Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Ever-Expanding Home Repair Budget

I seem to be really bad at home repair estimates. For one thing, it didn't dawn on me at the beginning that the house would need paint. 20 gallons and 3 days of work and I have a freshly painted house. I also have to pay for it. Each 5 gallon bucket of paint was $100. Sprayer rental $130. Drop cloths, tape, brushes, and other miscellaneous stuff, $200. Labor $460. That's a large chunk of my budget.

Next is carpet removal which means another day of labor plus fees to haul the carpet to the dump. I'll try offering it free on craig's list and see if anyone wants to use it as weed suppression in their garden or whatever else people use old carpet for.

As you can see in the picture, the front door opens right in to the living room and the kitchen area and dining area are both in the same room. That's good if you like to watch TV while you cook.

At least it smells better now. Before it smelled like some sort of fragrance trying to cover stale smoke. Now it smells like paint although the garage still smells like trash because that's where the trash is. I sorted out the recycling and hauled away 3 bags of trash to the dumpster behind my work. The trash can is still full and the plastic from painting is waiting for it's turn in the can. I am looking forward to trash day (Friday).

Home Depot called with their carpet quote. $980 for 4 bedrooms of carpet installed. I guess I'm going to do it. That leaves very little for the living room, kitchen, dining, and master bathroom. I think I can afford the vinyl but will have to let my handyman go. I have run out of money for labor. They say that the vinyl installation is easy. I read as many reviews as I could find and most of them say it is easy and looks great. I want to try it on the master bath this weekend and if all goes well maybe I will take a day or two off work next week and work on it myself. I seem to be stuck in a no-win situation. I don't have money to hire someone, the longer it is vacant the more money I lose, if I take time off work I use up my vacation days and I might do a bad job and need to hire a professional anyway. But I am hopeful that I will be able to do it myself. I'll keep my handyman's number just in case.

8 comments:

Dave said...

Egads, Daizy, I am getting worn out just reading about all the stuff you plan to do to your rental place. You have made your point in your reply to my comment in yesterday's piece about this not being "passive income."

I will tell you one thing I like about your rental - you can watch TV while you cook, something I have never been able to do easily if at all in my apartments over the years.

Anonymous said...

Home Depot installer should remove old carpet this includes taking it to the dump. Just make sure your paperwork hows that removal from property.

Lizzie @ her homeworld said...

The house looks rally good all freshly painted. I hope you get an increase in rental for it.
Is acrpet disposal not included in the laying of the new stuff?
Lizzie

Dot said...

After seeing your pictures and the size of the rooms (and since you decided to put carpet in the bedrooms ) I think I would just leave whatever is in the kitchen area and have home depot install the cheapest neutral carpet you can find in the living room.The freshly painted walls and new carpet will make the house look very inviting and clean for a new tenet( nothing is perfect).
Even in the bedrooms, make sure you are putting in cheap carpet...There is not a carpet made, no matter the price or quality claims, that can withstand "tenet" use. This way you can save for another year or longer for ceramic throughout the house. ( the most durable option for long term rentals that should last 20+ years). Go ahead and put the flooring in the master bath yourself and see how it wears for the next year or two if you are curious and that room REALLY needs something new. It's all about CHEAP and CLEAN eye candy in a rental.
Also, make sure you keep the color formula ( not just the name) of your paint, so next time YOU can go in and just roll the middle-ish area of the wall that is dirty. The "formula" is the only way to insure perfect color match.
Sorry for such a long post, however we also have a rental going on about 4 years now and I have learned a lot in these years that I never would of thought of prior. Good Luck.
PS-We installed Ceramic tile ourselves 4 years before we moved out of our "rental" house.. so it is about 8 years old now and still looks brand new.

Daizy said...

Dave, and the dining area is so small you almost have to eat in the living room. Actually, it would be more convenint if the kitchen island was backwards, then I could have sat at the island and watched tv. It was annoying to try to eat at the island and turn around to watch tv which is why I always ended up eating on the couch.

Daizy said...

Anonymous, Home Depot would have removed the carpet for 18 cents a square foot. I'm not sure is hauling it away was included or not.

Daizy said...

Lizzie, only if I pay extra for it.

Daizy said...

Dot,the vinyl in the kitchen was ripped and patched and peeling up so it had to go. The cost of the wood vinyl is close to the cost of carpet if I install it myself. We will see if I can do it.