Beyond that, you'd have to have ingress/egress abilities, a poured floor, and then everything else you'd need in a standard room - this is aside from your permitting process, and enough panel space to add the extra electrical load.

Create a false panel to hide the recycling bins- you can buy ready made ones or make your own. http://diy-alternative-energy.com/15-best-looking-ways-hide-trash-cans-frugal-fabulous/ Change out the light fixture for something more decorative.

@Nick Wiswell , Welcome to BP, nice to see another investor from San Jose, and you are already getting tons of advise from a panel experts here.I met @Sam McClellan   at one of the  J.

When complete early next year, will be the largest panel maker in North America and create 3000 local jobs.  

Plan) Get permits on every house, never use a GC to hang a fan, replace outlets, or work  on the panel.

I have solar panels on my rental.

If your talking about a Neo Angle framed unit (normally installed in corner of bathroom, 2 smaller panels coming off the walls, and one door on an angle between the 2 panels), and it has the little magnets in the handle that hold the door to the metal, not much you can do for those because they all rust and crap out over time.

That may have been a mistake as a tenant turned the heat off at the breaker panel for Thanksgiving and I had a frozen pipe in the wall. 

Also, something may have seeped past interior panels onto coils or some other less than obvious location which gets pumped back in.

You also need to be able to determine which wire comes from the circuit breaker panel if more than one wire appears on a single receptacle (they aren't always wired as they should be).If you don't understand what I just typed, then you should probably hire somebody and watch and learn.