Should you refinish hardwood floors yourself?

September 3, 2016

Only if you like uneven surfaces and putting out fires.

Of course, refinishing hardwood floors is a DIY job. That’s why all the Big Box stores rent floor sanders, right?

But just because you can rent a sander doesn’t mean you should. Even if your friends did dub you “Jackie-Of-All-Trades” after that amazing bathroom re-do last spring, you still might not have the stuff it takes to refinish your floors.

Seriously, you could end up with a floor that has so many dips and grooves, you’ll get more seasick than you did on that Disney cruise when you were 10. Worse, you could make a dangerous newbie mistake and start a fire. (True! We’ll explain in just a bit).

Even if the cost of hiring a pro ($4 to $5 per square foot) makes you sweat, don’t consider taking on the job yourself without an (ahem) honest evaluation of your own skills. (Do you really want to put your home value on the line to learn a new skill?) But if after reading this, you still decide to DIY, we’ve got a few tips to help you avoid a costly #fail.

How Much of a DIY Superstar Are You?

If you’re a long-time DIYer, but first-time refinisher, ask yourself if you could do these two things:

#1. Push a grocery-store cart (that has a sticky wheel and a toddler in the seat) at a steady pace with no jerky movements and no stops for your entire lunch break.

#2. Paint an Impressionist masterpiece.

OK, maybe those are a bit over the top. But sanding and staining your floors is no cake walk.

A floor sander can weigh well over 100 pounds — and move like it has a mind of its own (not unlike a wobbly store buggy). Plus it’ll make a ton of noise the whole time, completely getting on your nerves.

“The process is quite time-intensive, and not recommended for first-time DIYers,” says Victoria Stepanov, an interior designer who’s been remodeling homes for more than 15 years.

It’s difficult to control the sander, and while the bare floor may look fine after you’ve sanded it, the flaws will come shining through once the finish is done. You could be creating hills and valleys as you go along, Stepanov says, and not even know it. But once completed, the floor will have an ugly, topographical appearance, inflicting a serious ding on your home’s value.

Stepanov also very strongly advises newbies to skip oil-based stains and finishes, which require a steady hand with a paintbrush and tons of patience.

Uneven, hurried brushstrokes can leave your precious floor 16 shades of brown — not to mention the possibility of spontaneous combustion if you don’t handle your oily rags correctly. That’s because some oils dry through a process of oxidation — the same process that causes fires (see, it really can happen!). So oily fabrics must be sealed in a metal can with water filling the remaining space, or laid out individually to dry quickly. Never, ever pile up oily rags.

If that isn’t enough to make you think twice, how about if you knew you’d have to apply two or three coats to make it worthwhile? Now you’ve multiplied your chances of screwing up times three.

Is Your Floor Even Refinish-able?

Double-check that your type of floor can actually be refinished. Attempting to refinish laminate floors — which aren’t made of wood — could ruin them. And engineered hardwood, which has a layer of hardwood over a plywood core, isn’t a much better candidate. Re-sealing and buffingis a much cheaper and more doable DIY project than refinishing. In fact, if you re-seal and buff floors every few years, you may never have to refinish. But it only works if damage is minimal.Try re-sealing and buffing engineered floors instead. But basically, only floors with real hardwood throughout can tolerate refinishing.

You should’ve been told what type of floor your home has when you bought it — either in the listing details or in the inspection report. Or you can usually figure it out by pulling up a floor register and looking at the side of a plank to see if it’s all wood, laminate, or engineered wood.

Think You’re Up to DIYing It? Some Tips to Help:

Get a demo. Installing the belt on a sander incorrectly can ruin your floor. Ask for a demonstration of how the whole thing works when you rent it.

Test it. Pick a discrete spot to test your process before you ruin your entire living room. Some chemical- or oil-based cleaning products leave a nasty, nearly-invisible residue, which might bubble to the surface once you start to seal the planks. If anything looks odd during testing, strip your floors using a mixture of ammonia and water, or use a commercial hardwood cleaner.

“No one likes surprises,” says John DeWees, owner of Denver Carpet and Flooring. “It might have been 20 years since someone used a chemical-based product, but it still got into the wood, and you don’t notice until the job is complete.”

Skip the stain. Keep your wood natural, then finish it with a water-based polyurethane instead.

DeWees says the water-based finish dries quickly, which is a plus. It does mean you’ll need to work fast, though, he says. It can start feeling dry to the touch in as little as 15 minutes. If you don’t work quickly, you risk visible overlapping strokes on the finished floor. Not a deal-breaker, but it will look amateurish.

Take your time. Refinishing your floor can take a week or more. A lot of that time will be spent, well, watching paint dry. Pros will let you know how long to stay away and help you seal up the room, but doing it yourself means you’re on your own. It’s best to wait at least 24 hours before touching the floor after each coat of polyurethane, even if it feels dry.

Wear socks — just socks. Shoes, bare feet, and pets can easily ruin all your hard work. So make sure to wear socks during the entire process and for the first 48 hours after the floor is done. In fact, your socks will help buff the floor! Sock race, anyone?

What Was I Thinking? DIY’ers Talk About Their Worst Decisions!

August 18, 2016

Sometimes what seems like a good idea just isn’t. Get tips from DIY projects that didn’t go so well.

Finishing a DIY project feels amazing: Not only can you impress your friends, but you can spend every day walking by your masterpiece, gleaming with pride.

Unless DIY becomes DI-why?, that is. Even the most practiced do-it-yourselfers sometimes find themselves in the middle of projects that aren’t going according to plan. Don’t feel badly about the organizational system that fell over in your garage or the crooked tiling in the basement. It happens to everyone. Here’s proof.

Allowing a Renovation to Snowball:

When a small project grows bigger and bolder, it can be painful to your budget and your schedule. Blogger Tanya of “Dans le Lakehouse” says most often, when her projects go awry, it’s due to snowballing beyond her original plans.

That’s what happened when she was changing the closet doors in her bedroom.

It was a presumably simple project that led to removing a closet organizer, then replacing newly discovered damaged flooring, then painting the entire closet bright orange — and ended with Tanya dropping $800 on new doors.

“We did run out of funds, energy, and time, so we patiently waited a year to save up for new closet doors,” she says. Eventually, they splurged on pretty white glass sliding doors, “so I can’t complain.”

How can you avoid a DIY project that soaks up more time, energy, and resources than intended? “Start with a lot of work reflection,” Tanya says.

Though the closet project was more than she bargained for, it was important to take the time to do it right once the additional issues were discovered.

“It’s best not to run away from the problem,” she says.

Skipping the Research:

See a project on Pinterest or a blog that looks tempting? Don’t dive right in without researching the materials and how-to. Kerry Bindernagel, one half of the husband-and-wife DIY duo behind “Burritos and Bubbly,” learned this lesson the hard way.

Like many homes built in 1890, the Bindernagel home featured painted wooden floors. Unhappy with the color — not to mention the chipped paint — they decided to go bold and paint their hardwood office floors pink. But they skipped a key step: They didn’t research anything about how to paint wood floors.

“And we did a horrible job,” Bindernagel says.

Assuming painting a floor was just like painting a wall, they purchased a cheap can of white floor paint and mixed it — by hand — with pink. After a quick sweep of the broom and swipe of the paint roller, they were done.

Until it chipped.

“Every time we’d move a piece of furniture or even push a chair back from the desk, the paint would stick to the furniture and peel,” Bindernagel says. “It turns out painting a wood floor isn’t the same as painting a wall.”

Their second try — four years later — was more successful.

“We read every single thing we could find about how to paint wood floors,” she says. “We sanded and vacuumed and washed and primed and painted by hand.” The paint was more expensive; they used three coats both of primer and color, waiting 24 hours for it to dry between each.

“It was annoying and difficult and a giant pain, but we learned that investing more time and effort and research made all the difference,” Bindernagel says.

Discovering the Devil in the Details:

DIY is hard work. While some people have endless patience for tedious projects, sometimes it’s best to recognize when the drudgery isn’t for you.

Chelsea Mohrman of “Farm Fresh Therapy” recalls such an ambitious project: hand-stamping — with a potato.

“It was a very easy, yet tedious project,” Mohrman says. It becomes boring fast, and every repetitive motion you make is an opportunity to screw up. The project required cutting a slippery potato into small triangles, dipping them in paint, and carefully stamping them onto a shower curtain — again and again and again.

The end result might be stunning, but Mohrman isn’t sure it was worth all the work. Luckily, her project was just a shower curtain, but the hard-learned lesson can translate to bigger projects. If you’re considering hand-stamping a wall — or even taking on another project that requires repetitive steps, like tiling a floor or refinishing a kitchen full of cabinet doors — be prepared to be meticulous and dogged, and consider if such a detailed DIY is worth the mind-numbing effort.

“I dropped my potato more times than I can count and failed to keep my cat out of the studio,” Mohrman says. “Never again!”

Misunderstanding the Project Scope:

Washington, D.C., homeowner Dave Coulon took on the task of making his own kitchen cabinets against the advice of his contractor friend, who told Coulon, “I’ll see you in two years.”

Coulon’s no DIY novice — he’s a shop teacher and has worked on his home’s dishwashers and toilets. Still, his friend’s words proved prophetic. The project was more than Coulon bargained for in more ways than one: Not only did it require a technical know-how beyond his ability, it required more physical space than was available in his home.

So while he was aiming to create a kitchen full of fancy, self-closing cabinets, he ended up with a crowded maze of poorly engineered, half-completed ones in his basement.

“I did the cabinets because I wanted to do it, but I would definitely not bother to make them again,” he says.

Renovation ideas home owners may want to rethink!

August 6, 2016

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 04, 2016

Home renovation television shows give home owners big ideas about how they can spruce up their property. But some of these projects can open up problems for owners whose big remodeling dreams may not have been well-thought out. Realtor.com® recently spotlighted a few renovation plans that often turn out badly:

Tearing down walls: While some walls may not look like they’d be any big deal to tear down – even, say, a half wall — they actually may be providing more support to a home than home owners realize. The walls may be holding up floors or framework. Also, those walls may contain electric and plumbing. Always ask a professional the implication of tearing down any wall and check what is required by your municipalities building code.

Modernizing a historic home: Removing some of the historic appeal or character of a home – such as removing original woodwork, built-ins, or claw-foot bathtubs – can be one of the worst mistakes remodelers make, says Matt Forcum, a real estate pro with Century 21 Realty Concepts in Effingham, Ill. The interior may no longer match the character of the exterior, and thereby bring down the value of the property.

Replacing worn-out wood floors: “Unless you’ve had significant water damage, it doesn’t take much to replace hardwood flooring,” says Luis Leonzo with TableLegsOnline.com. Tearing out old floors could potentially lower your home’s value too, Leonzo adds. “The older the home, the higher the quality of hardwood, which might have cost $20 a square foot when it was built. Replacing the flooring with laminate or carpet at $1 a square foot is like reupholstering your leather couch with canvas!”

Using the highest priced materials: Some of the priciest renovations rarely pay off at resale. For example, Morgan Franklin with United Real Estate Lexington in Kentucky suggests finding a nice granite for $35 to $50 instead of the marble for $100-plus a square foot. “In the eyes of the appraiser and the next buyer, there isn’t much difference,” Franklin says.

7 ideas to help you use your outdoor space more!

August 4, 2016

By: Deirdre Sullivan.

These ideas will transform your outdoor space into an oasis you may never want to leave.

When your mom told you to turn off the TV and play outdoors already, she knew what she was talking about. Hanging outside is good for our mental and physical well-being.

As adults, having an outdoor retreat adds an economic component: Upwards of 80% of homebuyers said patios and front porches are “essential” or “desirable,” according to the “What Buyers Really Want” survey from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

So how come when we move into our dream home, we hardly ever use our decks, porches, and patios?

An anthropological UCLA study, described in the book “Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century,” blames our fascination with digital devices — tablets, computers, televisions, games — for keeping us cooped up. The UCLA research participants spent less than half an hour each week in their outdoor space. And these were Californians.

So this summer let’s make a pledge to pay more than lip service to outdoor living so we can be happier, create lasting memories, and generally take advantage of what home has to offer.

1. Go overboard on comfy!

• Make sure your outdoor seating is as cushy as your indoor furniture. Today’s outdoor cushions aren’t the plastic-y, sweat-inducing pillows of the past. Plus, they can handle a downpour and spring back once they dry.
• Lay down outdoor rugs so you’re just as comfortable barefoot as you are inside.
• Give yourself some privacy. Create natural screens with shrubs, bushes, or even bamboo reeds. Or install prefab screens from your local home improvement store.

2. Create a broadband paradise!

Our devices and electronics have conspired to keep us on lock down. Since we’re not about to chuck our digital toys, boot up your outdoor space so you can keep texting, posting to Instagram, and watching cat videos.

• Wireless outdoor Wi-Fi antennas provide an extra boost so you can stay connected.
• A solar USB charging station keeps your gizmos powered.
• Wireless speakers make it easy to bring your music outdoors, and mask a noisy neighborhood.
• An all-weather outdoor TV lets you stay outside for the big game.

3. Blur the line between indoor and out!

Creating a seamless transition between your home’s interior and exterior isn’t as simple or low cost as adding comfort, but it’s the most dramatic and effective way to enhance your enjoyment of the space. Plus, it can increase your home’s value.

• The most straightforward, cost-effective solution: Replace a standard door opening with sliding or glass French doors.
• Use the same weatherproof flooring, such as stone tile or scored concrete, outside as well as in the room leading to your backyard oasis.

4. Light the way!

• Use uplighting to highlight trees, architectural details, or other focal points.
• Add sconces or pendant lights to make evening entertaining, grilling, and reading easier.
• Illuminate walkways, rails, and steps with landscape solar lights.
• Hang fairy or string lights to set an enchanting tone.

5. Make your mark!

• Paint a faux rug with your favorite colors.
• Create a path made with colored glass, brick, or other interesting found materials.
• Craft a one-of-kind outdoor chandelier.
• Build a pizza oven, custom seating, or other feature you crave.
• Add personal décor that makes you happy.

In fact, make your outdoor retreat an ongoing project where you can hone your DIY skills.

6. Don’t give anyone an excuse to stay inside!

• A fire pit is a proven winner. Food and fire have brought humans together since the dawn of time.
• Give wee ones the gift of magical thinking with an outdoor playhouse.
• Add whimsy with a chalkboard fence that both kids and fun-loving adults will enjoy.
• Add a doggie window in your fence to entertain Spot. Installing a dog run may even boost your home’s value. FYI: It’s been said that pets are one of the top reasons why people buy houses.

7. Rebuff the elements!

• Install an awning, canopy, or pergola. It’ll make it easier to read your Kindle or iPad and keep you dry during a summer shower. Look for products with polycarbonate panels, which block UV rays, too.
• Rig glass fence windscreens to the keep your BBQ fires burning.

Screen in your porch or deck against bugs. But screening will be for naught if you forget the slats between wood planks. Cover the floor with outdoor carpet or staple screening to the underside of floorboards.