Installing Ceramic Tile Yourself - Is It Possible?

Installing ceramic tile yourself will save you money and keep strangers out of your house! You learn a new skill by doing it yourself too. Ceramic tile installation projects are tackled successfully by many home owners every year. No doubt there is an art to laying tile, but a handy person who has plenty of time can certainly learn to lay tile. Just like many home improvement projects, pros make money by doing work fast. If you aren't in a big hurry, your quality of work can be just as good as a professional...maybe better. So what are the main steps for a tile job?

Layout and Estimating

What kind of installation is this? Will there be some plumbing or carpentry required? Plan for the completion of those tasks. Measure the area to be covered so you know how much tile you need. Allow for trim and breakage. After you know your area, you can better shop for tile. If you have a budget, knowing the area of tile to be covered lets you calculate your cost as you shop for tile. Do you need any trim pieces? Often edges, like ceramic tile counter tops, are trimmed with hardwood. Bathroom ceramic tile might include towel racks or soap dishes.

Ceramic Tile Installation Tools

Hand tools for installing ceramic tile include trowels, cutters and measuring instruments. Trowels needed vary with the jobs. A basic trowel is the rectangular notched trowel. This tool is used to spread the adhesive. The trowel notches let the installer gauge the thickness of the adhesive. A smaller margin trowel is for detail work. Tile cutting is a critical function. The basic cutter is a nipper, which is especially used for detail work. A cutter board is often used for straight cuts, The cutter board scores tile to make it easy to break. A circular wet saw is the real workhorse of a professional. Saws come in all different grades and sizes. You can find an inexpensive saw that will be right for your job.

Adhesive

Tile is stuck to the floor using an adhesive. The material is either ready mixed or a wettable powder. Your supplier can recommend a grade for your project. Many adhesives are latex based and some are even stain proof and water proof epoxy. Epoxy grout is especially good for shower pans or bathroom ceramic tile.

Laying the Tile

Tile is always laid over a stable base that will not shift much. Often cement board is put down as a base, since cement board is water resistant and stable. Once the base is installed you can put down lines to help align the tile. Of course, no room is perfectly square, so allow for misalignment as you start your job. Locate the pieces that must be cut in the least visible areas. Sometimes, starting at one wall or one side will look best. Sometimes starting in the middle of a surface will be better. That's where the art of laying tile enters.

The alignment of the tile edges determines how the finished job looks. Beware that discount tiles often vary in size more than premium material, making alignment tougher. Use a chalk line to give you as many guide lines as you need. Then you can space the tiles by eye or use regular plastic spacers between pieces to help you.

Grout

After the tile is in place including all the trim, you fill the spaces with a masonry grout. Grout for larger spacing includes sand. The sand makes the grout stronger and less likely to crack. Grout comes in colors too. Grout is installed and spread with a special rubber faced trowel. After the grout is installed, you remove it from the tile faces before it completely dries.

Check for The Best Home Improvement Centers

If you're planning on a DIY project for your home, you'll be buying all the supplies yourself. There are many DIY home improvement centers or stores around to provide you with the best supplies you can get. You may have the store that is your favorite to shop at (every man loves Home Depot). It's still a good idea to check online for reviews of DIY home improvement stores to find the best. You don't just want the one with the best bargains. You also want the store that has the best merchandise for your job as well as great customer service. You may have been perfectly happy with the store when you returned a product that cost $10, but will they be that eager to please you if you are returning thousands of dollars of merchandise for some reason? These are all these you need to check out before you decide on one DIY home improvement center or store.

If being in business for a long time is the criteria of what makes a great store, then Lowe's Home Improvement doesn't have much to prove, as they've been servicing our needs for over 60 years. The variety of home improvement materials and tools they sell will leave you with little thoughts of going elsewhere. Their "Project Center" with its 'how to' library as well as their buying guides is very helpful to the beginning DYI person. If you still have questions once you get home, check out their informative website.

Another great store for the home builder is Sutherlands, which has also been around for many years and still is keeping customers happy with their expert building advice and reasonable prices. They have a huge selection of whatever you need whether it's heating, plumbing, electrical, windows, floor coverings or what have you.

You also have the choices of Home Hardware and Home Depot, both of which are top-notch DIY home building or improvement centers. Each of these stores offer many stores in different locations and have almost any home building supply you need. What they don't immediately have, they'll get for you. Either of these stores will disappoint you with their selections or prices.

Although these are all great stores and everyone loves one-stop shopping, don't be afraid to shop around in different stores. It may be more convenient to buy your supplies all at one place, but if you can save by shopping at a few different places, the savings might be more than worth your time. After all, the savings you make by shopping around can always go towards new furniture when your DIY project is finished!

Clash - ไออุ่นรัก (Ai Oon Ruk)

[Thai Pop] เขาชื่ออะไร (extended MV) - Clash

Why You Should Consider A Home Mortgage Refinance Today

There are many reasons why homeowners are seeking out a home mortgage refinance. These reasons vary from simply wanting to have more money to pay off debt, all the way to lowering your monthly mortgage monthly payments. While there are many different reasons why you may want to refinance your home mortgage, there are several things you must know about this process that could save you time and money. The first of these is to understand all of the benefits of refinancing your home mortgage. Even though you probably have a good understanding of why you want to refinance, if you don't know all of the benefits you may be missing out on some of them.

The first benefit to refinancing your home mortgage is to give you control over how much interest you will actually be paying. If you are like many homeowners, then your mortgage probably has an adjustable rate. While this may have seemed like a great idea at the beginning of the loan, throughout the years you have probably experienced an increase of interest, which can ultimately cost you thousands of dollars.

This type of instability causes many people to worry about their next month's mortgage payment, and whether or not it will stretch their finances too slim. When you have an adjustable rate on your home mortgage, you can refinance your mortgage to a fixed rate, which will allow you to have stability with your monthly payments.

Some individuals feel that an adjustable rate mortgage is the way to borrow your home loan, however, if you have experience an interest peak then you quickly understand why this is a hassle you just don't want to deal with. When you go with a refinanced, fixed rate, mortgage, you may have a slightly higher interest rate, however, you will have confidence in knowing that this rate will never rise.

One of the main reasons why you would want to use a home mortgage refinance for this use is if you are planning on living in your current home for quite some time. Otherwise, you may want to consider another benefit of a refinanced mortgage.

If you want to refinance your mortgage, but you don't want to settle with a fixed rate interest plan, than you can choose to have a cap put onto an adjustable rate mortgage. This is perfect if your current adjustable rate loan does not have a cap because it allows you to have semi-control over how high your interest rates will actually go. With a capped adjustable mortgage, you will be able to experience lower interest rates, and the interest will never increase past your pre-determined cap.

This type of home mortgage refinance option is perfect for individuals who want more security within this mortgage, but aren't planning on living in their current household for many years. When you refinance your home mortgage, you are able to help streamline your finances and are given an opportunity to grasp onto financial freedom. Whether you want to consolidate your various debts, or if you simply want more security, a home mortgage refinance is definitely a great way to do so.

Mortgage Rates - How Low Can We Go?

Well, surely it can't drop much lower? If you haven't locked a mortgage rate in by now, or haven't got yourself pre-approved, you had better hurry up. All those people who can remember the 11% mortgage interest rate will be trampling over each other to try and re-new at these rates.

Both the thirty year fixed rate mortgage and the fifteen year fixed rate mortgage have dropped by almost another half a point. Rates are really competitive for those who want to be able to budget and feel secure about their future. You can lock in the mortgage rate for fifteen years at an average 5.21% at the moment. This means that you will know exactly what your mortgage repayment will be for the next fifteen years. That's security!

A survey taken this last week on mortgages, reports that the fifteen year fixed rate mortgages are at their lowest rate since July 2005 and that for the first time in seven years the rate is lower than the average rate offered on a one year adjustable rate mortgage.

These results were published by Freddie Mac in the Primary Mortgage Market Survey. An announcement from Freddie Mac vice president stated that the further mortgage decreases were in large part a reaction to the drop in consumer spending.

Figures have been published which show that December's consumer spending was down by 0.4%. He added that sales of garden equipment and building materials were particularly hit, with the loss of sales in these areas dipping to an almost 3% loss from the previous month.

This explains why mortgage interest rates keep dropping. It doesn't explain why everyone is fairly cautious about re-financing or getting a mortgage - even a fixed rate! Is it possible that people are not buying their dream home until they have seen the lowest edge of the mortgage rates?

Just how much money is involved for the average member of the public here? Well, for every one eighth point on a conforming loan, you will pay an extra $25.00 per month. This week the rate for a fifteen year fixed is averaging out at 5.21%. A 15 year fixed rate mortgage last week averaged 5.43% which was down from the week before when it averaged 5.68%.

In real money, you could have saved yourself around $50 per month in repayments by just one week's difference in time. This means that the home you are hanging out for may be snapped up by someone else. A buyer who is who is prepared to pay the extra $50.00 per month; a buyer who has decided not to gamble on the ultimate lowest of the low rates, but rather to snap up the property that they want now.

It is anyone's guess whether the mortgage rate will go up or down. Unemployment figures rose last month compared to the month before, but the inflation and economic data has already been calculated to reflect long term lending risks. Lenders anticipate the news and indications are pointing to the fact that rises in the rates are more likely than drops in the rate.

First time buyers must be encouraged to at least try to get approval at this rate. Approval is not a contract, and it does not need to be taken up and used, but at least this low-return mortgage rate will be available to them for a few weeks, if they wish to buy a home - before the rate inevitably creeps up!

Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis?

What is the sub-prime mortgage crisis? Lenders and their mortgage originators steered borrowers who were short-sighted, gullible, unqualified, greedy or all of the above into adjustable rate loans which had extremely low starting interest rates. The problem or crisis is that the loans were designed to adjust to above market interest rates after a short period of time. The loans were attractive to borrowers who were looking for the lowest starting interest rate, to buyers who really could not afford the house they wanted to buy, to lenders who stacked extra closing costs and points into the loans and to investors who bought the loans knowing the low interest rates were only temporary. They all forgot that when something seems too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

When the interest rate on the loans adjusted upward, many homeowners saw their monthly payments increase by twenty, forty, or sixty percent and some extreme cases more than double. Coupled with a weak economy (or the perception that the economy is weak) in some parts of the country the rate adjustments led to a wave of mortgage foreclosures when borrowers couldn't make the higher payments. Lenders found themselves owning houses rather than the loans on them and investors in mortgage backed securities found that their investment turned out to be not very good.

So the crisis is real for people who are losing their homes, lenders who have an increasingly large inventory of homes to resell and to investors who lost money. It is a little hard to feel sorry for anyone involved in the crisis except for the homeowners or former homeowners who were mislead by the mortgage originators and did not have the proper advice or foresight to understand what their loans were going to do. The lenders, originators and investors were all sophisticated business people who made money, sometimes a lot of money, in the short term.

Why is this situation a crisis for a first time home buyer? The simple answer is that it is not a crisis. For people looking to buy their first home it can be an opportunity. The perception that the United States economy is weak is simply not true for many parts of the country. The basic rule of real estate: "location, location, location" definitely applies here. Even where the economy is troubled, many people have solid jobs and the inventory of foreclosed or about to be foreclosed homes is high.

The other main rule of real estate, supply and demand, means that the price of such homes is likely to be lower than comparable home in another area. Foreclosed homes are often not in the condition and lenders tend not to put the time and money into repairing them that a normal seller would. Most lenders and investors are no longer interested in making or owning sub-prime loans and even if some are, government regulators are watching closely so you probably do not have worry about being led into a bad loan.

Buying a home at a foreclosure auction is probably too much to take on for a first time home buyer (the topic of mortgage foreclosure is an article in and of itself), but buying a foreclosed home from a lender can be a much simpler process than going through the normal purchase procedure. A lender with many or even just a few foreclosed homes is anxious to get rid of them. The homes are not generating interest payments, which is how most lenders make their money, and are piling up expenses like real estate taxes, repairs and management or security costs. Most lenders are happy to accept a below market price and are often willing to offer attractive financing packages to make a deal work quickly.

Many lenders have special REO (real estate owned) departments and arrangements with local real estate brokers to deal with caring for and selling off foreclosed properties. Just as one man's ceiling is another woman's floor, the so called sub-prime mortgage crisis can turn into an attractive way for a first time home buyer to get into a first home. You have to do your homework including hiring your own inspector, attorney and contractor to advise and guide you through a purchase process that can turn out to be a real bargain. Be sure to read and understand your loan documents.

How To Figure Out Mortgage Payments Without a Mortgage Calculator

In today's world, taking out a mortgage is necessary for anyone who wants to invest in real estate or simply wants to put a roof over his head. Usually, to find out what a mortgage payment will be on a particular property, a potential buyer needs to contact a realtor or bank to get a quote.

By contacting either one, the buyer risks harassment from a realtor who won't let go of a qualified buyer, or a lender who needs to lend mortgage money to stay in business. Any buyer in his right mind will only go to one of these salespeople when he is ready to go full speed ahead toward a closing.

So, what does a person who is in the early thinking stages of buying a home do? How do you know what the payment will be on a house a seller is asking $250,000 for when the bank is advertising 30-year mortgages at 7%?

By the end of this article you will be making such a calculation in your head. You will be sprouting out the answer to complicated home buying scenarios just as fast as you can find the terms on the mortgage and the price on the house.

$66.53 a Month

First, remember this: $10,000 borrowed for 30 years at 7% will require a monthly payment of $66.53. So, it stands to reason $100,000 for 30 years at 7% requires a monthly payment of $665.30. Also take note you could figure out on a piece of paper with a pencil, $50,000 for 30 years at 7% is $332.65.

Knowing these figures, you automatically know a $250,000 mortgage at 7% for 30 years will require a payment of $665.30 (for $100,000) and another $665.30 (for the next $100,000) and $332.65 (for $50,000). This means the payment will be $1,663.25, or really, really close. A mortgage calculator gives the answer as $1,663.26, but for a wild guess, I'll take it.

A 6% or an 8% Mortgage

Of course, here you ask, "What if I find a mortgage with a lower interest rate?" Well in that case, remember this, $10,000 borrowed for 30 years at 6% costs the borrower $59.96 a month. This means a $1,000,000 mortgage for 30 years at 6% will be 100 times $59.96 or, a monthly payment of $5,996.00. Now, certainly that was easy. All we had to do was add 2 zeros!

Okay, what about if the interest rate is 8%? Here, a 30-year mortgage for $10,000 is $73.38 each month. So a $300,000 mortgage will come at a cost of 30 times that or, $2,201.40 a month.

How About a 7 1/4% Mortgage?

In reality, most times interest rates will not be exactly 6 or 7, or 8%. Even when this is the case, you still don't need a mortgage calculator. If you read about a 30-year $260,000 mortgage at 7 1/4%, for instance, and you want to know what the monthly payment will be, here's what you do. Are you ready? Guess!

That's right! Just guess! You know 7% will cost you $66.53 per $10,000 a month and 8% will cost $73.38 per $10,000 a month. You also know 7 1/4 is somewhere on the lower side between 7 and 8 so take a guess how much 7 1/4% will cost per $10,000 a month. My guess would be maybe, $68.50?

I'll go with that. So, since it is a $260,000 mortgage we're trying to figure the payment for, we will multiply 26 (260,000 / 10,000) X $68.50. The answer is: $1,781.

When I run $260,000 at 7 1/4% for 30 years through a mortgage payment calculator the answer comes out $1,773.66. So, our answer wasn't precisely right, but it was pretty close.

In a case like this, even if we came out with an answer that is $20-$30 off, who cares? Before the real mortgage payment is determined, the cost of a homeowner's insurance policy and property taxes will have to be calculated anyway. So, the best anybody can do at this point is guess.

There you have it. Now, you're a human calculator! As long as you're only concerned with 30-year mortgages, and today's going interest rates, which are 6% to 8%, you can figure out mortgage payments in your head, or maybe with just a little help from a pocket calculator. Congratulations!

Why You Should Consider A Home Mortgage Refinance Today

There are many reasons why homeowners are seeking out a home mortgage refinance. These reasons vary from simply wanting to have more money to pay off debt, all the way to lowering your monthly mortgage monthly payments. While there are many different reasons why you may want to refinance your home mortgage, there are several things you must know about this process that could save you time and money. The first of these is to understand all of the benefits of refinancing your home mortgage. Even though you probably have a good understanding of why you want to refinance, if you don't know all of the benefits you may be missing out on some of them.

The first benefit to refinancing your home mortgage is to give you control over how much interest you will actually be paying. If you are like many homeowners, then your mortgage probably has an adjustable rate. While this may have seemed like a great idea at the beginning of the loan, throughout the years you have probably experienced an increase of interest, which can ultimately cost you thousands of dollars.

This type of instability causes many people to worry about their next month's mortgage payment, and whether or not it will stretch their finances too slim. When you have an adjustable rate on your home mortgage, you can refinance your mortgage to a fixed rate, which will allow you to have stability with your monthly payments.

Some individuals feel that an adjustable rate mortgage is the way to borrow your home loan, however, if you have experience an interest peak then you quickly understand why this is a hassle you just don't want to deal with. When you go with a refinanced, fixed rate, mortgage, you may have a slightly higher interest rate, however, you will have confidence in knowing that this rate will never rise.

One of the main reasons why you would want to use a home mortgage refinance for this use is if you are planning on living in your current home for quite some time. Otherwise, you may want to consider another benefit of a refinanced mortgage.

If you want to refinance your mortgage, but you don't want to settle with a fixed rate interest plan, than you can choose to have a cap put onto an adjustable rate mortgage. This is perfect if your current adjustable rate loan does not have a cap because it allows you to have semi-control over how high your interest rates will actually go. With a capped adjustable mortgage, you will be able to experience lower interest rates, and the interest will never increase past your pre-determined cap.

This type of home mortgage refinance option is perfect for individuals who want more security within this mortgage, but aren't planning on living in their current household for many years. When you refinance your home mortgage, you are able to help streamline your finances and are given an opportunity to grasp onto financial freedom. Whether you want to consolidate your various debts, or if you simply want more security, a home mortgage refinance is definitely a great way to do so.

Don't Be Terrorized by a Colorado Mortgage Company

If the lender has something for you and you gain some advantage from it, go ahead and investigate before you chain yourself to a 30-year mortgage. Use legitimate sleuthing skills when checking out the Colorado mortgage company that drives a hard bargain and save yourself from post-mortgage processing blues.

Mortgage Phobia?

Colorado mortgage companies have to earn. They have different stringent requirements that can shrink anybody's liver. But you shouldn't allow yourself to be terrorized, bulldozed, and bullied to sign a deal that will only end in the foreclosure of your home. That's right, get a mortgage you can afford to pay for 30 years. Before marching to the lender's office, arm yourself with the ABCs of mortgage and mortgage speak.

The common fears that borrowers have about mortgages are understandable. With foreclosures happening left and right, it's best to be aware what goes behind the sleek surface of a mortgage package. However, there are varied reasons why people are held back from getting a mortgage to solve their financial problems, here are some:

* Poor credit history
* Wild swings of interest rates
* Hidden fees
* Not understanding the financial side of the matter
* Foreclosures

Dealing With the Loans Agent

More and more people are getting themselves educated on home financing, refinancing, and everything that has to do with huge loans to pay for a home or to consolidate credit card and personal debts. When talking to the loans officer or agent, you won't be easily seduced with sweetheart deals; he'll know you have the option to look for another Colorado mortgage company because there are hundreds out there competing for your business.

Talk to the Colorado mortgage loans officer about the company's stand on the following:

* Origination fees
* Monthly reports of your payments
* Escrow shortages
* Third party fees (property inspection fees and legal fees)
* Policies on extra and early payment
* Availability of files until the last day of the loan payment

With foreclosures happening left and right and the mortgage business in the spotlight, this is not surprising. Everybody wants to make the right choice when dealing with lenders now that the market is seeing some positive turns. Interest rates are lower, the lowest ever recorded since.

When you know what you want from the lender, you can stick to your guns, dump an expensive mortgage scheme, and hunt for more understanding mortgage companies. Always be inspired by the thought that somewhere in the concrete and virtual jungle, there is a lender that can take you in. Whether you have good, bad, or worse credit scores, there's a program tailor-fitted to your needs.

If You Can't Pronounce It, Drop It!

There are several loan programs in the market. These evolved from the traditional mortgage scheme, which your grandparents relied for their home. Life was simple then. No offerings for balloon mortgage, reverse mortgage, etc. If your grandparents had a successful loan, take the cue from them.

The popular type of financing package offered is the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. For wage earners, you can get this ideal package from any Colorado mortgage company. True this mortgage type is expensive because you'll be paying an extra decade to own your house. However, this loan offers stability.

But if you foresee yourself earning more in a few years, or selling the house after five years, the ARM is better - but be very sure of your future finances. Interest rates can really bloat to record highs and late payment of bills accrues shocking interest rates. Let a Colorado mortgage company carefully spell out the terms before you sign the dotted line. Don't be terrorized.

Get a Taste of Empowerment with a Florida Refinance

Are you wondering if you're getting the pay that you're worth? With all those late nights and towering paperwork, your boss has to be kidding you all along if no promotion or salary increase is in sight. You might as well accept that job in St. Petersburg that packs in a wallop, salary-wise, and let a Florida refinance take care of the other issues.

All Work and No Pay Increase?

Nobody loves the idea of working his or her butt off without some reward in sight. It could be a day off from work with pay, a promotion, a paid vacation, or a rung higher on the corporate ladder. If you're feeling that you're unjustly paid for your back-breaking labor, you are not the lone atom in the universe feeling this way. And before you decide to make a go of a Florida refinance to take you away from the rat hole, take stock of the situation.

Measuring your worth in terms of labor and time spent on your computer or your office desk checking invoices or editing documents, is a challenging exercise. There is no exact formula for this, but there is a sure-fire way to determine how much you want to borrow when you look at the loans officer in the face when angling for a Florida refinance.

In terms of just compensation for your work, you'll have to accept the rule of thumb. You're paid according to the position you're holding, even if you're working on more paperwork tossed on your table by your supervisor (she believes you're more than efficient) on top of your regular brain shrinking tasks.

The only way out is to find a job somewhere else where you can shine and show off your skills and where these can be appreciated. But if you're shilly-shallying over this decision to up and go to St. Petersburg, you'll gain nothing but high blood pressure and a sour stomach. You can always trust a Florida refinance company to help you get settled into a new home and career.

Gaining a Better Self-Perspective

How much are you worth? That would depend on what you are equating yourself with. Are you measuring your effort on a task? Against the CEO? Or are you pitting your experience and MA degree against your present post? There is no debate here but to find greener pastures outside your cubicle.

List all the things you can do away from the computer. Are you good at coming with novel business concepts? Are you good at managing people? Can you charm people to open their wallets and buy your products? What you can do and what you are presently doing are two different things. If you can diagnose your dormant and obvious skills, you can add more firepower to your stock of self-confidence.

There's no exact value of your worth but you can estimate how much you deserve in terms of compensation. To be relying on a raise or a promotion that can't materialize from the corporate fog, would be unhealthy for your self-esteem. Better knock it off and get that job in St. Petersburg. At least, you know that your home equity has increased over the years and you can quickly get a Florida refinance to help you make a lucrative move.

Refinance Your Way to Success

Choose a Florida refinance company that can give the lowest interest rates for a fixed rate mortgage. Chuck that ARM; it was a wise move then to get an ARM when you calculated that you would not be staying long in your current home.

If your current lender can give you a lower interest rate, that would be expedient. Processing time won't take too long, but be sure you've found a house for sale before getting a Florida refinance. The moment you have found your niche, you'll get a taste of empowerment from knowing how much you're really worth.