Ceramic Tile

I've always thought that ceramic tiles look fantastic.  When we bought our house, the bathrooms had old laminate peel-and-stick flooring in both bathrooms.  We decided to put in ceramic tiles for the flooring in both.  It was a fantastic decision because the end result looks terrific!  The small mistakes and issues that an amateur installation always has are not even noticeable!  Take a look at the picture on the right of our mostly finished bathroom...

Difficulty Level:  Hard
Now this certainly isn't an easy project, nor cheap.  The tile itself isn't too expensive but all the tools you will need will probably cost as much as the tile!  Of course that depends on the area you are trying to tile....  Just to give an idea, the wet saw alone that we purchased was from $250 - $300.  All the other tools and materials cost over another $300.  We were tiling a relatively small area (two bathrooms) so the material cost is highly dependent on the square footage.

Tools you will need:

• Wet saw
• Power drill with mixing attachment
• Adhesive Mix
• Grout
• Tile spacers
• Buckets
• Tiling kit including:
• Trowel
• Tile cutter
• Rags and cloth to clean
• Sponge

Wet Saw (slightly used)

Drill with mixer

Tiling Kit and accessories

Step One: Prepare the Surface

Other materials you may need include concrete board or maybe some demolition tools.  Concrete board is necessary in some cases to ensure a nice level, flat surface to lay the tile down.  We used concrete board in the upstairs bathroom but not the downstairs.  Upstairs we had some inconsistencies in our plywood and needed the boards. It is necessary to have a flat surface so the tiles that you lay are not uneven and catch on things like feet or stub toes :/  The concrete board installs very easily to a plywood subfloor, simply cut the concrete board to the right sizes and then drill (wood screws do fine) the concrete board onto the plywood.  Like always, try to drill into the studs.

Step Two: Mix the Adhesive

Look onto the bag of mix that you have for instructions such as times and ratios of powder to water.  The mix we had involved mixing the water and adhesive for about 10 minutes, waiting for a few minutes and then mixing for another 5 minutes.  Times may vary.  It will be a difficult goopy mess when you are done...see the picture above.  It needs to be thick, but not too thick that you cannot easily spread it.  Probably a little more runny than peanut butter.

Step Three:  Plan

If you bought an actual tiling kit, it will also come with instructions.  Make sure you have a plan as for how many tiles you want and where they will go in order to have the largest tiles possible on the sides.  Start in the middle (without any adhesive) and lay out some times with the spacers.

Make sure you like the look and make sure you won't end up with little slivers of tile on the sides.  You will need at least 2 inches for the tiles on the sides of the room, preferably much more than that.  Professional installation will use chalk lines and all kinds of other things during this step to make sure the tiles are where they need to be.  Think about you other fixtures, toilets, vanities, and plan well!

Step Four:  Lay that Tile

Separate the room into 4 corners (or more depending on the size of your room).  Start in the least accessible corner (but still stick with your plan from step 3 to cover your room the way you want!) and using the trowel start throwing down that adhesive mixture!  Don't be shy with it.  You will be thinning it out as the tile is laid.  My wife actually did (fantastically so) this part.  You can wear gloves if you'd like but you will lose some dexterity.  Without gloves, your hands will get very very dry.  Pick your poison!

Once you get a decent layer of the adhesive down, use the patterned side of your trowel to essentially 'plow' the adhesive leaving strips of the stuff on the ground.  Once you have a good area covered (we did one row of tiles at a time) start with the tile in the corner and carefully place it straight down onto the desired spot.  BE CAREFUL as when you put the tile down, it won't easily come back up!  Once it is down, wiggle it back and forth a few times to make sure there is a good amount of the adhesive attached to the tile.  For the first tile, you don't need to worry about the spacers.  As subsequent tiles are laid, be sure to get the spacers in as soon as you can, on all four sides of the tile.  Don't worry about getting too close to the walls, as most places will have trim boards installed onto the drywall which will cover any gaps.

Step Five: Cutting the Tiles to Fit

Keep on laying the tiles down.  Once you get to the next wall you will need to start cutting the tiles to fit the remaining space.  If you planned will, you should only have to cut tiles to cover 2 of the 4 walls in your room.  If you have a goofy shaped space like my bathroom (see middle picture above) you will need to cut a lot!  Make sure make sure MAKE SURE you wear safety glasses any time you start cutting!  Be sure to read the manuals associated with your saw as every saw is different.  Make sure you know how to safely use your saw!

Just square with the fact that you will be very very wet.  The design of the saw is meant to keep recirculating water but it is a blade spinning very quickly through water.  Its going to spray!  Gloves may not be a bad idea as there will be little shards of tile everywhere also...after the first night I had about a hundred little cuts all over my hands.  However, gloves make everything more difficult, especially when they get soaked too...  Be careful and go slow.  Measure twice and cut once!  Also, keep your scraps as they might fit perfectly for the next wall!  Any tiles you don't use can be taken back to the store to get refunded.

Here are some pictures of our halfway finished bathroom.  You can see all of the spacers.  Make sure you don't get a bunch of adhesive in between the tiles because that is where the grout goes!  My wife laid the tile as I measured and cut.  It worked well and we were able to do each bathroom (separately) in about 2 hours.

Also be careful around your room transitions.  See the middle picture above.  We had carpet going into the tile.  As this was the basement, the sub floor is concrete.  Most transition pieces need to be nailed or screwed down.  We simply left the basement alone but bought a small transition piece (wood) for the upstairs bathroom and screwed that down onto the plywood.  There are many choices, you will need to decide for yourself!

Last Step:  Grout

You must wait at least 12 to 24 hours from laying your tile before you can grout.  Look at the instructions on your packages to find out more specifically.  Be sure NOT to walk on your tile until the adhesive is dry!!  Otherwise you might end up accidentally knocking some tiles askew.

The grouting process is much like the adhesive. You will need to mix the powder with water using your drill and mixer.  The mixing times are probably going to be less than for the adhesive.  The grout should be much runnier than the adhesive was.

Applying the adhesive is simple.  Just layer it on!  Of course make sure its filling up all the spaces in between the tiles.  Don't worry about trying to keep it neat and clean.  Just be generous and spread the grout all over the tiles!  Once sufficiently applied, use the sponge and clean water to clear off the excess grout.  Once finished, use the cloth and rags to make it shiny and sparkly clean!  The best way to get a nice groove in between the tiles is to use your fingers.  Of course, you will get dirty and very dry, gritty hands!  Again, you can use gloves but I'd recommend against gloves.

Also like the adhesive, start in a corner and work your way out of the room.  Make sure you can finish the room without stepping over your recently laid grout.  Again, you will need to wait 12-24 hours before walking on your pretty newly grouted tile!

Its tough work but I think well worth it.  Plus, doing the work yourself will save hundreds on a professional installation!  Places like Home Depot will rent equipment like a wet saw if you don't have one or don't want to purchase one.  Good luck!

Mold

So we found mold in our house.  And a lot of it.  This is partly why there have been no posts in awhile.


Mold comes in many shapes and sizes.  I found the mold underneath the vanity in our downstairs bathroom.  Once I took the vanity out, it was very clear.  See the small black fuzzy spots?  Yes, this is just the beginning.  Turns out we had most covering the inner walls of both bathrooms, likely from a leaky shower that was never repaired in years.... This picture is a picture of the wood framing in our walls and the baseboard nailed to the concrete floor.



My first call was to our insurance agent for a nice surprise.  Mold is typically not covered in normal homeowners policies!  Mold is not a 'sudden loss' and as such is not covered by insurance.  Mold is a slow problem that develops over time, a result of negligence or ignorance.  So no help from our insurance...but he did recommend a company for me to use to get it all cleaned up.

So the second call was to this company which is normally a carpet cleaning company but they are also certified for cleaning up mold.  Mold is not something you want to handle on your own.  I'm up for at least attempting nearly anything when it comes to fixing up a house but this is not something to mess with.  If the mold is still active, it can make you very very sick.  Plus the mold spores can then escape into your ventilation and suddenly you have mold over your entire house!  Leave it to the pros.

This company responded very quickly and was willing to get started the next day.  Which was terrific because the next week we already had our new carpet and windows coming in to be installed!  We needed to get this resolved, fast.  Then comes the next surprise, we need to get our bathroom flooring tested for asbestos...  Our house was built in 1982, which is prime for asbestos tile.  Asbestos is also something you don't want to take lightly.  And mold remediation in combination with asbestos is...well... way more expensive than normal remediation.

The test for asbestos is quick and required by state law in Colorado.  It cost about $270 for us.  Fortunately, the linoleum is asbestos-free!  Which is very fortunate otherwise I would have been up very late trying to take the tile up myself.  This meant the remediation started the very next day!

Because mold spores can so easily spread, the contractor put the affected area of the house under what he called 'negative pressure.' This means that all of the ventilation is blocked off and the area is constantly forcing air out of the affected area.  The rest of the house needs to be sealed.  These four pictures show how the sealed off the downstairs and upstairs of our house....

Turns out the mold was much more invasive than originally thought.  They ended up taking out about 6 walls and 1 ceiling around our bathrooms...See these pictures:

As if this wasn't bad enough...some of the plywood subfloor was rotted out in the upstairs bathroom and some of the studs in the downstairs bathroom.  These all needed to be replaced.  I could literally take my hand and dig the wood apart....not very solid.

And now finally, after clearing out all of the affected drywall and rotted framing, the actual remediation is performed by 'soda blasting' and then applying an anti-bacterial layer which kills any remaining spores.  All in all the process took two full days to do the remediation, and that does not include any of the rebuilding.

Somewhat fortunately, we were planning on gutting the bathrooms anyway!  But not nearly to the extent that they ended up being gutted.....  The rest of the week the drywaller was in the house putting up new walls for us.  We used a contractor to put up the drywall because we were stretched for time to get the carpet installed later in the week.  Plus it was a big enough job that we didn't want to mess with it.

All in all the total cost was a little over four thousand dollars, plus all the time and labor lost.  But overall, besides the budget, our plans have not been put off too much.  We didn't have to reschedule any of our big jobs and now we have new carpet and windows and walls in our bathroom, all mold-free!

Choosing a Real Estate Agent

If you are going to use a real estate agent, how do you find the right one?  For Candice and I the choice was easy but lets walk through the decision process...

Trust

The most important thing is that you must be able to trust your real estate agent!  You are about to embark on one of the most important decisions in your life!  Short of getting married or where you will spend eternity, buying a house is one of the most permanent life-altering decisions you can make.  Not to mention expensive!  If you cannot trust that your agent is going to be honest with you...then you are asking for trouble.

Humility

Not a lot of people might add this to their list but I think it is very important.  Humility is a complicated quality...but the sense in which I mean is that your agent is looking out for your best interest and not just a quick paycheck!  The agent that we worked with was very patient and accommodating and always had our requirements and desires in mind.  You want somebody who is going to walk in your shoes and experience your lifestyle to be able to help you make the best decision for you!  Its not uncommon for our agent to be selling/buying 7 figure homes but he put just as much effort and interest into our property and we were looking at the $100,000 price range!

Personality, Attitude

If you can't get along with your agent, then you are starting into a very stressful time on the wrong foot.  You'll want somebody that you can call on the weekends and feel perfectly comfortable having a very honest  conversation with!  Buying a home is a very exciting and fun experience; but it will also be a very tension-filled and stressful experience at times.  You should never dread calling your real estate agent...

Experience

Lastly, make sure he knows what he is doing!  Our real estate agent has been working real estate in central Colorado for 16 years now.  As he would say you need somebody with "boots on the ground, in the trenches day in and day out."  I couldn't agree more.  We are very green when it comes to real estate and you need somebody who knows what they are doing and is okay helping you learn.

Seek out people you know.  Talk to your friends and relatives in the area you are looking to buy.  Get references.  Have some interviews with some prospective agents.  You will be making likely a 3 month time commitment with another person who will help you buy your home!  Its a big deal.  Candice and I were very fortunate that we knew a real estate agent in our church (in our bible study in fact!) and he has done a fantastic job for us every step of the way!  Use your network and make a thoughtful decision...and move forward!


personality
attitude
temperment
humility
sticking to your requirements or trying to upsell you

DIY Sealing the house

Another chore that should be accomplished in the first weekend (or as soon as possible) is to seal up the siding and any other holes you may find in your house.  Remember the bird?  Well he made his nest in our dryer vent...see the first picture below.  Not good.  All sorts of creatures can get into your house from a hole that big!  Also, check the siding everywhere!  Any holes or chipped paint must get re-sealed ASAP.  Our house appears to have had a big dog chewing on the siding at some point...also not good.  Additionally, make sure to repaint any spots where the paint may be chipping.  These unsealed points are not waterproof and the moisture can seep into the woodwork/siding and suddenly you have mold growing in your walls or crawl space!

Tools you will need:

• Screwdriver
• Utility knife
• Drill
• Lots of waterproof, paint-able caulk
• Much paint, various colors
• Paper towels/wipe-alls/rags

Difficulty Level:  Moderate

Step One:  Fix the Dryer Vent
Immediately get the hole closed off as well as you can the first chance you get. Here was my closing day fix...not pretty but keeps the birds out!  I re-drilled the (one) screw which was holding it up and used some masking tape to keep the metal mesh in place.  Duct tape would have been much better but I didn't have any on hand.

For a real fix, go to any home improvement store and buy a new vent cover!  They come white and with a grill in place.  Removing the old vent is simple enough.  To make sure the new vent has a good seal, put a generous bead of caulk around where the new vent will go.  Press the new vent on firmly and then drill the new vent into the siding/wall.  It will be messy, use some towels to clean off the extra caulk.  The best way to get a good seal is to run your index finger along the seams of the caulk, between the siding and the vent cover.  Again, wipe away excess.  When finished, my new cover looks as shown. Much better!

Step Two: Fixing the Siding


Again, anywhere the siding has been chewed up or even where there are simply poor joints, these need to get re-sealed to prevent moisture from getting into your siding/framing.  Our house has pressed cardboard siding which has many seals and joints that are coming apart or just poorly sealed.

My plan, which may not be the best, is to re-caulk all the openings.  Many of the joints have old caulk that needs to be removed before putting new in.  There's not much that can be done about the picture to the left...where the siding is all but destroyed (a chew toy for a big dog?).  These panels need to be replaced entirely.  Unfortunately, we want to spend our money elsewhere on the house and cannot afford to re-side.  As long as the joints are sealed and repainted, the siding will keep out the elements just fine.

Make sure to get caulk that is made for outdoor use and is paintable!  If it is desired to repaint, then get a caulk that will dry white to make it easy to see where the touch-up paint needs to go.  If painting is not in the plans, then get caulk that will dry clear.  This way the holes and creases will get sealed even though it may not look sealed.  Plus, no more painting!

Step Three: Painting the Trim

Not only will poorly constructed siding let moisture in but also peeling paint.  Make sure to examine the entire house including the trim.  Scrape off any paint that is obviously peeling and get a new coat of paint on ASAP!  This will prevent mold and keep the wood from rotting.  Candice and I have decided to repaint a nice deep green color instead of this purplish-magenta.

More pictures are to come once we get some of these projects completed!

DIY Change the Locks

The first project that needs to happen in your new house is to change the locks!  You don't know who may have the keys that the seller gave you...especially if they rented the house!  Candice and I got the locks change in the first weekend....and you can too!

Now you have a couple of options.

1. DIY and buy new locks from a store
2. Hire a locksmith to install new locks
3. DIY and take your locks off the doors, take them to a store (locksmith or even Lowes) and have them re-key your locks for you

Candice and I opted for the first choice simply because we didn't like the color of the locks we did have...and they were old anyway.

Tools you will need:

• Screwdriver
• Maybe a helping hand (I was able to do it myself with a lot of frustration

Difficulty Level:  Easy!

This project is very simple.  The most difficult part is getting all the inner mechanisms of the locks to fit together nicely while screwing the assembly together from the outside.

Step One: Take those old locks off!  

The old locks. A regular keyed lock plus a deadbolt.

Taking the locks apart is simple. On each piece there are two screws on the inside of the door.  There are also two screws on the edge of the door holding the strike in place (the middle piece which keeps he door closed).  Once all the screws are out, the assembly should just come apart.

No more locks!

Another view.

Step Two:  Attach the Strike

The first piece of the lock to get attached is the strike, or middle part.  Simple screw it in the place where the old one was.  Make sure to align it correctly with the door!  Assuming your door opens inside, you will want the smooth side facing the door frame, allowing the door to open and close easily.  At this point you may want to screw in the small metal piece which attaches to the door frame (or leave the old one in place)

Step Three:  Attach the Handle 

Lastly, and the most difficult, you will need to slide the two remaining parts (handles) together, through the strike.  Make sure everything fits together nicely.  This is the part where you may need three (or more) hands to hold everything together and still get the screws in!

The new locks completed!

You may need to adjust the length of the strike assembly.  I had two for two of my doors.  The locks we bought had two settings...3/4in and 5/8in.  Your locks will have instructions showing how to slide the strike assembly to adjust the length to fit your door.  For my locks it was as simple as slipping a flathead screwdriver into a slot and then pulling the lock out.

The disassembled deadbolt.

The disassembled lock.

Other features, such as a keychain,
are simple to install with a power drill.

Okay, You Are Officially Homeowners...Now What?

Candice and I officially closed on our home as of Thursday May 3, 2012!  Hooray!

Take your time and celebrate!  Go out for a nice dinner, see a movie, do whatever you and your family do to have fun and relax.  You are now homeowners!  :)

As for us, we are going straight to work this weekend.  There are three main projects we would like to get (at minimum) started this weekend.  I plan to post specifically on each topic.  Here is a quick rundown:

1) Change the Locks - Especially if your house used to be a rental (as ours was) there is no telling how many people have a key to your new house!  Get the locks changed out ASAP.

2) Fix any Holes - We found quite a surprise waiting in our dryer vent...See the video for more information :)

Yup, there was a bird living there.  And as we tried to get him out, the dryer vent fell out of the hole in the external wall...into our house spilling the bird and its nest into our house as well!  We had a merry chase trying to get him back outside, and keep the dog inside!  Long story short, shore up any holes.  We taped up the vent hole on the outside for a quick fix.

3) Repair Siding - There are many parts in our siding where the joints are no longer sealed.  These also need to get fixed ASAP.  Anywhere your home isn't sealed nicely, moisture could get in and then mold and rotted wood follow shortly after...

4) Meet your Neighbors - Not really a weekend project but a great idea...go ahead and meet your neighbors!  You may be surprised how helpful they will be and you definitely don't want to start out with any hard feelings towards them.  We have 3 of our neighbors so far and one family has shared some of the more interesting history of our house that no realtor or seller would ever tell us!  Plus they have already offered to help with some renovations and borrowing tools and the like :)

ps Our dog is named "Hoeffer" after this guy.  Oh and read this book about him if you are interested in learning more.  Fantastic little-known hero of WWII and an excellent story.

Why Invest in Real Estate?

Investing in real estate is a huge topic.  I'll walk through the reasons that my wife and I decided to start this process.  Clearly there is much more to discuss but here are the top 4 reasons that swayed our opinions:

There are two main ideas to making money in residential real estate.  You can flip homes or buy and hold.  Flipping homes involves buying an under-valued house (typically a fixer-upper), remodeling and trying to sell it again in short order without living in the home.  Given that the market isn't going up, it will be difficult to flip a home unless you can grab a spectacular deal.  Candice and I are going down the buy and hold path.  This choice is purchasing homes and holding them, letting the home itself appreciate.  In addition, as you acquire homes, you can rent them for added cash flow.  The goal here is selling the home in 10 or 20 years hopefully for more than you paid!  But even if you sold it for exactly what you paid, its likely you will make money anyway by renting.

Reason One: Leverage

Our realtor shared with us a story that got him started in investing real estate:  Imagine you had $10,000 to invest.  Typical safe investing choices include CDs or bonds but neither of them will give you much of a return. How about the stock market or mutual funds?  Can be risky, especially in today's economy, but lets say you find an awesome mutual fund that returns 10% annually.  After one year your $10,000 will earn you a whopping $1000 ending up with a total of $11,000!  Not bad eh!  Now, lets say you use your $10,000 to purchase a $100,000 home and the value of your home goes up 10%.  That nets you with $10,000 in earnings, a total of $110,000!  The leverage that home values have are huge!  Now imagine you used your $10,000 to purchase a $200,000 home?  The numbers just keep going up.  Here's another example.

Reason Two: Timing

The key to investing wisely is to buy when the price is down and sell when the price is high.  Well, right now, the housing market across the nation is down down down down!  As these charts show, the prices have peaked around 2006 and fallen steeply during the recession.  Now is a terrific time to buy if you have the means to do so!  Candice and I have visited homes that are currently listed at the price they sold for 5, 10, even 20 years ago!!!  We found one home that was listed at $86k, the same price it sold for in 1995...Just consider the inflation in the price of materials and you will make a profit!  Now that particular house was in poor condition so we passed on it quickly.  While the market may not come back next year or the year after...you can bet in 5 to 10 years home prices will be up again.  If you still arn't convinced, check this out.

Reason Three: Interest Rates

Borrowing money right now is cheap!  More graphs show that the average prices for interest rates are under what they were 50 years ago!  You can get rates under 4%.  What else can I say? That is much better than 9 or 10%.

Reason Four: Cash Flow

All of the above reasons combine to create this one.  I can't speak precisely to your area, but in Colorado Springs the rental market is hopping!  More apartment buildings are going up all the time and more people are renting now than ever before.  The housing crash has unfortunately forced many short-sales and foreclosures when people bought houses they couldn't afford during the housing bubble.  Especially in a military town like Colorado Springs there is a huge rental market!  For example, consider purchasing a $100,000 home.  Your mortgage payment will likely be $500-$700 for a 30 year fixed loan.  Lets say its a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in good condition (this is the type of house we are currently in the market for).  A house in good condition will rent for $1200!  This means, assuming you can find renters, you will be cash flowing $500-$700 (profit) a month AND have somebody else paying your mortgage!!  Find out rental prices in your area easily using rentals.com.

Cons
1) Debt - Clearly you will be taking out a large loan and you need to make sure you can pay it!  If you cannot make the monthly payments on your house then don't even consider buying!  If you are looking at rentals, you must be prepared to pay the mortgage on the rental as well as your own house if you cannot find renters...Always be prepared.
2) Maintenance - This is a blessing and a curse.  All of the maintenance and upkeep is all up to you!  When you rent, you can call your landlord and have him fix everything for you!  Now YOU are the landlord!  Plus things like lawn care, garbage collection fees, home owners-association fees etc. are often overlooked.
3) Closing Costs - It costs much more than your down payment to close on a house. Typically you can expect at least $3000-4000 extra in setting up your escrow accounts, fees etc.  Not to mention attorney fees or inspectors fees and the like.

For Candice and I, the pros far outweigh the cons.  We are approaching investment real estate as our way to wealth and retirement plans.  That being said we are not forsaking other retirement planning such as 401k's through employers and Roth IRAs.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket!