I mentioned in my previous post that our tenants had a little "soiree" this past weekend that kept me up till 2am. I was all psyched about getting some extra zzz's from daylight savings, but they ruined those plans. I gave them until 1:30am and then I called them. In brief, the conversation went like this:
Me: "Thadeus, I cannot sleep and I want you to break up this party. The music is not loud but people are walking around in hard shoes and up and down the back stairs and I need my sleep etc..!"
Thadeus: "Jocelyn, I can't do that- these people came from far away. And I can't tell them not to walk around the apartment."
Me: "I have lived in many apartments and this (meaning disturbing other tenants at all hours) is not allowed. If it doesn't quiet down, Steve will be calling the police."
To add insult to injury after I hung up the phone, someone upstairs stomped all around the apartment- a very low blow I'd say- childish, which is how their guests tend to behave and doesn't incline me to be more tolerant.
Funnily enough, it wasn't any loud music that kept me up, just a dozen or so people walking around constantly in hard soled shoes- even high heels. Steve and I have decided we will profile future tenants by their choice of footwear.
Seriously though, we are plotting how to get them out early. We are right now securing our financing to have work done up there. The appraiser is coming this weekend.
Something you strippers might find interesting. We have been pricing out the cost of getting woodwork stripped. We were quoted $1.00/per linear foot and that was the cheap price. The higher price was $3.00/per linear foot. And we got another quote tpday that was $8/per foot. Who knew? We have to measure all the trim and figure out the price of this now.
The difference in price is the difference between "dip" stripping and hand stripping (preferable). As we all know, hand stripping takes a bit more time than throwing some boards in a vat and letting the paint slide off. Some say dip stripping damages the wood and I'm sure it could if the wood is left too long. Guess which one we can afford?
8 comments:
Bummer about the tenants. The sooner they get out the better. So who strips wood? Do they do other things or are they in the Yellow Pages under “Wood Stripping”. At a $1/ sq. ft a 7-foot high, 1X6 door casing would be $3.50. Is that right? That sounds like a good deal. My biggest problem would be getting the trim off. The fluted Victorian casing wants to split and the thinnest part. At one point near the center the wood is only about 3/8-inch thick. It is a slow and painful process to get it off without splitting it some.
The guy we are planning to use is not in the yellow pages. We got his name from Jan's Antique's and he does refinishing of furniture, trimwork etc...
We will probably stain all the trim ourselves to save $$ too!
It's actually per linear foot- I corrected my post. An 8' piece would be $8.00.
Our neighbor did the dip stripping and I don't think that it looks all that good. The grain and colors seemed very muted. Of course, our woodwork is painted, so what do I know!
yikes- I hope it was because they didn't finish it properly. We don't have alot of choice really because it's too much to strip ourselves at once and $3/foot will get quite expensive.
How rude! (as Stephanie Tanner would say) Like it would've been so hard to at least remove the shoes before stomping around.
I'm doing my wood stripping with the trim still attaching to the wall b/c I'm afraid of splitting it. Not the most efficient method, though.
Want to get rid of your tenants and not feel guilty? Collect the rent, then say "Hmmm, you know, this just isn't working out. If you leave by the end of the month, I'll give you this money back." Then they have the money to be someone elses problem.
I purchased a 1920 built home with quarter sawn red oak thoughout the house. Quarter sawn is the way the wood is milled. Very rare, but very distinct looking as well. And needless to say, VERY expensive. Because of this is why I found the best way to remove the trim without any damage. Here's a little trick for removing trim without splitting it. Take a thin (1/16th inch) nail set and drive the nail deeper into the trim, all the way thru if you can. Use two firm putty knives first to get under the trim. Loosen the trim enough with the putty knives so you can use a small (6") pry bar in place of a putty knife. Use the pry bar directly under the trim where the nail is located. I use two bars at the same time when removing trim. I use both flat sides of the bars first so I can loosen the trim enough so I can get one of the curved end of a bar in as close as I can to the nail. I also use the putty knife under the curved pry bar so the bar does not put a dimple in the wall. Removing the nails that are left in the trim should be done the proper way as well. DO NOT try to drive the nail back out of the trim. If you do this, the head of the nail will "blow out" the face of the wood. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about. Instead, place the trim face down and use a large pair of side cutters to pull the nail out. If done this way, any blow out you have will be on the underside of the trim, not it's face. Happy remodeling everybody.
Well said, mrwoodbutcher!
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