I’d put in a sink pedestal to hide the pipes. A vanity would be better, but that involves getting a new sink, as I don’t think yours would work in a ready-made vanity.
Replace the wall tile in both areas with white subway tile. Clean, neat and attractive. In fact, I’d just remove the tile behind the sink and not replace it. It just looks weird hanging out there all by its lonesome. As long as the guy is taking that butt-ugly tile off the wall, he’ll likely have to replace the drywall behind it with greenboard. From the looks of the grout, I’d guess you’ve got water damage behind there, if not mold growth.
Were it me, I’d replace all those cabs with a reasonable contractor’s grade set. They just look tired and chewed up to me, and not worth the effort to strip and refinish.
Pantry walls are good old tongue and groove knotty pine - a 50s thing. My entire house is done with it but painted ivory. Paint it and add wire shelves and it will be transformed.
A common solution for old cabinets is to have them refaced instead of replaced. You might want to check into that.
Also, in bath - water leakage around tub can result in lots of damage so check that. I’d replace sink with a vanity from Home Depot.
Right now I’m leaning toward making it habitable for the purpose of renting. Even so, I don’t see that I would make vastly different choices either way. I want to do a decent job. If I put in cheap materials, thinking “oh, it’s just a rental,” then that means more repairs and refurbishment down the road,
Who remembers spending hours perusing the old Sears catalog? <show of hands> They often had three grades of product WRT appliances, bicycles, tires, etc.: “good, better, best.” I’m aiming at the *better *grade, not the best.
I like the pedestal sink idea. Vanities take up a lot of room and that is a very small bathroom. Besides, there’s room to the left of the sink for a nice narrow shelf. Also, behind the bathroom door, there’s a floor-to-ceiling linen/toiletries/storage cupboard with a tilt-out hamper at the bottom.
I don’t know what’s up with that nasty tile right behind the sink faucets. There’s been a lot of quick & dirty, slapdash repair in the bathroom. Plain white subway tile is a good choice. Or light gray. I’m not fond of those all-in-one fiberglass shower/tub units. That tub may or may not be original. It looks like a new shallow tub, so it might be cast iron, or it might be fiberglass.
I’ve seen on some decorating programs, where they replace the cabinet doors, and it gives the cabinets a new look. As for sanding and refinishing the inside of the cabinets right down to the wood… that sounds like “best” not “better” to me. Is there something short of that to make the cabinets usable? Not aiming at perfection.
Some of these Formica countertops in the online galleries are gorgeous.
Why? To preserve your own childhood memories? A prospective tenant is going to look for cheap, yes, but also something closer to 2016. In most cases, there’s a *reason *things aren’t made like that anymore.
My, your question has a surprisingly challenging tone. What’s up with that?
I don’t have any childhood memories of this house. Only lived there for three years as a teen. And during those years, my parents fought constantly and my father even hit my mother once. So, no… no memories…
I guess what I mean is I want to decorate in a style that is in harmony with the era and style of the house.
Here’s a couple of examples of what I mean. I live in a house that was built in 1936. The kitchen looks like 1936, and I absolutely love it. The architects who owned it and used to live here-- when they bought it, they restored and decorated in a style that was in keeping with the house. The counters and cabinets are original. They installed the checkerboard kitchen floor, but it is congruent with the era. This is the bathroom(when I looked at it before renting-- with all the previous tenants’ crap around)-- it has a built-in vanity and the original tile floor. My landlords searched high and low to replace the black glass drawer pulls when they could have replaced them with something “modern.” The house has design integrity in every room. That matters a lot to me.
Across the street is another house (obviously) from this era. When the young couple bought it remodeled it, they put in dark, very modern kitchen cabinets with stainless steel accents and the ubiquitous granite countertops. They remodeled the bathroom in a sort of Santa Fe B&B style with wood paneling and bright colors. There was a lovely inner sunroom upstairs on the south side of the house (the prevailing winds here are from the south and many of the old homes have sleeping porches on the south side upstairs), and they walled up one of the doors into this charming room (thus cutting off air circulation) in order to expand the closet in the master bedroom.
Another house in the neighborhood had granite countertops installed in the kitchen and they look absolutely ridiculous, as they are not in keeping with the rest of the house.
I wasn’t thinking down to bare wood - I was thinking sanding them till the surface is smooth and ready to accept fresh paint. Then either new doors or newly painted doors with new hardware, and you’ve got some decent cabinets.
Marmoleum and other linoleum products are hard wearing, durable commercial grade products. I have looked at it for high end homes a few times but always deferred to something else because all linoleum requires regular sealing, and it is not cheap.
I think vinyl (resilient flooring) is actually a good solution, especially if you go with a good or even better commercial quality fabric backed product like Fiber Floor. That’s Tarket’s product but other manufacturers have similar commercial grade lines. I put a high end vinyl throughout our rental property. I picked out a granite pattern like you would see in a commercial application rather than all the fake tile, fake hardwood, or 70’s patterns that are so common with vinyl. There is a lot of very thin cheap vinyl flooring and this gives it a bad name, but also the patterns are generally archaic stuff you expect to see in your grandma’s house and this is what people think of when they think of vinyl. If you look around you can find some much more subdued prints that look good as the main flooring in a home.
Another excellent solution is Vinyl Plank Flooring. Think laminate but far superior in quality. This is the product type used in many grocery stores and shops. It is very hard wearing, waterproof, and looks good. There are good quality laminate flooring products but most are truly disposable garbage. Vinyl plank usually glues down so it is a more involved install, but it will outlast laminate by ages.
Those cabinets are site built face frame. Boxes were often solid pine or maybe spruce but usually just plywood. Doors are usually also plywood. repainting them and putting on new hardware is certainly an option and cheaper than replacement, but still a lot of work and the end result probably wont be great. Face frame doors were often rabbeted around the edge to fit snugly into the opening. After several paintings and warping from age they rarely close properly. I do occasionally rebuild them and they certainly can be revitalized but it is not cheap.
I know everyone thinks particle board is always inferior to solid wood or plywood but I think that is plain old ignorance, especially for cabinet boxes. Particle board is stable and flat and the standard melamine finish is hard cleans easily. Even good plywood warps and twists and it has to be sorted well before milling. Even after milling it can warp, and it has to be finished which is very expensive. Plywood’s only real advantage over Melamine particle board for cabinet boxes is that it handles water damage better. For twice the price I do not see how it is worth it.
I mentioned in another thread that we do numerous rental grade kitchens at work. We get local cabinet shops that will mill and install them, with a laminate counter top, blum hinges, and soft close drawer base cabinets all for about $550 cad a linear foot. Thats Calgary prices and probably higher than what you would pay in many places. It may be worth it to do a full remodel rather than just paint and new counters.
The problem with particle board is that it’s not that good at retaining screws, especially the ones that will be stressed frequently by opening and closing cabinet doors.
In the middle of rehabbing an apt. (duplex) where the tenant up and died after 20 years. Darn her.
Thank god we’d done the bath 2 years ago after a broken sewer (City’s issue, not mine, but the sewage that came in the house was sure mine)-and replumbed at the same time. $10K.
But we’re doing ceramic throughout. One and done with ceramic.
Keep in mind, your rehab is deductible. Just be sure the keep the depreciating items separate from the repairs etc. for your tax man. And–trying to recall–I think all new flooring is depreciable. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
@DummyGladHands: It sounds like you got your deceased tenant’s stuff out. Any luck with the legal process or are you just winging it and assuming nobody else will care about your disposing of her goods?
Very interesting! We have a first floor that is wood in the front entry way, living room and dining room; carpet in the family room; and stone tile in the half bath, kitchen and mudroom/entry way. I was thinking of what would work throughout, especially in the bath and kitchen where it would need to handle water. This could work.
I welcome hijacks regarding materials, suitability, costs, tips, pitfalls, personal experiences, what works, what didn’t, “if I had it too do over” stories, etc. Pile on.
LSLGuy, we had to retain an attorney for an eviction at another unit, and this very good attorney threw in the information we needed to do an abandonment process on the unit. All legalities satisfied, I hope, and we’ve emptied it now. Fingers crossed. And it looks like I get her almost new car out of the deal as well!!
ThelmaLou I also rent to pet owners. Where I have carpet, I use the padding that has plastic lining to prevent accidents from soaking through. Makes it all easier to clean and maintain.
I would also investigate the “reface” the kitchen cabinets route. If the boxes are in relatively decent shape, it might save you a ton.
You need to get a pest inspector through there and figure out where your rodent problem is coming from and how to get it under control.
The front window plastic and cardboard thing could still be a question of how well that window was sealed and location. Based on your description, I’m guessing they were trying to keep the room from heating up, but I could be wrong.
A property manager is a good investment. I have always found them helpful. OTOH, if the one you mention is the one you have been using during the last 10 years, I think you need a new one. Even if you don’t do periodic walkthroughs of the property, the agent should. Based on descriptions, it sounds like no one other than the tenants had been inside in years. Your manager should have kept things from ever getting this bad.
One other thought - synthetic stone instead of linoleum counters in the kitchen. THey don’t burn or damage as easily as Lino, and the one I have now looks just like linoleum.
Not just the front (west-facing) windows, but ALL the windows in the house were covered with a layer of plastic (taped to the wall), then a layer of cardboard, then a curtain, then a heavier curtain/drape (with the sides of the top curtain thumbtacked to the wall).
This guy’s only been on it for a few months. I’VE only been in possession of the house a year or so. My mother signed it over to me. I was never the least bit involved with it and didn’t even know who was managing it. My mother, who turned 91 last year, decided to divest herself of it and signed it over to me. But you’re right: the property should never have been allowed to get to this state. I’m embarrassed and mortified and have some karma to repair.
I’m thinking formica counters–surely synthetic stone would be more expensive, right? The formica options I’m seeing onlline are gorgeous. The linoleum discussion was about the flooring.
