Resilient property hacks

[David Floyd]

Looking for ideas on how to make rentals easy to maintain and resilient to tenant abuse.  Here are mine:

1. Texture walls and paint with semi-gloss ( I standardize on two colors) to make it easy to clean and touch up.
2. Use ball valves everywhere for plumbing.  Use threaded nipples for shutoffs so they can easily be replaced down the road.
3. Use hard waterproof surfaces whenever possible.  Tile, granite, vinyl plank flooring, etc.
4. No particleboard cabinets.  I use RTAs from Kitchen Cabinet Kings.
5. Flush hot water heater between tenants
6. Use drain enzyme to clean out drains between tenants to clean old plumbing lines.
7. Use a powdered boric acid based bug killer before tenants move in to keep bugs in check.
8. Use stainless steel and ceramic for sinks.  No cultured marble since it scratches easily.
9. LED lighting everywhere.
10. Use a dark grout and use a grout sealer like Boost.

[George W.]

1. If you provide a washer machine get new stainless steel washer machine hoses with burst protecting check valves inside of them. If an old rubber hose were to burst on a washing machine and nobody was there it would just keep flowing out water like crazy potentially ruining a apartment. have seen it happen at work.  

2. If you have a dryer get the exhaust vent cleaned out. Its the #1 cause of fires in houses i believe. 

3. Change toilet fill valve and flappers.

4. Put hinge door stops on any door that can hit another door or the sheetrock behind it.

5. Find your clean-out plugs for main drain ahead of time to possibly save headaches.

6. Don't use cheap tubular waste under a kitchen sink. Do schedule 40 PVC trap and waste piping use no hub couplings for easy removal.

In general use the KISS system. Keep it stupidly simple. Always spend a few extra dollars and get professional grade materials.