Tiny Bathroom Renovation & Communal Laundry

Lil Skater

Lil Skater

Hi everyone!

I just inspected a unit and was wondering if I could get some input.

Firstly, It has a tiny bathroom that I wouldn't want to have a shower in. It will need to have the tiles replaced, shower screen and recess replaced, painting and a good clean before I can move in or get a tenant in. It was tenanted previously but I wouldn't let it out in it's current state.

What I was wondering was, what would be cheaper or what you would see to be more preferable.

I was thinking about the shower area and whether it would be best to install a small bath (Children?) or just re-tile the whole bathroom and make the shower into a walk in type one.

It also doesn't have it's own laundry, instead it has a communal laundry which is the next door over so it's not a big pain, but there's also no dryer.

So the questions are, do you think that I'd be best off putting in a small bath or leave as is and replace the tiles? And what do we all think of coin operated washing machines?

Thanks!
 
some pics and/or a (mud-map) floor plan may be helpful.

Laundrys can be added in kitchens or in-built cupboards depending on space.
 
before I can move in or get a tenant in. It was tenanted previously but I wouldn't let it out in it's current state
Click to expand...

The question i guess is are YOU going to live there or rent it? Obviously, as it was ""tenanted previously"" some people with shower in anything :)

If you are thinking of this as an IP what extra $$$ rent will a bathroom/laundry revamp add?? If it is for you to live in??????????????? What is sanity value worth in capital gain?? :)
 
Units aren't usually what people with little kids target, especially with no laundry. Wouldn't bother with a bath.

I can imagine what this looks like. Retile/new screen sounds good :)
 
If you intend to rent, decide your target market, i.e., who is most likely to rent the unit.

Unless it is a family with young children then I would not bother with a bath.
Marg
 
Where is the unit located? This will also help determine your market (yuppies, dinks or families)

How many bedrooms?

I would just retile the bathroom, clean it up and put in a decent shower, no bath (takes up too much space anyway)

For the washing machine, you can put a front loader in the kitchen, euro style
 
Hi Sam :)

Is it a 2br or 1br?

As others have said, wouldn't bother about the bath if it's a 1br.

We have had a couple & new baby move into our 2br which has tiny bathroom with bath. Think it gives you more options for tenants if it's a 2bedder as people with a kid may look at it as well as couples & singles.

I have a 2br in block with communal coin laundry. Lived there for ages & liked the convenience. Other have said to me they think it's yukky sharing laundry with others, but I didn't mind so much. Was a pain cos we had to connect the power in our unit to machine as well as insert coins :eek:

Is there room in kitchen for Euro laundry set up?

Regards,
M&M:)
 
Thanks for your input guys! I'll have to get the photo's when I get to a computer, just on my phone at the moment.

It's a 2 bedroom, I wouldn't bother with a 1 bedroom.

In a great location, directly accross the road from a primary school and less than 1km to the train station and shops.

I'd like to do the European style, that would be kinda cool, but I think it may be a bit too expensive. Might have to look into it though as an option.
 
What is your target market? If you want to keep the options open for couples with a baby - Perhaps install one of those corner baths.

Any pics or floorplans?
 
JamesGG said:
Expensive is only relative to the value that it could add, though, right?

So, she might just be onto something yet...
Click to expand...

Well, yes and no.

I don't deny that she could possibly have found something with a lot of potential. I'm just reminding her that these things rarely come cheap, especially as she won't be able to do the work herself, and I don't think you'd be doing it for her, right? She also might not have the funds to complete the reno as it's unlikely for her to be able to secure a loan for that on top of purchase price.
 
Lil Skater said:
Hi everyone!

I just inspected a unit and was wondering if I could get some input.

Firstly, It has a tiny bathroom that I wouldn't want to have a shower in. It will need to have the tiles replaced, shower screen and recess replaced, painting and a good clean before I can move in or get a tenant in. It was tenanted previously but I wouldn't let it out in it's current state.
Click to expand...

Does it NEED a new shower or new tiles? Is it just a yuckky colour and filthy dirty, or are the tiles comming off the wall?

If it's just grot, then a good dose of elbow grease could be all that is required. Then some White Knight tile paint perhaps. If there is damage because of water leakage, and definately needs to be redone, well that is where my "expensive" quote came from. You could ring a plumber to give you a quote? Do you have pictures?
 
Too small for a corner bath, to put it into perspective it's smaller than the average ensuite. I'll get photo's tonight.

And Mum, yes it does need new tiles and a new shower - James will be viewing it with me tomorrow.

I don't think it will be too expensive as it is so small - plus the toilet and vanity are relatively new.

I'd say to get the place looking good it will need $7-$10k spent on it. It needs a new kitchen, shower, tiles and i'd want to put mirrored doors on the buil in robes, the place also needs to be fully repainted.

If I do decide to go through with the purchase (or can service the loan) I'll be getting some of our tradies from work in becase they have some pretty resonable prices.
 
Unfortunately being small does not have a lot of impact on the cost of moving plumbing around.:eek:

If you are renewing most things then putting back an older vanity detracts from the overall results. You generally can't reuse a toilet pan, unless you are leaving it insitu and again if it's 20-30 years old then it may need replacing simply to renew the actual seal. (they are not expensive you can buy a full toilet suite from bunnings for about $100)

Being just across the road from a primary school can be a minus as parents tend to park anywhere when picking up those kiddies. Possibly not a personal problem, as you won't be there, but when they start running into things and leaving damage that the strata has to pay to fix it becomes a strata problem.

I have several units that have seperate laundries with coin operated machines, generally they don't represent a problem finding tenants but they do seem to get a lower rent.

One of our blocks of units had showers so small that you couldn't turn around in them as they were onle 350-400mm wide.

We replace everything in a unit when we renovate taking the unit back to bare bones first.

The cost of doing this is about the $8-10K and this is just material and some labour, we do most of the work including all the hard work:( and take quite some time but if you and your friend are motivated then anything is possible. That price is also based on lots of shopping around to get the best prices (and quality) which also takes enormous amounts of time.

All the best

PS I will try and upload some finished pics soon
 
Lil Skater said:
I'd say to get the place looking good it will need $7-$10k spent on it. It needs a new kitchen, shower, tiles and i'd want to put mirrored doors on the buil in robes, the place also needs to be fully repainted.
.
Click to expand...

OK, are you looking at this for a PPOR then reverting it to an IP later?

How bad is the kitchen? Is it really bad, or are you being fussy and it is not what you would personally want? What is standard for the area and how much more rent would you get to put in a new kitchen? Same with the robes. Tenants like to have built in robes, but I would not ever go to the expense of changing them to mirrored doors.

To put it in perspective, some of our older stuff still has the orginal kitchen in it. We would change that if we were going to live there, but it is not going to get us significantly higher rent to do it, so it can stay as is. Even if the plan was to live there temporarily, we would not bother doing it. They'll get done eventually (and it would be worthwhile doing it if we were going to sell), but now is not the time.

Paint is a must. You can do that yourself. You can teach James. :D
 
skater said:
Does it NEED a new shower or new tiles? Is it just a yuckky colour and filthy dirty, or are the tiles comming off the wall?
Click to expand...
I have to second the elbow grease thing - its amazing how much better even a hideous blue bathroom looks when it becomes shiny blue :)

That said, I am currently retiling my bathroom ... new vanity too. Tiling isn't hard. Our bathroom is tiny too so its costing about $200 in tiles and $400 for the vanity (couldn't get cheaper, we wanted a non-standard -SMALL- size)

I have a 900x900x300 bath base in the chook shed that we never got around to using at the old house, if you lived closer that would be perfect for a small bathroom. I'm probably going to have that in the shed until/if/when we pick up a house with a small bathroom and no bath.
 
Well the unit was built in 72 and the kitchen is original.

Bathroom has a new vanity and toilet, maybe two years old? The shower also looks like they've pulled out the bath, tap for it and all so there's no plumbing to be moved as such just changing of taps and shower head etc.

As a petite 19 year old girl, doing most the work isn't an option because I don't have friends or family close by, the boyfriend is also not a real handyman. I'd probably be better with a hammer (no offence :p )

Also, I'd be planning to have it as PPOR then IP, the mirrored robes are for me, I've survived long enough without a full length mirror, plus it'll make it look bigger.

The kitchen skelleton is okay, I'd probably replace the cupboard doors and the bench, along with the tiles, sink and stove.

It was previously on a 12 month fixed lease for $200 an as it, (with a good clean) could probably increase to $220 or so. But I think I could easily get $250 or even up to $270 with a good reno because of where it is.
 
Lil Skater said:
Well the unit was built in 72 and the kitchen is original.

Bathroom has a new vanity and toilet, maybe two years old? The shower also looks like they've pulled out the bath, tap for it and all so there's no plumbing to be moved as such just changing of taps and shower head etc. OK, so there is a bit of room? Is it just a case of changing the taps and shower head? If it is, then maybe Dean (the BIL, is that his name?) can help out with that?

As a petite 19 year old girl, doing most the work isn't an option because I don't have friends or family close by, the boyfriend is also not a real handyman. I'd probably be better with a hammer (no offence :p ) Hence why I said you'd have to teach him.:p

Also, I'd be planning to have it as PPOR then IP, the mirrored robes are for me, I've survived long enough without a full length mirror, plus it'll make it look bigger. If it's just for you, I'd do without and get yourself one of those full length ones you can take with you. If they're painted nicely, they will look good. Mirrored doors can look cheap, depending on what the finish is there, already.
The kitchen skelleton is okay, I'd probably replace the cupboard doors and the bench, along with the tiles, sink and stove.
If the doors & tiles are in good nick, just not modern, then you can paint them.
It was previously on a 12 month fixed lease for $200 an as it, (with a good clean) could probably increase to $220 or so. But I think I could easily get $250 or even up to $270 with a good reno because of where it is.
Click to expand...

My answers in red.
 
If you don't want me to buy something just say it?!

If I have to live there, then I'm going to have it how I want it, but I won't forget to accomodate for a certain group of people.

I'm sorry, but it just seems whenever I show you something you find reasons for it not to be a good idea.....
 
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