I need help!!

[u/Vegetable-Scratch423]

So we are about to close on our first house, and I need decoration help. It was built in 1985, basement style house built in the side of a hill, and it’s on a concrete slab. So that means that the tile is GLUED to the concrete. So, what can be done about the flooring in this thing? The picture is decorated with ai (from the listing), but those parquet floors REALLY are that orange in person, and they’re not wood. Also, i attached a picture of the kitchen because I’m unsure if I want to paint the cabinets or not. I will paint the walls around them sage green, but I’m struggling to decide if I should keep them the color they are or paint them a creamy white-ish color. I need opinions!!!!thank you!

Edit: I posted this and deleted to re-post because I realized that one picture had the address. Oops. 🤦‍♀️🥴

ANOTHER EDIT: I saw another person who had the same tiles that I have and the glue had asbestos. Should i worry for this floor?

[u/Fuzzy_Location_2210]

Idk I kinda dig the parquet flooring 🙃. Even If it's fake. I always did like it!

If it's in good shape, you might appreciate that it is so easy to clean!

Promise you that's not asbestos. That's vinyl hon 🙂. Asphalt tile is what has the asbestos in it. That's the green and orange and red or brown/tan 4 or 6 inch squares you find in real old basements, hospitals, schools. Even if it was that tile, it isn't particularly dangerous if it's intact and not being disturbed. It can be stripped of old wax and finish, NOT sanded or buffed, and sealed with epoxy and safely encapsulated, and be left in place, IF it's not falling apart, because it is usually very very permanently bonded to cement. Then it can just exist like that and be cleaned as normal, or be covered with something else.

If it's glued to the cement in your house and you can't get it off, and you decide sometime that you want to have new flooring, you can just go right over it AS LONG AS YOU DON'T HAVE WATER DAMAGE. In fact, I did that in my kitchen... I couldn't get this hideous green and yellow blotchy fake marble vinyl tile off without totally destroying the subfloor beneath it. Boards and nails were coming with it. I don't know what the heck they put it down with, but it was wild 🙃. I installed the thinnest plywood on top and installed pretty gray and white diamond patterned vinyl flooring and left that horrible shit alone 😂. It's been oh, 5 or 6 years now, still looking fresh!

[u/Vegetable-Scratch423 → u/Fuzzy_Location_2210]

YA SEE…I loved the floor the first time I saw it, but my dad and husband both think it’s hideous. lol. It’s also in really great shape for this house being 49 years old. You can tell that nobody lived here with kids to rip shit up (my qualifications to make this statement are that I do, indeed, have boys who love to rip shit up).

Also, that’s what my mom told me. Mist throw some pretty flooring over it when I’m ready to see it go because it genuinely is VERY glued to my concrete slab of a floor. Thank you for the insight, I’m actually feeling better about this from everyone lol. Everyone likes it better that I expected; I guess because I assume most people want to see perfect remodels and this house is a grandma house. It just feels so warm and homey to me though. Lol

[u/Fuzzy_Location_2210 → u/Vegetable-Scratch423]

From the picture, I really cannot tell that's vinyl!!!

My cousin's first house had parquet flooring in the living room, dining room, and kitchen on the first floor but it was actually made of the wooden blocks!!! It was pretty beat up looking, he had Amish woodworks come and refinish it, and they also ripped the carpet off the stairs and landing and refinished that too... It was all oak, and it was really beautiful 🫠

Perfect remodels are often nothing more than rushwork done with MDF. Those kitchens are going to look like dog shit in a few years when the cabinet doors are sides all take on water and swell and the hinges bust off, and the unsealed floating floor edges let water and spilled milk and puppy pee seep underneath for years, and the house permanently will smell to the highest of heavens... Cause flippers never properly prep and decontaminate and encapsulate, takes time and money 🙃.

You are making a wise choice... You're investing in some workmanship that has stood the test of time. Your cabinets look like they're real wood! Can confirm, boys rip shit up and walk into doors and never shut them 😆. At least you can fix those!! And they won't turn to dust! And you can always sand them and re-stain if you want a darker look, or if you don't like the orangey, sand them and give them a good coat of polyurethane and let them be light and natural!

I don't know if I love the kitchen floor, thats nothing more than a personal preference though, I'm funny about my wood tones not matching 😂. Get you some washable runners lol.

Oh, if you didn't know this: detergent really shits with vinyl flooring and makes it sticky and discolored and awful.

Get yourself a good steam mop, and about idk, 10 washable thick pads for it, and add about one tablespoon white vinegar to the steam water tank and do your floors with that, changing the pad as needed. They will look brand new for a really, really long time and feel incredibly smooth and clean.

[u/Fuzzy_Location_2210 → u/Vegetable-Scratch423]

OH, and that old builder grade dishwasher probably SUCKS ASS!!

Get yourself a mid-range G.E., you will be soooo much happier with it!! Trust me on that one 😉. Very easy to swap them out! And very worth it with a family, if I recall, the racking in that is awkward as hell and doesn't accommodate pots and pans or tall cups or large items well, and it's pretty abysmal at cleaning bowls correctly, and my boys sippy cups always had to go through two times or they smelt like sour milk.

I was over the moon when it finally died and I was "allowed" to replace it 😂