We put up quite a bit of tile. Most of the houses we buy have cheap tub surrounds. The glue is usually letting loose and they are just grungy.
We like to have tile, it goes up quickly and looks nice. I tiled a surround today. It still needs to be washed and grouted.
The problem is, when you put up a lot of tile, you notice other's work. I always look at the tile in hotel bathrooms and fast food restaurants. Then shake my head and ask, who are they getting to do this shoddy work. It's not the difficult to do it right, and it is seldom done right.
The house had some lovely carpet when we took possession. They always do. First thing out the door and off to the landfill.
Matthew and I had started laying floor on Wed. I worked on it on Thursday
and Micah finished it off today.
One of the selling points on this house was the "wonderful" kitchen. Yea, that countertop did not get within 2 inches of any of the walls. What was with that open space in the middle? Place for the trash can? The cupboards were still raw wood, absolutely never finished.
We took them all out. Put polyurethane on them and reconfigured them. At least they are now flush up against the walls.
Then there were the steps to the front of the house.
A bit overwhelming for a small house.
Matthew took them apart and rebuilt them. A much better look.
When we are finished with this one, we have another rental purchase to remodel and after that we are going to try something new.
We have purchased a large old home that needs some love and care (needs the light blue paint gone as well).
It has some lovely old oak floors and interesting features.
And some floors that are ruined. Our plan is to fix it up and resell it. Our first expense coming up is about $18,000 in new HVAC systems. All those old radiators need to be cut loose and hauled out of the house. A metal recycler told me you could break them apart with a sledge hammer so they would be lighter to get down the stairs and out. NO, NO, NO, there will be no sledge hammering cast iron on those oak floors. They will have to be man handled out as they are.
People are begging for rental housing right now. Part of it may be unintended consequences. The CDC put an eviction moratorium in place last year because if tenants were evicted they might spread covid. Some rental property owners I know have sold houses. Either they needed to sell because they were not getting an income and needed the money or they looked at the situation and asked why are we risking not getting an income. Sell the house in a buyers market and lose the risk of being denied income. So the CDC put a moratorium in place to keep tenants in their homes, now there are less rentals and the rent is higher. That didn't work out so well did it? To make matters worse the small landlords in the larger cities are being bought out by corporations and they have no mercy for anyone who falls behind on rent because of circumstances beyond their control. You are late with rent because you were hospitalized and couldn't work. Evict, no mercy. Thanks for the help CDC, the unintended consequences are making rental housing more expensive and harder to find.
I have a bad habit of jumping into things without always thinking it through from every angle first. That can often lead to unintended consequences. It seems to be built into my DNA. I just can't seem to stop doing it. What I have found out is that if I just stay in touch with God and keep praying, If You want this to happen make it happen, if You don't want it to happen don't let it happen. Takes the burden off me and sometimes even when it seems have made a bad decision, it turns out for the best in the end if I have asked God to be in charge.
It's what makes the difference in life. On my own my life would be filled with what is the same as bad tile jobs, old carpeted floors, and unfinished cabinets installed wrong and steps out of proportion. Maybe a bad decision to help people like the CDC one. Instead either God keeps me from making mistakes or uses the mistakes I make to create something better.
I have found it to be a grand way to live. Let God be in charge!
