Multifamily Renovations: Planning Kitchens Across Units

Why standardize a multifamily kitchen renovation?

Owners of two to twenty units tend to make the same mistake once: choosing finishes apartment by apartment as each one comes up. Five years later the building has four floor colors, three cabinet lines and no spare that fits anything. A standard kit avoids that.

• One decision, many units. Selections are made once, so each later unit is a reorder rather than a design meeting.
• Interchangeable parts. A damaged door, counter section or box of flooring can come from shared spare stock.
• Predictable installs. Crews learn the system on the first unit and work faster on the rest.
• Cleaner listings. Matching photos across units make marketing and appraisals simpler.

What goes in a standard unit finish kit?

Write the kit down as a one-page spec. Here is a typical starting point for a small Los Angeles apartment building.

Are identical units really identical?

Rarely. Floor plans repeat, but decades of repairs do not. One unit had a range moved, another has a furred-out wall, a third has a floor that dips near the sink after an old leak. Measure each apartment before ordering, even if the plans look the same.

• Wall lengths at counter height and at the floor, plus ceiling height
• Sink, range and refrigerator locations, measured from a fixed corner
• Window and door positions and trim widths
• Floor flatness and any soft spots, especially at the sink and dishwasher
• Existing floor layers, since old sheet vinyl or tile may sit under carpet
• Electrical outlet and gas line locations behind the old cabinets

Should you renovate every unit at once or one at a time?

The hybrid approach is popular for fourplexes and small courtyard buildings. Buy all the flooring and tile from one lot, store it on site, and install unit by unit.

How do footstep noise rules affect floors in upper units?

Swapping carpet for hard flooring is the most common upgrade in an apartment renovation, and the most common source of new complaints from downstairs. Impact noise from heels, chairs and dropped pans travels through the floor in a way carpet used to soak up.

For new construction, the California Building Code sets minimum sound ratings for floor-ceiling assemblies between dwelling units: an Impact Insulation Class (IIC) and a Sound Transmission Class (STC) of 50, or 45 when tested in the field. Existing buildings being refinished are not automatically held to that, but many owners use it as a sensible target, and condominium associations often write their own rule.

• Ratings belong to an assembly, not a product. An underlayment’s IIC number comes from a test over a particular slab or joist floor with a particular ceiling. Ask for the test report and compare it with your building’s construction.
• Wood-frame buildings need more help. The stucco apartment buildings of the 1950s and 1960s found across Los Angeles, many with tuck-under parking, usually have wood joists between floors, which carry impact sound more readily than a thick concrete slab.
• The underlayment must be approved for the floor. Vinyl plank with an attached pad, or a separate pad on top of it, can void the product’s coverage if the maker does not allow that combination.
• Rugs and pads still help. A lease clause asking for area rugs in living rooms is a common, inexpensive backstop.

One 4-plex, one palette: notes from the showroom

Google reviewers describe a 4-plex finished with long-plank wood-look tile floors, hexagon marble shower floors and arabesque tile walls with brown grout. That mix shows how a building can look upgraded without each unit being a custom project: the same three tiles repeat in every apartment.

• Wood-look porcelain plank gives a warm floor that never needs refinishing between tenants.
• A darker grout around patterned wall tile hides the wear that white grout shows in a year.
• Labeling materials by unit when they arrive keeps the right boxes in the right apartment on install day.
• Comparing everything at once in one showroom lets the owner see the cabinet, counter, floor and tile combination before committing for the whole building.

What does a staging plan for a building order look like?

Buying one lot for the whole building only pays off if the material survives storage and reaches the right door. Owners who have done it a few times follow a routine like this:

1. 1

   Do a take-off by unit

   List square footage, cabinet sizes and tile quantities for each apartment from the unit measurements, then total them with overage for cuts and future repairs.

2. 2

   Choose storage that stays mild and dry

   Vinyl, adhesives and grout list storage temperature ranges, and wood products need conditioned space. A closed carport or a hot storage room in an inland Valley summer can exceed those limits, so a vacant unit often makes the best warehouse.

3. 3

   Label on arrival

   Mark boxes with unit numbers and keep a running count, so a crew does not open the hexagon tile meant for the next bathroom.

4. 4

   Plan the route in

   Check stair widths and turns for cabinet boxes and countertop lengths, and arrange where a delivery truck can stop, since many older buildings have only street parking out front.

5. 5

   Keep an attic-stock list

   Record what is left after each unit, where it is stored and which production lot it came from, so a repair years later pulls the right box.

Permits and tenant rules in Los Angeles and Long Beach

Buildings in the City of Los Angeles get permits through LADBS; Long Beach has its own building department, and the North Hollywood showroom is about 56 minutes (40 miles) from there. Moving plumbing, adding circuits or changing walls needs a permit and properly licensed trades.

Many small apartment buildings in Los Angeles predate 1978, so the EPA’s lead-safe RRP rule applies when paid work disturbs painted surfaces. If tenants stay in place during work on a rent-stabilized City of LA unit, check the Los Angeles Housing Department’s requirements before scheduling.

Planning pages for multi-unit owners

For duplexes through small apartment buildings, start with rental renovation, which explains how unit kits, spare stock and installation scheduling come together. The home remodeling overview covers larger scopes such as whole-house work and additions. Bring a unit count, rough measurements and photos; installation of selected products is available on request.