It happened again!

This time, I was much more calm, cool and collected. Steve was in the basement, and I yelled downstairs, "Steve! There is water coming from upstairs." He immediately shut off the water and came upstairs.

Again, it was over the bathroom door. Again, the toilet had overflowed. Moments later, a knock on the door. Our tenant was desperate to use the loo, you see. If you think about it, the whole situation is pretty funny really. Water comes pouring down over our bathroom door. Moments later tenant comes in with legs crossed begging to use our bathroom. Funny.

Fortunately, there was no real damage as the water came through the door trim again, which is just so weird.

Of course, the first question Steve asked was, "Has the toilet been acting up?" Our tenant, in a meek voice said, "Well, yes a little, but I didn't notice it until this morning."

A yes, the life of a landlord is filled with trials and tribulations. Those who throw away a plunger because it has feces on it and those who don't heed warning signs. It's best to just laugh sometimes.

p.s. We do like these tenants pretty well. They are just a bit young and inexperienced.

These things take time

As you well know, a project done right takes way longer than the latter. If we just slapped some paint on our front door and called it a day, we'd have been done weeks ago. Instead, we are doing a "This Old House" quality repair and it's taking a bit longer.

At left you can see the trim has been primed and painted with two coats of Sherwin Williams oil-based Bunglehouse Blue. We reserve the option to add a third coat. On Saturday I scraped all the excess paint off the glass and cleaned the windows. I like the new color.



Also, on Saturday I tackled repairing the buckling veneer on the front door. I used a razor knife and cut out the failing and rotting areas and then using contact cement, glued 2-3 layers of oak veneer into place. Here you see everything clamped up to dry. I also sanded the door and filled any holes or dings with wood filler.

We decided to get a new unlacquered solid brass kickplate, which is going to run us about $82.00. This proving my theory that projects we undertake always go overbudget because we always seem to find a way to add something else. But it will look really nice, last virtually forever, and fit the door better.

I know I could go searching for the right one on ebay or salvage, but we have too many other projects to get going on so we are paying for convenience this time.

What did Steve do while I was working on the front door? Install a 18000 BTU air conditioner in our tenants apartment. He made a custom ledge out of oak stained to match the trimwork that raises the a/c above the vinyl window frame. It is a thing of beauty. No a/c eyesores in our building.

Incidentally, our tenants seem to be working out pretty well. On Saturday one of them told me how much she loves the apartment and how her friends are all jealous. They are quite sweet and considerate so far.

The life of a landlord is filled with trials and tribulations...

The mums are dead and our tenants have fallen through. One of them lost their job and is backing out. This is probably for the best and I don't really blame her. If I was living at home and lost my job and I had the choice between the hellish stress of finding a job and moving at the same time or staying put, I'd opt for the first choice.

Still, it's a bit of a bitter pill right now. We do have a deposit from them, which we can't give back, but we will probably let them out of the lease once we verify that she has in fact lost her job and is not just "wimping out". If she is lying, we will require her to pay for advertising. We still wouldn't hold her to the lease because we don't need liars in our building.

I feel fairly bummed about this and so I am going to do whatever I feel like doing this weekend. I will probably use some of my x-mas bonus to go shopping for clothes. I will wear pajamas till noon. I will walk my dogs. And I will allow myself to feel a little sorry for myself because I have earned that right.

It's funny, but writing about problems on the blog always makes them more poignant to me. It somehow makes them have a bit more meaning. Does anyone else feel this way? It's like my life becomes a story that might be interesting to read about and that makes it not seem so random and pointless.

I really need to buy my lap top so I can start writing that novel I have always wanted to write. I have a number of subjects already in mind for different books. I've started before, but I just can't bring myself to sit at a desk all night after sitting at one all day. I am going to be a couch-writer not a desk writer. It's winter and it's time.

And regarding the photo of the torch, in case my meaning isn't clear, I mean to communicate that the fire hasn't gone out here at the 2-flat. A little bump in the road like this won't take the wheels of our wagon. We've built it to last.