Just built a new house.....

a couple of years ago and my husband and I did several different things throughout the floors in the house.  The living room is hardwood floor.  It looks really nice but it does tend to show dust more than linoleum or tile would.  Our kitchen is next to the living room and we tiled the kitchen.  It doesn't look tacky next to each other.

I would go for linoleum in the kitchen for several reasons actually.  If you get water on the hardwood floor and it soaks in between the joints of the hardwood floor, it will swell and you will start to get some creeks in the floor.  I think linoleum would hold up really well with all the spills that happen in a kitchen. 

My husband and I actually went to a flooring place and looked at their back room of tile that was discontinued.  Not only did we get really nice tile but we got it a heck of a lot cheaper because that tile was discontinued.  I love our tile.  We have it in the dining room, kitchen, foyer, and all the bathrooms.  We have carpet in all the bedrooms and we have hardwood floor in the living room.

The hardwood floor, however, will add more value to your home than linoleum and that same goes for tile.

• Need opinion on hardwood floor vs linoleum - new flooring
  • Ok, for you people talking about linoleum... - Me
    • Sorry dear but your wrong - - sm
      • I agree with the post above, some lino is wonderful sm - Pick me!
  • Just built a new house..... - Chele
  • Hardwood in the kitchen...... - sm
    • OMG! I hadn't even thought of that! nm - new flooring
  • We have cherry wood floors next to lighter - ceramic tile kitchen floors......nm
  • We're getting new flooring, too - mtroadie
    • Thanks so much for your post--you have me so much to think about! sm - new flooring
    • dust bunnies - annabanana
      • I feel the same way about the dust bunnies. - sm
  • Recently we did a non-stick linoleum and I - sm
    • That is a good idea--take it for a test drive. ;-) nm - new flooring
      • Flooring - happycamper
  • Try laminate flooring sm - vtmt
  • Carry the hardwood into the kitchen! - annabanana
    • I second that. I love my hardwood floors (sm) - bmc
      • So many good ideas...sm - new flooring

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

Therefore there is nothing to compare it to. I don't know how they came up with the $200+ initially. But since the natural gas bill rarely runs more than $30-40 per month even in winter, I am not going to do averaging on it again, even after the 12-month period is up.

It's worth it for the electricity because it runs around $100 a month with averaging and it goes up and down a lot more. I live in Oklahoma and it can get as high as 100 degrees plus in the summer, and down to zero or below in the winter.

We lived in a modular, what some would call a 'double-wide', for about 8 years, and while it was by no means what one would call a trailer, neither was it as sound as a site built house.  It was a great starter home, but there were a couple of things about it that anyone looking to buy a modular should be aware of.  The first thing is that resale on modulars/manufactured homes is not as brisk (at least in my part of the country) as a regular, site-built home.  We ended up selling ours via land contract.  The second thing to be aware of is that these homes off-gas.  If you move into a new house, there is going to be a smell associated with that new construction but in a manufactured home, because of the way they are built, on an assembly line, some things are done differently than in a traditional house.  There is a lot of formaldehyde used in the construction of these homes. 

Heating and ventilation are other things to be concerned about, as well as insulation, and what type of foundation to put underneath the home.  My suggestion is that if you go with a modular/manufactured home, go with a full slab. 

As far as settling goes, any house is going to settle.  If the home is set up properly the settling will be held to a minimum, but if it isn't done well, the settling will be more obvious.  I would check with the BBB where you are looking to buy and see if there are any complaints on file with them re: the company/ies you are looking at. 

Another thing to consider:  Where are you putting this home? Many subdivisions have regulations against modular homes of any type, including the one we moved into.  These people (small subdivision) freaked out completely when they found out we were building a house in THEIR subd. and that we lived in a modular at the time.  I guess they thought the trailer trash was coming to town...let's just not go there. 

We were able to go through a service where we hired a consultant who is a licensed builder to guide us through the process, and we actually did the general contracting ourselves.  We managed to save a significant amount of money in the process, and while there were very stressful times we managed it well and are extremely pleased with the results.  While we are not what could be considered tree huggers, we did want to build a house that was more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.  There are several ways to do that, and it really is so much simpler than you may think.  We just moved in about a month ago, and we do still have quite a bit to do, trim, paint, landscaping (we have a beyoootiful mud pit right now), but it is so very much worth it.

In any event, good luck with whatever you decide to do, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. 

HC

nearby, multiple relatively new retail buildings still have available space for rent or have been abandoned. 

you think she would have built the school for girls somewhere NEAR DARFUR where they are beyond poor.  The people in S. Africa have lots and lots of $$ and as a matter of fact, I read about Oprah's school there, that the kids there had their CELL phones taken away and that the rule is the parents cannot visit unless they get written permission from her school.  KIDS WHO HAVE CELLPHONES go to her school....HOW POOR ARE THESE CHILDREN, really....

get real please...........

in fair condition about 10 years ago, got into some medical problems, and have just now paid off the mortgage.  Hubby and I agreed we would do nothing to the house for remodeling because we wanted to pay it off first, then the medical bills.  I need to know of some websites/magazines/books to start researching for how to go about this.  These will be major repairs - roof, septic, basement, windows, pretty much everything except wiring.  Where do we start?  Maybe hire a general contractor just to do an evaluation and give us recommendations?  Hubby is a handyman but cant seem to get a handle on where to begin.  We would like to do as much of the work ourselves as possible - labor of love and all that...   

Thanks for any and all kind suggestions!

I definitely agree that she should take the dog inside, but if she absolutely refuses maybe you could buy her a well-insulated doghouse so at least the animal will have some protection from the cold.  Animals have survived cold temperatures for years, but they need a place that shelters them from the cold, and she needs to provide that for them!!

I feel for you - vegetarian here :)  One of the big reasons I lost respect for my ex-best friend was the way she treated her animals.  She was always buying dogs and cats and then leaving them at the pound or pawning them off on people.  It really made me think less of her, because what kind of person does that! She also won't admit she did anything wrong!  arrrrgh! It drives me crazy when people don't take proper care of their animals.  They are a big responsibility - not just a cute puppy to show off when it's convenient.  I hope your daughter straightens up, but again, if she doesn't I highly recommend purchasing a good doghouse for the poor dog!

Girls, has your hubby ever gotten you a "practical" gift that you did not appreciate?  This video will put a smile on your face!  Enjoy the lighthearted fun. 

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/video.aspx

I chuckled reading your post. I have 9 - yes 9 - cats, three of whom are kittens in the range of 7 months old.  I got them all about a week apart and they're each about a month apart in age.  They are refugees from the neighbors really bad decisions.

Nothing in the house is safe any more.  All of my bigger plants are now in hooks on the ceiling - the smaller plants were already there.  It looks silly, but it works.  There is nothing left on any flat surface.  It cracks me up when they get going and chasing each other.   My house is very cat friendly at this point.  I made the choice to put the good furniture in storage for now and I have washable furniture.   There are cat beds everywhere.  My office shelving unit is more cat bed than it is storage and I have 2 beds on the desk beside my computer.

Yes, I am the crazy cat lady. 

Rotel tomatos

Velveeta cheese

taco-seasoned ground beef

Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning (as in making tacos). Melt Velveeta and Rotel in microwave; add meat mixture. I transfer to a crockpot to keep it hot.  Serve with corn chips. This recipe is made with 1 lb ground beef, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1 small can Rotel, and half of a big block of Velveeta. Of course, you can vary it to the amount you need to serve.

the people who lived here before us had a rabbit that got out of the hutch and they couldn't get it back in, so it lived in our yard.  One nice warm evening I took our house cat out with me while I was outside.  I looked away for a minute and in the blink of an eye, the male rabbit was...um...having nonconsensual relations with my poor, terrified female cat.  I could not believe my eyes. Needless to say, my cat stayed in the house after that.  

My 16-year-old daughter was also smoking on and off since last summer.  When her dad actually caught her red-handed, she was grounded indefinitely - no phone or computer and no friends.  She had exercise-induced asthma as a child and I thought I had drilled it into her from little on up how stoopid (censor wouldn't let me spell it right)   smoking would be.  Not to mention that my parents both smoked and mom has severe asthma and dad has the start of emphysema as well as many other health problems. 

Anyway, she started again and finally, I went through her purse and found 2 packs of cigarettes, which I took and she was grounded from seeing the boyfriend, which was far worse than the phone, I think.  She threw a fit because her older brother also smoked in high school, but he was already 18, so not much we could really do about it.  She's only 17.  Plus the fact that she just started oral contraceptives and her doctor told her right to her face no smoking. 

But, I think we are on the right track at the moment.  Good luck to you because this sure isn't fun.