Deck Repair Fail at the Ol' Rental Unit

I've been sitting on these pictures for a while, because frankly, I've been a little embarrassed about the whole thing. But a few months have passed, so I can laugh about it now. Kinda.

It started with the previous tenants. They were good guys, this was just one of those things. Ashes from their grill spilled onto the deck, burning a hole in it. (This is why the city of Chicago forbids such grills on wood decks, although everyone does it anyway.) The guys fessed up and agreed to pay for the damages.

Although we've never done a deck repair before, it didn't look like it would be that big a deal. Certainly not worth hiring a contractor for. Just pop out the old boards and nail the new ones in place.

First board off, no problem.

Second board off, just as quickly and cleanly. Both were taken down to the dumpster, broken down, and tossed in.

New boards were put in place.

 

So did you catch it? Did you see where we went wrong and somehow completely failed to notice it, even though I'm snapping away with the camera?

Yes. We took out the wrong board. I wish you could see the look on Ted's face at this point when we realize it, but our light was fading fast and I didn't use the flash.

In our defense, I'd like to say we were overtired. Tenant transition is always a hectic time, and between that and our day jobs we hadn't slept much the couple days before. But still, really. What kind of home improvement aficionados are we?

We couldn't even go downstairs and get the old, undamaged board, because we had already broken it down. Back to Home Depot we went, and eventually sorted it all out. And it looks great.

Replacing deck boards really is very easy. But I can understand now why people will write on their bodies in Sharpie marker which body part is to be operated on before going into surgery. You just never know.

What Do You Care? It Comes Out of Their Deposit.

I'm taking back our recommendation for the clean-up crew for the condo. The work was fine, the place was clean, but after trying to get an invoice from them for several weeks now, they went ahead and charged the credit card what we feel is an arbitrary amount.

We agreed to $20/hour, per worker (standard for the City). After describing the mess left by the tenants as "urine-soaked from wall to wall" and "overall filthy," as well as letting them know there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms plus living room/kitchen, were told it would be an additional flat charge of $23 for cleaning supplies. Four men for 4.5 hours, plus cleaning supplies, comes to $383. We were charged $450.

When the cleaning team left, they didn't give us anything to sign off on, telling us that we'd get a call back from their boss the next day. That call never came. After a few days, we finally decided we better call them, because we really need an invoice from them to document the deduction from the tenants' deposit.

Almost three weeks later, we're still waiting on an invoice, although they did finally charge us for the service last week. Because of the price disparity, Ted asked for an itemization. "Five hours for the cleaners, and the rest was for cleaning supplies," he was told. The owner couldn't itemize further what kind of cleaning supplies or how much was used, and I know that when the crew arrived it was with half-used containers of cleaning products. Nothing fancy, either. Buckets, bleach, Windex, a pile of old rags, etc.

Ted pressed her further, because it was obvious they are padding the bill, both the hours and the amount for cleaning supplies. The owner then got very belligerent, saying that they did us a favor by coming in that same night, that the place was dirtier than they expected and we were lucky they accepted the assignment at all. (What part of "urine-soaked" didn't she understand?)

But here's the kicker. The owner tells Ted: "What do you care, anyway, what it costs? It comes out of their deposit."

I know the difference really isn't much, when you get down to it. But it's the principle. We have a lot of legitimate expenses to cover on the condo cleanup and urine remediation. As angry as we are with the former tenants, being punitive or excessive with charges does not help our case, should it go to court. There is already more damage than the deposit covers, and if we do end up in court, we're going to have to prove the cost of everything with receipts. So we're trying to do as much as we can ourselves to keep the costs down. For this cleaning service to blatantly pad the bill after we agreed to terms and then turn it around on us as if we're being unreasonable is outrageous.

Too bad, too. I thought they did a fine job cleaning. But we won't be using them again for our properties, nor can we recommend them.

Condo Damage Update

Soooo...I haven't had much time to update the blog, because we've been working on restoring the condo back to a habitable state, and getting the new set of tenants comfortably settled.

After the initial shock of the destruction wore off, we began to notice a few more problems.

It looks like they did lock the pit bulls in the blue bedroom--the one where the floors need to be replaced because of all the dog urine--because both sides of the door had deep scratches through the Venetian plaster and all the way into the drywall. The doors themselves were also scratched up pretty badly. Poor dogs. I don't blame them. I blame their sucky owner. Some people don't deserve dogs.

We had three companies come in and give estimates for replacing the damaged floor, and a fourth gave us a verbal estimate over the phone. The estimates ranged from $1500-$2000 for this room alone; the living room will need major repair work as well, but we're holding off on that for the moment for a number of reasons.

Although we called in the company who sanded and refinished our floors at The Box House, we did not use them this time, as their estimate came in too high. Instead, we went with Cornell's Floor Sanding of Chicago. I haven't seen the final result, but will be over there this weekend to take pictures. I'll post the before and afters then, and the details of just what they did.

So far, our costs are totaling $3500 or so for the damage that was done to the condo. Their deposit was $2000. We now have the fun task of trying to collect for damages.

Think Happy Thoughts

Well, at least one nice thing came out of the tenants trashing the condo: they left behind a couple of nifty planters. I plucked them from the pile of outgoing garbage, cleaned and sterilized them, and transplanted two brugmansia plants that were a gift from a client.

We're heading back over to the condo this afternoon to get an estimate on floor repairs. Let's hope it's not too outrageous. There is a propensity among Chicago contractors to charge more for work done at condos than for the equivalent work done on a single family home or two flat. One couple we know paid the same amount for sanding and refinishing just the living room of their condo as we did for one entire unit of our two flat. We'll see how it goes.

Behr Venetian Plaster

You've heard our woes of renting out our condo, including the damage to the Venetian plaster walls caused by the tenants. Repairing the damaged walls, however, was relatively easy.

The original plaster work had been accomplished over the course of two years, the last of it completed in October of 2007. We used Behr's Venetian Plaster, applied in two coats with a trowel. (Follow the link for instructions.) It is a ridiculously easy application, anyone can do it. However, I was a bit apprehensive about the repairs, wondering if they would match the finished areas, as so much time had passed. In this photo series, I'm trying to cover a dark scuff in the master bedroom left by one of the headboards.

But I took a big scoop of the leftover plaster, which had been stored in the basement, and just troweled it on as usual, blending it in.

When it was dry, you couldn't even tell the difference. The original surface on this particular wall had been done two years ago.

All in all, I'm pleased with this product. And while it does provide a texture to the surface, the plaster is soft, and can be sanded down easily. While I haven't tried it yet myself, I've read on other blogs that the walls can be sanded down completely, primed, and painted with a more "normal" paint. Has anyone else tried this?

I love, love Venetian plaster, and we'll be using it in The Box House quite a bit. You know, when we finish with the critical things like leaky roofs and stuff...

Our Uptown Chicago Condo

When I was growing up, I was pretty tight with my cousins, but now we're scattered from Arizona to Texas to Wisconsin and Illinois and all the way over to North Carolina. It's not surprising, then, that most of them were never able to make it over to see our condo before we moved to The Box House. At a family BBQ last week, I was reminded of that fact, and so I thought I'd share a few pictures here of how it looks since the current trio of tenants we are renting it to probably would not appreciate if we gave a tour in person.

Of course, looking at these pictures, I'm wistful for all the shiny newness of the condo, particularly as we spent our Fourth of July afternoon fixing an electrical problem in the tenants' unit at The Box House and missed out on another family BBQ. (Don't get me wrong, the condo had its own variety of problems, and I really do prefer a vintage building. But it will be a long while before we get The Box House looking how we want it to.)

This is the living room of the condo. It's pretty, but we almost never used this room. (Our couch is not really see-through, we had the mattress in another room when I took the photo.) We left the couches and curtains for the tenants.

This is the fireplace in the living room. It is the one thing I truly, truly miss about the condo. But we'll soon take care of our need to play with fire by building a fire pit.

Hmmm. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I can find on my hard drive of the kitchen (taken five minutes before we handed over the keys) and I'm too lazy to go look for another one on disc. You'll have to be satisfied with this, but please note we were never this clean. All the living room furniture was left for the tenants, as were the kitchen bar stools.

Poor Ted. I finished the Venetian Plaster on his office the day before we moved out of the condo, which is why the book shelves in this picture are empty and the desk is bare. I think I'll paint his office at The Box House the same color. Two walls are made from tongue-and-groove boards, the other two are brick, and I think it will make for a striking room.

This is the master bedroom, done up in terra cotta Venetian plaster. The 1930s deco bed with the marble-top cabinets is one I bought on eBay. Ted and I never got around to getting a proper mattress for it. We need to order a custom-sized one because the bed came from France and the size is non-standard. That's why our mattress is just set in the middle of the frame. At The Box House, we are currently using the nightstands and just the mattress--we haven't bothered setting up the frame at all. *Sigh*

This too-dark picture is of the guest room/my office. I LOVE the red walls, although I doubt anyone else will when it comes time to put the condo on the market. I may have to paint my office at The Box House red, although it may be too dark because it is in a basement. I do have two window, but still. The 1890s bed I picked up at an estate sale northwest of Chicago; supposedly, the house was part of the Underground Railroad.

Oh, and don't be fooled by that guitar. I haven't made it past the first lesson in my teach-yourself book and dvd set. But one day, Ted (who plays some classical guitar) and I will sit on the roof of The Box House, hippie style, and play our guitars under the full moon. One day.

The laundry closet with its stackable washer and dryer is kinda boring, as are the storage unit and the garage. So I'll skip those. But I'm saving the best for last. The bathrooms. Oh, God, how I'd love a reliable toilet right now. The Box House bathrooms will be beautiful after we've dealt with them, but for now I'd give anything to be able to flush the toilet just once and have everything whisked away as expected the first time.

Okay, I'm only going to show you one bathroom. This is the guest bathroom. The master bath has a jacuzzi and shower, but it never seems to look good in photos because I can't fit everything into one frame. The walls in this room were the first I ever tried to Venetian Plaster, and I LOVE this color.

Oops, that wasn't the last picture. I forgot the balcony.

The balcony is particularly nice in the evenings, and during the day has a freakish amount of sunlight because it's on the top floor without another porch above it. Some of the best times we had on the balcony were watching the fireworks from the Saddle and Cycle Club, a show that rivals the downtown fireworks in many ways--and you don't have to fight the crowds.

On the day we moved, we realized that the patio table, which we had assembled on the balcony, would not fit through the doorway. We were tired and crabby at this point, and didn't want to mess with taking the table apart, and couldn't even if we wanted to because we had already moved the tool chest. "Fine, the tenants can have a furnished balcony," I said, a decision I've since regretted. When the lease is up, I may go claim the table back. *Grin*

Schwarzie, the condo mascot. I fed him by hand for two years (once he even walked right into our bedroom from the balcony to look for peanuts) until he got a little greedy and nicked my finger. Ted made me stop at that point. Don't feed the wild animals, kids!

The condo is pretty, and after all the hard work we put in plastering the walls, I wish we could have enjoyed it longer. But I'm so thrilled to be living in a place we have more control over--for instance, we can make decisions on how to decorate the yard without having to go through a committee!

Well, that's the fifty-cent tour. I hope you enjoyed it! We'll be putting the condo on the market as soon as the market changes and people actually start buying condos again. (If any of you random readers are interested in moving to Uptown, let me know! The designer finishes are fabulous, if I do say so myself!)