Removing Old Electrical Wiring: Part 8 – Landlording TV – #47

Back in the trenches and cleaning up and removing the old wiring and electrical boxes to clear out our walls and ceiling so that we have a lovely blank canvas to frame up our walls!

Pouring Concrete and Framing: Part 7 – Landlording TV – #46

Finally, finally back with another episode of Landlording TV! Today we are in the trenches and pouring concrete in our kitchen to raise the level of the kitchen to make the layout more interesting, and more importantly to avoid water running into our apartment! The parking lot needs to be raised and graded to pull water away from the building also, but this was step 1!

Framing over Concrete Walls: Part 6 – Landlording TV – #42

Continuing our Apartment out of Warehouse space series, in this episode we begin framing our first apartment using a Paslode Cordless Framing Gun and the Duo-Fast Concrete Nailer to fasten our walls to the concrete floors and walls, and show off our new Boots by CAT Footwear.

Converting Warehouse Space into Apartments: Part 5 – Landlording TV – #41

Continuing our Apartment out of Warehouse space series, in this episode we begin framing our first apartment using a Paslode Cordless Framing Gun and the Duo-Fast Concrete Nailer to fasten our walls to the concrete floors and walls.

How to Pour a Concrete Floor – Landlording TV – #40

Continuing our Apartment out of Warehouse space series, in this episode we pour our concrete floors for a nice new level surface to begin framing off of.

Actual costs so far: $5,021.64

Converting Warehouse Space into Apartments: Part 4 – Landlording TV – #39

Making sure the drains are holding water is important! We had everything inspected, and we were holding water perfectly. We finished clearing off the ceiling and got our forms ready for concrete!

Actual costs so far: $1,230.04

Converting Warehouse Space into Apartments: Part 3 – Landlording TV – #38

Today the focus is cleaning the floors and prepping the ceiling and walls to get ready for real construction! ALL of the old power had been live, so carefully taking down old power cables, switches and boxes was a major accomplishment for the day.

Converting Warehouse Space into Apartments: Part 2 – Landlording TV – #36

Today Justin Palma adds the drains to the second section of the warehouse to get ready to pour concrete!
Actual costs so far: $319.89

Converting Warehouse Space into Apartments: Part 1 – Landlording TV – #34

FINALLY after 2 and a half years, we are ready to start construction on the bottom portion of the Creamery building. 1,344 sq ft of nothingness is being converted into 2 apartments: a one bedroom and a 2 bedroom, as well as a Coin Operated Laundry area! The question is, can we do all this construction in a 12 month ROI budget?

Building an Apartment out of Living Rooms – Complete! The Before and After! – Landlording TV -#27

The second apartment is finally finished and was also rented before completion in mid-december!!!! Once again we focused on cutting costs without compromising quality, or layout. We avoided corners in the kitchen to help minimize the cabinets needed to purchase and switched to white prebuilt cabinets from maple (resulting in 30% less expenses). We refinished the hardwood floors by PAINTING them ($22 TOTAL)!!! I couldn’t be happier with the way this apartment turned out!

Landlord Lessons:

• Cut costs without compromising quality or your layout. We saved at least $1,000 by reconfiguring our kitchen alone!
• The hardwood floors look very chic and couldn’t possibly have been done cheaper or to withstand more wear and tear! The paint we used is designed to withstand garage floors!
• Dress up the apartment by adding small touches. With just $20, we dressed up our kitchen by simply adding cabinet door hardware from IKEA.
• DO spend extra money where it adds exponentially more value. (It doesn’t always pay to be cheap!) By spending an extra $65, we upgraded our shower stall to a full tub enclosure, making the bathroom, thus the apartment, MUCH more attractive.