Like I mentioned in the last post, I lost some momentum in the middle of the summer with all of the other things in my life going on. But I did get some other things done around the property (some of which I might forget now, but here goes).
One surprise was that the water in the shower of 205-#1 where I personally live cut off in the middle of showering. Not cool on a workday morning. But I had a plumber come out and fix the diverter which had lost an O-ring and the seal. While he was there I had him fix Warren, my maintenance man's, shower knobs in 203-#1 which he had been using a wrench on for a long time (before I got the building and ever since without my knowledge). Anyway he can turn the water on and off without a wrench now, and I can take a shower again. The plumber also showed me where the building's main shutoff is (even though I thought I had a pretty good idea before) and he looked over my water heater and gave me some advice on its capacity. His opinion was that it was a little small for the building but probably not worth it to add a second one. He said that if I got complaints about not enough hot water in the upper units that I could get some pumps installed to have a recirculating hot water circuit in order for the hot water to be closer and hotter to them when they need it. It would waste heat recirculating the hot water like that, but ultimately it would save water while tenants wait for the shower to get hot. After looking into it more, it looks like I could program it to only recirculate at peak times of day so it doesn't waste heat all day. Maybe down the line if there are complaints.
I re-caulked the shower in my unit (205-#1) during the shower fiasco and my mom was a huge help in cleaning my unit. The blinds, radiator covers, floors, carpets, sinks, shower, & refrigerator all got her magic touch, but she couldn't get them all the way to her high standard of clean. It's amazing how much brighter the rooms looks now and it's beginning to feel more like home.
I moved the broken range out of the 203-#3 unit and moved the refrigerator out of the way so that we can work on the kitchen. So far I've only resurfaced the textured wavy walls and ceiling in the hallway to make them smooth again and begun to resurface the kitchen and other hall walls. Much work still needs to be done here.
I shifted focus to the second story vacant unit of 203-#2. I'm going to make the most minor fixes possible and get a tenant is ASAP to help my cash flow while work continues to drag out on the 3rd floor. I've got an A/C unit that I can rent to a tenant there as well if they can't bring their own. I'm in the process of getting the window with the broken seal fixed. The glass had completely fogged up because moisture got between the panes. I also removed the bad caulking in the bath tub and will re-caulk everything once I get a new tub spout that connects to a handheld shower head from a hose installed. I need to re-grout and replace one tile on the floor as well. Patching some drywall around the shower edges is also on the to do list. I replaced the toilet valve and have the toilet working again, which had continued to run when I bought the building. I've also bought new face plates, switches, and plugs for the electric. I'll need to have my electrician come install GFCI outlets in the bathroom and kitchen properly. Still trying to figure out how all of my circuits work in each apartment, but I can see where capacity could be an issue in this apartment without upgrading the building's service. Overall this unit is is pretty decent shape from the start if you can stomach a few dings in the walls, bad patchwork, and other college novelties. I'll of course give it a good cleaning and spit shine as well, which if the other units are any indication could make a huge impact.
I've been cutting the grass on the vacant lot now (someone cut it for me the last time and I don't know who, but thanks) and have put down landscape fabric along the back wall of the building to prevent new vines and weeds from growing. I finally won the battle against them and have gotten rid of most of their roots as well.
Some kid found a can of orange engineers spray paint and decided to draw a line as he walked past my building. I've cleaned it off and used it as a reason to scrub the drug dealing chalk marks off the front of the building. I've also used Round-up Groundclear on all of the sidewalks in the vicinity of my building. even the vacant buildings around me don't sport mini jungles through their front sidewalks anymore. In fact the former bar across the street was repainted with a future bloom and covered the graffiti. Any sign of progress is encouraging, but even more encouraging is the way that the neighborhood is changing for the better with the school getting closer to fully coming online. The young summer school kids and after-school kids are there now most days at the playground. The drug dealers have moved much further down the street, except on weekends and holidays strangely. The packs of kids getting into mischief is more of what I'm worried about at this point. But I'm trying to be friendly and not give them a reason to target me, I think it's good for them to see someone new/different from them in their neighborhood that is setting an example of how to take care of things.
I'm getting tired and I'll proof read this all later and add some more when I get a chance. Good night
No comments:
Post a Comment