Our Landlording Life - The Current Rehab Project Is Finally COMPLETE

Publish Date: 
6/29/2019
White Moth At Our Rehab Unit | Tracy Marie Lewis | www.stuffnthingz.com

We've been working non-stop on what we call the "Dog Urine Damaged" rehab project. It was a bigger project than we anticipated because no one expected the tenants pets to do so much damage. It makes us both sad and mad that someone can treat our property so poorly. We started work on 6/3 and just finished 6/27. The picture is of a beautiful white moth that flew in and landed by me while I was dusting the inside of the front stoop roof. I had to jump down and quickly go get my phone trying not to disturb it. I was glad it didn'y fly away before I got this picture.

On 6/20 we had to move up north, way, way north. We would have made different camping arrangement had we known the work would take so long. We've been getting up earlier and earlier trying to get more work hours in, on Thursday we were up at 5:30am and out the door by 5:45am. The problem is that Boeing's first shift gets off around 2pm so we MUST be on the road heading home by no later than 1:30pm to avoid really nasty traffic.

It is very fulfilling to be able to shift gears from "retirement" mode to "work" mode and see that we still have the skills to manage this big a job, and be able to do all the tasks (except the flooring). Rentals always end up with damage, mostly pet damage and hub has become quite clever at these types of repairs. Have a door frame that is shredded from a pet scratching to be let in/out for many years? He is the master fixer for that kind of damage. deep scratches on a wood window sill... I tackled that repair using hub's orbital sander, then I sealed it with polyerethane. 

We did stop by Lowe's and/or Home Depot every other day or so. Our task list was so extensive we tackled a few items at a time. Our storage space happened to be at this property which made supply and tool runs a breeze. Hub has ALOT of general supplies for painting, finishing of every surface you can imagine, electrical, plumbing, automotive. He has screws, nails, and extra items leftover from other rehabs. I didn't know we had so many cans of spray paint! We saved a ton of $$ by shopping first in our storage.

So when we sold our home many years ago now, hub wanted to keep all of his garage stuff, home maintenance supplies and tools. This has been a prudent decision since we like to be involved with vacancies as much as possible.

This particular unit had old lighting and window coverings, so with this opportunity we replaced both. The cost is very reasonable and the impact is HUGE. Another way to make a property sparkle is to freshen up the wood with Old English. We have a supply of Old English in light and dark, this unit has alot of wood in it, much of it scratched up. Old English melts away scratch marks.

Another big impact for little cost is sprucing up painted trim, like casings that have been pulled off and put back on many times without a fresh coat of paint. Those nail holes start to really stand out over time. A quart of matched paint is around $12 and goes a long way. 

Hub and I both feel all nail holes should be spackled. I use my finger and put on just enough to fill the hole and wipe the rest away. Someone had mounted a cheap plastic "curtain" between the dining and living room, so when hub took it down, there were gaping screw holes. I spackled them and bought a quart of matching wall paint, it looks so much better without that outdated "thing". 

Replacing old tub caulking is a huge win. Hub hates it and I've never learned the skill, so I get to remove the old and he puts on the new. It is one of those tasks that you either love or hate, but in either case It is a big impact.

The picture shows my taking a picture of hub's phone which is on a website that sells the urine odor remover we used. After multiple sprays with this product, we painted on two coats of Shellac.

The video below is short, revealing the finished unit ready to rent! Video length 4 min 22 sec.  If you missed the "before" video showing the damaged hardwoods click here-> https://youtu.be/KiKKpY7lPFc This is also very short: Video Length: 3 min 15 sec.

Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave comments or questions, I am here to help!

~Tracy

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