I mentioned that I was over at my friend’s house for Thanksgiving. Well she has the most beautiful wood flooring in her dining room. And her dining room is rather huge. The problem is that my friend doesn’t mind that the floor is getting all scratched and scuffed. She says she’s not going to do anything with it until her kids grow up and move out. Her youngest is 6.
Now, my mother-in-law is a realtor, so I’ve become rather aware of all the ways a house can gain and/or lose in value. One very valuable part of a house is the wood floors. Wood floors add quite a bit of money to the house. Even if you don’t plan on selling ever, the value of your house adds to your wealth, right? So why not take care of the investment anyway? That’s the way I look at it. I feel like my house is the most valuable material thing I own (aside from it’s overall worth as my home) and I want to take care of it. So, I don’t really understand it when people just shrug off basic maintenance for a later time.
Why not teach the children to take better care of the floor? That way when they do move out the damage won’t be quite so severe. I can’t imagine what it’ll cost to refinish that floor– as lovely as it is– in 12 years when the last child has finally flown the coop. What kind of damage is going to be done by then and will she be able to restore it so that it once again looks like it does now?
My sister and her husband have the same philosophy as my friend. They just shrug it off and wait for later. I don’t get that attitude either. It’d be one thing if they couldn’t afford to maintain their homes, but both families can very well afford it. Nope, they just don’t see the point in doing it right now when the kids can mess it up some more. I figure “Fix the small stuff before it gets too big” but that’s just me.
Grump and I spent a few hours washing and waxing (with wood wax?) the woodwork in our kitchen this past weekend. We don’t have wood flooring, so we couldn’t do that. But there were scuffs and marks from the kids on the woodwork anyway, and we did what we could to fix it up a little. It looks really nice. Not only that, but later we won’t have to have it all replaced because it’s destroyed and beyond repair. Keeping it up now saves a lot more money and headaches than waiting, I think.
Our next project is going to be oiling hinges and replacing door knobs. Woo! I know it sounds rather bland, but every little thing helps. Our home is our biggest investment and we want to keep it up. I can’t imagine waiting until my kids moved out to take care of the little things. But that’s just me.
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Lizzie on AC
Maintain Now
I mentioned that I was over at my friend’s house for Thanksgiving. Well she has the most beautiful wood flooring in her dining room. And her dining room is rather huge. The problem is that my friend doesn’t mind that the floor is getting all scratched and scuffed. She says she’s not going to do anything with it until her kids grow up and move out. Her youngest is 6.
Now, my mother-in-law is a realtor, so I’ve become rather aware of all the ways a house can gain and/or lose in value. One very valuable part of a house is the wood floors. Wood floors add quite a bit of money to the house. Even if you don’t plan on selling ever, the value of your house adds to your wealth, right? So why not take care of the investment anyway? That’s the way I look at it. I feel like my house is the most valuable material thing I own (aside from it’s overall worth as my home) and I want to take care of it. So, I don’t really understand it when people just shrug off basic maintenance for a later time.
Why not teach the children to take better care of the floor? That way when they do move out the damage won’t be quite so severe. I can’t imagine what it’ll cost to refinish that floor– as lovely as it is– in 12 years when the last child has finally flown the coop. What kind of damage is going to be done by then and will she be able to restore it so that it once again looks like it does now?
My sister and her husband have the same philosophy as my friend. They just shrug it off and wait for later. I don’t get that attitude either. It’d be one thing if they couldn’t afford to maintain their homes, but both families can very well afford it. Nope, they just don’t see the point in doing it right now when the kids can mess it up some more. I figure “Fix the small stuff before it gets too big” but that’s just me.
Grump and I spent a few hours washing and waxing (with wood wax?) the woodwork in our kitchen this past weekend. We don’t have wood flooring, so we couldn’t do that. But there were scuffs and marks from the kids on the woodwork anyway, and we did what we could to fix it up a little. It looks really nice. Not only that, but later we won’t have to have it all replaced because it’s destroyed and beyond repair. Keeping it up now saves a lot more money and headaches than waiting, I think.
Our next project is going to be oiling hinges and replacing door knobs. Woo! I know it sounds rather bland, but every little thing helps. Our home is our biggest investment and we want to keep it up. I can’t imagine waiting until my kids moved out to take care of the little things. But that’s just me.
Sphere: Related Content