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check your local store, for in store pickup
Many variation of precast tiles can all be installed anywhere such as tile, precast fire place mantels or precast exterior window and door accents. Precast concrete steps or stairs, for instance are applied such as ceramic tile with thin set adhesives and grout. A masonry diamond grinder or skilsaw blade can cut with ease and prefit into place as a dry run.
Remove any loose or broken surface concrete or stucco to allow your precast concrete to bond as if its all one piece. After window was in place we also added some expanded wire for holding the grout and creating a bond reinforcement that wont crack. These precast stones need to be supported while the thin set dries for 24 hours. This is another fantastic way to accent the exterior finish for a better resale future value return on your investments.
Unfortunately for those in the process of selling their home, it’s not a seller’s market. It’s a buyer’s market. And, that means that home owners should be striving to gain an edge on other sellers. That may mean renovations, paint or applying some unique home decor ideas.
People shopping for homes often say eager home sellers overlook bathrooms. Redecorating or remodeling your bathroom will eventually pay off. Unfortunately, remodeling a bathroom usually requires a plumber, painter, and cabinet installer—and all these services cost money. A good bathroom remodel, however, can increase the price of a home by dozens of thousands of dollars. And many improvements, such as installing ceramic tile, are relatively easy for even the most inept handyman.
Tile over tile means exactly what it says, but in this case you’re going to sandwich a layer of radiant heating mats between the old and the new tile. Tile over tile is an easy way to avoid the mess associated with tearing up the old bathroom floor, but requires thorough planning.
Deflection:
Before you install a radiant heat mat over the old bathroom tile and install new tile over the mat, you should check the floor for deflection. This is the maximum amount the floor can move under the anticipated load (you). Ceramic tile is hard and will break or dislodge if the surface bends under the load. Here’s a simple test:
Stand in the middle of the bathroom floor and jump up and down. If the floor moves it has a deflection problem and is not a good candidate for tile over tile installation until you reinforce the sub-floor.
Avoid That Sinking Feeling:
Since you’re tiling over tile, you must plan in advance to avoid making the vanity, toilet and tub look like they’re “sinking” into the new floor.
Fortunately, many of the new radiant heating mats are no thicker than the depth of the mortar you would ordinarily apply for most tile installations. Combine this with a tile thickness of ¼ inch and the maximum elevation above the old floor would be only ½ inch.
One way to keep the bathroom fixtures from looking swallowed up by the new floor is to remove and reinstall the baseboard. Better yet, why not buy new baseboard tile to complement the new floor?
The raised height of the new floor will also require you to adjust the length of the door(s) and possibly install a new threshold.
Preparation:
Remove or re-attach broken tile pieces. If you remove them, wait until the floor has been sanded and thoroughly vacuumed before you fill the spaces with mortar.
If any of the tiles have checks wider than 1/8”, you should consider a crack isolation membrane. This membrane is a roll on product that you apply to the old tile. The membrane allows the new floor to move independently of the old.
Next, sand the old tile so the mortar has a good bonding surface. A belt sander would ensure a consistent bonding surface.
Please make sure you wear a face mask and safety glasses while sanding. The tiles may have been fired with toxic lead glaze.
After sanding, vacuum the tile and wipe down with an all purpose cleaner. Pay special attention to the areas untouched by the sander.
Installation:
Roll out the mats prefabricated to your specifications by the manufacturer. Some radiant systems, like Quickmat, are self-adhesive and require no mortar to secure them to the old tile floor.
If you’re re-tiling the only bathroom, keep a board and some scrap 2 x 4’s handy to protect the mats when the bathroom is being used.
Throughout the installation process, use a digital ohm meter to check the resistance of the heating mats. This will help you monitor the mats for short circuits.
Have your electrician connect the heating mats to the power source and install the thermostat. Depending on the local electrical inspection procedures, you might have to wait until the job is inspected before you start laying tile.
Trowel out the mortar over the mats. Some manufacturers recommend latex- modified or epoxy-modified mortar and grout instead of water-based multi-purpose adhesives. Mortar beds thicker than 3/8 inch should work fine for most systems; they just take slightly longer to heat up.
Since you won’t be covering the entire floor with heating mats, make sure the mortar applied over open areas, (under the toilet) is level with the mortar covered mats.
Don’t bang the trowel on the mat or heating wire to remove excess mortar from the trowel. This could sever the heating wire.
At this point, you would lay the tile. If you have no experience tiling, practice on your neighbor’s bathroom floor.
Fire It Up!
Your new radiant heated bathroom floor looks beautiful and you can’t wait to get warm feet. Go ahead, but only for 10 minutes. Don’t put the system into full operation until the mortar is fully cured. This can take up to four weeks. See why thorough planning is so important?
Tax foreclosures were once all the rage but with media attention on short sales and REO properties, they have recently fallen out of favor. Of course, among savvy real estate buyers and investors, nothing is “off the table” so it’s only fair to spend a bit of time… examining the pros and cons associated with each.
Tax Foreclosures are Not Tax Deed Sales
It’s important to differentiate between tax foreclosures, tax deed sales and other forms of government sponsored property sales. Tax foreclosures are typically the result of unpaid tax or other liens placed on the property (for example, unpaid income taxes). Tax deed sales are often the result of a homeowner failing to pay the local property taxes on a given parcel; after a period of time the taxes are paid by someone else (often an investor) with a guaranteed rate of return ranging from 5 to as high as 18 percent upon redemption. At some point and time in the future, if the original owner does not redeem the property and repay the prior property taxes plus interest, the property may eventually go up for auction.
Pros & Cons
Although tax foreclosure sales may sound simple enough, in reality they are often plagued by problems. For example, unlike short sales or REO properties, the buyer often assumes all prior liability for past due taxes when purchasing the property. Additional liens (including other forms of taxes, HOA fees, etc…) may add thousands to the purchase price of the property. Because the tax lien takes precedent over all other liens, a substantial sum may be required to obtain clear title and clear liens against the property. Remember, there is often a mortgage in addition to the back taxes owed.
Tax foreclosures can also be highly competitive; auctions often take place quarterly or once per month with extensive advertising used to attract maximum bidding. Pre-approval is necessary since closing typically takes place within 10 to 30 days after the auction. Bidders may conform to the dictates of the taxing authority rather than negotiate a closing based upon their own individual situation. Of course, the use of leverage, timing and other financial issues may significantly impact the individual rate of return for any type of real estate investment. Be sure to take all considerations into account before moving forward with a tax foreclosure sale.
Although both REO and tax foreclosed homes are typically sold in “as is” condition, the bank representative and others typically attempt to provide a thorough review of the property. Tax foreclosures should be extensively scrutinized prior to the sale in order to gain as much information as possible; it’s not unheard of for investors to believe they got a “great deal” and were the lowest bidder only to find out there were zoning irregularities, EPA restrictions or other major issues associated with the property.
Go to my-diy.net/contact-us/diy-reo-short-sales/ follow the instructions to leave an email and i will send you a FREE ticket to something very powerful and start today by making more $$$,$$$.$$ in one month than you ever thought was possible my friends!
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Look for more short sales coming in 2010.
#3. Commercial Real-Estate Collapse: The second
largest chain of malls has already declared
bankruptcy. Obligations needing refinancing
in the commercial market are in the trillions.
And most of them, even with positive cash flows, 
*Tile Flooring, ceramic and
are as underwater as residential mortgages. As vinyl tiles highly prevalent in commercial loans default and commercial
these businesses crash, they will cause even building’s and will see a huge
more unemployment. uptick in sales as TI’s will
consider this and control the marketplace..
look for more short sales coming in 2010.
#4. Loan modifications aren’t working. Unless
and until there is meaningful principal reduction,
most people getting a loan modification will stop
making their payments if they are $100,000+
upside down on their home. And there are A LOT
of people upside down. Look for lots of “jingle
mail,” where the homeowner just sends back the
keys.
Look for more short sales coming in 2010. But look
for a lot more buyers now that FHA has given the
green light.
Are you seeing a theme yet?
Look, you can either be a victim of this economy,
or you can swing it to your advantage by learning
the easy way to find and rapidly resell short
sales.
Yep, I said easy, because with our newly revised
Short Sales Riches system for 2010, it’s done for
you automatically. You just have to get the
machine started, then it runs on autopilot for you.
Basements aren’t always the most pleasant of workspaces, but remodeling them can lead to a tremendously rewarding sense of accomplishment. Part of the charm of basement remodeling comes from utilizing space you never knew you had. What looks like a dank and creaky cellar now can be transformed into an inviting living space – maybe even a game room for the family to enjoy.
Before you begin making room for that billiard table and endeavor to install vinyl flooring, consider a crucial feature that often goes overlooked: lighting. Especially important underground, where you’re less likely to implement skylights, the appropriate lighting can turn your basement into more than just a mysterious zone where the washer and dryer reside. Many experts suggest installing rows of small individual light sources above high-traffic zones such as a wet bar or the trusty pool table.
After contact has been established the home owner will have to hand write a “hardship letter” to the mortgage servicer. At this point in time it will be the first chance of getting an idea of what the condition of the home is in. Therefore the time to make the necessary mental judgement’s for any rehab or diy home improvements deemed your ROI, the lender will be best suited for you to hand over an estimate of repairs, included in the pre foreclosure package submitted to the loss mitigation department.
Depending on your team member, the Realtor can aide with a CMA, this will set the bar as to what your exit strategy will be and help you decide, whether or not a new ceramic tile kitchen floor will be applicable or just as well replacing the shabby existing linoleum flooring that needs attention.
On Thursday February 18, 2010, 5:31 pm EST
In any aspect of home repairing the article below hit the press this week and regardless of flooring, plumbing, siding or cabinetry in today”s market the new rich will overcome all the economic woe’s to live the life that we are all supposed to live. Get your DIY tip today and save again for that sunny day that’s just on the horizon.
The real estate crisis has gutted house prices, tipped millions into foreclosure, and rattled the global economy to its core. But for many would-be home buyers, the historic boom and bust have been a blessing in disguise. During the first half of the previous decade, easy credit and speculative excitement worked to make houses increasingly expensive. By the fourth quarter of 2005, median home prices had reached 2.77 times median household incomes. That is sharply higher than the 1.92 average of the 15 years ending in 2003 and too expensive for many families. But the subsequent crash in home prices–values have fallen roughly 30 percent at the national level from their 2006 peaks–has helped restore affordability to this once inflated market. By the third quarter of 2009, the price-to-income ratio–a key measure of housing affordability–had fallen below its 15-year average, to 1.84 for the nation as a whole.
When there is a will there is always a way for the DIY’er. Concrete mix [redi-mix] bags are sold in 90 lb bags, and there are like move your sleeping 13 year old, but with no handles. If you have a few bags to mix for that patio slab for instance, there is a great technique to facilitate this chore. Diy home improvements for your real estate portfolios. The object to save your back and ease the dumping process. All these types of jobs needs you to get the mix into your choice of mixing bin. IE, wheelbarrow/ electric mixer / bucket or whatever?
[A] 
The first step is to set and lay the bag of mix flat over a short piece of rebar, where the center of the bag will fold as you lift upwards on the rebar.[B] take a utility knife and cut the bag across the width [C] Now as you lift the rebar or halfing tool, the cement, ceramic tile grout or bag of mix, will split into half with the sides standing. The open tops set upright waiting for you to grab and dump into your mixing apparatus. The beauty lies in the fact that for an extra minute of work you’ll be able to continue this fun chore the whole entire day.
![builders level [common excavation use]](http://www.my-diy-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/thumbnail-5.jpg "builders level [common excavation use]")
Funny thing about this new age gizmo, laser levels are very accurate and can be extremely helpful in many area’s of home improvement projects. Being highly unlikely that any home, such as yours, is perfectly level. From the floor up to the ceilings, you will be surprised at exactly how far out of level most homes end up in the final escrow stages or purchasing ready product. Rather than fret though, the old saying is simply ” close enough”, and not to worry because the off kilter numbers in mention here is within a 1/4″ to 3/4″ of an inch, in eight feet. More importantly, there are some types of finish cabinetry work that better be within an 1/8″ inch for styles and margins to appear and function right.
Stanley makes a great laser level that shoots an awesome beam up to 60′ or so and will aide in many outdoor home improvements like a sweeping deck or masonry block wall, where the ends need to equal the whole by the time you adjoin the opposing sides from a distance. The down side is you have to level the laser in place for it to pivot and do its function’s. Which is said here because it can be a difficult and frustrating process. Every make or model of laser levels has good and not so good points to consider, so pick your poison.
![stanley laser [manual pre-leveling]](http://www.my-diy-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/thumbnail-4.jpg "stanley laser [manual pre-leveling]")
The other selection is a 4 AA battery operated laser level tool that is a gem but mostly for indoor usage. The sun tends to supersede the red laser light beam and you cannot make it work past 10 or 12 feet, because you cannot find the laser light to measure or mark, period. But the good feature on some of these is that if placed on a small flt surface [paint bucket] the self leveling adjust before, and then signals when it is ready. When storing from non usage remove the batteries, though.