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Bought a fixer upper in an ok to decent middle class neighborhood in Michigan, right on the service drive for a major highway (bad) but close to a popular downtown and centrally located (good) so basically I know I don't want to spend to much on the renovations b/c it's not prime location but at the same time I want to make it nice enough to try to attract good renters.
Actually 2 questions:
1) What type of floor to install? I thought about vinyl plank and ceramic tile but was leaning toward vinyl plank b/c I've read some that it's durable, easy to install, water proof, and the floor is not perfectly level in the house so the flexibility of the vinyl might work better.
2) My contractor who's redoing the bathroom (which is coming out very nice by the way!) recommended a shower panel instead of the regular shower head. I love the idea and it will probably cost me about 80-100 bucks more but my concern is that it might be easier to break and could be a much higher chance of me going to the rental to troubleshoot some problem with it, on the other hand I can see how impressed a potential renter could be with it so could be a good selling tool.
What type of floor to install? I thought about vinyl plank and ceramic tile but was leaning toward vinyl plank b/c I've read some that it's durable, easy to install, water proof, and the floor is not perfectly level in the house so the flexibility of the vinyl might work better.
Wall to wall vinyl floor? I've never seen it done, so its kinda odd. The imperfections in the floor will definitely show with vinyl on top. Personally I use painted wood plank floor in my rentals. When the person moves out, I simply grab a roller and repaint the floors/walls and the house looks like new.
Quote:
Originally Posted by usermi
2) My contractor who's redoing the bathroom (which is coming out very nice by the way!) recommended a shower panel instead of the regular shower head.
Renters break everything. I'd pass on that, go with a normal shower head.
Go with tile. If its concrete slab you can use Ardex to level it out. If its wood floor you will want to use hardibacker as a subfloor. Tile is almost indestructible. The tenants would really have to. Try hard to destroy it. Use dark grout.
As for the shower heads. Just get normal shower heads.
Go with tile. If its concrete slab you can use Ardex to level it out. If its wood floor you will want to use hardibacker as a subfloor. Tile is almost indestructible. The tenants would really have to. Try hard to destroy it. Use dark grout.
As for the shower heads. Just get normal shower heads.
Electrician4you, on a side note....my friends have a concrete slab and decided to put in wood floors on their first floor. They were told they needed to have the concrete jackhammered in order to install subflooring. Their pets never got over it. To this day one won't come to the first floor. So was the jackhammering overkill? Did they not need it afterall?
In some cases if it's really really bumpy and has really high spots the installer uses a jackhammer with what looks like a meat tenderizer tip. They hammer the high spots down. Then they grind it smooth. If wood is put down over concrete usually the concrete either gets the high spots ground down and checked for flatness with a long level and this filler made by Ardex which is basically like a concrete paste when mixed ( think of it like drywall mud but for concrete. ) felt to fill in the low spots. It all depends on how bad the floor level is. then usually some sort of moisture barrier gets put down and then the floor is glued on top. If someone wants nail on wood flooring then the installer puts thick plywood over the moisture barrier and secures it to the slab. Back when I was doing residential if the concrete was getting jackhammered I left. It's so freaking loud I can see a poor doggie going crazy. But no I don't think your friends were taken for a ride. It was probably needed
In some cases if it's really really bumpy and has really high spots the installer uses a jackhammer with what looks like a meat tenderizer tip. They hammer the high spots down. Then they grind it smooth. If wood is put down over concrete usually the concrete either gets the high spots ground down and checked for flatness with a long level and this filler made by Ardex which is basically like a concrete paste when mixed ( think of it like drywall mud but for concrete. ) felt to fill in the low spots. It all depends on how bad the floor level is. then usually some sort of moisture barrier gets put down and then the floor is glued on top. If someone wants nail on wood flooring then the installer puts thick plywood over the moisture barrier and secures it to the slab. Back when I was doing residential if the concrete was getting jackhammered I left. It's so freaking loud I can see a poor doggie going crazy. But no I don't think your friends were taken for a ride. It was probably needed
Good to know. Thanks. Yes, they still wish they had boarded the pets before doing this. It was a traumatic experience. All the best.
Don't buy the fancy shower head. As a manager, I found that tenants would buy shower heads that they preferred, if they didn't like the one provided. The owner I worked for would even install them for them for free. I even bought a different one for my resident manager unit. I like the ones that have a long hose attached, so I could easily spray my feet, etc., in the shower.
The owner I worked for just put in cheap linoleum and cheap carpet. He found it to be affordable to just put new cheap stuff in, if it didn't look nice anymore after the tenant moved out. Then we could advertise it as new flooring.
A lot of tenants really hate carpeting, however, if it's brand new, they're okay with it. Carpets are pretty gross, even if you clean them, and serious germophobes won't rent a place with carpets at all, but especially if they are not brand new.
As a tenant, I don't like tile, unless it's that vinyl tile that's more like linoleum. Grout is a pain to clean, but if you do it, I agree it should be dark.
Tenants LOVE hardwood floors, even the cheaper laminate wood flooring. I couldn't talk the owner I worked for into getting hardwood floors. He could get significantly higher rents just by having wood flooring, but he was set in his ways. I was surprised that you didn't include hardwood flooring as one of your options.
I did flooring for 40 years. Wood on concrete is just a bad idea. If you tapcon a subfloor under it, each one puts a hole in your vapor barrier. I have taken up many wood floors on concrete that failed in less than five years.
If by vinyl flooring, you mean Allure, then I use that in my rentals. I put it in the kitchens and the bathrooms.
My carpet cleaner, who also installs, has complained about the allure coming up, but I have had no issues. I use the metal carpet edging strips in all the doorways and around the edge of the room, I use molding to pin the flooring down.
Allure is easy to install, so I don't have to pay an installer to put it in. I recommend a good chop saw with an extra fine blade to cut it instead of the box cutter recomende4d by the manufacturer. That stuff is hard!
If you use tile, buy a through body porcelain. The porcelain is harder to break and if you get one with the color all the way through, then any chips will not show.
If your tenants are not going to be low life cheap pigs, then I have this suggestion. I have installed wide pine planks as flooring. Sand them smooth, route the edge just very slightly, put them down unfinished and cover with several coats of urethane. If the tenants do any damage, one plank can be removed and replaced, but minor scuffs and scrapes just make the floor look better.
The plank floors look fabulous and the tenants all comment on them. That is another self-installation, if you are even marginally clever with tools.
I've got carpet, but as each house needs flooring replacement, I am not doing replacement with carpet. I've had it with carpet and all the tenant damage and filth that comes with carpet.
Thanks for the advice, especially coming from an apartment manager, the reason that hardwood is not mentioned is that the kitchen and living room will have the same flooring b/c it's kind of an open layout and I've read about the possible problems with hardwood in the kitchen but vinyl planks/tiles no problem.
What do you think think about hardwood on a kitchen and potential water problems? You don't like tiles strictly b/c of cleaning the grout lines or other reasons? I love tiles but I'm shooting for what would be easy to maintain, durable, cost effective, and suitable for Michiganders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe
Don't buy the fancy shower head. As a manager, I found that tenants would buy shower heads that they preferred, if they didn't like the one provided. The owner I worked for would even install them for them for free. I even bought a different one for my resident manager unit. I like the ones that have a long hose attached, so I could easily spray my feet, etc., in the shower.
The owner I worked for just put in cheap linoleum and cheap carpet. He found it to be affordable to just put new cheap stuff in, if it didn't look nice anymore after the tenant moved out. Then we could advertise it as new flooring.
A lot of tenants really hate carpeting, however, if it's brand new, they're okay with it. Carpets are pretty gross, even if you clean them, and serious germophobes won't rent a place with carpets at all, but especially if they are not brand new.
As a tenant, I don't like tile, unless it's that vinyl tile that's more like linoleum. Grout is a pain to clean, but if you do it, I agree it should be dark.
Tenants LOVE hardwood floors, even the cheaper laminate wood flooring. I couldn't talk the owner I worked for into getting hardwood floors. He could get significantly higher rents just by having wood flooring, but he was set in his ways. I was surprised that you didn't include hardwood flooring as one of your options.
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