I just need to vent for a minute to anyone else who lives in a condo and has tried to do basic renovations. I bought my unit last year thinking that since I own the inside of the walls, I could update the place to my taste. Wow, was I completely wrong.
I wanted to replace the old, ugly sheet vinyl flooring in my kitchen and hallway with some nice, clean luxury vinyl plank. I already bought the material and hired a contractor. But right before we started, the condo board handed me a 15-page packet of guidelines.
Apparently, because I live on the third floor, I am legally required to install a specific high-grade acoustic underlayment that costs almost as much as the actual flooring itself just to prevent noise transfer to the unit below me. On top of that, my contractor is only allowed to work between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM on weekdays, they can’t use the main elevator to bring up materials, and they have to pay a non-refundable “elevator deposit” every single day they are on site.
By the time you factor in the extra underlayment cost and the limited contractor hours pulling up the labor price, this simple floor update is costing me double what it would cost in a single-family home. Has anyone else dealt with these insane HOA roadblocks? How do you keep your sanity when the board watches your every move?