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movax posted:
Enjoy smashing the poo poo out of your shin in the middle of the night getting up, or even just walking around it if your even the slightest bit clumsy. Mine doesn’t have half that and it gets me every time.
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Jul 16, 2018 12:41
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Late Sunday night, I started doing my laundry -- I have a washer/dryer combo unit in my apartment's kitchen -- and the hose connecting the machine to the water pipes burst. The valve to shut off the pipes was stuck shut and I couldn't get the water turned off. Because it was so late at night, it took the building maintenance man almost two hours to get to my apartment, and by that time, there was 2" of water in my tiled kitchen, and the water had seeped into the wall-to-wall living room carpet almost in its entirety (it's a big room -- something like 23' x 13'). The water also seeped through the wall into the communal hallway, and down into the ceiling of the apartment below me. Luckily, none of my stuff was damaged, but I slipped on the wet carpet and badly sprained my thumb when I put my hand out to catch myself. Yesterday, building management sent a water damage cleanup crew to my apartment, and there are now 6-7 industrial fans drying the carpet and walls, and an industrial dehumidifier running 24/7. They may be running for at least 3 days total (yesterday, today, tomorrow). What do you think of this email I'm drafting to building management? Is it too blunt? Am I requesting things I have no right to request (I'm in PA, for reference)? Anything else I should add/delete? quote:Hi [management],
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Jul 31, 2018 17:59
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In 1997 while I was in college, I lived alone in a basement apartment. There was a shared W/D down there and the hose burst while one of the upstairs tenants was using it. She didn't have the presence of mind to turn off the faucet that led to the hose and the water ran until I got home that day - about 6" deep in my apartment, until it was cascading into my stand-up shower. (Thank God I didn't have a bathtub, it'd have been 18" deep.) . The property manager called out the fans and the dehumidifier, cleaned the carpets, etc. I get home from school the next day to find the guy from the remediation firm sopping up water from something with my paper towels. Like the ones from the Costco pack that were under my kitchen sink. Seriously, this guy had a box truck full of equipment, and just... opened my kitchen cabinet and started using my paper towels. I was pissed and drew up a letter like yours. After sleeping on it, I thought... I'd called the management on a Sunday afternoon and by Sunday evening they had a full remediation team out there with pumps and fans and water extractors. They had a minimum wage guy drying my stuff and instead of using whatever he was supposed to use, he burned $8 worth of paper towels. (Used every goddamn paper towel I had!) They probably spent $5k or $10k on remediation, and my part was $8 in paper towels and $10 in electricity. I remember getting pent up about whether they were going to replace my carpet or not, but at the end of the day... it was clean, filtered water, and once it was gone... it was probably the cleanest the carpet had ever been. I personally would not count this as my hill to die on. I'd ask for (not demand) help moving my furniture back and move on with it.
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Jul 31, 2018 21:41
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Photomikey is a landlord and his posts itt trend strongly toward "won't someone think of the poor landlords???" so don't take that as a baseline. The sentence that stands out to me is "I've lived in the apartment for four years and the carpet was not new when I moved in." I would change that to something like "given the concern for mold and mildew from the incident in addition to 4-5 years of normal wear and tear, I'd appreciate an update to linoleum to bring the space in line with the other building units." Also add plenty of dicksucking about how quickly and professionally they responded. And maybe take out the line about the hose being in poor repair; poo poo just happens, and while it's on them, it doesn't sound like they were necessarily negligent.
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Jul 31, 2018 22:16
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i like nice words
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I am indeed a landlord, although the story in question is from my tenant days. I don't think the letter is a good idea (you come off as a pain in the rear end), what about asking, in person, for what you're looking for?
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Aug 1, 2018 21:20
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Anne Whateley posted:The sentence that stands out to me is "I've lived in the apartment for four years and the carpet was not new when I moved in." I would change that to something like "given the concern for mold and mildew from the incident in addition to 4-5 years of normal wear and tear, I'd appreciate an update to linoleum to bring the space in line with the other building units." Your building management is hopefully staffed with professionals who won't get into a tizzy because you dared to email them(although I'd personally do an in-person meeting because that's likely to get your concerns addressed faster, you know this management company better than we do), but keeping your tone as far from 'your poo poo sucks and I want you to make it not suck' as possible is always a good idea. That applies to both email and in-person interactions. "I'd appreciate ABC updates because of XYZ flood/wear and tear reasons" good, "this stuff was old and beat up when I moved in & the thing that broke was also old" bad. Whatever your feelings are on that stuff, you're way more likely to get what you want if the management doesn't feel like you're trying to make them the villain. They're also as interested in avoiding mold/mildew problems as you are, which should help with the carpet issue if you take that angle. e: Also, re: "Am I requesting things I have no right to request". What they have the legal obligation to give you is only semi-related to what they're willing to give you. The legal obligations are stuff they should be doing anyway, like keeping the place habitable and repairing stuff that breaks. Something like moving the living room furniture back is probably not legally required(I'm obviously not a lawyer and have no idea about PA's landlord-tenant laws), but it's an easy way to get your goodwill & doesn't cost them much, so they probably won't mind doing it. That shouldn't be your hill to die on, obviously, but as long as you keep your requests reasonable and directly related to the flooding, they should be willing to work with you. Haifisch fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Aug 2, 2018 |
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Aug 2, 2018 04:44
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Thanks for everyone ‘s reasonable suggestions. I’m glad I held off on the email because someone from the building management company came out in person today and I spoke with her in my apartment going by what you guys have said. So today my rug was deodorized and sprayed with antimicrobial solution for the time being, then will be professionally shampooed at some point soon. I’ll send them this month’s electric bill along with last month’s, and they’ll cover me for the difference. My brother came over today and helped me move some furniture, and I cleaned my kitchen and bathroom last night. (I asked for help with that in my email draft because my left hand is in this brace, and I also have cellulitis in that hand from an earlier injury, so I can’t use the hand much at all but I’m getting more adapted to the limitations each day.) In the past, management has been frustrating to work with in an emergency, and since it’s ingrained in me to be polite and conciliatory at all costs, I’ve put up with them dragging their feet on repairs and pest control because I didn’t want to make a fuss. But since this flood was no fault of mine, caused me to get an injury that makes daily life activities a hassle and will take weeks to heal, the cleanup has made my kitchen and living room (which doubles as an eating space and is the room you have to walk through to get into the rest of the apartment) unusable, I haven’t slept much since Saturday night because of the noise of all the fans...well, hence the email drafted as a list of demands. But that’s all moot now, so 
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Aug 2, 2018 19:58
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Couple of weeks ago I was in here asking about bedsheets. I found this video to be very informative on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUExoqhDr_E Also the dude has the world's chillest voice. I ended up going with these sheets by the way. They are very soft and smooth and I like them very much so far.
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Aug 9, 2018 21:15
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How often do apartment buildings get sealed (I guess?) I ask because pest control comes out every couple of months and sprays but this morning I noticed a black spot in the corner of my living room. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was some kind of spider. Well today was a bad day to decide to be brave and catch and release it It was a wolf spider carrying all her little babies hiding in the corner and they spread out all over my carpet. I lived one of my worst nightmares and its just as bad as you'd think it is. They're all dead. Sorry. We caught the mom and put her outside but she died soon after. theres no way I could catch all those little spiders. All I had was all-purpose spray and I feel pretty bad about it. First of all, I'm freaked the gently caress out. I don't like spiders. Second, what exactly could maintenance even do about it? Obviously she got in somehow, but where? There are tons of gaps where the carpet meets the molding. We find spiders often but I was "okay" with it because we're on the end of the building on the first floor, I figured it was just location. We also get house centipedes and ants a lot. But this was a momma wolf spider with all her precious babes, and I know they get aggressive when they're like that. Very freaky, and I can't let that happen again. Is there anything that maintenance can do? Anything I can suggest? It's also almost time to renew our lease and I'm really thinking long and hard about whether I want to keep living here.
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Aug 24, 2018 04:25
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You live in an ecosystem. Unless your pests are uncountable in number, poisonous, biting, or spreading pestilence, you just deal with them when you see them. The occasional spider and house centipede are the cost of living in non-hermetically sealed houses. You can put down borax under appliances, diatomaceous earth behind furniture, etc but I haven’t found it makes much of a difference with the occasional wandered from The Outside I’m sorry to say that you may one day see a wolf spider again and maybe you should just go for the spray on day one
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Aug 24, 2018 05:36
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Wolf spiders bite and they are venomous, so yeah you probably want to deal with them before the day you find 50 occupying your living room. Depending on where you live, your landlord may be obligated to provide you with exterminator services. You won't be able to physically seal off your entire apartment, but exterminators have arachnicides and perimeter sprays -- go nuts. Get yourself a little aerosol of spider spray, too. If they're taking over your living space, you don't need to gently caress around with cups.
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Aug 24, 2018 06:07
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I never heard of wolf spiders being more dangerous to encounter than a random bee getting into your house  They aren’t dangerous, just scary. One wolf spider does not an infestation make. But yeah, go nuts and spray whatever outside around windows, perimeter gaps, and ledges.
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Aug 24, 2018 07:03
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Mocking Bird posted:One wolf spider does not an infestation make. What about when the one spider dumps fifty babies when you try to remove it, though?
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Aug 24, 2018 07:10
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It’s true, I’m actually a shill for the spider overlords  call Terminix
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Aug 24, 2018 07:13
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Big Spider lobbyists have their hands in everything, and spiders sure do have lots of hands
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Aug 24, 2018 07:19
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I assume you live in a bigger building with somewhat professional management, and they're having pest control come out regularly to do preventative maintenance and deal with anything residents may report. It may be that they're only doing work to keep out cockroaches, and if you talk to your landlord they can talk to the pest people and they do some preventive treatment to deal with spiders.
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Aug 24, 2018 15:34
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whatever it is they do for cockroaches works because I've only seen maybe two in the span of a year. it just doesn't work for, uh, anything else. I'll call maintenance and tell them to send pest control out asap
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Aug 24, 2018 16:21
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It's probably a different kind of bait/poison, because they're going to live in different places and eat different things. Ideally if you keep other bugs out you'll also keep spiders away, because they won't have any prey. Probably you had bad luck with a momma spider looking for a snug nesting spot and less concerned about a good feeding ground?
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Aug 24, 2018 16:29
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Sab0921 posted:Furnishing questions - does anyone know where to find a (way) cheaper version of a console that looks like this - Design Within Reach is such a bullshit name This is so late but a better one would probably be the BDI media console since it has a removable back (I have the line credenza as my media console and I can't close the door since my receiver is too big). https://www.smartfurniture.com/products/corridor-media-center-by-bdi.html Here are some that might be within your reach. https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/brayden-studio-amersfort-71-tv-stand-brsd4132.html a cheaper replica that's still around $1k https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/mercury-row-posner-7238-tv-stand-mcrw1528.html https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/union-rustic-knight-media-cabinet-62-tv-stand-unrt1587.html this is way rustic https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/furnitech-signature-home-tv-stand-fnt1218.html this has one giant drawer My setup just for the hell of it 
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Aug 24, 2018 20:47
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Animale, can we trade living spaces I’ll take really good care of your cat
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Aug 24, 2018 20:58
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Ashcans posted:Probably you had bad luck with a momma spider looking for a snug nesting spot and less concerned about a good feeding ground? Oh yikes Well if I have bad luck again, does anyone know a way to catch the mom and her young that doesnt end with 50 dead baby spiders in my vacuum? I may not like spiders but I'm not keen on killing them either.
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Aug 24, 2018 21:13
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You know from experience that they multiply 50 at a time. Just kill the one you see. He has 49 siblings outside to continue the family lineage.
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Aug 25, 2018 08:27
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You all are getting trolled hard by these wolf spider posts lol
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Aug 31, 2018 05:47
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Do any of you know of a good book or online resource for learning about home plumbing? The water pressure at my parents' house sucks, and I know it's not just because it's on a well, so I'd like to learn why.
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Sep 2, 2018 12:25
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The DIY sub forum might be a better place to ask, we mostly know about couches and cockroaches
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Sep 2, 2018 15:13
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Deeters posted:Do any of you know of a good book or online resource for learning about home plumbing? The water pressure at my parents' house sucks, and I know it's not just because it's on a well, so I'd like to learn why. Honestly I would try looking at YouTube for things like that. Being able to see the plumber do the adjustment is much easier to figure out than trying to decipher the same instructions in text.
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Sep 2, 2018 15:27
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Deeters posted:Do any of you know of a good book or online resource for learning about home plumbing? The water pressure at my parents' house sucks, and I know it's not just because it's on a well, so I'd like to learn why.
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Sep 4, 2018 06:09
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photomikey posted:Buy a Water Pressure Test Gauge from Amazon for $8 and test water pressure at the first outlet nearest the well. Then walk it around the house and check each faucet or hose spigot. You should know pretty quickly where the problem is and you don't really need any specialized knowledge at this stage. Agreed but I would look at the pump down at the well first. It may be just not good enough. We had a well when I was a kid and it had sucky pressure. Until one day, when I kicked at some dirt and something white appeared. I showed it to my dad and he uncovered a 1" PVC line running from our well house to our neighbor. Since he didn't inform us of such a arrangement with the previous land owner, my dad promptly sawed off about ten feet of that pipe on our side and reburied what he did. Two days later, our neighbor had a drill rig out there. Guess he knew what we found.
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Oct 7, 2018 16:12
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I have a too-large table in my living room/kitchen. My roommate is using it as a desk (his computer is hooked to the TV), we rarely eat together at it, and don't watch much TV. I have a friend who is interested in it; I need to replace it with something. Ideally, I'd like something easy to move out of the way if we need to. We are very tight on space. Something with the practicality of one of the plastic six-foot folding tables (one of these) but ideally not as janky/bachelor-esque. What sort of options should I be looking at? We have a nearby IKEA, and I'm not tremendously interested in buying super-expensive furniture while I'm still renting (especially in a place where I'm likely to have to move in the next year or two).
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Oct 11, 2018 06:31
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https://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/ART/10290221/?icid=%20a1:store_app%7Ca2:us%7Ca6:link_to_buy%7Ccc:216 You're welcome
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Oct 11, 2018 06:44
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^ I’ve had that Ikea folding table through four moves and have found utility for it in every apartment. Now we have a house and it looks good enough that we still keep it around and use it regularly. A+ good table.
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Oct 11, 2018 12:02
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Also have that table and would also recommend it.
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Oct 13, 2018 19:10
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I'm looking for ideas on blocking cords and cables from view in my living room. Here's how it looks right now:  I am planning to find a better place for the printer, get some shoji screens for the two corners (corner on the right is out of frame), but the cords under the TV stand and console table need a solution. All I can think of is some small table cloths, welcoming thoughts on how to fit the color scheme. I also wonder if there's some kind of object or panel thing I can put in the back of the TV table shelf and under the end table.
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Oct 14, 2018 00:21
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Maybe I'm misreading, but are you thinking of laying tablecloths over your cords? That sounds really weird, personally, and would draw more attention to the area you're trying to hide. The key to keeping cables organized and looking nice is bundling them together with velcro strips or zip ties. Even with that bare minimum it will look a lot cleaner. Going a step further, you can run the bundles down the table legs and against the wall using some coax wood staples, and keep the cords that you only need to use sporadically (such as charging cables) out to a minimum. This could mean getting a dedicated charging station that all of your USB cables attach to so you don't have a bunch snaking their way across the floor from various outlets, or just putting them in a drawer and taking them ot when you need them. If you want to get fancier than that, there are various vinyl strips that you can lay your cables under, but it can make your apartment/house look like a cheap office cubicle. A product that I really like (but some may find silly) is a cable box like the BlueLounge Cablebox. It's a small, rectangular, ventilated box that hides a power strip and the plugs plugged into it in a neat little package. If it's possible, I'd also move those two pieces of furniture against/as close as possible to the wall. Chip McFuck fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Oct 14, 2018 |
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Oct 14, 2018 08:08
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Yeah tablecloths would look silly, just bundle the cords together as much as possible, have them follow the shapes of the furniture as much as possible, and put the furniture as close to the wall as possible. Nothing will look completely cordless, but cords that look purposefully run look much better than a wild tangle of cords running all over the place. Some of this poo poo might help as well. It is also ugly but it will keep your cables together and you can more easily tuck it behind your furniture so it's less visible.
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Oct 14, 2018 08:22
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A shelving unit or dresser or some other larger storage furniture against the wall, and place the electronics on that as well. But bundling is a good start too.
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Oct 14, 2018 08:35
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Yeah the best, short of like, having all your poo poo mount to the wall and connect to outlets positioned in the perfect place so that the cords are hidden behind the TV itself, would be to have a piece of furniture with a solid back that you could just hide the cords behind.
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Oct 14, 2018 08:39
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If new furniture is not an option at all, at least place the consoles on the shelf below the TV table, along with the little white box (router? Chromecast?) to avoid cables sprawling everywhere. The WiiU (I assume) should work just as well lying down, if it doesn't fit standing. Leave the controllers on top of the table, right in front of the TV. Then after freeing the black table, place the printer there, place it against the corner, and let the Roomba park below the table. Place the archival box next to one of the tables.
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Oct 14, 2018 08:48
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I've been living in my apartment for a year, and I have not once heard my neighbors through the common wall we share and I have only heard the upstairs neighbor maybe once or twice so I figured they must have done some good soundproofing when they built the place (the complex is brand new). My upstairs neighbor moved out and new ones moved in. I was wrong, and I can hear them stomping around all day. Ok, we live in apartments you have to accept a certain level of noise. The stomping got so bad that the dishes in my cabinets began to rattle. I went upstairs and told them to please go easy with that stuff and for the most part the running and stomping has leveled out to just loud but not wall shaking. Sunday night they decided to do their laundry at 12:30am and it woke me right up with the constant rumble. WTF. I figured I'll do something about it the next day but when I got home they weren't home. I go to bed that night and they started doing laundry again at 10pm. From what I can figure this guy gets home late at night and stays awake all morning (I can see his TV on and lights (plus the stomping walk) as I get into my car to go to work. What I can't figure is how if he won't be considerate for me why he doesn't care enough about his wife and little kid not to run the washer and dryer all night. I'm going to talk to the office people today and see what can be done.
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Oct 16, 2018 16:47
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I don't think there is a lot to be done about heavy walkers. They are just heavy walkers and you're not going to train it out of them in adulthood. People who have raging parties or barking dogs it's easier for the landlord to do something but "you walk wrong, could you please not walk in your apartment after like 9pm when your downstairs neighbor might go to bed?" is hard to enforce. Laundry is a similar thing. I don't think it's too much to ask for the guy to throw in a load of laundry after he gets home from work. I put laundry in and go to bed all the time. It doesn't keep me nor my wife and kid awake. You might find the guy is unexpectedly open to your requests. It's worth an ask. I'd go easy on him. I think you're going to have to get used to regular apartment noises.
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Oct 17, 2018 00:36
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