Maintenance Misadventures

I did not get much rest yesterday, in fact I did not even get a nap in until after midnight.  The reason for this was  the fact that I had to deal with various entities in order to finally get some action on maintenance requests that have been lingering without action since our move in on May 31 of this year.  Our current apartment home, while being a 1000% improvement over our last home, still had some maintenance issues we felt should be addressed.  We listed these issues on our original inventory form which was turned into the management shortly after move in.  After a week with no action, we wrote a letter detailing the same issues and presented it to the manager at the time.  This resulted in a walk through with that manager with me pointing out the issues we felt needed to be addressed.  Things like the exhaust fan in the bathroom that did not work, shoddy workmanship around the thermostat, water damage to the ceiling and upper wall by the patio door that corresponded by obvious damage to the exterior on the patio as evidenced by the photos below.

This again resulted in no action being taken to address our issues in the month of June.  In July, a new management company took over and we decided to give them a chance to get organized and then address our maintenance issues.  All during this time, Will was having major respiratory problems, most likely from exposure to mold. When action on our issues did not happen by July 27, I followed up with another letter to management,  which after 4 attempts and a final hand delivery of same to the new manager, finally got their attention.  However action was still slow in coming.  In early August, they did repair the damage to the outside wall of the patio, after removing the entire facade and finding moldy wood on the inside as illustrated below.  

They did an excellent job of repairing the outside wall, however they did some damage to the interior wall when doing so.  

Even with the excellent job outside, nothing was done about the interior work.  I finally became frustrated trying to get something done about our issues.  The security guard at the high rise across from my store is a former Code Compliance officer who gave me the name and number of the supervisor in charge of apartment inspections.  I call him and he put me in touch with the officer that served the area I lived in.  After taking a look at our issues herself, she met with our apartment management and voila someone came out to address our issues.  I was told they were ordering a new fan for the bathroom and that there would be some one out to investigate the damage to the interior and arrange for repairs.  At this point, Will is still having respiratory problems and so am I to some degree, and we wanted the damaged sections of the wall to be opened up and checked for mold inside the wall.  When we questioned the one man who did come out, who could not even speak enough English to be able to ask me to take the pictures off the wall (which I was planning to do anyway), I questioned him on his course of action.  He could not comprehend my questions, resulting in a call to his boss.  I asked the same questions of him.  He did not seem to have any knowledge of an ongoing mold problem.  He then canceled the service call and had his man pack up and leave.  The reason we wanted the interior checked for mold and water damage was the fact that after the interior work was done, it rained around the middle of August and our ceiling still got wet, although not as badly as before, which meant there was still a leak somewhere.  I called the Code Compliance officer back after meeting with the management and being told that I had sent their repairman away which was not the truth at all.  Will also called the corporate office of the management company and spoke with the regional manager.  Yesterday, the regional manager and the general contractor paid a visit to our appartment and finally promised some action.  However, they did not believe there was mold present but agreed to having the area opened up to investigate to satisfy us and the Code Compliance office.  Later in the afternoon, a lone workman came by and proceeded to begin the repairs.  

What he did not do, was open up the wall and ceiling to check for mold, rather he scraped the surface removing the water stain and bubbled paint and put a mud patch and texture over the area, effectively hiding any damage inside the walls instead of investigating it.  A maintenance man also arrived to finally replace the fan in the bathroom which now works for the first time since we moved in.  We are now awaiting the painters.  When the Code Compliance officer called later, she was not happy that the wall was not opened up and is planning a visit today to look into things.  I thought then that at last I could get a nap in but that was not to be.

Something positive did happen, Will was contacted and contracted by Nerds on Call, a nationwide network of nerds, geeks and techs that do computer repair work for the less than capable computer users in the general public.  This is a good thing, but required a trip to the opposite corner of the county to pick up the computer needing repair from the customer.  By the time we got back it was time for me to prepare dinner for the two of us and for Will to begin work on the computer.  After dinner and catching up on my feeds and stories, I finally got a nap in around midnight.  I then proceeded to put together the posts for here and at tumblr which required musical and photographic selections as usual.  These were done around 5 AM, but I was again falling asleep, so I took another  nap until about 8 AM when Will's customer called.  I then began writing this post which brings us up to this moment when we are waiting for the arrival of the Code Compliance officer and the painters.  It should be another interesting day around here.  

Your Musical Moment for today features four Guitar Concerti by Three different composers performed by the Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg Philharmony and featuring Marcos Tsessos on Solo Guitar.  Included in the play list are Vivaldi: Concerto for Guitar and Strings in A Major, RV 82 (Originally Trio Sonata for Violin and Lute in C Major); Vivaldi: concerto for Guitar and Strings in D Major, RV 93; Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco (1895-1968): Concerto No.1 for Guitar and Orchestra in D major, Op. 99 and Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra.  The play list is followed by a sexy selection of delicious duded in denim for this week's edition of Men In Jeans.  Thanks for sharing part of your day with me, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!