Stop the Draft
Mar. 15th, 2005 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stdesjardinsThe windows in my apartment were replaced yesterday. The condo board has been planning this for years, and they finally started a couple of weeks ago, with the column of apartments I'm in. The plan is for them to finish each apartment in a day—put a plastic bubble up inside the apartment, then do all the replacement work from outside the building. It would've worked, too, except for two little things. The first is that the window trim they ordered was the wrong size, so they're going to have to come back into my apartment when the reorder arrives. The second is that they didn't finish. They put the windows in, but they left off one of the handles that opens and closes the window. Oh, and they left that window open. I discovered this when I got home from work, by which time it was of course too late to fix it.
So I e-mailed the building engineer, suggesting that if they couldn't get the window done today could they at least send someone up with pliers (cc'd to the building manager, because the more I think about it the more inexcusable it seems), and sure enough, this morning he shows up in my apartment, to knock a hole in my wall.
At this point you are no doubt wondering why he needed to knock a hole in my wall.
So, anyway, he knocks a hole in my wall, which takes a while, because he's using a piece of equipment called a "cheap-ass knife", which apparently is not the ideal tool for this purpose, then wanders off to do something or other.
Later he comes back, and starts working on my windows. He has a handle with him, but isn't able to attach it, because he needs a little bitty flat-head screwdriver. While he's waiting for someone to bring him one, I rummage around in my toolchest and find one, so I finally have a window that can close. I confirm this by closing it.
That wasn't the only draft I've been having a problem with, by the way. There's also been cold air blowing in from the bottom of my convectors. The engineer says it's supposed to do that—the building code requires a fresh-air intake from outside the building—but I can't believe it should be so cold and so strong. I'll have to talk to him again.
Oh, and the hole in my wall? There's a leak in the garage, beneath me, and they had to cut open my wall to get to the pipes. The plumber will come tomorrow, and they'll patch the hole in my wall on Thursday.
It could be worse. I could own a house.
So I e-mailed the building engineer, suggesting that if they couldn't get the window done today could they at least send someone up with pliers (cc'd to the building manager, because the more I think about it the more inexcusable it seems), and sure enough, this morning he shows up in my apartment, to knock a hole in my wall.
At this point you are no doubt wondering why he needed to knock a hole in my wall.
So, anyway, he knocks a hole in my wall, which takes a while, because he's using a piece of equipment called a "cheap-ass knife", which apparently is not the ideal tool for this purpose, then wanders off to do something or other.
Later he comes back, and starts working on my windows. He has a handle with him, but isn't able to attach it, because he needs a little bitty flat-head screwdriver. While he's waiting for someone to bring him one, I rummage around in my toolchest and find one, so I finally have a window that can close. I confirm this by closing it.
That wasn't the only draft I've been having a problem with, by the way. There's also been cold air blowing in from the bottom of my convectors. The engineer says it's supposed to do that—the building code requires a fresh-air intake from outside the building—but I can't believe it should be so cold and so strong. I'll have to talk to him again.
Oh, and the hole in my wall? There's a leak in the garage, beneath me, and they had to cut open my wall to get to the pipes. The plumber will come tomorrow, and they'll patch the hole in my wall on Thursday.
It could be worse. I could own a house.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 02:44 pm (UTC)The thing about a house, though, is that you don't have to wait for the board or the landlord to get their act together, though you do sometimes have to wait for the necessary funds.
When the toilet of our new home overflowed a few days after we moved in, we called roto rooter, they came, and the problem was fixed. No looking for the property manager, no trying to reach other people for approvals by phone.
Since maintenance was one of my concerns about owning a home, I was pleased to realize that the added control one has in dealing with things mitigates the fact that these things are one's own responsibility.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 04:59 am (UTC)I call a 24-hour plumber if it truly can't wait for morning. And in the meantime either way, get in there with tools and try to figure out what I can myself.
As far as I can tell, there are few intractable plumbing problems--though there are lots of so-pricey-as-to-be-out-of-reach-for-a-time problems.
I'd heard lots about how awful owning houses was, maintenance-wise, and was hesitant because of this. I've been surprised at how doable it's all been--and at how much more I can do than I'd assumed, too.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 06:00 pm (UTC)But...OMG. And LOL (over your description of the situation).
I hope they do patch the wall. The super in my old apartment knocked out a section of bathroom tile once to get at a leaky pipe, and nothing I (or the condo's owner) did could persuade him to come back and fix it, or send someone to fix it. It was below low-priority for them, apparently.