2 DIY Ways to Refinish Hardwood Floors (Without Sanding)
Your property’s hardwood floors can take quite a beating. This may be due to tenant turnover (since they move furniture), usual wear and tear, or perhaps even because of pets. In any case, the once-sparkling hardwood flooring in your property may need a touch-up. In this post, we’ll be discussing 2 of the best DIY methods to refresh your flooring without having to deal with the expense and mess of sanding. Using a Chemical Abrasion Kit 1. Clear and Clean the Room Before you begin, make sure that you have removed all partial fixtures and furnishings, including shelves, curtains, and even doors that come in the way. After doing so, clean your hardwood floors with a damp cloth so that all the grime and dust are cleared up. 2. Apply the Chemical and Begin Scrubbing Get hold of the abrasive pad included in the abrasion kit and then carefully pour the chemical to a 4 x 4 section of floor. Using your abrasion pad, scrub firmly over the section and move on to the next. Make sure you prevent spills and puddles because doing so could cause them to seep into the floor. Once you’re done with the entire area, the floor shouldn’t be entirely dry. Instead, a thin film of the chemical should work perfectly. 3. Clean Again After allowing your floor to dry for 30-minutes, mix 2-tablespoons of dishwashing liquid into warm water and then mop over the floor to neutralize the chemical residue. Try to moderately dampen your mop so as to avoid forming clean-up puddles and causing water damage. 4. Touch-Up Deep Scratches Next, get hold of a cotton swab or an artist paintbrush and apply a matching stain inside deeper scratches. Feather over the strain to make sure it blends with your floor, and then dry it up with a hairdryer. 5. Coat the New Finish Before coating your floor, try to plan how you’ll apply the finish, so you don’t get backed up into a corner with nowhere to go. Start by moving along the grain of the floor and make sure not to form any puddles while doing so. Buffing and Polyurethane for Recoating 1. Rent a Buffer Head over to a home improvement store and rent a buffer. It may be a little expensive, but it’s definitely worth the cost. 2. Clean-Up Again, make sure the room is empty and your floors are free from dust or gunk. Also, while cleaning, pay attention to areas that have stripped finishes, dents or deep scratches. 3. Address the Deeper Scratches If you found deep scratches, douse these with mineral spirits (works for lightly-colored floors). Alternatively, you can use a cotton swab or paintbrush to apply a stain that matches your hardwood flooring. 4. Turn the Buffer On For this part of your DIY project, you will require some sanding screens. After your floor has been cleaned up, place a sanding screen under your rental buffer (ask for a tutorial at your home improvement store). It is also important to mention here that sanding screens typically wear out after about 10 to 15 minutes of use. This is why you should keep checking the screen for a buildup of grit, as this will scratch your floor. Now turn your buffer on and move it back and forth from wall to wall and work your way around the room so that you don’t back yourself into a corner or pass over the wood more than you have to. 5. Finish Up After thoroughly vacuuming the room for dust, use oil-based or water-based polyurethane, depending on the type of hardwood floors you’re dealing with. Next, use a high quality paintbrush to apply the finish from wall to wall before using an applicator pad attached to a broom to spread the finish in the direction of the grain. Final Words When it comes to DIY renovation of hardwood flooring, make sure that you consult the experts before going at it on your own. Try to consult a sales representative at the hardware store, a fellow property manager, or a contractor to find out what is best for your needs. In doing so, you will save a lot of time, energy and money. Good luck! – Jivko Stefanov GoodJuJu
How to Prepare Yourself For a Real Estate Audit
Managing a rental property can be a pain in the backside, especially if you’re expecting a real estate audit. Instead of dreading that Godawful date, what you need to do is to make sure your property complies with regulations and strict accounting standards. In short – you need to get audit-ready. What Do Real Estate Auditors Look For? To put it simple, your auditors will look for accountability and accuracy. Don’t mistake their painstaking process for hostility because they will never try to trick you on purpose. What’s more, a real estate audit never has a pass/fail outcome. In reality, a real estate audit only tries to streamline your business practices based on state and federal regulations. In other words, they try to make your real estate business legitimate for the benefit of your investors, partners or tenants. When Can You Expect a Real Estate Audit? Depending on where your rental property is located, you will need to be audit-ready in order to be able to provide monthly reports and accountability check-ins. In contrast, some areas may be subject to random audits or when someone files a complaint against the property. If you can’t seem to find any clear audit schedule for your neighborhood, this does not mean that you are immune to unexpected visits. You see, even the IRS may request your banking documentation and financial records for an audit. By Getting Audit-Ready You Will… Feel a lot less anxious about the audit Make the process easier and painless Be more aligned with state and federal regulations Have up-to-date accounting records Be prepared for annual tax reporting Reduce legal and financial risks How to Prepare for an Audit 1. Dedicate Your Spare Time to Data-Entry and Analysis Prepare accounting statements and analyze your entries whenever you find time to spare from the office or household chores. Of course, if you’re concerned about the shortage of time, you might have to manage office hours in a manner that you can prioritize data-entry accordingly. 2. Don’t Take Shortcuts It might seem like a good idea to skip some details, but don’t expect your real-estate auditors to be as forgiving. What you need is an accounting software that summarizes your accounts with brutal detail and splits them into memos, invoice numbers, transactions, and document checks. Once you get a hang of the software, all you need to do is enter quantities and, perhaps, notes alongside each transaction to annotate correspondences or phone conversations. You can also use some rental property accounting softwares to set reminders to update your compliance documentation and business licenses. 3. Don’t Get Too Creative The only things you accounting software should help you summarize are: Rental property transactions Tenants moving in and out The receipt and returns of security deposits Proof of transactions. 4. Conduct Your Own Audits In doing so, you might come across accounting errors or problems in business documentation and licenses. To help streamline your own in-house audit, you should implement bank reconciliations, review your documents and always check-off what you’ve audited in a checklist. 5. Focus on Transparency Transparency helps reduce the signs of clear mismanagement, fraud or commingling. By adding more transparency into your accounts, your auditors will be satisfied with the degree of detail and accuracy in your ledgers. Need Assistance? You can always hire an experienced property manager, to streamline your tasks for you. By hiring a property manager, your real-estate business will be audit-ready in no time and all you will need to do is make all the decisions or follow-up on their activities whenever your schedule allows you to. – Jivko Stefanov GoodJuJu