[Michelle]

A very, very long story short. We just bought a house and we need to redo ALL the flooring on the first floor to add a subfloor instead of on the concrete slab to help with temperature control and moisture.

If we redo all of the floors, we should probably remodel the kitchen, master bathroom, and powder room as well because the footprint of the cabinets may not be the same.

If we wait we’d have to redo all the floors again in the not too far, but not too soon future which seems a waste.

We expected some costs needed after we moved in, but this was not the idea we had. At this point I’m expecting around $100k as a ball park estimate (taking into account the rising cost of products and labor in the current American political climate).

Since we have not found buried treasure yet, how is one supposed to pay for this?

We can’t be the first people that have had to make huge renovations on a house unexpectedly.

[Lucinda]

We bought two “fixer uppers” and saved a lot on their price (and therefore the monthly payment) over getting houses that didn’t need renovations. So, we used a home equity loan.

We just prioritized the most important jobs and lived with what we had until we could afford it.

In our current house we had to replace virtually all windows and doors, plus the roof and carpets.

We redid the kitchen about 18 months later, but the floor is a bit “off” due to a slightly different layout.

we just put area rugs over two places where it was most noticeable.

[Valerie]

I had something similar in an older house I purchased. In talking to an older contractor I learned that linoleum can serve as a moisture barrier and the extensive suggested rip out of floors was not necessary.

There is a difference between need and want. If the house truly needs these things, they should’ve been caught in inspection.

Live with things the way they are for at least a year and see if you can figure out workarounds.

[Jenny]

We took out a huge mortgage and kept $100K in the bank (for emergencies) when we bought our 1st house…

good thing as we had so many issues pop up that the house inspector didn’t know would happen (furnace died, pipe burst outside the house, garage door spring broke, carpenter ants, etc).

In your case I’d just do things slowly..whatever needs to be addressed urgently get done first.

We also got a HELOC on our house for emergencies.

[Deanna]

We bought a house 2 years ago. It’s an older 2 story house. We did expect it needed some fixing up like paint. Not 2 months after we moved in we discovered the septic tank was busted.

Our beautiful hard wood floors also started swelling and making huge humps.

We had to redo the entire bottom floor all the way to the ground.

It was then discovered that there was termite damage and new boards were place to cover up the damage.

None of this was found on our inspection. It has been a complete nightmare since we moved in. We had to take out a loan on our paid off vehicles and rv. It’s the only way we could have.

It also drained our savings.

[Marty]

Reach out to a local landlord association.. They have people that go there that are investor friendly contractors and they will be much cheaper than the bigger companies.

If you’re handy then do some of the work yourself and you’ll save a lot of money buying the materials yourself and paying someone for the labor.

I’d suggest keeping your kitchen cabinets, and bathroom fixtures to just put back into place on top of your new floors until you can have the funds to remodel those items.

You can sometimes find deals at Lowes or Home Depot on cabinets or flooring.

I bought all the cabinets for an entire kitchen remodel for $300 at Lowes one time.

They were like $20 a cabinet.

[Debbie]

We live in north Texas and have a concrete slab. Our house is 30 years old and needed updating. It’s been a 4 year process.

We did all the work ourselves except new carpet upstairs, had our cabinets painted and the trim outside.

We saved a ton of money. Floors done one room at a time. Good luck.

You will figure it out. We aren’t young either and lots of aches and pains along the way!

[Rudi]

Where do you live? Is that all a necessity? Did you get the information from an inspector?

[Pam]

I live in a slab house ( concrete floors- no basement) when I redid the house we painted the concrete with a moisture barrier paint and put down the other barriers the the flooring company recommended.

I would not use a wood subfloor over concrete as it will retain moisture and mold

[Becky]

It makes sense to at least lay subfloor in all of the rooms on that level at the same time, or even to do the flooring so its not up-down between rooms but I’d hold off on hard-core renovating. How much are you able to do on your own?

Perhaps you can pay a contractor to do the tear out, disposal & do the subfloor (whatever that treatment would be for a slab foundation) then you install the flooring over time as the budget allows. (Get a Lowe’s credit card & buy enough to do all of the “space” at one time like the other poster said.)

We’re in a similar situation but we’ve been here 30 years. I need to replace the kitchen floor and I want new carpet in the living room & all 3 bedrooms (or to refinish the hardwood that’s underneath).

I’d planned to remodel the main bath (rip out tile half walls & sheetrock & install new sheetrock/green board, shiplap, floor & a new shower surround) but that isn’t in the budget anymore since the heat pump died.

So, now I’m looking at paying for someone else to do the tear out & fix a soft spot by the back door & live with subfloor until we save enough for flooring.

I’m just glad we decided to keep the baseboard heat.

[Nicole]

You plan on moving your kitchen cabinetry around a lot? Appliances moved? Where do you live? Here in Minnesota where it’s regularly negative (-10 this morning) I would prioritize floors right away – it will save on energy bill.

If you will be pretty much just replacing cabinetry and appliances, standard cabinets are 24″ so you wouldn’t change any footprint.

Save extra flooring if you will be changing, a section will have to be pulled and redone, but that’s nothing compared to forking out all the money at once when you would have to finance.

This is assuming you are doing a vinyl type floor.

[Sarah]

Just don’t do it all at once. There’s a lot of hypotheticals in your comment. Do what you can afford and take a hard look to separate your needs from wants.

When we moved into our house, we had carpeting in the bathroom from the previous owner.

We lived with it until we could gut and remodel the entire bathroom in cash (it was also floor to ceiling wallpaper with outdated everything).

Frugal is delayed gratification and also not taking out debt or paying interest for something you can save up to tackle yourself!

The flooring on our main level also needs to be replaced, but we opted to tackle projects like replacing the 25 year old furnace and AC units instead.

[Francess]

‘We should probably remodel the kitchen, master bathroom, and powder room as well because the footprint of the cabinets may not be the same’.

cabinets in your kitchen do not need to match cabinets anywhere else.

that MAY be the case about the footprint. I would not ‘project’ this until I knew for sure.

this is a want not a need.
people do these projects over years or a decades. they pay for it when they are able to.

people offer LESS than the asking price for these types of major repairs so that the seller pays for the lions share if not all of the replacement costs.

now you have to fix this because they didn’t.

is your house going to be worth 100,000 more because of these fixes?
if not, id be rethinking these remodeling dreams.

[Mary]

For now I would put down rugs and get a good dehumidifier. Save for the renovations and do one room at a time after you have saved enough money.

[Cindy]

We live on a slab house I northern Indiana. We have never had any moisture issues. Some floors are carpeted, some have final planking, some have ceramic tile.

If you have moisture issues maybe some dehumidifiers would help until you can save up for your construction.

Just a thought.

[Barbara]

Must be a big house? Your “around 100K” figure may/may not be anywhere near correct.

Start there-get some bids. How fast can you save the needed money?

Doing the full remodel just may not be in the cards.

[Brian]

Just redo the flooring in the kitchen for now. Probably cost you a couple grand or less. Then really sit down and figure out if you want to change the cabinet/appliance foot print.

Chance are when you start looking, you will keep the foot print the same/similar.

Start saving for the $100k you think you will need.

The best way to Lu for the renovations is in cash.

[Cely]

See if you can get assistance with a grant. Break the project down in parts based on functionality not cosmetics.

I have never gotten a grant before.

[Tricia]

Normally I’d say HELOC, but you don’t have equity. Buy extra flooring in case your future renovations are not the same.
Did you have an inspection?

Have you talked with multiple contractors?

[Annette]

I believe where one puts their money is about priorities. One need save in column A to pay for column B. I lived in a construction zone for five years while renovating my first house.

For that matter, I have been living on subfloor in this house for four years.

We took out all the old nasty carpet and have not replaced the floor as yet.

The kitchen is brand new though, as is the HVAC system.

[Author]

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