All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

RE:The house I moved into
I had been in this house several times before, and never smelled any cigarette odors, no smoke odors. I had it painted, and that day, I did, but thought the painters had probably been smoking. even a few months later, (The house has been empty, and generally closed up, for about 6 months, painted about 4 months ago, with no /low VOC paint.
When I went to bed the night I moved in was the first time I smelled smoke. I've been smelling it almost ever since, and it's affecting my health.
I've been reading various remedies.
Installing box fans on one side of the house, opening the windows on the other side to blow it out.
set out barbeque charcoal to absorb the odor (would have to be chemical free)
seal them with Kilz
wash the walls with baking soda.
More extreme: Wash the walls with household cleaner. Let dry then seal the walls with a pigmented shellac (e.g., Kilz, Bins or XTM). Cover the walls with drywall, wallpaper or paint.
For ceilings, scrape off texturing compound, then wash and seal.
Remove the textured ceiling
Most extreme: the above plus covering the existing walls and ceiling with 1/4" wallboard.
Will any of this this work?
What is the lowest level you have used that was effective? It has been a rental for 8 years. There was to be no smoking...
Ofgift

Thanks, Mr. Duncan. The plumber is coming in a few hours--Mon AM. He will check the water heater first. I'm getting warm water only if the knob is turned almost to the far side, then suddenly it's hot if it's totally to the side.
He'll check that valve, too. It's probably okay. I do hope it does not need replaced.
Ofgift

From what I read, the sperm donor WAS her boyfriend, the father of the other kids. She didn't want to marry him. Ogee, otherwise he'd have to help support them, and that lessens the welfare...
Ofgift

A few more thoughts:
My PM in Tucson was great while it was the original owner. Near the end, the company changed hands, and I do believe that caused me a problem. As long as I was a (permanent) owner, things appeared to be hunky-dory. After I decided to terminate them and sell or move into the house, (just as the new powners were taking over) things seemed to fall apart. The tenant was going to stay with them, going into another of their rentals, so they protected him, not me and my property.
Move out procedures were sloppy and incomplete, Repair work was shoddy,
So maybe those things need to be on that list, too: repair quality, owner protection even when they will terminate the contract, etc.

They removed the door and steel frame of both front and back entrances, painted them to match the rest of the bars, and rehung them. The front door works better now, the back doesn't.
Ofgift

I'll check with him tomorrow. Thanks. Don't know anything about the valve yet. I've always shut it off when done.
Ofgift

Feb 20, 2009: Two questions one in, one out:

Security door: the men who installed my security bars yesterday (Thurs) also removed, painted, and reinstalled the (Home Depot) security doors. I say HD because they are really not the best, but only adequate. Both have deadbolts as well as locking doorknobs. Both knobs are/were the problems. Previously, the front door DB locked, but not so much the knob. Now, both are pretty solid. I guess the door was moved slightly to side to make that happen. The back door, both locked and held. Now, only the deadbolt in the back locks. The doorknob lock does not hold at all, one can just pull the door open, with very little effort. The men are coming back tomorrow-Saturday. Should I complain about it? It would be nice to have it, but,

The storm door has 2 locks, deadbolt and doorknob. On my other house in the back, I had just one lock on the security door, and one on the sliding glass door.

Re-setting the metal door requires a LOT of work, and he already installed a nice doggie door for me at no charge.

Do doorknobs come with longer tongues? (Is that the name of the part that sticks out?) Can I just get a longer tongue for this off the shelf, probably cheap knob?

2: Washer hookup: When installing the clothes washer, the men commented on the rust on the base of the lever that controls the water going into the hoses. This is the valve that is attached to the plumbing, NOT the washer itself. It sits above the washer, and I (Choose to) open the valve (Pull the lever) when I want to wash clothes, and push the lever closed when I am not using the washer. The valve is in a plastic bay above and behind the washer, the drain hose also goes into the drain through the bay.

I would guess there was a pretty constant leak for rust to have formed, (It's 15 years old), or maybe a leak and it just sat in water as the washer was being used. At any rate, Should that valve be replaced? I don't know the construction of the plastic "bay" the plumbing comes up through and the hoses connect to. Why is it leaking, and could that water have leaked down into the wall or is it molded plastic that would require evaporation for the water to dry up?
It looks like if the water to the house is off, that valve could be removed and replaced. Is It that simple?
There is no mold and no discoloration on the wall or floor behind the washer, so can I assume any leak did NOT go down between the studs and into the wall?

Thanks.

OfGift

I'm kind of moved into my new home. It's larger, by 115 sq feet than the other one, and about .6 mile almost directly north. It has a northern exposure, rather than southern, and no patio cover. I do not yet know what I'll do about that.
Thursday I have security bars installed and a 10 foot gate installed in the east (10') fence wall, and my friends are bringing the rest of the stuff from the other house. It will go to the garage and the living room until I can get it put away.

I had thought the tenants had taken good care of the place, and superficially, they did.

However, I have to replace the dishwasher--it was leaking, caused mold. The inspector said they probably did not know of the leak, and I think he was probably right. It was fixed the first time a few months ago, and when we started it up last week, it still leaked. This time the cost of repair is greater than replacement. (It was previously, but the repairman thought he fixed it. He didn’t) The home warranty co will give $ to replace it with the same level of appliance.
The mold has been removed.
The tenants did not replace the furnace filters as per the tenant contract, so I had to have the AC coils cleaned. As part of that service, the fellow also cleaned the furnace thingy. Both were covered with dust of at least 5 years. Already the furnace has been running less, and for a shorter time.
And now, the dial on the water heater does not work. I'm waiting to hear from the warranty co about getting someone here to fix that.
Today I'm working on emptying boxes and getting the office put together.
I was in a quiet cul-de-sac with little traffic. Now I'm on an entrance street into the same subdivision, the "upper-class" section of it. I was afraid there would be a lot of street noise, but there is very little.
I think it will be a good place to be for a few years.
Now to sell the other house.
Anybody interested in a nice 3/2 in SE Tucson?
Ofgift