Concrete Stained Floors Adds Character

I’m just curious as to what yours looks like compared to mine and how would you say its holding up? I’m still putting mine on the floors..If you have any advice as to how to make it last please let me know!

I need a good title, and more descriptive words to make this a better essay. I also realize I need transition sentences from paragraph to paragraph. Suggestions anyone? Here’s the essay:

The world around me began to fall silent. The crickets are chirping and the sun has set. The endless responsibility of mommy hood halts briefly as I take a moment to recuperate from the industrious day. My freshly washed comforter proved quite soothing with the aroma of just after the rain. I pulled it closer around me as the cool breeze from the air unit touched my skin. I can hear the faint echoes from my son’s TV trickling in from a couple rooms down.

As I lay in bed my mind started to wonder back to high school back before I had kids. My friends and I always liked to hang out and do spontaneous things. Once in a while we’d make a late night trip to Wal-Mart and get hair dye to do each other’s hair. I remember standing there for hours looking at the entire isle of hair color trying to decide. There were so many boxes to choose from. Then we’d drive back to my friend’s house, and mix up the ingredients and fill the air with the strong scent of the hair color. We’d take turns putting on the plastic, clear gloves and saturate each strand of each other’s hair. Of course we’d always have the sink, the floor, and the bath tub stained by the end of the night.

We also loved going to the local gas station that had a Simple Simon’s Pizza in it. We’d go there two to three times a week just to get the calzone. It was amazing. It had pizza crust that was folded over in a half moon shape that was filled with sausage, pepperoni, cheese and some type of sauce that was to die for. It had a tangy, but sweet, ranch like taste. The crust was buttered and topped with parmesan cheese and was just plain delicious.
But one of my favorite things to do was go out the river. We’d get buckled up and drive down the winding round and watch the landscape quickly change from town to a wooded area. Soon

enough, we’d come up to the old, but sturdy bridge and venture down left where the pavement turned to gravel. The gravel led down around the bridge to where you could park and get out seeing the river. It was stunning out there. There’d be the occasional litter out in the gravel but the cascading waters would just mesmerize you and the rest would fade out. I liked to walk down to the concrete stairs that led you right down to the water. I always kicked off my flip flops and stuck my feet in and felt the current rush between my toes. It was great, and an amazing place to go when you needed to get away and think. It was wonderful to go out and take pictures in. We all loved photography and loved to have a good time and take pictures out there. For a different feel we’d walk along the side path to go underneath the bridge where graffiti was scattered all along the concrete arch, making a beautiful artistic backdrop.

Thinking back, I miss a lot of how it used to be. There were so many great memories. There are so many things now that I can’t do that I could back then. But every time I look into my kid’s big gorgeous blue eyes and hear, “I love you mommy,” I wouldn’t trade one single second of it.

I’m trying to remove the tile adhesive from my concrete floor, because I would like to stain it. I’ve pulled up the tiles, and washed the floor, but the adhesive is still stuck on. I bought a bottle of Henry EasyRelease adhesive remover, but that didn’t work well at all. I’m not sure if that product is not very strong, or if I did it wrong. I diluted the solution as the instructions indicated, and then I used a sponge to apply the solution. I made sure that the cement was really wet (the solution was pooling up some), and left it for two hours. I checked on it periodically and it was still completely wet after one hour. I checked on it at the end of the two hours, and large portions had dried, but I didn’t have any more solution, so I couldn’t have applied more even if I had wanted to. I took a paint scraper and tried to scrape some of the adhesive off of a portion of the floor that was still wet, and the adhesive still was pretty stuck on. Did I just let the floor get too dry before scraping it? Or is adhesive always this difficult to remove? Do I need a different type of adhesive remover?

I’ve opened up a can of worms on my flooring project. We are planning on dying the concrete floor on the inside of our newly purchased home. Presently there is carpet and tile throughout. When we began removing the tile we found old cutback was glued throughout the house. Obviously there was vinyl floors at some time. I really don’t want to tile a whole house. How can I effectively remove this black stuff that is covering the concrete so that I can stain the concrete below? Appreciate all your help, thanks.

We have no idea why, but lately our laundry room and my bedroom have been flooding during rainstorms. It’s horrible. At least three inches of water. My bedroom carpet is stained and totally ruined, and our laundry room smells ridiculous. We have no idea what it is or why or how to fix it. Who does those kinds of repairs?
Also, that part of our house used to be a garage before the landlord turned it into a laundry room, bedroom, and living room. So there are concrete floors. I wasn’t sure if it’s that weeping floor thing or not.
Thanks!
P.S. – We just had our septic tank emptied – it’s not backing up.

We will not be able to prevent the water from entering, as we live too close to the river. Mother Nature controls the situation. We know we will have to pump the basement every few years. I would just like some input on flooring choices. I have heard that ceramic tiles can lift off, paint may not stay on, also concrete staining may not last and it is expensive and labor intensive for a DIY’er and vinyl flooring will also be a poor choice, as if even it still sticks, it can mold. I

Here’s the situation: My wife and I have been in the market for a home for about a year now. We currently rent a 50-plus year-old home with its fair share of problems and quirks. But hey, it’s only 0/month for three bedrooms and one teensy bathroom.

Last night, my father-in-law called saying he knew a guy selling a house down the road from our rent house. It was built in 1960, but the man selling it bought it last year and did a massive remodel. You can’t tell it’s the same house, honestly. He put in lots of work– we know, because we’ve driven by the place visiting family in the area regularly. Plus, our families know the owner/remodeler pretty well..

The home’s three bedrooms, two baths. Lots of character, including the refurbished original wood floors and tongue-in-groove ceilings in the living room and kitchen.

Cons:

1. The kitchen is smaller than our rent house, and much like our rent house, there’s no outlet for an exhaust hood over the range, which must be a standalone range/oven combo (because it’s not surrounded by cabinets to the left and right). I don’t want to drill into the beautiful ceiling if we get this place. Any ideas for a solution?

2. Original basement floors have been coated over in thick epoxy, but I can see some lumpiness near the concrete block support columns. I see no other evidence of significant foundation settling (no significant cracks in drywall, no cracks in the mortar joints of the basement’s block walls), so should I be concerned?

3. Not sure if the house was properly insulated. Want to know if there’s insulation in the exterior walls, but there’s no good way of knowing for sure– and if it’s there, not sure how well it’s holding up after 50 years. Does anyone have any idea how much blown-in wall insulation costs, just in case?

4. Central heat and air, while newly installed, looks like an older salvaged unit. The ducts underneath the house are fantastic, however. What would a new heat and air unit cost if this one turns out to be as old and inefficient as it looks?

5. Lacking closet space. Has anyone done any major decluttering when moving into an older home? I know people back then didn’t have the amount of STUFF we have now. In our current rent house (similar amount of closet space), we use all three bedroom closets just for our own belongings. I definitely want to pare that down to one closet. Any tips?

Pros:

1. Much higher workmanship quality than many newer houses we’ve looked at. The original builder/owner was a carpenter by trade. Very strong stuff.

2. Upstairs washer/dryer– a big improvement over our rent house’s basement laundry location.

3. Freshly painted, sheetrock walls and newly-stained crown molding, baseboards and trim work.

4. Better quality electric wiring and definitely better plumbing than most houses, even some much newer than this one, we’ve looked at. Completely new PVC piping, including the main septic exit pipe in the basement.

5. New windows and exterior doors– unlike our rent house, I couldn’t feel the cold wintry air coming in through these, nor was traffic noise as bad.

Neutral facts (things that are sorta good, sorta bad):

1. We’d be within a mile of several of our family members, both hers and mine. You can imagine how that might be both good and bad.

2. Would add about 10 miles per day to my wife’s commute– mine would stay roughly the same. We’d also have to drive further to get groceries, etc. More gasoline spending, but we like living in the country, so it’s a toss-up.

3. Asking price is more than some newer homes in our county (0,000.) Some newer homes of similar size can be had for the same amount, but many are in subdivisions (this one isn’t). We think we could probably offer ,000 and get the house. On a 30 year mortgage, our monthly house payment would be at least 0 more per month than our rent after taking taxes and insurance into account. Easily within our monthly budget ability, (we’ve been saving ,000 per month after paying rent, groceries, etc. as we built up our down payment savings). Spending more on housing each month vs. building personal equity?

4. The land: As my parents say, "They’re not making any more land nowadays," but it’s also more to pay taxes on and to take care of.

5. No garage area. I do a fair amount of automotive maintenance at home, so this is something I like having. However, this means that all of our basement space is usable for storage. Our rent house has a drive-under basement, which means we have to keep about half of it unused so we have space to pull in one of the vehicles for servicing.

So, if you read all of that– would you buy? Why or why not?

List of Shoddy Workmanship, Materiels and Warranties in my Stanley Martin Home (built in 2001/2002)

Multiple Virginia and International Building Code violations to include:
improper flashing and weep holes on brick exteriors and chimneys;
improper spacing behind brick veneer;
improper roof, dormer and bay window flashing and kick-outs;
Improper moisture barrier installation
these code violations result in rainwater leaking into the home (ceiling and walls) causing damage to carpets, walls, ceilings and wood trim – including mold (,700 in damages/repairs)
clothes dryer dryer exhaust ,mounted in utility room ceiling, exceeds vent distance to exterior of home; all dryer manufacturers recommend less than 8 feet to prevent fire
Water leaks in through roof-mounted gas fireplace vent during wind-blown rain weather conditions (you can hear the water dripping into the top of the fireplace)

Cheap/Improper Building Materiels:
Untreated soft pine or other unsuitable woods used for exterior windows and dormer trim on roof;
cheapest water heater used which failed after only five years old (0 dollars even though it was still covered by the heater warranty);
cheapest exterior paint was used that required repainting after 5 years (,600 to repaint and replace rotted wood);
cheapest air conditioner which fails to properly distribute to upper levels and keep the house comfortably cool during the Summer;
cheapest door hinges used which excrete a black powdery substance that discolors walls and stains carpets;
cheapest exterior door hardware/handles (brass finishes completely failed and rusted after 4 years) – 0 to replace
cheapest plumbing mixing valve installed above water heater; valves is completely corroded and leaking after only 5 years
plumbing backpressure relief valve/tank failed after four years (0); plumbing pipes "rattle" when water is turned on or off (toilets flushing, washing machine, etc)
cheapest light fixtures were used in bathrooms; plastic domes became "sealed" to the lighting fixture and unable to remove to change bulbs (0 to replace)

Improper Workmanship:
A Stanley Martin employee fell through my ceiling, into my family room, while climbing around in the attic;
multiple repairs for the same problem (four and five times) without actually fixing the problems;
PVC piping in the home was not primed before glueing which caused the A/C drain line to fail and ,300 worth of damage to wood floors, ceilings and walls (to include mold);
exteroir wood trim was not properly primed and painted;
exterior wood trim on dormers installed improperly butting directly against the surface of the roof (and the ends/joints were not primed or painted) causing wood rot and repair (0);
Stanley Martin refused to hire an engineer or architect to properly diagnise and repair the problems the right way (I hired my own 0)
The dryer exhaust pipe was improperly installed in the ceiling (so my flexible dry exhaust pipe runs from behind my dryer up to the ceiling – very unsightly)
Drywall installation extremely poor; drywall tape exposed and peeling away in multiple areas;
Stove fan is not vented to the outside (fan just blows smoke and fumes from stove into the kitchen)
None of the bare drywall walls were primed before painting
Concrete slabs were not properly leveled before installing wood floors (wood flooring has voids)
Upstairs guest bathtub was improperly installed/leveled and has cracked (0 to replace)

Unsatisfactory Warranty and Customer Care:
The home only came with a 1 year (all inclusive warranty) and a 10 year structural warranty; Stanley Martin should stand by their products and extend the 1 year to a 3 year all inclusive warranty
Warranties are not transferrable to subsequent owners (Stanley Martin should stand by their products and extend the warranties to subsequent owners)
Stanley Martin Warranty group insists that water intrusion is not a structural warranty issue and not covered by the 10 year part of the warranty; a professional will tell you that water causes significant structural damage to wood frames, mold and wood destroying insects (all of which will result in structural failure)
Check out all the other issues with Stanley Martin homes and Belmont Bay community below. You are not alone!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080924164344AAxke6E

http://www.brambletonian.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=913&st=0&gopid=187669&#entry187669

http://groups.google.com/group/rwi-consultants?hl=en

http://marviniavecchia.spaces.live.com/blog/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/leakingbelmontbayhomes/

http://www.hobb.org/index.php