I just bought a HOUSE.. advice needed

[ezcruiser]

Ok, This is a little different than a 76 kc, hehe... A little precursor: I graduated this past May 3 and have moved into Greene County, TN.. Brought everything! My aunt has a greenhouse that she is letting me rent and keep my truck, cars, and parts in. It's nice, covered floor, UV plastic top, gets hot during the day and cool at night, should be good for me.

 

Okay.. Now: Bought my first house! It was a foreclosure and I offered to pay the bills/lein and I made the deal nice for the bed stricken lady. No garage..:( but has a carport and I plan to turn it into a little garage.

 

My main concern is that it has very nice hardwood floors in 3 of the 4 rooms, they just need some attention to make them shine!(ratsun mentality huh?) I have plans to construct some walls and take one out and paint the ceiling and walls.

 

Now, I have access to rent a floor sander.

Should I -- Do the wall work, paint, sand and clean the walls? or something else? Not a difficult decision, would like some feedback though! Oh, btw who wants to give me there stock hitachi...? Had to get it in...:rolleyes:

Thanks everyone

[thisismatt]

Congrats! Does the greenhouse where you're storing stuff have plants (in other words, water) in it? Could be a bad combination for storing stuff!

 

Is your question mainly about the dust generated by sanding the floors, or something else? You should check prices for having it done professionaly, IMO. Not that you can't do it yourself, but those guys are fast and have nice equipment with dust collection if you get someone to do it right. Are you planning anything with baseboards (obviously yes on the new wall construction, but what about the rest)? Redoing the floors is best if you have all the base removed, although not critical. If you don't remove it it's harder to get the edges and corners refinished and the base can get marred a bit, and also more difficult to apply the finish without it getting on the base. Depending on paint grade or stain grade base the time to paint the walls will be different. If paint grade base I like to install the base before painting the walls, finish the base, then tape off the top of the base. You get a much cleaner line versus trying to cut in the wall paint on top of the base, or painting the base after the walls. The base is a nice smooth edge to tape, the walls are usually not. Tape the base, paint the walls 2 coats, let the paint dry for about 30min-1hour, then pull up the tape. Any paint that has made its way under the tape at this point will still be wet enough to wipe away with a rag over a flat knife/screwdriver, and the paint on the wall will have dried enough not to sag or drip onto the base while at the same time not being dry enough to stick too much to the tape. You can paint the ceilings before all of this and then not worry about dripping on your floors since you'll sand it off anyways. Assuming you don't have crown moulding you can simply use a miniroller (small diameter kind, not the normal roller cover size) to paint all the corners, getting a little on the walls which will be covered with the wall paint. Go with a good eggshell, like Sherwin Williams Promar 200 and you'll get great 2 coat coverage (I don't believe in one coat coverage for any paint unless you're just refreshing the same color or very close to it). Sherwin Williams brushes are great as well - a quality brush makes a huge difference and is worth the price premium IMO.

 

Just 2

[fiveNdime]

I will make it simple for my opinion. I bought my house at the age of 21, and it was in dire need of repair. I would do as much as possible on your own. Paint is easy....its a no brainer, but if the walls suck too much or someone smoked in the house I would highly recommend "Kills Primer" for the first coat of paint. Otherwise hire out the wood floor work. They can do it fast, right and apply the best coating the right way....if you get the right person. Best bet is to ask around, find a friend or someone who knows someone. Maybe go to the local "flooring store" and see who they recommend. I am a General Contractor but haven't done hardwood floors. I just don't want to mess with them. I can answer allot of questions so don't hesitate to ask....just PM me!

 

P.S. Congratulations......Buying a house will be your best investment.....Trust me!

[Z-train]

Find a good tax guy.You won't believe what you can write off now.

[fiveNdime]

Find a good tax guy.You won't believe what you can write off now.

 

Your telling me! I just found out a couple days ago that if I put a new roof on my house my insurance company will kick back 19% of the bill. I was like :eek:

[ezcruiser]

thisismatt - Here's a little more info on the greenhouse. My uncle developed cancer about a year ago and my aunt had to take care of him, so she had to drop the business and sold/gave away all the plants inside. Since then it has been unoccupied with plants and water is not turned on in there anymore.

Now I plan to have all of the base molding removed and I still would like to do it myself, for I love to learn something new. But for the sake of things I will have an estimate done. I had an estimate for the work to the walls and it was 1200 when I can get all my supplies and use my tools for a little over 250... tell me what I'm going to do, haha. Here is another question, should I finish all the painting, sand the floors, and then wipe the walls with a wet rag(dust concern)? Thanks for the tips! I will put them into play on paint day!

 

fiveNdime - The walls aren't bad, basic pinholes that joint compound can fix. On the other hand the lady smoked like a train in the house, I will look into "Kills Primer" fo-sho now! I took a bowl of dawn soap and water and cleaned up the walls, made a huge difference! I will get my camera over there tomorrow and snap some pictures for the heck of it! Oh yeah, I will have to pick your brain about the walls since you are going to let me, I love learning new things!! Thanks!

 

z-train - I laugh every time I see your avatar picture! I WILL look into the write offs, I would love to take advantage of the situation. Thanks for the info!

[Z-train]

 

Trivia-who is the guy in my avatar?

[ezcruiser]

well I think it's good ole benny hill! seeing that there is a girl in the background and its themed to the 70s..

[Z-train]

Yep-Benny Hill dressed as Mr.T.in a skit called the "B" Team.:lol:

[thisismatt]

Paint grade base or stain grade base? Either way I'd do the floors first, but if paint grade base you want the base back on and caulked in before you paint it and the walls. If stain grade I'd do floors, paint ceilings & walls, then reinstall base so you don't have to mask the base when you paint.

 

For a house from a smoker, or just otherwise nasty walls, I would use one of Kilz's oil base stain block primers or Zinnser Cover-Stain oil base primer. Whichever you can find cheaper. The downside is you'll want to be out of the house for at least a day afterwards and wearing a good respirator when applying...spraying is the fastest. The smell will fade away and it will stain block everything (certain marks will show back through no matter how many coats of latex paint you put on them). The Zinnser at least also makes a good sandable wood primer if you plan to repaint any trim. Spackle any obvious pin/nail holes, do any patching/texturing nessecary, and any caulking necessary, then hit everything with a white oil base primer and come back in the next day and it's easy to see any holes or cracks you missed.

[ezcruiser]

Paint grade base or stain grade base?

Not sure what you mean here? The "grade" is throwing me off here, nothing unusual.. haha. I think I want the baseboards a semigloss white or flat, not sure at the moment and the walls a neutral color, something close to taupe/gray.

 

Oh yeah, I received a quote to put a new roof on the house! $1900 said and done! I'm doing it and picked out brushed slate as my roof color. something close to this

[thisismatt]

Generic terms for finish materials that would normally be painted or stained. For instance, paint grade would typically be MDF or finger jointed solid wood, versus solid hardwood or some veneered substrate for stain grade.