Archive for the ‘Decorating & Remodeling’ Category

Which home improvement will be the better investment?

carpediem104 asked:


When I bought my condo, it came with a home equity line of credit exclusively for home repairs and upgrades. Come next March, the remaining balance is rolled into my mortgage and the line of credit goes away. My plan is to live here for another 3-5 years and I’m wondering which upgrade is the better investment. I know neither will recoup it’s full cost and the reason I ask is that I have only enough available to do one or the other:

1. The living room and dining room have carpet and the kitchen has linoleum flooring. Our thoughts are to replace all of this with hardwood. It doesn’t have to be top of the line and we’re open to the nail down kind or the snap together kind.

2. The bathroom is separated into two parts: the first has the toilet and tub/shower with linoleum flooring and the other part has the counter, sink, and mirror with carpet. We’d like to move the carpet back to the hall and replace all the flooring with ceramic or porcelain tile. In addition, replace the cheap shower kit with actual tile on the shower walls. We’d also like to replace the current sink/counter with a nicer material and install a second sink.

CURT