$235 and 20hrs of Work for $50 More Per Month

[Joel Florek]

Yes.... I know the stove is awful. Its clean, it works, and it will be replaced next time the unit turns. With that said, the renovation. 

For those of you looking to update on the cheep for a BIG impact and extra dollars each month in rent I figured I would post up this recent project. This is one of my two single bed units in my portfolio of 20 doors. Overall the cabinets are in great shape, just outdated as they go back to the 70s. The wall paper and floors are also horrible. The rest of the unit has been updated but the kitchen/dinning area was always an eye sore and a big let down for tenants when showing the unit. Prior to the renovation I was getting $550 for the unit. 

My goal was simple. Spend 3 days (about 6 to 7 hours a day) on this renovation project to refinish the cabinets walls around the cabinets, and new floors. Given this is my 3rd unit in the building to refinish cabinets I have learned some dos and don'ts with this particular type of cabinet. 

Donts

- No need to sand cabinets. The paper just gets gunked up quickly and doesn't help. (If you want to argue to sand after stripping then read my next point)

- No need to waste time stripping the old finish off. It takes forever and doest make a difference in my experience. I have also found the stripping vs not stripping doesn't make a measurable impact in helping the paint stay through wear and tear with tenants. 

- Didn't see a difference between using a de-greaser vs just scraping. Dont make your life harder if you don't need to.

-Dont waste your money on super expensive paint. Mid grade BEHR($16 gallon) and 123($12 a gallon I think) primer was good enough

Do's

- Get the 5 in 1 and scrape down all the excessive gunk off of the doors and cabinets. There are spots where the old stain is clearly not into the wood and just filled on the surface. The scraper does a great job of getting this and any grease/food that stuck on the cabinets. If you don't do this it will show through primer and many many coats of paint. 

Step 1 I pull all hardware off and scrape the cabinets and doors to get the gunk off. This seems to be just fine to get the finish I desired and saved a dozen hours compared to using stain stripper and doing a light sanding. The handles I wanted to replace but the hinges are mostly hidden and look just fine if kept. This saves me money to keep them and I can reuse all the existing holes making mounting everything back super fast. 

Step 2 was a coat of 123 primer over everything. I let this dry overnight even though they say its good after an hour. 

Step 3 is two coats of paint. I used the i300 BEHR paint from Home Depot. This seemed to be good enough to get a clean finish and cover all the dark designs in the old wallpaper. I did these in the same day. 

Step 4 is hardware back on. I found handles at Menard's that look the same as the ones that are $5 each except these were $2 in the contractor packs. I put all the hardware on the same day as the two coats of paint. Ended up being about an 8 hour day total to get two coats and hardware on with all the doors mounted back on the cabinets. 

Step 5 was flooring. I have gotten a bit of experience with this particular type of laminate flooring from Home Depot. See type below. Overall to cut my doorways with the multitool, pop off trim, install the floors and nail all my trim and transition strips back in 150 square feet takes me about 5 hours with this stuff(includes setup and teardown of all my tools). Its a few more hours compared to linoleum floors but I like the look of these way better and so do my tenants!  This is the standard stuff I am putting in all my units living areas(Bedrooms get carpet, bathrooms get linoleum, and in most of my units right around the cabinets gets linoleum. I am trying these floors next to the cabinets/sink on this unit to see how it holds up over time). Its $0.99 a square foot. Underlayment for $0.25 a square foot is what I use with this. I like this type of laminate flooring because #1 it looks great when I show the units. The other reason is this particular type has the beveled edges. This means that overtime nothing can get caught on an edge and break off a small piece of the top finish later. I have seen so many apartments put in new laminate floating floors like this without a beveled edge and with any water the corners start to go bad instantly! Time will tell how the beveled edge in my units lasts but I am confident at this point. 

TrafficMASTER: Hand scraped Saratoga Hickory 7 mm Thick x 7-2/3 in. Wide x 50-5/8 in. Length Laminate Flooring (24.17 sq. ft. / case)

Overall the expenses are as follows(yes, I have rounded these for simplicity). 

Flooring: $150

Door Handles: $55

Paint: $35(Only used about $15 worth)

Taxes: $15

The best part of this project is the extra $50 a month I am getting for the unit. The 20 hours of work and $235 investment gives me $600 a year in extra cashflow. Since this is a multi family property, at a very conservative 10 cap the value of my property goes up $6,000. Not too bad in my eyes! 

Check out the photos and ask any questions you have.