I can't believe he has that much information either. He's the Lawn Whisperer. If you're really going to do Option 3, I would suggest watering daily after the first app of RoundUp. That will germinate any seeds in the grass. Then the next app of RU will take those new seedlings out. If you have full sun, you can use Kentucky bluegrass. If you have some shade you can mix fescue varieties in with the KBG seed. Fescues need to be overseeded annually in the fall. That's the main reason I asked about shade. After the second app of RU, then tend to the leveling. Give the RU a day to be sure it worked and then get after the leveling. Have you searched this forum for topics on leveling? It is very easy to do wrong, so do some research. As a start, NEVER ROTOTILL to prepare for grass. That is the biggest mistake people make. All of the leveling topics were for bermuda, but if you are using RU, the process would be the same. In a nutshell you scalp or kill off the grass, apply just enough sand to fill the holes and low spots, drag a drag over top to smooth it out, water it to settle the sand, add more sand if/where needed, drag, water, add, drag, water, etc., until you are happy with it. You can make it putting green smooth like this. After you seed, roll the seed down with a water fillable roller to ensure it makes good contact with the soil. Then you do not need to cover it with anything, but many landscapers do. Certainly if you do not roll it, then you will need something. It's just easier to roll it down. If the area is small, just walk over it all to press the seed into the soil. Here is a picture of a drag mat. It looks a lot like a chain link fence. I personally use...chain link fence. My fence was not heavy enough so I put some boards on top and a bag of topsoil. Your mileage will vary. This leaves an excellent surface, though. Drag from the lowest area to the highest area for proper drainage. The drag will not move much soil, but no sense fighting against what you're trying to do. Can you post a picture of the lawn so we can see what leveling issues you might be dealing with?

Pieris's common name is Japanese Andromeda. They can be problematic in a lot of sun, but are very useful and easy to grow in shade (morning sun fine). I also have some dwarf ones.. 'Little Heath' is barely 2'x2' after 3-4 years. It is variegated. Doesn't bloom well, but I grow it for the foliage. 'Cavatine' is even smaller and solid green. It does bloom well. Prelude is another dwarf. And a good full size (4-5') traditional one is 'Mountain Fire'... new growth is bright red. Clethra 'Hummingbird' is supposed to be "compact", but it does spread quite a bit. Probably too much for a foundation. Mine is in bloom now and the fragrance is just wonderful! There is another Clethra that is *really* supposed to be a dwarf...'Sixteen Candles'. I just added it to a perennial border this year, so can't tell for sure. SOme of these smaller plants might work well as a front layer to larger plants. Its preferable to not have a single row of plants straight across. I like to layer smaller shrubs in front of the back row and include some perennials too. I've tried hypericon twice here and both didn't make it. its borderline northern MA/southern NH

So here's the deal. If you want to LEAVE the subfloor as it is (no more cleaning/grinding/scraping) you MUST install a flooting floor. The subfloor appears to be particle board that has cut-back adhesive on it (cutback was often a black colour). What was on the floor in the first place? How old was that product? Some products from the 80's had asbestos in them as well as the adhesive (cutback adhesive from the 80's is famous for having asbestos in it). Don't panic. So long as it is NOT ground down (made friable = airborne) you are fine. But if this is an asbestos containing adhesive you have to either: A) Float a floor over it (vinyl or water proof laminate or engineered hardwood, floating cork, etc) B) Rip out the substrate it is sitting on (the fibre board) and lay new underlayment; or C) Lay new underlayment over top (sandwich the black adhesive between to layers of underlayment) and then apply a permanent floor over top So the decision for you sounds like an easy one: floating floor. Vinyl MUST have flat (all the ripples in the glue will show through). A rigid floor like laminate (spend the money on a water proof laminate like Aquaguard) will be fine to go over top of the remains of the adhesive. Put down an underpad underneath the laminate and you are good to go. And no, vinyl planks do NOT like underpad. They need to go straight down over top of rigid subfloor.

For the intended use in the foreseeable future, I would not spend that amount of money - plus deal with the aggravation - in order to open up the kitchen. At a certain point - especially if you have been renting it, there would probably need to be major remodeling of the kitchen anyway just from use. Since it is a townhome presumably there are equivalent homes with the same layout which would provide insight into whether it is something that other people have done in the development. Obviously people are different but I personally wouldn't care whether there was an open kitchen plan in a BnB type of short rental. I would be more concerned with location and cleanliness and comfort of beds and also whether there was a great shower. Interesting about how property is assessed. I am also in an area in which taxes are based on initial purchase price with very modest increases permitted. Theoretically remodeling triggers an assessment when permits are pulled. However, when I read the regulations, it appears that most home "improvements" aren't cause for an increased assessment since "replacements" don't cause an increase. If you "add" something like an additional bathroom or square footage it would theoretically cause an increase. There is a gray area in which *theoretically* the quality of the replacements is considered but that is really unworkable in practice since anytime someone replaces the kitchen cabinets (for example), the *quality* is going to be better presumably especially in an older residence.