Archive for February 2012
Stained concrete is a chic looking floor finish that also provides cost savings over any other flooring choice. You don’t need a modern interior space for stained concrete floors. This floor finish looks striking with all manners of interior design styles, from cottage cozy to minimalist contemporary.
Clean the floors until they are totally free of any dust, grit or dirt. They must be completely scrubbed clean. Start with a broom and then detail clean with a vacuum. Next, use Mason’s Select Concrete Cleaner, or similar, and clean thoroughly. This product will also help remove stains, oil and grease from the concrete.Tape and protect the baseboards and the lower portion of your walls. This entire process can easily ruin those surfaces.
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If you have some hardwood floors that are in need of more sprucing up than a simple cleaning can provide, but they’re not so bad that they need to be stripped down to the bare bones, then you might benefit from a process called “screening.” Basically, if the finish itself is slightly worn then screening should be all you need to revive the worn flooring.
Screening is the process of using a screen mesh rather than sandpaper to cut the finish and only slightly abrade the flooring. This process is faster than a complete sanding, is far less dusty, is less expensive, and is an easier Do-It-Yorself project than a complete sand-down. The basic steps are: (1) empty out the room, (2) sweep the floor then vacuum it —and try to do a good job as the prep work can make the task produce the best results, (3) be sure to scrape off anything like gum or dried glues as they may mess up the meshing.
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The living room, family room, den, as well as Master Bedroom are all rooms of the house which deserve a nice makeover when it’s time to complete a home remodeling project. One idea that you may not have thought about is that adding fireplaces to the various rooms in your house will do wonders to increasing the value of the home. But adding fireplaces will not only add that extra monetary value to your home, but it is also a good way to add a certain type of hominess for the people in your family. Indeed, many cold winters are spent indoors roasting marshmallows or listening to stories on the comfortable couch. Families and individuals of all types love fireplaces, but if you would like to add one to your house, there are important issues that need to be considered first!
Making Dimensional Changes
In order to successfully have a fireplace added to your home the first thing that needs to be considered is how it will fit. The fireplace should be seen as a piece to the living room puzzle. Whether you want to figure out yourself what needs to be changed or you want to meet with a contractor, the dimensions of your living room should be thought about. If the house currently has a small, but quiet living room then chances are that it will need to be made larger. Larger living rooms can be more conducive to fireplaces just because there is more space for the fire to run and no chance of any accidental fires happening.
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You must have the right tools before you start. A scraper with a long arm is a key tool in this process. You will also need smaller scraper, one with a short arm that you can work while down on the ground. Go to a building supply store and explain you need a couple of scrapers to remove your floor finish and clean the sub floor.
Depending on the installation of the vinyl tile, you may need to remove the baseboard in order to adequately get all of the vinyl tile off the floor. If the baseboard needs to go, take your smaller scraper and hammer it into the seam between the baseboard and drywall. Pry the baseboard loose every 12″ and then remove an entire length at a time. This will keep damage to the wall at a minimum.