Dark Brown Or Nicotine Color?
May 20, 2009 Now That's Funny
Preparing units can be disconcerting knowing that whoever moves in will do their share of damage. Repainting units every time tenants move, along with insuring that everything is code, is one of the repairs that I always make. In fact, even if a tenant has only been there two months I always repaint. My idea of painting and touching-up is most assuredly different than that of most landlords’ perspective. When I first purchase a unit and it becomes empty, (I never paint when an apartment is occupied) I will paint all walls and ceilings flat latex white. This not only serves as an easier way to paint, saving time from cutting in the color on the wall from the white on the ceiling. Owners must be aware that there are over 300 shades of white, so the key is to maintain a consistent paint brand and grade. This concept is paramount For example: After a tenant moves after only being there two or three months, there really isn’t much that needs to be painted. It’s almost borderline as if to paint, or not. Other times, the lower walls, handrail areas, and the strip above where the couch was make the unit look dingy and calls for some attention. Whenever you’ve had a tenant for many years, you must repaint the whole shot. When touch-up is called for, my magical touch-up is recommended. I can paint three bedrooms, one bathroom, living, dining, and kitchen in 35 minutes and with a half gallon of paint, and I won’t even use a brush! Consider that I am matching perfectly the color of paint. Further, the only dingy part is from baseboard to about three feet high. Imagine that I get a paint roller and pan and I race through the apartment. Six large rooms, bath, and hallway are done in no time flat. To further complicate matters there are mitigating circumstances. Those which are out of the ordinary do require drastic measures. I had this one efficiency that was always so dingy looking from tenant nicotine that made touching up impossible. The problem was that the paint color had actually changed due to the tenant smoke. My son informed me that he had experienced serious wall and ceiling stains due to waterbed damage. He stated that he took green porch and deck paint and it looked great. I visited the unit and it looked great, other than making the front room a bit dark. We agreed that since my problem was so severe, he would paint my efficiency a porch-and-deck brown. He called up laughing after the job was done. He proudly announced that he not only painted the walls brown, but the ceiling as well. I was concerned and couldn’t drive over there fast enough. As he unlocked the door and I looked in, I couldn’t believe it. We both laughed so hard I lost my breath. I envisioned never having to paint the unit again. He remarked that the dark color would even hide the roaches. In fact, I haven’t repainted the unit in over five years, and that includes many, many move-outs. Earlier this year I was giving a speech in a workshop where I told this tale. Someone in the audience announced that he had the exact same problem, only he took a different approach. He took a paint chip of the nicotine stained wall and matched the color perfectly at the paint store. He painted all the walls and ceiling that awful dingy-yellow color and it resolved his problem as well. Now that’s funny!
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