For the property, the date acquired is the date you had it ready to be used as a rental and started to advertise for tenants. The date disposed is the date it sold.
Even when there was no tenant in the rental, it was a rental (it never switched to personal use) so 100% rental.
As far as adding assets to the basis, even if you could, it won't do what you want it to do.
The assets, such as carpet, or new roof, which are purchased before the property is ready to be rented out, is ADDED to the basis of the rental, and that is the basis (value) of the rental going forward. THEN, if later on you install a new roof, that becomes an asset of its own, has its own basis and is depreciated separately.
Now you sell the rental. Yes, the larger the basis, the less capital gain, HOWEVER depreciation needs to be recaptured, or paid back, when you sell the rental.
So, say you put the rental building at a basis of 180,000, land 20,000.
You took 30,000 depreciation on the house.
You sell for 400,000. So 200,000 Capital gains, right? Yes, but you now also must claim 30,000 as depreciation recapture taxed at your income tax rate.
If you say, "Well I had 10,000 in improvements before I rented, so the capital gain should only be 190,000"
Yes, but you will now need to recapture 40,000 depreciation.
If your tax rate is higher than the capital gain rate, you lose.
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