GRINDING IT OUT!

In preparation for a new tenant, some times you have to HIT it hard and GRIND IT OUT! After redoing the hard wood floors and writing a post a couple weeks ago called “Surprise, hardwood floors“, we still had quite a bit to do before getting our tenant in!

We had to put vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom. Plus, install three new ceiling fans (keep in mind the ceilings are 12-13 ft so standing on a ladder and balancing with your hands up in the air is tough!). Quarter round had to be added throughout the house. Four transition strips put in place in the doorways, which wasn’t an easy feat. Painted where it was needed, put hardware on all of the cabinets, applied fresh caulk on all of the baseboards and quarter round. Last thing on the list was cleaning! This is what we mean by grinding it out. Keep in mind the previous posts of power washing, landscaping, mulching, and redoing the hardwoods. All of this was done in four weeks!

Danny started with laying the underlay before installing the vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen. He had to pull the appliances out, lay the flooring, and move them back. We had some help again, from our friend/previous tenant/”intern”. We’re teaching him new skills and he’s been eager to help! Plus, it’s been nice having a second set of hands.

You can see some before and after photos below of what the kitchen floor used to look like old, dated, worn linoleum. We usually use Soft Core underlay from Lowes, but this time around we opted to use Sound Step from Menards. Danny did not particularly like this underlay. It was more difficult to lay, harder to cut, and not fun to work with in general. This flooring project moved pretty quickly and really only took two evenings to complete the kitchen.

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Moving onto the bathroom, Danny had to remove the vanity and toilet to put down the underlay and vinyl flooring. While we were in the bathroom, we put a coat of poly on the medicine cabinet and added new hardware. Also, just as a side note, we always put in a new curtain rod, curtain, and liner. This is to help mitigate any additional water damage by having it already up, and it gives a clean and bright look to the bathroom!

For the laundry room, Danny had to take out the baseboards, and washer and dryer. I went ahead and painted the baseboards before he put back in. Once he finished the floor, put the baseboards back in and moved the appliances back, I finished up with caulk and touch up paint.

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