All Forum Posts by: Patrick M.

@Andrew David Evans Definitely! I've gotten a lot of help from the BP forums, and I hope to document/share back to the group for the benefit of others once it is up and rented.

I'm comfortable taking up baseboard trim and re-nailing. So it seems like my closeout on this floor would be:

1. Sand glue off of concrete subfloor.

2. Paint walls. 

3. Install plank vinyl

4. Touch-up paint near floor if needed.

5. Nail down trim.

6. Profit?

Okay you guys have me intrigued and it looks like I could save $630 using Plank Vinyl. My current concrete floor has glue residue from the old parquet wood. Can I just plop down the Plank vinyl, or would you recommend I sand the glue off the floors first? If you'd recommend sanding, should I do that before or after painting walls?

@Account Closed - thanks for the suggestion. I'm also concerned about comfort. I have sheet vinyl in my laundry room, it seems a little, well, cheap. If I did the vinyl planks, is underlayment required with that? Trying to make this a higher-end rental. Thanks again for chiming in!

Greetings, BPers- I am halfway through my first buy/hold upfit (a 2-story townhome) and I intend to tear out a crappy carpet and parquet floor downstairs and put in Engineered hardwood from Home Depot. Total coverage will be approximately 410 sq ft. The surface beneath the current floors is a concrete slab that looks like used glue to hold the parquet tiles down. I have not looked beneath the carpet yet but presume concrete continues. Assuming it is all concrete, do I need a vapor barrier **AND** underlayment beneath a floating engineered hardwood floor? Or just underlayment? the HD website is selling Floormuffler Ultraseal Flooring underlayment for $0.65/sq ft. Would installing a product like this by itself be adequate? I am in North Carolina for weather and there does not seem to be any issues from water in the past regarding the concrete. 

@Andrew K. No- I will check out the countertops as well!

Hey there! I'm trying to look beyond HD and Lowe's to generate more choices for a cabinet replacement I am doing in a 10 X 8.25 kitchen. I'm looking at these Heritage Shaker Espresso cabinets on the Surplus Warehouse website, which they do pre-assembly for. Does anyone have experience with them? Are the cabinets markedly better than what you get at HD/Lowes? Does anyone have an idea how much getting the soft-close drawers added would be? Would you buy from them again? Thanks!

Thanks to all for the helpful responses. I think I'm going to follow @Account Closed's lead and stick with the tile I saw at HD today, which I happen to like!

Closed on my first property this week! I need to get a rehab done quickly within budget to get it into the market for rental. I have limited rehab skills but farming the work out will put me at least 60% over budget. I need to decide what truly "must" happen to rent the unit, then get some of it done myself.

Hey BPers- I've just purchased my first rental unit and I am updating two bathrooms, converting from old dated vinyl floors to tile. I have found a talented tile person who installs for $8 per sq ft. I suggested I would buy and bring an appropriate amount of $0.78 - $1/sq ft tile from Home Depot to the unit to install. She came back and suggested going to Best Tile. They have stuff online but no prices, which makes me suspicious that they are very expensive and she gets a kickback for me going there. 

1. Does anyone have experience with Best Tile?

2. Is there stuff significantly higher quality/more durable that HD/Lowe's?

3. Would you shop for a small job (less than 60 sq ft) with a simple pattern at one or the other?

All insights welcome.

Thanks!