What did you do to your home/shop today?

[Chevy1925]

That sucks
Here in Florida houses have been popping up over night!
Unfortunately people are spending 300k on houses that cost 75k to build and it’s not going to last more than 20 years
I have seen some covered with mold all over and watched them slap tyvek on and cover up
Fun fact all the housing that got built back in 04-08 was the same way and now they are falling apart at the seems only 10years later

Thats how it was out here back over the 04-08 period too. new stuff is better than it was but pricing is getting retarded again. Wife and i started looking at new houses (well mainly me lol) because i want more land and to build a shop or get a place with a shop on it already. i found an almost perfect house/land with no shop but they want too much for what it is. Ill wait till the housing market falls, then buy. im in no rush and can wait. Ill then turn this current house into a rental till the market comes back up and then sell it. i am amazed at how many people/friends have been pushing me to buy now though. they look at me like im nuts to wait cause all they look at is what i get back out of my house when i sell it (we bought just before the market started turning back up out here in 2011). seems the whole "Sell high, buy low" adage is hard for some to understand :roflmao:.

I just need to get alot of things done on this house that need repair. after the bathroom, i need to build a back porch roof, change out some facets, fix sun rotted trim outside, put a new front door in and side door, add sun screens to windows, front yard needs grading and re-rocking, change/paint the outside of the house. problem is, i want nothing to do with that stuff as id rather work on my rigs :roflmao:.

 

[Dozerboy]

I prefer tile over linoleum any day. Looks better just sucks bleaching the seems every couple months!


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Never have done linoleum. Put down a ton of underlayment for it though.

The new gouts are very stain resistant so no need to bleach them, and you can get it in black too.

Hay Novak, is that a diy concrete counter top I see in your kitchen?

I recently redid my kitchen. Used Formica as granite or other similar products are way out of my budget. Refaced the cabinets. Next plan is to redo all of the flooring and carry it out into the living room. Thinking of wood flooring, but have a few reservations about having it in the kitchen. Might just tile that area

Wood look tile! I’m tearing out all our old tile for it. I was going to do hardwood, but didn’t want to have to refinish it in 8 years. I don’t trust that LVP tile. The flooring stores are pushing it hard down here. $7sq’ screw you I’ll put down tile before that.



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[2004LB7]

I did price out the wood looking tile. Anything that looks decent is to expensive and anything in my price range looks fake.

The big part of the cost was not just the tile bit the mortar and grout too

the wood options that are in my price range look pretty dam good.

I was thinking about trying to just seal the edge of the board as that is the only part that really is susceptible to water damage. Maybe wood wax or acrilic sealer before assembly

 

[WVRigrat05]

Sanding logs and re-staining them inside and putting up oak trim. Need to do the outside soon before my new job starts in a week and a half, we’ll see if I get that far

 

[Dozerboy]

I did price out the wood looking tile. Anything that looks decent is to expensive and anything in my price range looks fake.



The big part of the cost was not just the tile bit the mortar and grout too



the wood options that are in my price range look pretty dam good.



I was thinking about trying to just seal the edge of the board as that is the only part that really is susceptible to water damage. Maybe wood wax or acrilic sealer before assembly

I went with Interceramic Oakwood Walnut. I got it for 2.50 a sq’. Ya it’s only 24” long, but looks good and priced right.

I grew up in a old farm house with oak floors and we never had any real issues. Ya we tried to get spills clean up quick, but we are pretty rough on stuff.

 

[jlawles2]

I did price out the wood looking tile. Anything that looks decent is to expensive and anything in my price range looks fake.

The big part of the cost was not just the tile bit the mortar and grout too

the wood options that are in my price range look pretty dam good.

I was thinking about trying to just seal the edge of the board as that is the only part that really is susceptible to water damage. Maybe wood wax or acrilic sealer before assembly

Be careful sealing the edges. As this is a machined edge, anything that gets in them mating surfaces, may cause fitment issues.

When we did flooring (due to first flooding), the wood look tile won over the carpet (because of the second flood).

 

[Novak]

Preparation acid is usually just muriatic acid as found in the pool Supply normally diluted 4-1 with water. But we only did this if the concrete was in bad shape

The stain comes in two main verities, acid based that reacts with the concrete to form its color and dye based that is is really just a concentrated liquid pigment. There are hundreds of colors but most manufacturers only have between 20 to 50 or so to choose from. Also how long you let it soak and how heavy you put it on, number of applications will vary the color too so really the color options are numerous. Of course though, you can only go darker and not ligher. So the darker your concrete the less options you have. If you have light or white concrete the color can come out really nice.

The dye based stains are easier to use and a little more forgiving but don't seem to work as well as the acid based stains. I normally had to put two or three coats of dye to get the color where as with acid based it was one coat or two if they wanted it darker

I liked the scolfield lithochrome chemstain the most. I got it at white cap normally.

For hardeners, there are also two main ones on the market. silicate based and the "newer" lithium based. Manufacturers of the lithium based hardeners claim that the smaller molecules of lithium can penetrate deeper into the concrete but in real world I could not tell any difference

Otherwise all of the hardeners from all of the manufacturers seemed to be the same. I believe that this technology is quite mature and there is no secret around how to harden concrete so every manufacturer can make good hardeners

I never liked using the stain and hardener in one. It gives you less open time for getting the color just right. When the hardener start working it closes off the poors in the concrete making it hard to get any more color in. Most customers where very pickie when it came to the color so have time to get it just right and signed off was much easier with the stand alone stains.

Also, dont go with any sealers that aren't burnished hardened. There are some that are wipe or spray on and that is it. Then there are ones that require high speed burnishing. The heat created during the burnishing cures the sealer. These types are far harder and longer lasting in my experience. Plus the burnishing adds an extra level of gloss

For hand grinding, which your counter will be, you should start with a diamond grinding wheel on a 7" grinder. The variable speed grinder/polisher from harbor freight worked well enough for small one off jobs but we normally used DeWalt, Bosh and Matobo grinders.

Depending on the current condition, how much aggragate you want exposed you would start with a 30 or 40 grit wheel. Or if you don't want much showing then a 60 grit wheel. After that I liked to use the Dramatic easy edge ceramic wheels. And progress up to about 200 grit before stain and hardening. Then you would want to continue grinding with resin bonded diamonds up to the desired finish. 800 grit is normally the minimum. 1500 is the norm and 3000 is high gloss.

Then seal and burnish. For a counter that will get wet, I suggest at least three seal coats burnishing each

Sounds like you have done this a few times. Im gonna hold onto this info and I appreciate it!! When the contractor came through he said he was gonna use a “marine self leveling” sealer or resin? Have you heard of that and if so is it a good product to use on a kitchen counter. And my counters do get wet a lot, my glass stove top is built into the counter top so grease and oils too. I keep it pretty clean and scrub it with dawn to pull the grease out but I would like something that is easier to clean than raw concrete.


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[Novak]

I went with Interceramic Oakwood Walnut. I got it for 2.50 a sq’. Ya it’s only 24” long, but looks good and priced right.

I grew up in a old farm house with oak floors and we never had any real issues. Ya we tried to get spills clean up quick, but we are pretty rough on stuff.

My house has the original wood flooring and it looks great for being from 48’ but the house has been remolded and updated from roof to basement etc but I’m glad they left the floors be! I wanna polish them up and get them boards shining!


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[2004LB7]

Sounds like you have done this a few times. Im gonna hold onto this info and I appreciate it!! When the contractor came through he said he was gonna use a “marine self leveling” sealer or resin? Have you heard of that and if so is it a good product to use on a kitchen counter. And my counters do get wet a lot, my glass stove top is built into the counter top so grease and oils too. I keep it pretty clean and scrub it with dawn to pull the grease out but I would like something that is easier to clean than raw concrete.


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Yes I have. Basically just a clear epoxy that is laid down thick (relatively). You see it on bar tops and some restaurant tables, etc. I wouldn't use it in my own kitchen. It is a great product to make something look super glossy with less labor. But for me it is too soft for a counter top and will scratch too easy and is harder to refinish. Polished concrete can be refinished with another coat of sealer and burnishing, which can be done at a fraction the time and cost.

Polished concrete is akin to granite while the "marine self leveling resin" is closer to plexiglass. Your pick

I think that your contractor was probably going to do minimal preparation with acid and maybe lite grinding then pour on the epoxy

 

[2004LB7]

How come when I quote someone it switches the "originally posted by" with the replyer? All my quotes in this thread are messed up

 

[TheBac]

How come when I quote someone it switches the "originally posted by" with the replyer? All my quotes in this thread are messed up

B/c you boneheads had an extra

in there the whole time. :roflmao: I fixed them all.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

Had HD Dave remodel my kitchen, of course I helped...

 

[WVRigrat05]

Had HD Dave remodel my kitchen, of course I helped...

How is Dave? Haven’t talked to him in forever

 

[2004LB7]

B/c you boneheads had an extra

in there the whole time. :roflmao: I fixed them all.

Haha, thanks

 

[Nathan.]

I am currently tearing down my deck for a rebuild. I am not very experienced with carpentry but the complete frame of my deck minus a couple 4x4 posts is all fine to reuse. I think the previous home owner built this deck because I have had a lot of little surprises along the way that just don't make any sense.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

How is Dave? Haven’t talked to him in forever

He is good, took him fishing on Tuesday. Nothing like a sunrise at 60 miles off the beach...

 

[tripleturbo]

What time do you go out fishing?? Must have been some good drinks based one the quality of the pictures lol

 

[Novak]

Yes I have. Basically just a clear epoxy that is laid down thick (relatively). You see it on bar tops and some restaurant tables, etc. I wouldn't use it in my own kitchen. It is a great product to make something look super glossy with less labor. But for me it is too soft for a counter top and will scratch too easy and is harder to refinish. Polished concrete can be refinished with another coat of sealer and burnishing, which can be done at a fraction the time and cost.

Polished concrete is akin to granite while the "marine self leveling resin" is closer to plexiglass. Your pick

I think that your contractor was probably going to do minimal preparation with acid and maybe lite grinding then pour on the epoxy

Let me get this farm house sink in and then I’ll PM you and build a shopping list! Gimme a couple weeks.
Thanks again! Probably saved me some scratch!!


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[six5creed]

This reminds me I need to get back on our bathroom remodel. Wife and I started out by just going to take out the tile around the tub that’s been there since 1952. Well we tore that out one Saturday and realized there is roughcut lumber on the walls so I tore all the walls out down to the roughcut. Got to thinking, wonder what’s under the Sheetrock on the ceiling? Yep, roughcut there too. Talked to a guy at church who owns a plumbing company and he said let me get you a new tub. I said nah I don’t want to mess with all that. Then realized our tub will stick out bad being so old so I ask him how much, brand new Kohler tub with 3 walls for free. Told the wife we’d be stupid not to do that. Picked up tub, tore old one out 4 days before sons 6th birthday party and 2 days later put new tub in and spent a day running all new plumbing. Had sons birthday party and haven’t touched it since. Did I mention we only have one bathroom and 2 small kids? Whew.

 

[2004LB7]

Let me get this farm house sink in and then I’ll PM you and build a shopping list! Gimme a couple weeks.
Thanks again! Probably saved me some scratch!

No problem. Take your time.

When you are ready, try and get some good photos of the counter and current finish of the surface. Then let me know what look you want and I see what I can come up with.