So I live in a rent controlled shit apartment owned by a billion $ landlord company. I’m going to buy my own house and wanted to start learning how to fix things and do home repair.
I’ve lived here for 10 years and the building has changed hands 3 times. If you’re a rent controlled tenant any fix they do will be with whatever’s cheapest at Home Depot that day, if you’re market rent they’ll make your unit uniform (modern appliances, tiles, quartz countertop etc)
Since every rent controlled unit is mismatched I was thinking about finding cheap / free things on Craigslist from other people’s Reno’s and just start “renovating” this apartment with random things just to learn how to do it so that when I leave I can buy a fixer upper. I don’t plan on painting the walls pink or anything like that but they won’t notice if I put in a new counter top or change the tiles on the floor.
If I can get the supplies for free, and I’m not concerned about the legality of it, is it worth it to spend sweat equity, renovating an apartment that isn’t mine, that they’ll just gut out and renovate once I leave or should I just wait and DIY once I own a place?
If you’re renting I wouldn’t put any effort or money into someone else’s property. Even if you find free stuff you’re going to have to buy glue, caulk, paint, screws, nails, etc etc. just wait and im your free time research how to do the projects you’re interested once you do buy your own home.
They’re literally going to gut the entire apartment and toss everything out. The only reason they haven’t yet is becuse it’s rent controlled but once I leave they’re gonna make it market rent.
The landlord isnt going to keep anything I renovate
>is it worth it
How could it be? It's not your place, so you're getting zero return on any time or money you're putting in to it. All you'd be doing is giving your landlord a bunch of free labor on top of the rent you're already paying. The only way I'd ever think of doing something like this is if I went to my landlord and worked out a deal where they paid me for the work I was doing on their property, although it would probably have to be less than what they would have normally paid a contractor to come in and do it for them to agree to the deal.
I renovated an apartment once, pretty similar to OP's situation. Yes, it was worth it. Previously, the apartment had no location/hookups for either a dishwasher or washer/dryer. I changed that.
Mostly what I did was uninstall the kitchen cabinets/sink/drywall on one side, then extend some wiring, tie into some plumbing, & redo the wall, reinstall the the sink/counter. No cabinets anymore, except under the sink. The dishwasher, washer, dryer took up the rest of the space.
This setup saved me multiple hours weekly. Which is a pretty cool deal, given that I have a finite amount of time left.
There were caveats, of course. Couldn't run the dryer & stove at the same time. Had to run the bathroom exhaust fan when the dryer was on. Couldn't run the shower & the washer or dishwasher at the same time. Technically you could, but I knew what the consequences would be. None of this was a problem, in practice.
When I left, my appliances came with me. I wasn't worried about the deposit, so I didn't bother giving the PM company my forwarding address.
Go for it, my man.
My "biggest worry" was one of my neighbors complaining about power tool noise. But I work 2nd shift, and knew how our daily schedules related, so I just did the loud stuff when they were out (easy).
Former apartment maintenance guy here, I say go for it. Like you said, they'll literally have no idea what it looked like before. If that's what you wanna do with your time, frickin do it man! Sounds fun
Start building shit you can take with you, bookshelves, a bed frame etc. Youll learn more and wont have to leave it behind. If you insist on mudding your walls and painting, sure, more than that id skip
I'm gonna second what said. If you really just need a hobby, do your thing, just don't frick anything that moves water/gas/electricity.
Go for it. No better way to learn than on someone else's property, and you're right, they won't give a shit what you did to the place as long as it's not too bad. There's a bunch of stuff in my current house that I'd have liked to had somewhere to practice on before doing my own place.
They could kick you out and no im a tradesman and ive renovated entire houses. Doing a few DIY projects in an apartement wont be no good. Buy tools watch videos etc. Then do odd jobs and build confidence.
Is this the new bait thread? Learning to /DIY in a rental?
>but they won’t notice if I put in a new counter top or change the tiles on the floor
LOL, you're a fricking moron. The key to a troll is making it credible. Try again, lazy fricker.
Dumbass, he said the property has changed owners. Learn to read, stupid Black person