Rental Property Painting Tips To Help You Maintain Your Income Properties
When you are a rental property owner and landlord, you have a lot of responsibility in managing your rental property. From advertising and showing the rental house to handling repairs and late rent payments, there is always something to do throughout each month. When your tenant moves out, here are some tips to help you paint your rental property's interior to have it ready for your next tenant.
Follow Professional Preparation Tips
When a tenant has moved out of the property, the home will be vacant, which will make it easier to prepare and paint. You won't have any furniture to cover, just the flooring and existing cabinets and countertops. Always use drop cloths while you are painting, preferably one made of canvas fabric. This type of material will absorb paint drips better than a plastic drop cloth. Plastic or vinyl cloths will allow the paint to remain wet for longer for it to easily transfer to your feet and make a mess.
Be sure to wipe down the walls before you paint over them, even if you are only touching up small areas. Use a cleaner containing trisodium phosphate for the kitchen to remove oil and grease from the walls so your paint does not run. You can also use liquid dish soap with strong degreasing properties combined with warm water. This type of cleaner is also helpful to clean the door frames and walls of oily fingerprints so your paint will fully adhere onto the walls.
Keep Paint on Hand
Whether you have one rental property or ten, use the same color and type of interior paint on all your rentals. This procedure will keep your painting process easier and less stressful. Select a neutral paint color that will cover light dirt and scratches, such as a tan or gray, and use it for all your rentals interiors. Keep all the trims painted with a contrasting semi-gloss white.
Then, you can buy your paint in larger quantities and keep it on hand for whenever you need to paint. This also helps you avoid having to keep track of each property and a different paint color or have you trying to find a matching paint color to handle touch-ups.
Hire a Professional for Large Jobs
Many renters will move out of your property leaving the interior in need of only minor painting and touch-ups. Because you will have the paint on hand, you can do the wall cleaning and touch-ups on your own and within a short amount of time.
However, now and then a renter will move out and leave the interior in need of wall repairs to fix dents, holes, and drywall damage with a new full paint job. In this situation, it is helpful to have a professional painting company, such as Yu1 Painting Company, contracted to do any full interior paint jobs. They will be able to finish more timely than you can and do a perfect job.