Remodeling the 1950′s bungalow

Last Updated on Tuesday, 5 July 2011 01:48 Written by admin Friday, 29 April 2011 09:26

Remodeling the 1950′s bungalow

There are so many of these 50′s bungalows that it seems the prime target for discussion. The 1950′s bungalow was what was built for the new families that were formed from all the returning service people from World War II. Of course these were the homes that the baby boomer’s were born into. These were built by the thousands to give Americans a place to live and grow their families. I live in Southern California and I do not know if there are as many of these across the nation but there are tens of thousands of these simple homes stretching across the Southland.

The 50′s bungalow, come to think of it they do call it the California Bungalow are marked by 1 bathroom, small closets, small doorways and very small simple kitchens. They usually had a single family/living room with a small dining area in the kitchen. Most of these have a simple lateral gable with wood siding and shingled roof.

It’s hard to know where to start but of course form follows function so we need to start with structural issues then move into the fun stuff like cosmetics and innovations. So as much as we hate to say it – we need to start with the termite inspection repair and treatment. I actually like to get homes fully tented the whole orange oil thing never set well with me. Tent the home and gas it! When you tent and gas you kill everything – not a bad way to go – all spiders, little bugs, bed bugs – you name all dead. So now at least we will be the only ones living in the home. Now you need to find the parts that the little critters have eaten you replace the wood. If it is in a stud in the wall make certain you tie it into the structure of the home in order to maintain the structural integrity of the home. Floors, eaves, etc – they all need to be fixed repaired and replaced. You DO NOT need a termite guy to do the repairs – simply replace the eaten wood with new wood and nail it all together – piece of cake and a lot cheaper than paying the so called “experts”.
Personally this is how I do the home – I will go into a general overview and then in later posts cover more detail of each improvement.
Rip It Out! – OK first I tear out all old interior doors, cabinets, toilets, crummy tile flooring, door casings, windows, old style baseboard, old carpet, pretty much everything. Rip it all out and now you have a bare shell. Next I put in the windows. Make certain you are complying with the EPA lead rules. Put in new windows – this is a total WIN! New windows are not too expensive – about $140 per window for good ones. I frame them in with plain drywall – no need to add all the extra trim and molding. If you are trying to do a fancy remodel then do the extra trim but it is not necessary – tie the windows in with drywall. You will save about an extra $20 per window. And that’s materials only not labor.
Now I put in new pre-hung doors and drywall and tape all the new drywall. So patch holes, tape the window trim, and tape the door casings. Now texture the whole home. What you say? Texture the home? Yes you need to texture the whole home. It is very important because nothing makes the home nicer than if you spend the money to texture the whole place – it is worth so much to the remodel – you will thank me later. Now paint everything! One color is fine and paint the doors too – spray it all.
Now look around. You have done a lot and the whole home is fresh. All bugs dead. All defects in the walls covered with the texture. This is a tremendous trick and a total win for your project. I know I already said that but so many people skip the textured that they are crazy – do it one time and you never skip it again.
Now lets start putting in the extra elements. How about the bathroom. Throw in a vanity with granite top and built in sink. Put up the mirror above the vanity, new exhaust fan, and 8” faucet into the vanity. Buy one of those lowes toilet set kits that have the entire toilet, wax ring, etc all included. You do not need to but it does not cost much to tile the whole shower. Leave the tub and just tile the shower walls. If you do not know how attend a lowes do it yourself training – learn to tile and you will be saving money forever on all your re-habs. Add a towel holder toilet paper holder kit and you have completed the bathroom. Of I almost forgot – add a $30 light above the vanity and you are done! Having trouble matching colors? Just check in with a lowes customer service representative and they usually can help.

Now the kitchen. It’s simple really. Pull together a total order list for the kitchen cabinetry and use you lowes coupon. It should cost you less than $2,500 for a total kitchen cabinets assuming the kitchen is not too large. Do not be fooled into buying high end anything – it is not usually worth it unless you are in a million dollar area – the basics will make the home look more than worth the re-hab.
Think about the utter simplicity of it all. And you can do all of this, even hire it out for usually under $15,000 – and that is with quality materials and a decent contractor. Total renovation of the Californian Bungalow for around $15K – think it cannot be done? Use that Lowes Coupon and go for it – I think you can do it. $2,500 for the bathroom. $7,000 for the kitchen. $1,500 for the paint and texture. $4,000 for all the fixtures etc – you can do it and probably for even less especially with a lowes coupons. A remodeled home usually goes for much more than a $15K premium.
Soon we will go into more details on how to do each part.

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Walk Through With New Home Owners – using that lowes coupon for all it’s worth!

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 July 2010 03:06 Written by admin Thursday, 15 July 2010 03:06

I have been thinking a lot lately about all the money I spend at Lowes and how I rarely use a Lowes Coupon unless I am legitimately helping someone that has recently moved. Because it is my business to remodel, do additions, etc I run into a lot of different situations. I was thinking about first the money I spend with the people just moving and really they come into two categories.
The first is the person moving into a relatively turn key home. This person can do everything on a single lowes coupon if we plan right because they rarely are spending more than $5,000. While it is not uncommon for us to pick up a new refrigerator the rest of the purchases are usually personal touches when dealing with this turn key home buyer and really all of these personal touches are fun to buy with the homeowner. First we go through their new home and take an inventory. We talk about what it would be like to use each room. The living room, where to put couches, lighting, ceiling fans and throw rugs. The bedroom where to put a new tv jack, mirror on closet doors, ceiling fans, window locks. The kitchen we talk about towel holders, cabinet storage solutions, pot and pan racks, new built in appliances etc. It is really a fun part of my job because when we do it right and inexpensively using ever trick in the book including yes a lowes coupon we can do a lot to a home for not too much money. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We also go into the bathroom and yes I have them sit on the toilet, lid closed of course, to get an idea of if they like the toilet paper holder, if they fit (yes it is an issue in some smaller bathrooms), lighting, exhaust fans etc. I know you are thinking all of this takes a lot of effort but really in this slower economy it allows me for a minimal amount of money to put a couple workers to work for a few days and it produces a little in income.
After we do the interior we then go outside and discuss things like gardening, lighting, security, and entertaining. There is a lot you do in a new home and if you are only working from a single lowes coupon you need to put it all on one tab. It is amazing to me how many turn key home buyers do not even own a lawn mower and yet they tell me all the time that a. they were not planning to hire a gardener and b. they never thought about it. We then have to discuss storage of the equipment and if they need a shed or not.
What’s fun about lowes home improvement is they carry everything. Yes I know the other guys do too but really, they may have every specific screw, but lowes has a larger variety of of nicer looking décor items. Anyhow I digress. We were discussing the aspects of the exterior walk through with the new homeowner. What many people do not think about is concrete aka known as a patio. It is relatively inexpensive to add space to a patio are to improve the entertaining experience. It is also time to discuss an enclosed porch area or maybe parts that are set apart from the landscaping. Like maybe a path to an area that holds a gazebo or something of the like. I think you are getting the idea. In later posts I will get into much more detail how, beyond a simple lowes coupon, which I know is the obsession at this site, but into greater detail on how to do all these improvements for a very low cost. But for now we are finished with the turn key home buyer walk through. As you can see a turn key homeowner is really oftentimes focused on many of the finer touches that personalize the home and bring everything into a much more “home” feel rather than just moving into someone else’s “house”.
For the non turn key home we have a lot more on our minds than just the “finer touches” we have the big stuff in mind. Now as you all know we are a licensed contractor but do not be afraid – everything I discuss, well almost everything, can be tackled by the astute DIY homeowner. Just thing about what I am pointing out and then take on one thing at a time. The Lowes customer service is great and they will help you, show you, assist you – as I have posted in other posts – they are really great. Go to their training DIY seminars and you will see what I mean first hand. Now I cannot emphasize enough – unless you are really good at things – tackle one thing at a time. There is no benefit to starting 10 improvements and not finishing any of them. Start 1 thing and take it through until it is done then move to the next. If you home is in serious need of a lot of work – take it from me. If you can afford it live in a hotel or keep you old rental home until the repairs are done. If you cannot afford it, and I know this sounds bad and I am sorry, but let your wife and family stay with in-laws during the major work. Living in a home being remodeled especially if everything is in poor shape puts a lot of stress on the family. Get the basics done first the move the family in.
OK the walk through. For the most part when dealing with a home that needs some serious work and is not “turn-key” I focus on making it fresh and clean. What I mean by this… well you will see. Paint is the number 1 improvement. If the home is an entry level home and has old plaster walls consider texturing them then painting. I know many people enjoy plaster walls and smooth wall but an entry level home can look modern, fresh, and clean simply by texturing all the walls, using a good killz based primer, then a good quality paint for the final coat. Painting is somewhat cheap. Using cheap paint is not smart and not cheap. If you are doing it yourself, trust me, spend the extra few bucks for good paint – use your lowes coupon – but spend the extra. Good paint is much easier to work with than cheap paint. Texturing takes a professional. Trust me. If you know someone that does texturing then buy him a pizza and rent the machine from lowes that does the texturing. A whole home takes more than just the sprayer with hopper on top – rent the stand alone machine with the hoses – its less than $100 and you can texture a whole smaller home in 1 day. There is no single improvement that makes a home look better than the texture and the paint.
The next is flooring. If you can afford tile – Great! Even DIY tile jobs are not difficult if you take your time – but do not rush either. Putting down linoleum in the bathrooms and kitchen is fine for starters. Remember you can always do tile later -t he goal up front is to get the home livable. Do not think “its better to do nothing then tile later – why do it twice” do not fall into this mentality – it almost ruined my marriage because we never had enough money. Just get that floor covered with a good looking lino – its livable and really it looks great!. For the rest of the home just carpet it. If you can afford wood laminate and love it then fine – but really I do not understand the obsession with tile and laminates – a great carpet is just that – great. Livable, soft etc. I know that many moms think its hard to clean – but just control your children and wash your pets. Carpet is a great starter and it’s fairly cheap. If you do not think so just remember you are doing a smaller entry level home. Go to a remnant store.
Well that’s it for this post. Sorry I did not finish the non turn key home – maybe next time. If you email me I will get to it sooner than if you wait for me. But either way I should get it done in the next day or so.

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