Wednesday, April 18, 2006

Did you notice a week without an update? That's because there was nothing to report. But, the last week has been quite busy. We have a fire alarm which is hooked up to a service that calls the fire department if the alarm goes off. Today, the alarm alarm went off. That's right, the alarm alarm. It sounds when something is wrong with the alarm itself. In this case, the backup phone line that the line requires went down, and the manager, who's relatively new, didn't know the phone number of the back up line, so he called me, and I called the treasurer, who called the phone company, who promised to come out tomorrow and figure out what's wrong. That's life in a condo association.

The manager keeps having people visit the building to give us quotes on various projects, some planned for this year, others not even on the radar. We have to have our front door area repaired, including decorative scrolls and molding. The price quotes range from $1,700 to $3,500. That's why it's always good to get more than one bid on major projects. He had someone come out and give us an estimate to replace our rubber roof: $50,000 for a 4,000 square foot roof. Next week, he's having a couple oil companies come out to discuss our oil prices and furnace service contracts.

Our manager gets an apartment in exchange for 12 hours of work a week. He seems to enjoy meeting contractors. Maybe that's because he's a plumber by trade, and these meetings are his way of networking. At any rate, he does a good job keeping the building clean and keeping the systems running, plus he's a great source of information for this website.

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Odors. This seems to be a week of odors in my building, and meanwhile I'm suffering a late season cold that has taken away my voice, so I can't really complain about the person who forgot to open the flu on his fireplace or about the workmen who polyurethane someone wood floor and left the doors open so the fumes could fill the hallways and seep into my apartment. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here in 50 degree weather with all my windows open waiting for the odors to leave. Sometimes I think I'd rather own a house, but if you want to live in an urban environment, a house is not an option, unless you're loaded.

This Saturday, our building manager will visit each unit to install carbon monoxide detectors and inspect our plumbing. The detectors are required as a result of a new state law. The plumbing inspection we're having done because we've noticed a few stains on the basement ceiling, in our common room and in our boiler room. The danger with leaks is that they can cause other damage. For instance, one leak in our building caused a wooden beam to expand and crack an iron drain pipe. Though we've stopped the leak and patched the pipe, eventually we will have to replace it, which will be a very expensive proposition because to do so will require that someone' bathroom floor be ripped up. So, if you have plumbing leaks in your building, investigate them, and get them fixed before they cause even bigger headaches.

My parents own a one bedroom unit in a fancy coop building, but for the last few months have had the occasional mouse. They have hired people to plug holes, called in the building manager, and complained to the coop board, but still the mice find a way in. It's really annoying, and they're actually consulted a good attorney who tells them that they can sue if the building doesn't try to resolve the problem. The coop board has promised to bring in exterminators, plant mouse traps outside the building, and take other steps to address the problem. But, we'll see. It's easy to make promises.