Cheap improvements

[Spiderman]

As I had the opportunity to stay a few days in a vacant IP, I thought I'd do a series of cheap improvements. Before the trip I primed myself by reading Dolf De Roos and making a list of about 30 things that could be relevant. In the end I didn't do all but thought of a few others. I liked the idea of doing many things that cost very little (<$300).

Here's my list (for a 1987 3 br villa with carport):


IMPROVEMENTS

1. Fitted lampshades on all interior light fittings ($7 each from WA Salvage)
2. Installed full-length wall mirrors in each bedroom ($18 each from Kmart)
3. Installed wireless door chime. Chime unit is mains powered, button unit uses a 12 volt type 23A battery (readily available - $3) and should last about 12 months. This can be replaced by the tenant without removing the button push unit from the wall. ($40 from Target)
4. Installed pulsating shower head with water saving and massaging effect. It's on a hose so you can hold it. ($45 from Bunnings)
5. Fitted alarm deterrent stickers near front and rear doors. ($3 ea from Dick Smith Elect)
6. Purchased door wedge for kitchen/hall door ($5 from Target)
7. Bought 'maintenance bucket'. This is kept in the pantry along with leftovers from my repair jobs. ($6 from Bunnings)

Plans for a pergola or similar were scrapped when I saw that the neighbour's tree provides excellent shade at all time of the day.

REPAIRS/MAINTENANCE

1. Sealed cornices near ceiling area with No More Gaps flexible sealant. ($8)
2. Went over faded numbering on letter box with all-weather marking pen. ($4)
3. Cleaned kitchen skylight ($0)
4. Trimmed palm leaf in front ($0)
5. Cleaned front and rear gutters (both very full). Put mesh on all gutters. ($6)
6. Tightened taps in bathroom and laundry ($0)
7. Glued refrigerator door handles back on. ($2)
8. Sealed wet areas with water resistant No More Gaps ($8)
9. Touched up worn corners, door & BIR edges with paint ($0)
10. Painted sections of bathroom and bedroom 2 wall (paint is slightly
different colour to wall, but overall result is still better than if I'd done
nothing - whole property probably needs repainting in 2-5 years time) ($0)

The lampshades though cheap plastic really make it more like a home than a house. I also liked the mirrors and showerhead - these would be used every day. The doorbell is a gimmick but I think it will be appreciated.

One thing I couldn't do was an outdoor living area on the patio (all brick currenlty). I didn't need a pergola or shadecloth roof due to nearby trees. But I thought artificial grass or astroturf would be better than just brick for at least part of it. WA Salvage normally have it in 1.8m rolls for $29 per metre. But they were out of stock so I didn't see how good this was and couldn't do it. But I think this stuff could have potential for small courtyards.

Any one actually used it?

Peter

[Apocalypse]

The lampshades though cheap plastic really make it more like a home than a house.

I believe that your average ceiling type light bulb puts out far too much heat for these and may well cause them to melt/burn...

[simonjulie]

Good on ya Spiderman
It does not take much to put some life back into an old place.
When your property improves in value then maybe paint and carpet can give you an even bigger bang for your bucks(yeild wise).
IMHO never over capitalise only improve the property to achieve market rent. Although, over time, make the property as good , if not better than its competion. It will all come back to you.
Kind regards
Simon

[Spiderman]

Apocalypse wrote:

I believe that your average ceiling type light bulb puts out far too much heat for these and may well cause them to melt/burn...

The limit for my shades were 60 watt, which happened to be the ratings of my existing bulbs. Living in the place for a week revealed no signs of melting. However I decided not to follow De Roos and replace with 100 watters afterwards!

Simonjulie - Yep, a new paint job is next, but not for 2-5 years. Carpets can wait a bit longer. The Body Corp is looking at a new front fence soon. But I'd thought I'd knock over the cheap & easy ones first while I was there.

Rgds, Peter

[skater]

What happens when the tennants put in 100 watt bulbs?

[simonjulie]

HI Skater
I have had that experience where the cheap plastic shade melts over the light bulb. you would have to be real unlucky for it the catch on fire but it does stink something terrible. I tend to use better quality light fittings these days. It has been a progression from cheap plastic ($2)to little round glass balls ($10)to s/steel track downlights($65)
Kind regards
Simon

[asy]

What happens when the tennants put in 100 watt bulbs?

I was thinking exactly that...

May I suggest that you have the PM put a clause into the management agreement that says that the tenants can't put over a 60 watt globe in or you are not responsable for the consequences.

Otherwise, you may find yourself in the predicament that they put in 100 watt globes and melt the fittings, then try to come after you for the cost of their lounge suite which was under the falling melted plastic...

asy :D

[Spiderman]

Thanks Asy! Will certainly do this. The PM also thinks this will be a good idea.

Regards, Peter

[itinerantotter]

5. Fitted alarm deterrent stickers near front and rear doors. ($3 ea from Dick Smith Elect)

Alas, Spiderman, Dick Smith doesn't stock these any more (in WA at least). :(

Cheers

[Spiderman]

Alas, Spiderman, Dick Smith doesn't stock these any more (in WA at least). :(


I'm surprised. Have you rang around the stores?

I got mine from the Kalgoorlie store if you fancy a 1100km round trip for a few stickers ; )

Other places to try include Tandy, Altronics or Jaycar.

Peter

[Jas]

or here:

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/406b907e0a4e26ce273fc0a87f9c074d/Product/View/L5314

Jas

[itinerantotter]

Thanks, Spiderman and Jas - I went ahead and ordered them online. Didn't fancy a trip to Kal. :D

Cheers

[Spiderman]

Here's another, with the only outlays being a paintbrush & sandpaper.

- Painted carport

Problem: Carport attached to house was bare wood (grey/brown and flaking) towards street*. House had light trim & gutters so carport didn't look part of house. Carport next door (only 30cm from mine) was similar but beige.

Garden bench (to stand on) came from hard rubbish the previous week. Ditto for the paint. Three tins were found, two were solid but one was 1/5 full - just enough. The garden bench will be used later to enhance a rather bare backyard.

2 coats later the result was most pleasing. Being the same colour as the house gable it makes the place look wider (needed as it's a narrow frontage). There is a very slight difference in colour but it's not visible from the street and now it's the house that needs a sand & brush-over. Also there was just enough paint to complete the previous owner's job on an inside beam (abruptly ending the paint a third along was worse than not starting at all in my view).

Between coats, the driverway was sprayed with weed killer until I work out what should be done there.

Peter

(*) Part of the carport (inside and rear) was actually painted, but the vendors must have run out of time or paint as the front (the only part visible from the street) wasn't done. If time or paint are limited, the lesson is to paint the front first (unless it's raining when the inside can be done).

[Jacque]

Those cheap plastic light fittings look crap and I'd rather go for the fixed glass bowls as an alternative (not much dearer)

Recently inspected a lovely brand new home which had these plastic ones fitted and it really cheapened the whole look. Nasty and screams cheap, if you ask me.

[Spiderman]

Those cheap plastic light fittings look crap and I'd rather go for the fixed glass bowls as an alternative (not much dearer)

Recently inspected a lovely brand new home which had these plastic ones fitted and it really cheapened the whole look. Nasty and screams cheap, if you ask me.

Those bowls are good value and for a PPOR I'd definitely use them.

But for a rental there is some advantage in having an exposed lightbulb for ease of changing (KISS: the fewer bits to unscrew, detach, get broken, go missing the better).

There are metal versions of the cheap plastic fittings that look quite classy and would be ideal. But they're a little pricy ($50).

Only if there was something in between!

Peter

[BoatBoy]

We alway's end up with these in IP's

Cheap as chip's, classy enough and always available

http://www.beaconlighting.com.au/

Project Display Family
Online Order Form
Download Catalogue
1 light flush
Category: Flush
Item Code: 080239
RRP: $9.95
30cm incandescent flush mount with brushed chrome/antique brass clips and alabaster glass

BB

[aussieamp]

These are really nice looking lights (the glass oyster alabaster) and that's a bargain but be warned!
Just make sure they are really securely fixed to the ceiling!

Mum had one in her loungeroom and six months later the whole thing came crashing down on the tiles in the middle of the night...smashed all over the place and ripped the electricals out of the ceiling too...giving her complete heart failure and traumatising her little dog for weeks. :eek:

Now who was the fool that didn't secure it properly? hmmmmmmm...

I know nothing...!!:rolleyes:

[Mike F]

We alway's end up with these in IP's

Cheap as chip's, classy enough and always available
...
30cm incandescent flush mount with brushed chrome/antique brass clips and alabaster glass

BB

They look good, although I find that if the ceiling is less than perfect (few cracks or patched where there has previously been flaked paint etc), these lights tend to show the imperfections up due to them projecting light directly across the ceiling. (especially bad if you have a vermiculite ceiling :eek: )

I like lights that keep the ceiling somewhat dark and project the light down in the room.


.

[BoatBoy]

They look good, although I find that if the ceiling is less than perfect (few cracks or patched where there has previously been flaked paint etc), these lights tend to show the imperfections up due to them projecting light directly across the ceiling. (especially bad if you have a vermiculite ceiling :eek: )

I like lights that keep the ceiling somewhat dark and project the light down in the room.


.

Fair cop



Even new ceiling's show up the filler that has'nt been sanded quite enough.

Just can't get plasterers to spend that extra 5 minutes sanding.

Oh well, we don't live in 'em, and veiwing for rent or sale are done during daylight hour's.

BB

[Spiderman]

Time for an update:

- Add borders to garden beds in front - $0.00 (some treated pine logs, other planks and bricks were found out the back)

- Scrape paint splashes from windows - $3.00 (cost of paint scraper)

- Attach house number to front door - $5.00

- General pruning, adding soil mix, planting seeds - $10-20.00

- Clean inside of meter box & add hook for fuse wire - $1.00 (or could have put in circuit breakers for about $30-60 more)

- Remove crooked shelf from kitchen and reposition another shelf - $0.00

- Paint part of wall behind stove and kitchen benchtop with gloss paint (to make it easier to clean) - $5.00

- New handle on linen closet - $5.00

- New plugs for all sinks - $10.00

- Replace faulty smoke alarm - $15.00

- Add telephone - $0.00 (lying around)

- Tea, coffee and biscuits for incoming tenant (as discussed here). Had unopened sachets, cheap biscuits from Dimmys - $1.29

- New lampshades throughout house. $6 glass lampshades for bedrooms & hall, $20 lampshades for dining and lounge - $80.00

- 1 coat of plain white paint: lounge, dining, part of kitchen, some doors over previous shoddy effort. Required 4 litres (Wattyl) - $30.00

- Replace curtain rail brackets (supported by nails in plaster!) and mount new rails elsewhere on timber in lounge and 1 bedroom - $30.00

- Rearrange curtains between bedrooms and lounge. Move bright red curtain from bedroom 1 to lounge (this adds rich colour to otherwise white lounge, and saves the expense of painting a feature wall). - $0.00

- New curtains for bedroom from which lounge curtains were taken: Found pair of unopened curtains at church op-shop for 1/3 original price. - $20.00

Now it's more like a home!

Peter

[Tizzy]

BB's cheap as chips lights are also available at IKEA. The cover is opaque and looks like glass but isn't. Cost $8.95 each. They look sleek and are unobtrusive, they don't draw your attention.
We put them in our kids rooms, toilets and laundry to replace the origional white plastic shades that show the globe.
A very cheap solution.

[BoatBoy]

Yeah, just got a flock of them again for the newie from "Lighting Illusions" for the same price Tizzy, but still have glass bowl.

Being a new house it has to have 40% energy saving bulb's, which are a bit bulkier, but after a bit of ginning around I found some small fluoro's for $4-00that'll do the job equaling 75 watt's apparently.

BB