All Forum Posts by: Ryan King

 Did yours have any existing paint on them? If so did you just sand it off?

Does anyone know if Zinnser BIN would go right over existing paint just fine as long as it's not dusty or anything? This would help me avoid the lead paint issue.

I've thought about laminate and vinyl. I had laminate in a previous home and hated how it chips so easily and then you have to tear up a lot of the floor to replace the one piece. I can't imagine doing that in a rental every time someone moves out. Maybe it was cheap stuff? From reading other forums, vinyl seems unpopular here because it wears out quickly too and will peel away. I'd definitely have to lay down some sort of board (odsb) which would be another cost/time eater. However, either of those options helps me avoid dealing with any contaminants on the wood.

I really do appreciate all the advice!

 This is a duplex that I'm going to end up renting out to college students. I'm not going to pay $2-4 per sqft to refinish wood floors when I can repaint them for a few hundred. I agree refinishing would look way better but to me, if I can't do it myself, it's not worth it.

Yep it's a second story. I'm highly concerned about asbestos and lead paint so I need to figure that out first.

I'm leaning towards painting them black. That way I just have to sand off most of the glue/paint which should be able to be done with out a drum sander (I think). I think if I poly'ed them well enough they'd stand up to a lot. Again, need to test before I go sanding anything which I'm not excited about.

Thanks for the reply! Yes it's directly on the joists. I'd really like to refinish it. Need to decide between using a drum and orbital sander. Since there's so much gunk I'm leaning towards drum. Probably should test that black crap for asbestos too.

Below are pics of what I'm working with. It's an 1880's home and everything I've read says they used pine and the lumber store said it was either pine or fir so I'm guessing it's pine. In my opinion the floor is great in 90% of the area but the 10% that's bad is fairly bad like the last picture where I would need to replace some boards. Is this possible? Has anyone refinished old pine like this and what did you do with bad spots? I can try and use closet boards but they're fairly short.

Also pine is fairly soft even if 1880's pine was harder than modern pine. Will a drum sander just tear through these? I have a lot of paint and junk to get off the top and get to fresh wood.

Just closed on Monday. The people who were renting out the side I'm going to be renovating/occupying left a bunch of stuff in it; couches, mattress, food in the fridge, trash in various places, etc. Not to mention the place is filthy, no cleaning was done at all. They couldn't get a hold of them to get them to come get it before we closed. Today (Wed) they got a hold of one of them and he wants to make arrangements to come get the stuff and clean it up.

In my opinion, they had their chance. I don't want them in my property (I really don't want them knowing I'm renovating it and not staying there overnight yet). Honestly, I want the security deposit because its extra work I have to do now. Do I legally have to give them a chance to come get their stuff? Am I entitled to their deposit (the previous owner has it)? What would YOU do?

Thanks for any suggestions/help!

I'm in iowa and the state law requires me to carry the existing lease.

The lease states they can have 3 people in there so they're not doing anything wrong. I'm just wondering what my obligations are as far as collecting the payment.