It's baack!

The leak that is. The same window in the dining room that I had problems with last fall is now leaking again. If you remember, in October I came downstairs one morning to find a ceiling tile on top of the dog kennel in that corner. And I had water that was coming in at the top of the window as well. They resealed the roof with some roofing tar, and caulked around the window on the inside. We thought that fixed the problem.

Well, the caulking didn't hold. On Friday I had water coming down the inside of my window when it was bucketing rain. It appears to be coming in where the window frame meets the house. The seal just isn't very good and the caulk didn't fix it. I don't know if the problem is limited to the seal around the window or if there's more going on. So once again I have everything out of that corner. Just in case. Aussie doesn't need more tiles falling on her kennel or water from the window leak splashing into her kennel and soaking her bedding. She's perturbed that her "room" has been moved to a location where she can't see the front door and her ability to survey the entire first floor is limited, but oh well.

It rained all day today and the rag towels I have draped on the windowsill and on the floor around the radiator (which is right below the window) are damp again. So the window is clearly leaking again. Now I'm just waiting for the ceiling to fall down so I know if the roof has issues this time or if it's limited to the window. Let's hope it's just the window.

I think this place is starting to fall down around my ears. Good thing it's a rental. I think it's time to move to a new place, don't you agree?

Idiot moment

I had an idiot moment today.

The entire time I've lived in this place (a little over a year and a half), I've felt like my kitchen was dark. There's no direct sunlight, I have to have a light on even in the middle of the day to really see what I was doing. I've tried those pop lights under the (few) wall cabinets to provide more light. I've seriously considered putting a desk lamp on the counter. Because my kitchen has one small light fixture in the center of the room. Well, technically a bit off center, but still, just one. One of those double bulb with a glass bowl cover generic fixtures. And my kitchen was just not a bright room.

Today the bulb burnt out. I flipped the switch and pop! No more light. Lucky for me the sun hadn't set yet, so while the kitchen bulb was out, I could still see enough to be able to change the bulbs in the fixture via the little bit of light filtering down between the row homes and through my window.

So I removed the glass bowl cover and lo and behold! discovered that I've had only ONE BULB this entire time. One single 100 watt bulb to light my entire kitchen. No wonder the room was so dimly lit.

*facepalm*

I replaced the single bulb with two high-efficiency 60 watt bulbs. And let there be light. It's almost too bright...I can see the dirt on the floor now.

Leak update, er, update

The leak is (hopefully) fixed. My landlord's business partner showed up with the handyman shortly after 5:30pm. By 7pm, they were done and out the door. The roof has been liberally coated with what amounts to a rubber roof cement material, that dried within an hour and will cure in a couple of days. Basically, if it rains tonight, it'll hold and keep the water out. On the inside, they put up a protective material to repair the damage to the ceiling under the dropped ceiling. That should keep the drafts out. And they put in a new ceiling panel so it all looks pretty (well, as pretty as a drop ceiling gets). They even helped me clean up the large debris pieces and the dead ceiling panel. [I was waiting on cleaning until the repairs were done in case they dislodged any additional debris.]

So that's that. Yay! I'll just make sure to watch carefully the next time it rains for any sign that the leak is back. God willing, it won't be and all will be well.

I love a quick resolution to a problem. All that's left is for me to vacuum and wash the floor before moving the dog's kennel back into position.

Leak update

I still have that hole in my dining room ceiling. Pictures on Flickr.

My landlord came by yesterday with the handyman-from-hell to check out the damage and determine what needed to be done. They found the crack in the roof, and you could see some of the buckling in the roofing due to previous water exposure. This has been building for quite some time now, and the heavy rain we got last week just pushed the damage over the edge and brought down the ceiling (literally). I now think it's a combination of an inefficient drain (just doesn't drain fast enough) and the roof in that area not having a steep enough slope for the water to drain off quickly so it sits for a few days after a heavy rain. The roof area in question was cleaned up, assessed (extent of damage, what supplies are needed, etc.), and prepared for repair.

They're supposed to actually fix the roof after work today, starting promptly at 5:30pm, and bring a new ceiling tile to replace the damaged one currently still on my floor. My landlord's business partner will be there to supervise the handyman so I don't have to interact with him (my landlord respected my refusal to work with said handyman alone ever again due to previous experiences).

Hopefully everything will go smoothly, the handyman will actually show up, and I'll have my dining room back and cleaned up by Wednesday.

Too much rain, or, I'm glad I'm renting

So yesterday (Saturday) morning I woke up and proceeded downstairs to make coffee and take the dog out. I had a plan for my day. Little did I know my plan was about to be derailed.

As I walked into the dining room, I noticed there were chunks of dirt or something on the floor. That's weird...I was planning on cleaning, but when I went to bed last night all that was there was dog fur. Then I looked in the corner by the window (there's only one window in the dining room). There's a ceiling tile. On top of the dog kennel. It should be in the drop ceiling. But it's sitting on the dog kennel. And there's dirt and water on the radiator and window in the corner. WTF? So I investigate.

It appears that all the rain we got during the previous four days made the leak in the ceiling appear. The leak has probably been there for quite some time given the condition of the ceiling underneath the drop ceiling tiles and the condition of the tile that fell down. And it's still raining (remember, this is Saturday morning).

So much for a trip to the farmers' market.

I proceed to call and leave a message for my landlord, who I know is out of town, but I couldn't find another number to call (remember, this is all before coffee). I tell her that there's a leak, and one of the ceiling tiles has fallen down, and water is still dripping down the window on the inside and onto the floor in the corner. I then proceed to clean up, moving everything of mine away from the corner, and everything near it at least 3 feet further away. There was a blanket (clean) sitting on top of the dog kennel that's now covered in debris and is all damp, so it's now waiting to be washed. And the kennel is now on the opposite side of the dining room. Aussie keeps lying in it as if she's "reclaiming" it. The look on her face was "I don't care if it's moved it's still mine and I'm going to prove it by lying in it, see!?" and she spent all almost all afternoon in it. I swept all the scattered debris into the corner with the ceiling tile and other dirt, debris, pieces of wood, etc. I'm not cleaning that up until my landlord or her business partner sees it (they also may need to document it for insurance purposes). Fortunately, the rain has stopped.

So for now one-fourth of my dining room is not usable. Not that I ever really have used it, but still. And I'm very lucky that the only personal property issue is a dirty blanket. No damage to my stuff. And it's not my problem. All I have to do is notify someone else and they have to fix it. This is an argument for NOT buying a home in my mind.

I think the leak is the result of a not-so-efficient drain. I brought it up before, and the so-called handyman (remember the carpet debacle?) said it was fine, no issues, and the water I had seen on the inside of the window must have been condensation. Um, no, it wasn't condensation. Proving yet again that I was right in my decision to refuse to work with said handyman every again. Sigh.

I am SO glad I'm a renter right now. But now the question is how long until this is fixed? The waiting on someone else to fix things is the bad part of being a renter. But I don't have to fix it, which is good and I think outweighs the waiting issue. Because it's a mess. I'm just praying we don't get any more rain before it's fixed.

The mouse is still stirring

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! The mouse I caught was definitely not acting alone. I've seen subsequent evidence that one of it's family members is still infiltrating my kitchen.

So I bought live traps. You know...the kind that once they go in they can't get out? I carefully baited them with peanut butter AND a piece of dog biscuit (since they seem to have a fondness for dog biscuits). I really don't want to kill them.

It's not working. I apparently have a clever mouse. Unlike its sibling that I trapped in the box of dog biscuits and exiled to the dumpster using a plastic bag, I can't seem to catch and evict this one. [FYI, to assuage concerns that the mouse in the plastic bag suffocated, it was one of those grocery bags. The ones that always have those little holes in the bottom. So I'm assuming it escaped into the land of plenty of the dumpster.]

The mouse has explored the traps. Thoroughly. I've seen evidence that it has crawled over, around, and through the little tunnel that the opening is in since I put them out (a little over a week ago now). But it has not gone in the trap. The bait is still intact a week later (might need to freshen it come to think of it - or do mice like rancid peanut butter?).

Since I have a clever mouse that has thus far evaded capture in the live trap, I'm going to try another method: repel it. There's these sonic repellent devices that emit a high frequency noise that's not supposed to bother humans, canines, or felines, but rodents hate it. I've heard conflicting reports and read conflicting reviews that they've worked and that they're worthless. I'm going to find this out for myself in the next week. Good think I don't have pet gerbils anymore.

To Aussie's credit, she's actually shown some interest as of late. She's not watching for them, but if she sees movement she'll go after it. She cornered one the other day. Had it trapped behind the trash can in the kitchen. Unfortunately, when I walked into the kitchen to figure out what she was up to nosing around the trash can like that, she took her eye off of the mouse to look at me questioningly ("why are you yelling at me?"). The mouse took advantage of the lapse in observation and made a dash for freedom and I saw it run under the radiator in the kitchen and disappear. The accusatory look I got from my dog was priceless: "MOM, look what you did! Now I've LOST it!!" Aussie then spent the next 30 minutes lying on the kitchen floor peering under that radiator. A knock at the door pulled her away, otherwise I think she would have continued to lie there waiting for it to reappear.

The downside: it escaped. The upside: I might know where it's getting in. There's a crack right along the baseboard behind the radiator that I didn't see before. But I see it now. Soon I will make that crack disappear. I live in an old home. There are lots of cracks and gaps due to settling and previous tenants. I spent a good hour the other day crawling along my baseboards with a flashlight looking for holes to plug (with steel wool...they hate it and can't chew through it) and obviously I didn't find them all. Unfortunately, steel wool isn't going to work with the crack, it's too long and oddly shaped.

So my plan is to journey once again to the hardware store and this time make two purchases: expanding insulating foam to try and plug the crack, and, one of those sonic repellent devices in case there are more holes/cracks that I missed.

Like I said, I don't want to kill it. I just don't want a mouse stirring in my house!

Triumph! (maybe)

So last night I'm doing a load of laundry. I walk into the laundry room and what do I see but a little mouse tail sticking out of the hole in the box of dog treats.

You've got to be f*cking kidding me.

I "booby trapped" the area around the treats, hoping to catch the little sucker. Yes, the same box I discovered it had gotten into while I was away. I figured I'd use it as bait to catch the mouse knowing it would be back (I'm not dumb) before I threw it away. So I booby trapped it. Seriously. I set traps. I hated doing it, but I didn't see an alternative since the dog is so not interested in helping me out and running the mouse out of the house. I set it up so the mouse had to go across the traps to get to the dog treats. Somehow, the little sucker got through the traps and into the box of treats. OK then, mouse. GAME ON.

It hadn't moved when I walked in the room. The tail is still sticking out of the box. I don't think it heard me over the dryer running or for all I know it gorged itself into a dog-biscuit induced coma. So I quietly back out of the room and grab a plastic grocery bag. Quickly, I tip the box of dog treats and cover the hole with the bag. YES! The mouse is now trapped in the box of treats. Next step. Remove the treats and the mouse from my house.

While walking through the house with the box of dog treats in one hand and the holding the plastic bag around the hole with the other, I feel the plastic bag suddenly get a bit heavy. Then I feel the bag move. The mouse had crawled out of the box of treats into the bag. Sh*t. Must. Get. Outside. NOW. I get out the door, drop the box of treats and quickly knot the plastic bag shut, effectively trapping the mouse in the bag. W00T! Go me! The mouse is now out of my house.

I then dump the treats into another bag and fold up the cardboard box for recycling. On Aussie's and my evening walk, I deposit both the bag of treats and the mouse (still trapped in the plastic bag) in the big dumpster at the end of the block, far far away from my house. I figure even if it escapes (which it might), it hopefully won't find it's way back to and into my house again. Besides, with the bounty available in a dumpster, why would it want to?

So the score so far:
Shana: 1 Mouse: 0

Once we got home, I crawled all along my baseboards with a flashlight looking for holes. I only found one behind a radiator that I hadn't plugged up before. Please say a prayer that I've now found and plugged them all so I don't have to deal with this again. And say another prayer that it was the only mouse and not just one member of a family of mice.

Frankly I am much relieved I managed to trap it and remove it alive. I didn't want to kill it. I just didn't want to share my house with a mouse.

Mouse in my house!

So, I return from my lovely weekend trip to NYC (posts about the weekend coming soon) and find out that a mouse has taken up residence. I learned this by discovering it found it's way into the *unopened* box of dog biscuits and had a little snack. Short of the dog treats, there's nothing else in my house it could get to for a snack (I keep my kitchen clean), which is why I've never had a mouse before.

Dammit.

And now I have to figure out where it got in and how to drive the little sucker out again. If I throw out the box of dog treats, then there's nothing left for it to eat, so maybe it won't come back. Nice theory, right? Think it will work?

Anyone know someplace I can rent a cat for a week or so?? I can see the ad now: WANTED: good mouser for short term employment.

[Image courtesy of i can has cheezburger?]

The great carpet debacle, part three: the END

They finished the carpet today. Showed up at 6:00 am and got it done by 10:00 am. My landlord was here to supervise. They even put all the furniture back where they were supposed to. And Aussie survived, although she was NOT happy to go in her kennel while there were strange people in her house.

I called him on Tuesday night to confirm that they were showing up the next morning. Also to let him know there was only one roll of padding and I needed "kick strips" where the carpet meets the hallway floor. Yes, he said, they're still coming, he's already on the supplies, BUT they want to get started an hour earlier than planned. If you remember, the original start time was 7:00 am, right before I would be leaving for work, and now they want to start at 6:00 AM. An unGODly hour. I normally get up between 5:30 and 6:00 am. But fine, get here and get it done. I'm willing to get up super-early because I want my house back.

So I spent Tuesday night taking apart my bedroom, moving anything I could into the guest room. First thing in the morning, after my shower, I unmade my bed, folding up all the sheets and piling them into the guest room as well so all that was left was my mattress.

Now tonight I get to put my bedroom back together and remake the bed. It's been a long day. I was at work a good 45 minutes earlier than normal (startling my staff, I think). I usually have only one cup of coffee in the morning, but today I needed a refill. But I have new carpet. And there's nothing living in my upstairs hallway anymore.

I have my house back.

[Insert relieved sigh]

The great carpet debacle, part two: this weekend

So part one of the great carpet debacle brings us to today. Sunday. And it begins again. To refresh your memory, my landlady, the handyman and I agreed during a phone conversation this past Wednesday evening that the handyman would be here at 11am to start work.

At 11:20am the handyman calls me and tells me he's running late (big surprise, this is NOT new) and he'll be here "within the hour." Fine.

Noon comes and goes. 12:30pm comes and goes. And then 1pm comes and goes. I start having flashbacks to last weekend when he was 8 hours late. I can't stand it. I'm going to lose my mind. I start pacing and muttering, once again scaring the dog. Aussie goes and hides in her kennel, preparing for my inevitable verbal explosion. Smart dog.

At 1:30pm I call my landlady. She's not available so I'm put through to her partner. He says he'll call and find out what's up. 1:40pm he calls back, tells me the handyman had a family emergency (wait...isn't that last weekend's excuse?!) and would be here in 20 minutes. OK, that's 2:00pm. He also tells me the handyman is supposed to call him when he shows up.

At 2:20pm I start cursing. In several languages. The inevitable verbal explosion has begun. Aussie continues to hide in her kennel. Definitely a smart dog.

At 2:30pm I call my landlady's partner and tell him that the handyman still isn't here. And that I'm done with waiting this weekend and the handyman as a whole and new arrangements need to be made because this is ridiculous and completely unacceptable. I don't want to deal with this handyman anymore at all, not just for this project of the new carpet but for anything in the future as well. I'm tired of the lack of communication from the handyman and his perpetual lateness. I just can't deal with it and I shouldn't have to. Period. This second weekend has crossed the line and I'm done. My patience with the handyman is gone. He agrees and tells me he'll call me back with the new plans.

At 2:45pm the handyman shows up to work. Are you f*cking kidding me?!?! He's 4 hours late. Four hours. So he starts work on the office, which I'd really like to have back in this lifetime. And I told him to NOT do anything in the bedroom. Just get the office done and get out. I'm not exactly polite. Aussie comes out of her kennel and gives him a piece of her mind. She starts following me around the house, and watches the handyman whenever he leaves the vicinity of the office.

At 3:00pm my landlady's partner calls back. He's surprised the handyman is here, because apparently he didn't call him like he was supposed to. He tells me to go ahead and have him work, so I can at least have my office back. He also tells me I won't have to deal with this handyman in the future, and that he's done with the handyman too. Even though I don't particularly want him here now, I agree to let him work because I want my office back. And I thank him for understanding that I don't want to deal with this handyman in the future.

He also wants to schedule someone during the week (someone new) to re-carpet bedroom. Assures me either he or my landlady will be here to supervise. I say fine, but I need at least 24 hours notice to prepare the room. I explain that I cannot move the furniture myself so to make arrangements to move stuff when he plans for the carpet. And the dog has to go in her kennel for the day. Aussie is NOT going to be happy to have people in the house when I'm not home AND be stuck in her kennel during it. But in the interest of getting my house back, I agree to it. I want this done. I want the carpet and supplies OUT of my hallway.

I want my house back, dammit.

I can't say I was nice or really even polite to the handyman while he was here working. Not mean or overtly rude to him, but definitely NOT friendly. I guess you could describe my behavior as curt. Terse. Abrupt. Brief. Even rudely brief. Basically, I've just ignored him, only talking to him when necessary or if he has something to tell me. I'm not necessarily proud of the fact that I haven't been all that polite, but my control on my temper and my patience with him is thin at best right now. So in the interest at not losing it altogether, I'm ignoring him and being rather curt when we do have to interact.

At 11:15pm the handyman finally finishes laying the carpet, cleans up and leaves. Yes, it's after 11pm on a Sunday night. That's way way past my bedtime because I have to be up by 6:00am to get to work. But I have my office back. Now comes the fun part - putting everything back in it. I'll leave that for tomorrow night. Right now I need to make my bed and get some sleep.

And the latest from my landlady's partner on the rest of the carpet (which is still living in my hallway)? The bedroom will be done on Wednesday. They'll be here at 7:00am. Thank the heavens. This should all be over soon.

The great carpet debacle, part one: last weekend

As many of you know, I'm getting new carpet in two of my rooms. These rooms already have carpet. Carpet that needed to be replaced or seriously cleaned before I moved in. The carpet in my office is supposed to be pink. It's not. It's puce, or brownish-pink at best. My bedroom has black carpet (black, in a bedroom, I know, awful), which is filthy and has paint and sticky spots. My mom spent 30 minutes getting the gum out of one spot when she was here because I just couldn't deal. What's worse, it doesn't fit the floor. It was obviously a remnant because at one end of the floor there's a good 6-8 inch gap to the wall. And neither one was actually properly laid. There's no glue, no padding, no tack strips, and it just lays against the walls...the molding wasn't pulled up so it lays on top of it in parts. Whatever, it's a rental. But the cleaning of it, yeah, that needed to happen.

So my landlady came and checked it out. She decided that it was in bad enough shape that for her interests, laying new carpet would be better. Great! Fabulous! She chose a charcoal gray obviously industrial carpet. Good quality, it will last, and who am I to complain? Remember, it's a rental.

Last weekend the new carpet was supposed to be laid. Here's the proposed chain of events:
Friday night - remove old carpet from office, prepare space for laying new carpet on Saturday
Saturday - new carpet in office, then move to bedroom
Sunday - clean up and do finishing touches

It didn't happen.

Not only did it not happen, but things went horribly wrong. Horribly. Friday night, my landlady's handyman calls at 6pm, when he's supposed to be here, and tells me he's running late, but will be here within the hour. Fine. Friday night traffic, whatever, I can deal with that. I'll just eat dinner and wait. And wait. And wait.

He doesn't show up until 9pm. Needless to say, no work got done, but the new carpet and some supplies were dropped off and he "checked things out" to see what needed to be done. We set a time for him to be here on Saturday morning: between 10 and 11am. Not too early, it is Saturday after all, and that gives me enough time to run an errand to the post office.

Saturday morning. I get up, run my errand, and arrive back home by 9:30am. I take the dog for a longer walk, and then wait. At 10:30am I call the handyman to let him know I'm home and waiting. He tells me he's just getting up (what? you were supposed to BE here by now, but ok) and would be here within the hour. Fine.

Noon comes and goes. 1pm comes and goes. I attempt to reach him at 1:30pm and don't get through, not even to voice mail. 2pm and then 3pm comes and goes. I'm still waiting and rapidly losing my patience.

At 3:30pm I've lost my patience. I haven't heard anything from the handyman, and he's not here. So I call my landlady and fill her in on what's going on. I stress the fact that what I'm most upset about is the lack of communication. I have stuff to do. If he had called and told me he would be late, I could have taken care of a few things instead of sitting here on my butt at the house waiting. She's not happy either. She wants the carpet done so she can move on to other projects. The laying of my carpet is just the first of many things that need to be done to her properties. She says she'll call the handyman and get back to me.

At 4pm my landlady called back. Handyman had an emergency (family related), and will call me and show up to start work within the hour.

4:30pm the handyman calls. Makes lots of excuses. Whatever. I really don't care. What I care about is the lack of common courtesy shown me. When you're going to be late, you call. Duh. So what it comes down to is that someone needed to call me and let me know that he was going to be late. And not just late, but over 5 hours late at this point. He asks me if I can "salvage" the day. It's 4:40pm on a Saturday. Um, no. It's a bit late for that. My errands will have to wait until tomorrow. He says he'll be here within the hour. I don't believe him at this point, but say, fine, and hang up.

5:30pm comes and goes. 6pm comes and goes and so does 6:30pm.

At 6:45pm I call my landlady a second time and leave a message that he's STILL NOT here. I stress that once again, the lack of communication is the real problem. And at this point, we've moved into the realm of UNACCEPTABLE. This needs to be dealt with. I ask her to call me back so we can discuss the situation and figure out what needs to happen.

6:55pm the handyman calls. He's in the neighborhood and wants to drop stuff off. OK. Fine. Drop it off and then get out of my house. At 7:00pm he drops the stuff off and proceeds to give me more excuses. Not only did he have a family emergency [Note: said emergency occurred at around 1pm, a full 2 hours after he was supposed to be here], but he just "couldn't get going" today. Apparently the full moon affects him because he's a Cancer. If you believe in astrology and know this about yourself, then you should know better than to make commitments on days you know you'll be affected. Duh. And ultimately, SOMEONE NEEDED TO CALL ME. I tell him I'll call the landlady and reschedule.

At 7:10 he leaves. I scream. Literally scream at the top of my lungs. For a good 5 to 10 minutes. It scares the dog. Aussie goes and hides in her kennel she's so frightened by me screaming like that (doesn't happen very often, obviously). I'm so frustrated I can hardly stand it. I've taken my office apart, everything is back in boxes, my modem is living in my hallway, and I now carpet, padding, tack strips and supplies have taken up residence in my upstairs hallway. For at least another week until he comes back next weekend to actually do some work. I spent 8 hours on a gorgeous Saturday waiting for someone to show up and do work and it didn't happen. If he was my contractor, I would have fired him by the time I called my landlady at 3:30 and would have called someone else in to do the work. You don't just not show up for a job and expect to get paid. Seriously.

Sunday I call my landlady and leave a message, reiterating that we need to talk about what happened and figure out what happens now.

Monday night my landlady calls and we talk about what happened. I stress AGAIN that the real problem is the lack of communication. And that the handyman is perpetually late. PERPETUALLY. I'm always waiting for him. We're not talking 30 minutes, we're talking hours late. HOURS LATE. And it has to stop. I can't deal with it anymore. She agrees. She also agrees that if he knows the full moon affects his ability to "get up and get going," he should make appropriate arrangements and not plan things that day. She tells me she'll call him and have a conversation and then she'll let me know what's up. She also thanks me for my patience and for dealing with things so calmly. She didn't hear me scream on Saturday night.

Tuesday she leaves me a message that she was still trying to get a hold of the handyman. Wednesday night she calls, tells me she has him there, and that we're going to try this again Sunday. We agree to 11am on Sunday to arrive and start work. I'm not holding my breath.

So the great carpet debacle continues.