Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes
All of my apartments have bi-fold closet doors. It seems like I'm constantly replacing the pins on the tops and bottoms, and replacing/fixing the wood that they go into. Does anyone have any solution to these to keep them from constantly breaking? It's driving me nuts!
I got tired of fixing bifolds in one rental so I made my own sliders, lol. Bunch of 1 x 6's, my Kreg jig, some plexi squares and hardware for sliders - ended up cheaper than what Lowe's wanted for their sliders. My plumber made me show him how to make the doors because he wanted some.
Not great pics, but you get the idea. Tenants liked them and they'd be really hard to break:
I fully agree, bifold doors plainly suck. I quickly learned sliding closet doors are better. I have professional tenants, so generally they don’t screw up the sliders :) but I smiled at the folks who said...closet doors are a problem? Remove them!
In that spirit, here are my cheap *** landlord hacks that I’ve learned over the years:
- window and door screens: if they’re broken or torn up, I remove completely on tenant turnover (note, I’m in SF and we don’t have nasty flying insects, etc. This won’t work in other areas!)
- kitchen faucets: something always goes wrong with the sprayer it seems. Last one, the damn weight used to pull the sprayer back in the faucet, damaged the water valve below the sink! Solution: simple kitchen faucets, no sprayer. I buy grohe btw, so they look good/high end brand.
- stove: sometimes the sheer repetitive heat screws up the digital control panel on top. Solution: a nice GE stainless steel stove without the digital component, so the controls are manual at the front. Stove still looks nice, but more minimalist.
- refrigerators: never incl. an ice maker. Another thing to go wrong...
- mini blinds: always metal. Last longer (with decent tenants) and easier to clean through the years.
- flooring: now always “luxury vinyl plank”. There are some real nice finishes these days that don't have that cheesy shiny look. And they are almost indestructible.
- lights: always standard screw in bulbs, and long lasting LED’s. Let the tenants replace bulbs as needed. As soon as it’s halogens, plug ins, etc....you get the call. But almost all tenants seem capable of replacing regular light bulbs.
Those are my evolutionary-learned landlord hacks. What are yours? (Again mine are for nice units with professional tenants. YMMV depending on tenant quality...or lack of :)
