All Forum Posts by: Bob H.

A technique I have seen but not used personally is this:

Get a set of thin strips of plywood -- maybe an inch wide and one-fourth of an inch thick. Lay a strip against each wall, on top of your cabinets. (In the photo, you would need to put something next to the range and along the green wall to support the strips there.) If a wall is not straight, use multiple strips or scribe and cut a strip to conform to the shape of the wall.  Add another strip along the front of each cabinet and along the side where the countertop will end. Then glue the strips together at the corners. A hot-glue gun probably would work well, because the glue sets immediately.

In the end, you will produce a template for each piece of coutertop material to be cut. Be sure to account for the areas along the front and some sides where the countertop will extend beyond the cabinet frames. If this wooden template doesn't quite do the job, make a cardboard template from posterboard placed on top of the template.

Thanks, but the point of my post was to ask which cleaner works best.

The hydrochloric acid product from Miracle Sealants did not work. It was not a matter of smearing grout from the joints onto the tile; I could scrub a small area in the middle of a tile and see no change.

I recently installed some black ceramic tile with white grout. I realize now that the high contrast between the tile and grout makes any haze particularly noticeable.

The tile surface is smooth, with a silky texture. When installing the grout, I had little trouble scraping it off with a float, leaving nice straight joint lines. I did notice, though, that a light gray haze was forming. After scrubbing this without much success, I decided to try a haze remover.

I installed the grout over two days. The following day I tried Miracle Sealants Heavy-Duty Acidic Cleaner. I diluted it according to the instructions and even tried it full strength in a few spots, being careful not to get it on the grout joints.

The effect was barely noticeable. There still is a light haze on a lot of the tile.

The label of the Miracle Sealants product says it contains hydrochloric acid.

Another product, Aqua Mix Cement Grout Haze Remover by Custom Products, contains phosphoric acid, as does Deterdek Cementitious Grout Haze Remover by Fila.

Another option is Aqua Mix Sulfamic Acid Crystals by Custom Products.

I also have seen recommendations for using acetone to remove grout haze.

I want to get this right with one more cleaning, and I don't want to stain or damage the grout in the joints. Which of these products do you recommend, based on experience with them?

I don't think you can expect even a good system from one store to do what you need to organize all your expenses. I keep a database that records each income and expense transaction, organized by property and tax category. I go to the trouble of scanning each receipt (or using an email receipt in Home Depot's case, since the PDF is smaller). The receipt image is included with the transaction record. For each transaction, you need a date, description, source, amount, property, tax category and receipt. When you can, it's best to avoid purchasing items for more than one property on the same receipt. When you must, just make a note of the cost, including tax, for each property on that receipt and keep multiple transaction records for that receipt.

The key is to record things as you go rather than accumulate a daunting pile of receipts and faded memories to be sorted out later.

If you track expenses this way, you're free to pay for things in a variety of ways to take advantage of discounts or rewards.

I don't see why you'd change your process based on Covid unless the market is slow and you're happy to accommodate a good tenant who comes along and wants a lease that's shorter than your usual term. Rather than consider the ease of eviction, pay the most attention to screening for good rental history and stable income so that a need for eviction is very unlikely.

@Rory Kinnear, are you lobbying for laws that force grocery stores and restaurants to give away food, or for mechanics to fix cars free, or for auto dealers to give away cars? Do you advocate laws that say landlords don't have to pay any of their bills, particularly property tax, when the government has removed their means of obtaining income -- and, in this case, for reasons that have nothing to do with public health?

Why should landlords be singled out to support anyone -- not just the poor -- who doesn't want to pay for something?

@Lauren Kormylo, Facebook Marketplace is among the sites to which TurboTenant sends listings.

TurboTenant

@Paul Smythe, I'm not creative enough to have good suggestions on that. I can think only of this railing, which I built on a new house because I thought there was a danger of someone falling from the porch to the driveway and getting hurt.

Railings would help, along with a ceiling fan on each side and (in the unlikely even tenants could be trusted to take care of them) hanging plants above the railings.