The Life and Woes of my Apartment

After my most recent apartment hiccup, I decided blogging the ridiculous issues I have experienced in 2.5 years of residence might be interesting.

Air Conditioning: My first apartment problem occurred soon after I moved here in August 2006. My A/C had almost no coolant left and in the Texas heat, it was becoming painfully apparent that the A/C was not up to the job of cooling down the place. More coolant was put in and a short few weeks later, the same problem occurred. A coolant leak was discovered and the entire A/C unit had to be replaced.

Months later, the thermostat broke and had to be replaced.

At the beginning of Summer 2008, a crazy Austin hailstorm literally struck down my A/C unit. It damaged the coils permanently and had to be re-replaced. This time around, my landlord splurged on a weather-protective cover as well.

Kitchen: Occasionally, for no good reason, the lights in the kitchen will not turn on. When this happens, pressing the reset button by power plugs in the bathroom fixes the problem.

The ice maker in the freezer has never worked, and the door to the fridge sticks and needs to be shut tight or it won't shut all the way.

The sink faucet started leaking one night and water ran down the counter onto some of my papers. A plumber had to install a new faucet. About a year later, the disposal got backed up and a plumber had to come out to clean it.

There is a chance that the kitchen light will burn out when turned on. This has happened a few times.

Bathroom: There is no exhaust fan and after a steamy shower, sometimes small yellow dots appear on the green painted walls. I think this is some kind of glue from above paneling sweating down but I'm not sure.

The shower occasionally would make a humming noise. It would sometimes turn into a shrieking noise and even escalate into rumbling on the bottom of the tub and wall where the faucet is. I finally decided this was driving me insane and getting too loud and a plumber fixed the problem on the second try by replacing the water spout. The technical term for the problem was that it was "hammering." That sounds unpleasant, too.

Window: The window has to be propped open carefully with a rod of sorts, looks like a long flashlight, because it no longer has working mechanisms to raise and lower and stay in place other than closed completely. Once, I had it open to air the apartment out due to problems I have yet to discuss. This was before I had the handy rod and the makeshift items I had used to hold it open fell with a gust of wind. The window slammed shut and the middle glass pane shattered. This resulted in having to have someone come and install a new pane. Also, a cable cord outside the window connects up to the roof. I have tried to have this cord removed but to no avail. When it's windy, it slaps against the building and makes spring-like sounds. Not fun. In fact, it's windy right now...hmm.

Construction: Lucky for me, I get to live here for all sorts of construction (sarcasm!). My unit just happens to be directly below the main "hallway" up in the roof. I thought it was my imagination until that was confirmed. Yes, I indeed could hear feet above me every morning for a long time. Why? Because the entire roof was being replaced at my apartment complex. It finally got so loud, I was convinced the ceiling would cave in, workers were going to fall into my apartment, and I would be crushed. I expressed concerns to my landlord and soon after that, plaster was literally falling from the ceiling and my fan was shaking. I contacted maintenance to repair the ceiling and check on roof safety. They assured me that there was never danger of the ceiling collapsing but that yes, the force of the work being done had caused plaster problems and they'd take heed. To fix the ceiling, I had to arrange for maintenance to fill and paint over the holes.

Also during roofing construction, something harmed the A/C power connections/electrical. To fix the problem, new wiring had to go from the control box in my bedroom to the A/C unit. This involved cutting a small hole on the wall between my bedroom and the hall by the A/C unit. Then that area had to be filled, sanded, and repainted. The process ended up covering my apartment with tiny specks of dust from the wall. It looked like it had snowed dust everywhere. I took a picture, sent it to my landlord, and arranged to have a maid clean the mess.

Currently, the building behind the parking lot was demolished and now a parking garage and other things are being built. Basically, I live next to dunes of dirt and dust that blow grit everywhere and I wake up to the beeping of cranes backing up. The apartment pool is in the process of being resurfaced.

Water heater: Over Winter Break beginning of 2008, the water heater broke and leaked not into the living room (aka Sarah's chateau), no no, but into my room. The water built up while I was in Houston. I came back and discovered the pleasantries when I went to dump my trashcan and noticed the bottom was wet. Under closer inspection, it was also covered with tiny, moving bugs. I don't "do" bugs. Looking around my closet and vanity area, I discovered more small, unpleasant bugs in the carpet and feasting on papers and notebooks that were stacked on the floor. This time, the landlord had to fly in from California to help me deal with the problem while I stayed in a hotel a few nights and then with Marielle for about a week. Mold remediation, that's the term for what we had to do. Everything, and oh I do mean everything, had to be removed from my bedroom. The only item I refused to move was my beloved dresser, which is bubble gum pink with dancing dogs across the drawers. :) It may not survive another move, or least not the mirror attachment, so we covered it in plastic instead. Once everything was out of the room, the carpet was ripped up and replaced and the wall was knocked down and replaced, sanded, and painted. And, obviously, the hot water heater had to be replaced! This time, it was a tankless heater. Now, my showers actually stay warm for the entire time...who knew?

When carpet was replaced in my bedroom closet, a small hole in the wall connecting bedroom closet to living room was left. Ants somehow got in this way and hung out in my dirty laundry. I cannot handle ants. This was the second ant problem, the first ant problem occurring months earlier under my computer desk, again, through some small gap in the wall. Before the problem was fixed, I found a few desk ants moonlighting on my laptop or strolling down the walls. Not tons, mind you, but enough to make me antsy. The rest of the ants roamed the carpet underneath. The closet ants enjoyed shacking up in my bras and hamper. Fortunately, sealing areas and exterminating the life out of them solved the problem. I really, really cannot stand ants. Whenever I'm anxious, ants appear in my dreams.

In recent news: The inspiration, if I can even call it that, for this entry is recent tragic events in the life and woes of my apartment. The apartment tenant directly below mine by two floors decided without alerting the unit owner to renovate the floors. In the process, he managed to spill polyurethane on the floor. Then, I am pretty sure it was improperly cleaned and unventilated for the day. This was a perfect opportunity for the fumes to waft up, becoming increasingly concentrated inside nearby apartments, in the halls, even out in the parking lot. This resulted in another round of hotel stays. Change/disruption is clearly not good for thesis writing! The only high points that came of this were playing with Sleep Number beds with Sarah at the Radisson (though we give them two thumbs down), staying two nights at The Driskill (free printing, winter snow globe, postcards, and toiletries are exciting for a grad student! But the hotel is one of the most famously haunted hotels in Texas and we freaked ourselves out, haha.), and staying two nights at the AT&T Executive Conference Center on campus and a stone's throw away from my EdPsyc class. I could see into the building from my balcony! Also saw Edward James Olmos at the hotel.)

Also about a year ago, there was a gas leak from the laundry room on the second floor. My nose detects all and I noticed it from inside my apartment, even when two friends came over and didn't smell anything. I called to report it and someone came out to check--yup, I was right, definitely a leak. Very low levels in the apartment, but when they went onto my balcony outside it was much stronger.

During my first six months living at the apartment, TWO Apple computers broke. Coincidence? I wonder...

And yet, I continue to live here. Sigh.

To be continued? I hope not!