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For habitability issues you should be calling every 24 hours to "get an update on the situation". Without a working shower/tub I would consider your apartment uninhabitable. My next contact would be with the property manager to mention that your apartment has been uninhabitable for 18 days and so the pro rata rent would be $x, how did they want to handle that, and what with January rent being due in a few days, how did they want to handle pro-rated rent for January. That should light a fire under their rear end. Property managers are generally totally useless. Call the county, find out who owns your property, call that person, and "get an update on the situation". That should thoroughly light a fire under everyone's rear end. Now that all that is said, you should know that oddball problems are expensive and a total pain in the rear end. If your hot water heater is out, I will be over within 24 hours and you'll have a new hot water heater and it'll cost me $500 and we won't have this problem again for 10 years. Weird poo poo like all the hot water works except the shower is one of these "start tearing out walls" problems that is outrageously expensive and takes weeks and sometimes never resolves you just have to build a fix around it. Sometimes I drag my feet on that poo poo and I need the tenant to light a fire under my rear end to get it done. Sometimes it is easy to say "well, maybe tomorrow" when it's you, the landlord, showering in 110F water and not 60F water. Remind him. Be persistent.
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Dec 27, 2017 19:58
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Do you have a local equivalent of 311? Or can you call a local tenant line to ask? New York's 311 will light a fire under their rear end beautifully.
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Dec 27, 2017 20:01
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i like nice words
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Teeter posted:CA tenant here.
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Dec 27, 2017 22:05
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Thanatosian posted:I cannot understand how you have not been calling the property manager every 4-5 hours and calling every city, county, and state agency you can find. I would be losing my loving mind over this. Do what photomikey said; like, this is not in any way okay. I've been out of town for much of this period and holiday stuff has taken up all of my attention. I've mostly survived by showering at the gym or whatever during the times when I have been around so it hasn't been a huge impact. It certainly sucks and ticks the box for "uninhabitable" but it's not like I'm living in subzero temperatures without heat or have a hole in my roof. That said, seeing the responses here have inspired me to up the efforts so that I don't reinforce them into thinking they can let this sort of thing slide for myself or other tenants in the future. ------- Thank you everyone for the information. Unfortunately it seems that going as far as withholding rent will likely get me sued and evicted so even if it ends in my favor it's just a bigger headache than the current situation. I have a complaint open with the city's housing department and have very sternly let the property manager know about how I plan to escalate again if I do not have a significant update in the next 24 hours.
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Dec 27, 2017 22:35
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Teeter posted:I've been out of town for much of this period and holiday stuff has taken up all of my attention. I've mostly survived by showering at the gym or whatever during the times when I have been around so it hasn't been a huge impact. It certainly sucks and ticks the box for "uninhabitable" but it's not like I'm living in subzero temperatures without heat or have a hole in my roof. That said, seeing the responses here have inspired me to up the efforts so that I don't reinforce them into thinking they can let this sort of thing slide for myself or other tenants in the future. Photomikey isn't advocating actually withholding rent, just threatening to in order to light a loving fire under their asses.
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Dec 27, 2017 22:50
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Thanatosian posted:Photomikey isn't advocating actually withholding rent, just threatening to in order to light a loving fire under their asses. Well in any case, some combination of namedropping the building owner and citing specific city codes about habitability must have worked because there's a worker here now. Some parts are needed so the work won't be 100% completed until tomorrow but there's a workaround in place and an end in sight so I'm happy enough with it. Thanks again everyone.
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Dec 28, 2017 00:54
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Was it the anti-scald proportioning valve? Single handle shower valves are great when they’re working, but they fail with some frequency.
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Dec 28, 2017 03:21
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Teeter posted:Unfortunately it seems that going as far as withholding rent will likely get me sued and evicted Lol, no poo poo. You don't just stop paying, it's to illustrate that you are a sufficiently squeaky wheel and you know what the word 'habitability' means. You were dumb to let it go on for more than a day, but I'm guessing you've figured that out by now. Also, sitting in front of an arbiter saying that you want to be paid for a unit without hot water is not going to be a real good look for your property owner, so don't count out your ability to play hardball. It's an ugly move, but it's not guaranteed to fail like you seem to think. goku chewbacca posted:Was it the anti-scald proportioning valve? Single handle shower valves are great when they’re working, but they fail with some frequency. I'd bet on it. Smart move for the maintenance guy would have been to cycle the water on and off a few times upstream to see if they could make it shuttle, but instead it sounds like they'll just rip it all out.
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Dec 28, 2017 08:43
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What's the best way to get rid of a mouse in an apartment? There's a little guy (I *think* just one) that's taken up residence somewhere by my kitchen and I've seen it running around at night. Haven't found any mouseholes or openings in the walls so it must be going between the dishwasher and cabinets and then there's a hole behind that. I don't leave any food out or on the ground and keep my place clean so I suspect it's just trying to keep warm. Sorry bud, this is a vermin-free zone. I've tried using the classic traps and the black hockey-puck type traps and baited with peanut butter but got nothing. The sticky traps seem like murine torture devices, but I'm not sure what else there is to use. My current strategy btw is to yell "gently caress OFF" whenever I see it out and then it runs away. It always comes back though.
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Dec 28, 2017 09:23
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Try using jam or honey as bait
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Dec 28, 2017 09:30
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Youth Decay posted:What's the best way to get rid of a mouse in an apartment? There's a little guy (I *think* just one) that's taken up residence somewhere by my kitchen and I've seen it running around at night. Haven't found any mouseholes or openings in the walls so it must be going between the dishwasher and cabinets and then there's a hole behind that. I don't leave any food out or on the ground and keep my place clean so I suspect it's just trying to keep warm. Sorry bud, this is a vermin-free zone. I've tried using the classic traps and the black hockey-puck type traps and baited with peanut butter but got nothing. The sticky traps seem like murine torture devices, but I'm not sure what else there is to use. Use the torture devices, imo. That little dude is dropping disease-laden turds all over your kitchen, you don't owe him anything. My old apartment was infested (they were coming up through the basement via the heating pipes) and I caught like 2 mice at once by putting down some glue traps in a corner I frequently saw them using as a route. Mice are creatures of habit, and will tend to favor specific routes through your apartment that they've already marked with their droppings (let that sink in), so it's a pretty safe bet to put something down where you see them often. This can backfire sometimes, because their instinct is to be terrified of New Things on their trail, but the flat glue trap seems to stand out less than the mystery object with peanut butter smeared on one end.
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Dec 28, 2017 14:04
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Yep traps. If your current don't work maybe you have to try a different model, you're loading it wrong (too much/little spring load required to trigger it), or perhaps placing it wrong. I had no luck with mouse traps until I switched to a plastic model with a larger trigger plate, and started placing them with the trigger end against the wall. You could also consider cage traps, that capture the mouse alive. Disadvantage is they take longer to reset, since you have to either release the mouse outside, or kill it yourself after catching. If you feel creative, try building a "Mexican trap". Basically a bucket of water with a bait-loaded spring board over, that tips when the mouse walks out the plank. And obviously try to close any openings they could enter through.
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Dec 28, 2017 14:58
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Glue traps are horrific, and what are you planning to do if they work? These traps are amazing. Just set them up as directed, perpendicular to the wall. Peanut butter works well.
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Dec 28, 2017 18:06
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People advocating for the use of glue traps have either never actually used a glue trap, or are flat out sociopaths. Those things are loving horrific. OP: First thing is to read your lease and see if there is a clause about pests (their likely will be unless your landlord is an idiot). Unless you are literally renting from Scrooge McDuck and it says something about you paying for everything no matter what, call them asap and don't stop pestering them until the problem is gone. It is virtually impossible for a single tenant to remove a pest in a multi-unit building. Also you are not seeing one mouse. There is almost never one mouse. If you live in a red state or something and have to deal with this on your own, buy the heavy duty 'pro-style' plastic traps (not the cheap wood ones) and bait them with barbecue sauce. The cheap store-brand with lots of corn syrup and other unhealthy crap.
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Dec 28, 2017 18:44
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Teeter posted:Thank you everyone for the information. Unfortunately it seems that going as far as withholding rent will likely get me sued and evicted so even if it ends in my favor it's just a bigger headache than the current situation. I have a complaint open with the city's housing department and have very sternly let the property manager know about how I plan to escalate again if I do not have a significant update in the next 24 hours. You pay rent to have a dry place to sleep, a place to poo poo and shower, and a place to eat. My judge would eat me for lunch if I raised an eviction after leaving you without working bathing facilities for almost an entire month. edit: I kept reading. I'm glad someone came to fix it!
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Dec 28, 2017 18:51
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There is rarely "one mouse", but this does sound like a one mouse-situation. Snap trap will do it. Set a couple. Google around for tricks to make them effective. I hot-glue a piece of dry dogfood to the trigger.
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Dec 28, 2017 18:54
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I live on the East Coast and due to our incredibly cold weather, my pipes have frozen. We managed to unfreeze the hot water pipe but the cold water is still frozen as far as I can tell. Any tips? I have an electric heater running under the sink (can't see the frozen part of the pipe, pretty sure it's in the wall) and I've been running the hot water since it unfroze around 4pm but it doesn't seem like any progress has been made on the cold.
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Dec 30, 2017 06:22
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Don't do anything that involves fire, which should be fairly obvious. A lot of people burn their houses down while trying to thaw pipes.
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Dec 30, 2017 07:45
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You're doing about all you can do. What did the management say they were going to do about it?
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Dec 30, 2017 09:13
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What is your thermostat set at?
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Dec 30, 2017 10:00
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We don't have management (it's a condo building and my landlord is in China and asks us to arrange the repairs and deduct them from the rent). The thermostat is set to 66 overnight. I called ~10 plumbers yesterday but none were available to come out to take a look (everyone was busy) - we're calling again today but we're a little on our own here. Should running the hot water help or is it not necessary to keep it above a trickle?
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Dec 30, 2017 14:01
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Trickling the hot water will keep it from freezing again, depending on how cold it is. Where does your water come from before it enters your sink? That is the part of the pipe you need to (slowly) warm up. Might be under the house or buried in the yard somewhere. If it is frozen solid, there is a distinct possibility that the pipe split while it was frozen, and when it unfreezes, water will come gushing out at full speed. Be prepared for this. This may be a bigger maintenance issue than you're prepared to deal with.
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Dec 30, 2017 16:55
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We live in a condo building and I believe it's behind a cabinet that I'd have to tear out to reach. The rest of the cold water in the apartment is functioning normally so I'm hoping that there isn't a burst pipe (from reading, it sounds like the other faucets would be having issues if a pipe had burst somewhere in the cold line). We let our landlord know that the pipes had frozen and she kindly informed us that "this sometimes happens in winter" so at least she won't be shocked if there turns out to be water damage. It's sounding like running the hot water is a good idea to keep it from freezing but will not do anything to thaw the cold water line. Thanks for all of the advice!
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Dec 30, 2017 20:52
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Keeping the cold water running should keep it from freezing as well, as long as the water is running fast enough and the cold water is warm enough that it can flow through the frozen area before it gets cold enough to freeze. 33 degree water will melt ice!
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Dec 30, 2017 21:41
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Indeed, trickling either tap will make the water move fast enough not to melt. My comment earlier about leaving the hot water trickling was because it was still moving, not because it was hot. If you leave the cold to trickle (when it's not frozen) it will stop it from freezing also.
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Dec 30, 2017 21:52
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Great news, everyone - balmy 14-degree temps + a space heater have resulted in both pipes unfreezing. I've left both faucets on at a trickle to avoid losing water again.
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Dec 31, 2017 03:45
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The true success is that you're not standing in a puddle while typing to us. Congrats!
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Dec 31, 2017 07:21
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photomikey posted:The true success is that you're not standing in a puddle while typing to us. Congrats! Or ashes.
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Dec 31, 2017 19:02
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Hey guys, I might be moving across country east to west soon. I keep seeing different thoughts on renting a truck and moving yourself vs. hiring movers vs. shipping your stuff to yourself (something called relocube, or usps or FEDEX or whatevs). Hiring movers seems costliest. I also have some stuff, like maybe 9 boxes that are around 3x3x3, a larger trunk, and some smaller furniture (table and basket). I could probably stuff it all into a bigger car (but I don't own one right now and don't need to get one). I'm going to recheck it all and see what I really need but I've already done that a few times in the past few years. I just have never moved this far with this much stuff before, every other time everything fit into a little sedan I had. Anybody else have experience with this and can share their perspective?
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Jan 5, 2018 21:32
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The smallest U-Hauls (or better, Budget or Penske trucks) are relatively inexpensive. Driving it yourself is the safest, least costly way to do it, but involves the most effort. With as little stuff as you have, you could also look into renting a car (an SUV or a minivan or something) and doing it that way. If you move out west, you will need a vehicle when you get here. You might look into buying something now, and maybe pulling a trailer.
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Jan 6, 2018 01:28
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Renting a minivan (best) or a tiny box truck and driving it out would probably be the best choice. Sell your furnishings and use the cost savings to replace them.
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Jan 6, 2018 04:16
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Mocking Bird posted:Sell your furnishings and use the cost savings to replace them. Solid advice. I see people hauling Ikea poo poo all over and it makes me laugh. I'm a big fan of hiring movers in town because moving sucks, but longer distance makes me prefer a DIY approach. I've only known of one person to use a POD, and it leaked horribly and destroyed everything in it. I also used to work across the street from an Allied depot and watched them throw people's stuff out on the side of the road as they reorganized the backs of the trucks. Stuff got "lost" into employees cars all the time too. It was a shitshow.
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Jan 6, 2018 04:45
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I used a relocube in October to move from California to Colorado. When I did the math it cost about the same as it would if I'd rented a box truck and towed my car behind it. The real deciding factor for me was that driving the truck yourself and towing a car takes longer for you to get where you are headed, and I didn't want to spend that much time driving. One of the ways you can also save money is by doing a hub to hub move, you go to their location and load your cube and then they deliver it to their hub (hopefully somewhere close to you?) and you go there and unload it. Depending on what they are charging right now for delivery to and drop off to a residential address you can come out ahead even if you need to rent a small truck to do the loading and unloading at the hub like I did. Overall positive experience, it arrived on time (early actually) and my stuff arrived intact. One thing they didn't tell me is that the relocube uses two locks to secure it, which luckily I had on hand. I don't know about pods but don't use the uhaul version. If you research it, its a drat horror show. Uhaul basically glues a frame together (not nailed, glued) and covers it with a boxy vinyl cover. Lots of complaints where uhaul employees just cut them open and loot your stuff from their warehouses and not even in transit.
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Jan 6, 2018 11:02
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Blackchamber posted:I don't know about pods but don't use the uhaul version. If you research it, its a drat horror show. Uhaul basically glues a frame together (not nailed, glued) and covers it with a boxy vinyl cover. Lots of complaints where uhaul employees just cut them open and loot your stuff from their warehouses and not even in transit. Oh crap, I forgot all about those things. We had a tenant use them one time and they are literally a toothpick cube covered in an orange tarp. Anybody with a pocket knife could get into one. I was extremely unimpressed.
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Jan 6, 2018 18:57
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We moved from Atlanta to Boston using U-Pack, we got rid of most of our furniture and stuff, and only loaded one with boxes of things we wanted to keep/move. The version we had was solid container, and had anchor points inside so you could tie furniture/secure things to prevent tipping or spilling. Obviously works best if you can properly fill it. We could also put on several of our own locks on the door, and nothing was damaged or taken. A big factor for us is that we were not regular drivers, and the last thing that we wanted to do was to introduce ourselves to the city by trying to navigate it with a truck or trailer. Highway driving is better, but you should think about leaving and arriving, and whether or not sparing yourself that headache is worth the cost. That depends a lot on you and your driving. Definitely sell/give away things that you can, it's not worth transporting pressboard furniture across the country. Even better stuff, give it a long hard look and decide if it's worth it.
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Jan 6, 2018 20:24
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I've moved across the country 3 times now with door-to-door, another of these container companies. Every time it's gone very smoothly and inexpensively. They're smaller than the standard PODS size which is nice since I didn't even have enough stuff to fill it and it fits in parking spaces better for loading and unloading. I have never owned a car, so driving the stuff myself with a truck wasn't reasonable. I packed stuff up, flew to my new city, and then (eventually) had the pod delivered and I unpacked it. The nice thing about container companies is you can (for a fee) store your poo poo at either end for a few months. This was pretty helpful for me since I moved into temp housing for a while before my year-long leases kicked in. So I just paid them 40 bucks a month or so to store and then scheduled drop-off only when I made it to my permanent place. It's a ton of flexibility.
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Jan 7, 2018 21:32
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This has been pretty sweet help all, thanks very much!
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Jan 7, 2018 23:45
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Is the Trulia crime rating relative to the surrounding area? I was looking at an apartment and when I scrolled down it said high. That threw me for a loop because as I understood it the place I’m looking is a pretty sleepy peaceful town.
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Jan 8, 2018 21:54
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Is the Trulia crime rating relative to the surrounding area? I was looking at an apartment and when I scrolled down it said high. That threw me for a loop because as I understood it the place I’m looking is a pretty sleepy peaceful town. It's white collar crime  (that's a joke) Is it a pretty isolated town, or is it like, a neighborhood? My city has all kinds of places where a given street or neighborhood can be considered safe and desirable, but it's like a 15-minute bike ride away from a place where you will be shot, which can probably skew those types of statistical analyses.
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Jan 8, 2018 22:01
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When I look at trulia it specifically says '...relative to the rest of county'. It may be that you are in the most crime-ridden area of a county/area that is really quiet, so the domestic dispute two houses over six weeks ago is the only thing going on. If you click through to the map it should show you a heat map of the area, as well as a list of actual stuff - thefts, assaults, and arrests.
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Jan 8, 2018 22:08
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