LVP, Luxury Vinyl plank flooring, Smartcore Floor install, Is the Cost Worth it? mobile home diy upgrade

Is the cost worth it?   I will have to say yes.  The blue peel and stick that was 10 years past its life cycle was coming up and chipping.  A wheel chair , dogs and shoes are not easy on flooring and it showed.  It served its purpose it was affordable when there was not a budget for it.

We choose Smartcore in Shady pine.  It is available at Lowes and you will most likely have to order it, it seems to be popular.  We covered about 1600 sq. feet. (I will pause while you do the math) The flooring is water proof and if you get a scratch in it you just buff it out with a magic eraser.  Mr. RTI suggest that you get a good flooring tool set that fits the profile of your floor. Use the wall spacers. A good rubber mallet and knee pads will save your knees and time.  Go in the same direction (as recommended by the instructions) and stagger your joints.  Make sure that you rest the block above the grove not in it or you will break the edge.  You tube Videos were most helpful!  

Correct

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It took a little time and in between stages we taped the floor edges with painters tape and run scrap pieces along the edge not to break it.

I did not think we were ever going to get it finished!

MR RTI does amazing work.  He laid every piece of this flooring!

 

IT was worth every penny!  A major investment in our home and one that when installed correctly will last for a long time.  To clean this floor I use a gentle cleaner and warm water or a little vinegar with a small quirt of dawn in the spin mop bucket.  It is recommended to not use a steam cleaner on it and I will assume heat will warp the vinyl.  It is easy to keep clean and water proof (we have tested it).   We did a good bit of research and read a lot of reviews before making this purchase and I recommend, if you are thinking of taking the plunge, to also do your research.  It was a huge part of our on going renovation and one that has hit the budget pretty hard but in the long run a great investment.

God Bless,

Sheryl

 

The kitchen facelift has begun! Phase 3 remodeling a Mobile Home Kitchen

We are still on a remodel Journey...and have made some drastic changes here.  You can see the transformation HERE.  But..today's post is to share with you a partial remodel of the Kitchen.  

What a mess...and it has been this way well for about 15 years.  there was a large useless built in pantry and a breakfast nook .  With a growing wheel chair in the house the nook was just wasted space...

.. not very efficient..I prepped food on a 24 x 22 inch space for years....

Also there were large windows to deal with. 

This was a two part ordeal.  First we addressed the windows.  Luckily when we added the porch (you can read about it here)  we saved the vinyl siding.  One less purchase.  Handy Hubby pulled the large windows out and replaced them with efficient slide sliders....and the change was shocking!  Wow !

Insulation added.

However your could really tell a difference in the efficiency!  The temps were reaching above a 100 degrees under that pergola....and the windows were cool.  These will pay us back...and only 10 more windows to go...to complete the house.

The saved vinyl worked beautifully...

I think HH out did himself yet again....a nice Job.

It was a exciting day when these arrived!

We selected the Hampton Bay brand of prefab cabinets... It took 5 we needed to make a 10 foot run, leaving roughly two feet on the end for a cabinet.    The three with two 8.5 inch deep drawers and a utensil top drawer we had to order .  The two stock cabinets with single drawer with cabinet bottoms we picked up at the store.  

Demo has started!

The small cabinet came out and the modge podge was moved or rolled somewhere else temporarily

We decided to put the cabinet doors on each end and line the drawer units up in the middle..they were leveled and attached to the walls....

We were off to Home Depot to pick up the counter top.  While in the store HH noticed that the lip on the counter top was low enough to to prevent the drawers from opening.  We chose a Hampton Bay counter top and assumed that it would just drop on top.  Also if you look closely there are no brackets in the corners that you would use to attach your counter top.  Can you Believe that the Home Depot Associate had no idea where you could get those!  I am Shocked NOT !

The Solution was to use 1 x 3 inch boards to shim the top and attach to the cabinets.  They lifted the the counter top enough to make sure the drawers would open.

With the counter top on we were ready to install the cup pulls.  I choose a rubbed oil bronze in a simple design.  There were 9 cup pulls and two door pulls.  A lot of drilling....

To make the Job easier HH made a jig that would sit on the corner of the drawer and you could mark where you needed to drill the holes.  

It worked like a charm made the installation a lot quicker. 

We installed bead board on the wall and eventually will make our way around. HH installed a led light bar over the prep area ..Very Nice!

The kick board or base board is in the shop waiting to get a coat of paint.  But until then....I am loving the extra space.  The clock works..and is actually a wine bar.  We use it for unique storage ....I will post on the upgrade on this Yard sale find in a later post.  This was not a top of the line upgrade.  Everything we used was a stock item or prefab.  It is very "doable" !  

Glad that you came by I am off ..Those tomatoes will not put themselves up!  

Sheryl

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