Renovation

Renovating Old Brownstone Apartment

There’s a elderly lady who lives in the brownstone next door to me. She offered for me to move into the apartment inside her brownstone for less than half the market rent. The catch is the apartment is terribly dated although livable. The brownstone was never really changed from a one family except for the…

by
05/30/2006

There’s a elderly lady who lives in the brownstone next door to me. She offered for me to move into the apartment inside her brownstone for less than half the market rent. The catch is the apartment is terribly dated although livable. The brownstone was never really changed from a one family except for the seperate kitchens on each floor, that said the bathroom and kitchen is only accesible from outside the main part of the apartment. She said I was free to renovate the apartment and she would take it out of my rent which sounds good. The problem is I’m really young and I don’t even know how to begin doing the work or how much it would cost. I’d like to start with restoring the wood floors, a portion of the apartment has the wood floors in tact, a portion has linolium and another portion has carpet. Has anyone ever done something like this? How much should I expect to pay to sand and polish the floors per sq. ft? Also, I’d like to update the kitchen cabinets and the tile in the bathroom and kitchen. I’m sure this is a broad question but I’d like to know what I may be getting myself into. I can’t afford a contractor and I don’t really think its necessary. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

Renovation

Comments

  6. well thats a good question, a question I don’t have the answer for because I never intended to do any of the work myself. I will hire professionals to do everything I assure you I don’t have to attempt to sand wood floors myself to discover that “I don’t know what I’m doing”. I’ve pretty much gotten that part figured out. I think the question I’m asking is being mostly misunderstood by the people who are responding because I phrased it wrong and thats my fault. I appreciate your help but its not really related to what I’m trying to do. I don’t have to discuss who will own the tools I need with my landlady because I won’t be buying any tools. Ikea has a very helpful service for installing cabinets and after hiring someone to do the floors and paint the apartment I don’t really see what tools I would personally need to purchase. I’d like to know how to begin to take on a project like this, I don’t know any companies who do this kind of work or how to begin to look for one. allow me to make this clear, I do not intend to purchase tile and grout and start tiling this woman’s bathroom myself, I intend to pay someone else to do it, what I’d like to know is how much I should estimate spending and who I can contact to do this kind of work.

  7. What if you cause damage, who is liable?

    For example, let’s say you try to sand the floors yourself, but because you don’t know what you’re doing, you damage them. Now you have to bring in a pro and pay twice as much to fix the damage. Who pays for this? Do you want this kind of risk? Sounds like a no win situation

  8. wow I guess I am totally underestimating. I didn’t plan to do any major plumbing work or anything massive I was only planning to undertake the cosmetic upgrades. I am very well aware of the pit falls of taking on projects in older brownstones, I considered the possible setbacks especially since its a landmarked building but I guess I was not realistic.

  9. wow I guess I am totally underestimating. I didn’t plan to do any major plumbing work or anything massive I was only planning to undertake the cosmetic upgrades. I am very well aware of the pit falls of taking on projects in older brownstones, I considered the possible setbacks especially since its a landmarked building but I guess I was not realistic.

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