Any rehab recommendations?

Question

I closed on my first two houses yesterday. I got the locks change and started working on the first house today. Started with some of the obvious repairs, Kitchen faucet, fixed a interior door and patched some drywall. Once  ready I will be painting throughout and doing living room and bed room floors. Any advice on what materials for flooring. Since it's living room and bed rooms I'm considering carpet... plus it's fast and cheaper. I also was wondering what paints you use(brands, colors)? Any advice is appreciated!

Colleen F. · Answer

@Todd Brown what class of rental, what type of flooring do you have, what is the subfloor? Where are you located? If it doesn't have wood to refinish (which you should have lined someone up for floors pre-sale unless you are DIY) LVT is a reasonable choice anywhere. More expensive then carpet it holds up better. Make sure you pick good quality. If cost is an issue you can do carpet or just do carpet in bedrooms. If you have a concrete subfloor that needs alot to be level I would go with carpet.

Any good quality paint is a good base. Nuetral colors, a non-yellow white, light grey etc. What color is the woodwork? Search paint colors in the forums and there are some specific colors mentioned. Good luck with your first!

Any good quality paint is a good base. Nuetral colors, a non-yellow white, light grey etc.  What color is the woodwork?  Search paint colors in the forums and there are some specific colors mentioned.  Good luck with your first!

Colleen F. · Answer

@Todd Brown so this is a rental and it is living room, kitchen, and then hallway to upstairs?  I think that is just 1/4 inch paneling I would remove it and paint.If you can't you are right paint it. Pry off the trim and see if you can just get rid of it. If you paint it you need to use a deglosser like willbond, that is easier then sanding. If you do LVP do it across the kitchen to right below the stairs. The problem with waiting on the kitchen floor is that you may not be able to match when you get around to doing it.  Your cheapest option is carpet just be prepared to replace on turnover.

Andrew Freed · Answer

@Todd Brown - @Colleen F. is spot on. Refinish wood floors if you can, this will be one of the cheapest flooring techniques and honestly looks the best. If wood is not available to refinish, use luxury vinyl planks throughout the property. It is water proof, holds up better than carpet, and is durable. With contractor prices these days, it honestly is comparable to carpet too which you have to replace mostly every other tenant.

In regards to paint, I would go with an accessible gray or revere pewter from home depot or Benjamin Williams  (neutral as Colleen indicated). I usually stick with these two colors for my rentals.

In addition, if you have anything you can save, do it. It'll save you a ton of money in renovations. For instance, if you have old cabinets, a lot of times you can refinish them, paint them, or change the doors and they look brand new. It will save you thousands in repair costs.

Lastly, keep in mind that all of my recommendations were for rental grade properties. For fix and flip, you would usually do a more comprehensive renovation (using higher qualify materials), but not too much more. Best of luck on your renovation!

Todd Brown · Answer

I'm going today after work to try to remove the ugly wainscoting like @Colleen F. Suggested and I think I will most likely go with LVP. Thanks for all the recommendations.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

The advantage that vinyl flooring has over carpet is that you can do the install yourself, whereas with carpet, you cannot. And LVP will last almost forever....

Danny Webber · Answer

Congrats, good bones. Various options from low to high end. Consider your investment goal as the options for your choices. This might help break down the choices.

Todd Brown · Answer

@Colleen F.

The kitchen and living room are tied together. The cabinets in the kitchen are oak. And they had some ugly pine wainscoting around the living room into the stairway. I think I may paint the wainscoting to match the trim and windows which are currently white(it will all be painted over) The flooring in the kitchen I hope to leave for now. It's a sheet linoleum which I'm not crazy about but I don't want to go overkill on rehab cost. My main concern with lvp floor right now it the hallway off the kitchen may be hard to match up and it goes up the stairs into the Hallway for the second floor. I'm afraid that having a different floor in the living room might not match well... maybe I'm being too picky. I'm hoping these decisions will get easier the more I make them. I will try to post a couple pictures... just don't mind the mess, it's definitely a work in progress.

Any rehab recommendations?

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