All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

I've had a somewhat related experience with one of my properties that happens to be in a designated "Historic District" part of town.  After I bought the property, I removed (without filing for a permit) 2 large pine trees that were growing extremely close to the property (like: trunks being 6 inches from touching the house - dropping huge quantities of needles and branches on the roof and doing who knows what damage to the foundation).  This triggered an investigation by the City Historic Commission and I ended up being cited not only for removing those two trees, but also 4 other trees that apparently were removed from the property by the previous owner over the years.  The City used google satellite images to go as far back as 15 or 20 years to "prove" that all those trees were "missing" compared to earlier pictures.  

I was declared liable for the unpermitted removal of ALL those missing trees, including a large dogwood tree that I know for a fact had died and fallen on its own.  Didn't matter - I was zapped for all of them.  Had to re-plant new trees as well as make substantial donation for each missing tree to a City sponsored tree planting program.

All said and done, it was worth it to me but it is quite painful to be held responsible for stuff the previous owner did over several decades.  Wasn't worth it hiring a lawyer, so I can't comment on how easy or hard it is to fight back, but generally, Cities tend to have far deeper pockets than me....

I have used these products maybe 10 times over the past 5 or so years and have never had any issues with the installation.  So far, they have held up just fine, so I will definitely stick with them because they are so much less messy and because re-seating a toilet is no problem whilst you only really get ONE shot with a wax ring.

That said, of course, it will be a very long time until I can truly comment on their durability vs. a wax ring since those often last many decades.  Also, it will be a long time before I can actually benefit from not having to deal with the messy wax when replacing them....

My main driver for switching away from wax was that there are basically two things that joint comes in contact with (aside from water): poop and wax.  In most cases where I had to remove a toilet, it was very hard to tell which of those materials (or a mixture thereof) I was scraping off of the floor and toilet.... yuck.

@Nathan Gesner   just a point of clarification:  do you really mean "CO2 detector" (carbondioxide)?  I'd think you mean CO (carbon monoxide) detector?  One (CO2), is heavier than air (thus you would install low), the other's density is pretty much equal to air (thus installing on ceiling is ok). For this reason, you can commonly buy combo smoke/CO detectors these days and they are ceiling or high on the wall mounted.  CO2 can be bad because it displaces oxygen/air and so in an extreme case, it makes you suffocate, but it is not toxic.  On the other hand, CO is VERY toxic.  Both are formed by burning fossil fuels; CO2 is ALWAYS formed, but CO is only formed during incomplete combustion.  

There IS such a thing as a CO2 detector, but to my knowledge, they are not typically used in residential dwellings.  I know, its probably just a typo in your "notice to renters", so I don't mean to nit-pick, but the difference and consequence can be quite serious.

Originally posted by @Bjorn Ahlblad:

These cute guys invaded my truck on 3 occasions and lived under the hood and in the air vents I had a hard time getting them out. They are so darned cute you can't hurt them!

Chipmunks are just as destructive as rats - zapp it, or you will regret.....  my cat's favorite thing to hunt are chipmunks, so you might try that route....

Agree completely.  Plus, I HATE dealing with degraded wax rings - you always end up scraping stuff that could be wax or sh... , or both...  so it will be much nicer to replace rubber ones when the time comes.  Just yesterday, I convinced my handyman to make the switch - I myself have been using the rubber seals for several years now and never had a problem - although, of course, I have not yet had to replace one of them, so I don't REALLY know how well they hold up in the long run.

Yes, I have had my share of “trivial” service calls, but I’ll add that I’d rather have a couple of those than some overeager tenants who are neither knowledgeable nor handy but, because they know how to search YouTube, will try to “fix” anything themselves.  
Case in point, I just had to replace an entire toilet in a unit where the tenant reported “some bad smell” coming from the toilet.  He never fessed up to it (though his demeanor got very suspicious when I nodded him on it), but I’m almost certain, that he googled the problem,saw some Reddit comment that suggested tightening the two anchor screws and he went ahead and ended up over tightening and cracking the toilet. Very likely, what it really needed was just a new 2 dollar wax ring.  Instead, I ended up having to replace the whole toilet.

I wish he had just called me before picking up the wrench…..

What caused the ceiling damage?  Did the laundry drain overflow without anyone noticing?  Given the quality of the tenant I would eat the cost.  No way of proving he did anything wrong.

As already pointed out by others, the only real difference is the extra 7.25% in SS/Medicare taxes you have to pay (which previously was paid by your employer).  On the flip-side of the story (so to speak…), you now get to make all sorts of business deductions, for your car, tools, computers, home office, etc. etc., so the bite may not be as big as you think.  But be aware that you need to keep good records.  Save receipts, keep track of all expenses, car miles, etc.  you will need that at tax time.

As others suggested: change the filter and let it go.  How are you going to prove damage if the HVAC still works fine?  Plus, how will you prove that tenant didn’t replace filter for 12 months?  Even if he was dumb enough to admit it to you, he will change his tune before a judge.

Only way to truly make sure is for you (or a representative) to either do it or inspect and verify that it was done.  If you can make sure the filters are changed once every 3 months, you’ll be ok.  Once a month seems excessive for most situations and almost impossible to get compliance ( heck, I don’t change them nearly that often in my own house….)

I guess I misunderstood your OP then.  So, if you live full time in the property and just rent out rooms, then it is quite different since you WILL be there to patch the roads and clear the downed trees (and, presumably, run the backup generator).  No issue with that then.

But: for a vacation rental, I suspect the majority of people will be looking for “their own house”, not just a room.  So, living at the property may limit your audience, unless you pitch a tent in the backyard and plan on living there when you have paying guests?