Diary of a Home Renovation - Sometimes making do is good enough....

In order to close on our new home we were told a few things by our lender - the first of which was it would have to have usable flooring throughout the home. Well, somehow they let the fact that there was no carpeting slide upstairs, but the kitchen seemed to be another issue... If you remember, this was one of the scarier looking parts of our new home...

since this is where the fridge would go we were certain there was going to be damage to the subflooring and we would have to rip all of this out and have a big job on our hands. Instead we got lucky and found out that the previous owner had actually installed a layer of plywood and sticky tiles over the original subflooring and roll out vinyl floor. Per the inspection there was no real damage, which meant we had easy (and cheap) options available to us....

Now I will say that we plan on completely gutting the kitchen within the next 6 months and replacing the flooring with what we want was not on the list of fixing before closing - it would have been a waste of money since it would all be ripped out when we eventually gut the kitchen. Our goal was to get the room done inexpensively and make it last for 6 months....

This was our solution...

STICKY TILES! At 68 cents each we just couldn't go wrong. Here was the process for anyone who finds themselves in this same situation....

First we pulled up the second layer of plywood and sticky tiles in a nice neat square area. We then purchased and installed new plywood in that area. Adding two layers of sticky tiles (one to meet the height of the previous sticky tiles and then one to cover the entire flooring surface) we continued throughout the room making this the only part of the home that actually feels reasonably clean.

Now, I'm the first to admit that it is not particularly attractive but the idea was to do this as cheap as possible (entire room cost less than $90) and pass the appraisal.... Mission accomplished!

Tips & Techniques on sticky tiles.....

How to cut the tiles to fit when you can't use an entire square - turn the tile upside down and butt up against the wall you are trying to measure to. With a straight edge mark where the overhang on the tile is and using a razor knife score the tile along that mark. Bend the tile along the scoring and cut down that line. This is actually super easy. Remember that your tile will ultimately be upside down and backwards when you are scoring so pay attention to which side has the good edge.