tile and we need to do some new fixtures in there. We have had the house about 8 years or so now and want to put some money into it cause we have significant equity and want to keep competitive with the other houses in the area for resale value. A big drawback in our appraisal was that we did not have tile. To tile our house is going to be about 5K but it will increase the market value about 10K so it is silly not to do it. We obviously are getting a home ec loan to do all of this since we do not have this kind of expendable cash - very far from it - I will probably be taking on some part time work in additon to my full time job to help pay for this. I got an offer to do some work at home stuff for a good rate. We also are considering maybe selling the house and moving to a more rural area about 45 min north - so either way we will get our money out of it. We would have a hard time being competitive in this sales area without tile, and the new furniture even though it does not come iwth the house in a sale, just makes it so much more attractive when showing. Our furniture was all about 15 years old and very mish mosh adn not matching and some of it was even older being hand me downs from when we were married. We have never had aything we went and pickied out and bought ourselves and being married for 15 years and just being very unhappy in our house with the way it looked, we figured it was about time. Our home appearance was thing we bickered about a lot so it is a marital investment as well.

[Trout]

Oh Sure. . .stir it up in STR then vamoose.

[trueseeker]

...we are ripping out the baseboard in the whole house and replacing it with the wider more modern baseboard.

I would recommend doing as much painting or staining of the base as you can before installing it.

We have a tile company comng in to do the tile work,

I would recommend being very specific in what kind and color of grout and chaulking is used where and how wide the joints are going to be. You do typically need some expansion joints, but often times tile companies will make them wider than is neccessary because it is easier for them. Also the surface they install the tiles on is important. It should be a concrete floor, or a floated floor, or concrete board. Concrete board should have it's joints taped and filled, and cracks in a concrete or floated floor should have a slip joint over them.

but my husband is going to be doing some of the other stuff. We are replacing our fixtures and switches (will put in dimmer switches) that he and a friend are going to do.

There can be a huge difference in light fixtures. Some just do not have good setting brackets and system for installing. I would recommend opening the boxes at the store to see that he has everything he needs. If not get something different, if you really like it but it has a goofy setting system, just buy some normal setting brackets and needed parts, instead of fighting with it, and still not being happy with it in the end.

Our next project hopefully is kitchen countertops.

I like slab granite the best, but if you aren't planning to stay in the house, I would make sure you put something in you can get your investment out of when you sell.

Also we are not touching the bathrooms yet except to tile and we need to do some new fixtures in there.

If you are planning new cabinets in the future. You might consider pulling out your present vanities, tiling under them and then reinstalling them. So that you have more options later. Some vanities are easy to remove and reinstall, some aren't.

Our furniture was all about 15 years old and very mish mosh adn not matching and some of it was even older being hand me downs from when we were married. We have never had aything we went and pickied out and bought ourselves and being married for 15 years and just being very unhappy in our house with the way it looked, we figured it was about time.

I would suggest buying peices slowly over time, and be careful not to buy too big for the room. I would identify the two or three worse pieces of furniture, and get those first, then build around them.

Our home appearance was thing we bickered about a lot so it is a marital investment as well.

Remodelling and purchasing fixtures and furniture can be a huge stresser in marrages. And the pieces hang around to remind you. I typically suggest that one party is the option chooser and the other is the eliminator. In other words, your husband narrows the options down to three light fixtures he likes and can live with in the dining room, and you get to make the final selection, or eliminate those three, and send him back for more options. Likewise you choose your favorite three dining room tables and he gets to pick, etc.

Good luck, I hope it goes smoothly for you.

[dizzle]

We have a tile company comng in to do the tile work,

Yes that is what we are planning on doing. We may be doing some crown molding as well.


I would recommend being very specific in what kind and color of grout and chaulking is used where and how wide the joints are going to be. You do typically need some expansion joints, but often times tile companies will make them wider than is neccessary because it is easier for them. Also the surface they install the tiles on is important. It should be a concrete floor, or a floated floor, or concrete board. Concrete board should have it's joints taped and filled, and cracks in a concrete or floated floor should have a slip joint over them.

We got a very reputable company to do the work. We are still thinking aobut grout color, our current tile in a small area has black grout. We do like it but in thinking about resale value, a lot of people do not like black grout so I think we are going with something else. The black grout actually makes the space look smaller by drawing attention to the grout lines and breakingn up the floor. Do you recommend grout sealing to keep it clean?


There can be a huge difference in light fixtures. Some just do not have good setting brackets and system for installing. I would recommend opening the boxes at the store to see that he has everything he needs. If not get something different, if you really like it but it has a goofy setting system, just buy some normal setting brackets and needed parts, instead of fighting with it, and still not being happy with it in the end.

Yes thanks, he is aware of that,and has checked them out. We are buying some new parts that he prefers.



I like slab granite the best, but if you aren't planning to stay in the house, I would make sure you put something in you can get your investment out of when you sell.

I am trying to think of the name of the one we liked, it is brand new on the market.....


If you are planning new cabinets in the future. You might consider pulling out your present vanities, tiling under them and then reinstalling them. So that you have more options later. Some vanities are easy to remove and reinstall, some aren't.

We like our vanities actually. We are going to be purchasing an excess of extra tile though in case in the future we have an issue like that. We like our kitchen cabinets too ironically.


I would suggest buying peices slowly over time, and be careful not to buy too big for the room. I would identify the two or three worse pieces of furniture, and get those first, then build around them.

We got rid of it all and replaced it all. And yeah we thought about size both too big and too small.



Remodelling and purchasing fixtures and furniture can be a huge stresser in marrages. And the pieces hang around to remind you. I typically suggest that one party is the option chooser and the other is the eliminator. In other words, your husband narrows the options down to three light fixtures he likes and can live with in the dining room, and you get to make the final selection, or eliminate those three, and send him back for more options. Likewise you choose your favorite three dining room tables and he gets to pick, etc.

Hey that is just how we did it!!! He chose the theme and certain options, and I had the final say.

[trueseeker]

We got a very reputable company to do the work. We are still thinking about grout color, our current tile in a small area has black grout. We do like it but in thinking about resale value, a lot of people do not like black grout so I think we are going with something else. The black grout actually makes the space look smaller by drawing attention to the grout lines and breaking up the floor. Do you recommend grout sealing to keep it clean?

I usually recommend a colored grout that is slightly lighter than the tile being installed, so it somewhat disappears. Normal grout can stain so it isn't a bad idea to seal it. You may or may not have any areas where you are using epoxy grout, but epoxy grout doesn't need to be sealed. If you are using any natural stone materials, limestone, slate, marble or granite tiles, you should kept them sealed also. You may be able to remove your present black grout and replace it, if it hasn't soaked into the tile in that area. If it is a ceramic tile area you probably can.


We are going to be purchasing an excess of extra tile though in case in the future we have an issue like that.

It is a good idea to get extra tiles, often when you need more, the new ones won't match. However, you don't need a 'excess of extra tiles' you just need exactly the right amount of extra tiles. :wink: