Repost - question on rental rehab/doors/trim/molding or paint?

Question

Hi All,

This is a repost as I put it in the wrong forum earlier. My apologies. Would appreciate your thoughts. Second multi-unit, first real rehab. 100k budget and 70k in. So I have a three flat that I have been rehabbing from top to bottom. Got a ton of major repairs done already (new plumbing, gutted basement, new fence, roof, chimney work, concrete work/sidewalks, parking, new yard, etc. Second floor unit done, but was not in as bad of shape as the ones I am discussing in this post).

Am through one unit already, but when I got to the second and third units I realized that they were in much worse shape than I originally thought. I am up to about 17k per unit. This includes all new kitchens (able to salvage cabinets), bathrooms, appliances, painting, hardwood floors (refinish where possible replace when carpets existed), etc. My main contractor wants me to rip out and replace all the doors (8 of them) and surrounding trim, as well as take out the crown molding and baseboards which are very old, outdated and caked with layers of paint. The door frames are also 1-2 inches off the frame. I.e. - crooked.

This is a very old Chicago brick three-flat. He wants $3,500 for each unit to do this extra work. Question is, is it worth doing? Originally we had agreed on sanding and painting it all. Attached are some photos. Thoughts? I think it would of coursr look great newly framed and leveled, but as these are rentals and everything else will be new and/or updated, is it necessary to do this? 20% more per unit for this seems like a lot, and I am not sure that a renter will a) care about this compared to all the other work that has been done b) take care of it, meaning it will just need cleaning up/repairing down the road c) pay any more on the rent over what I will be expecting to rent the units out for ($1300-$1400). Lastly, I was also trying to look at this from an appraisal value approach, but don't know if I will necessarily get a return on the appraised value from an appraiser. I plan on holding and renting, and not selling. The appraisal would only be done for an equity line down the road. Thoughts? Not sure if I mentioned it, but the molding and baseboards are plaster. Thanks so much.

Patrick Liska · Answer

You have some settling issues there. Personally i like the old doors, they are also wood and not some cheap hollow core doors. if you want them to look better, have your contractor take them off and cut the tops of the doors to get the gap smaller. what he will then have to do is reset the hinges on either the jamb or the door and reset the door catch on the jamb. another way is to have him do is rip down a piece of 1 x 2 ( face side ) from 3/4" to nothing and add it to the top of the door, sand it even and paint. that will be the least expensive way. the crown i would try to fix up, that may take more time to do then it's worth, if it starts to take to much time, rip it out and replace, i think you will find that will be the least expensive way to go in the long run, if a lot of it looks like that picture.

Patrick Liska · Answer

Take them off and either use paint stripper, or, i don't know if you have ever watched the show rehab addict ( i have never tried this) but she puts the parts in a crock pot with water and cooks the paint off. i'm sure you can look that up and find out exactly what she does. good luck with the project.

Stephanie A. · Answer

I would not change the doors.  I agree with Patrick that trimming the door will help it open and close better.  Even if you get new doors, older homes tend to shift and you could have the same problem in a few years.  (We live in an older house (100+ years) and this has happened to us.)

The plaster trim is another issue.  Sometimes paint is enough to make it look better, but I don't know how much it has deteriorated.  However, even if you rip it out and replace it, you will likely not see increase in value.  Plus, as Marcia was saying, you may end up with a bigger project that you think.  Taking out the plaster trim might damage the walls, especially with they are lathe and plaster.  Then you are looking at installing new drywall, which adds up.  I personally would try just sanding and painting before anything else.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

If the old doors are still functional, I wouldn't worry about the gap from the settling. Older solid wood doors have more character and durability than most of the new doors on the market.

For the crown moulding and baseboards... they might be easier to replace (than to strip down and repaint) if they were made of wood. But you said they were made of plaster, and that can become a pretty messy removal project. Also, when tearing the moulding and baseboards away from the walls it could cause damage the walls. If the walls are lathe and plaster, that's another factor to consider.

When doing rehab work on old buildings, In addition to the possibility of releasing lead-based paint dust into the air, there's also the possibility of releasing asbestos. Important to know what's in the material you're dealing with and to use proper technique and PPE (personal protective equipment).

Stephanie A. · Answer

We had to replace our old hinges and used a site called House of Antique hardware to get ones to match  You can also check your local habitat store, but we found them to be horribly expensive there.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

Thanks for sharing this! I just looked at a slew of YouTube videos that show this method and few others. Really works!

Benjamin E. · Answer

Thanks, all. Decided to go ahead and keep the doors and trim. Will sand and paint and make sure proper PPE is used. I will be moving into the unit for at least six months, so this will give me time to access how it looks/feels and make adjustments to the doors. Appreciate the feedback. Will let everyone know how it turns out. Any thoughts on what to do (if anything) with the door knobs and hinges to bring them back to life?

Repost - question on rental rehab/doors/trim/molding or paint?

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