81–90 of 194 posts
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But is it the landlord's issue?
Most leases have clauses stating something to the effect that tenants are responsible for keeping their units reasonably clean and sanitary. If tenants start complaining about roaches, a good landlord will do a bit of investigation and remind tenants of the importance of cleanliness, proper disposal of trash, etc.
The best thing I've found after dealing with mold is a simple 3% hydrogen peroxide solution that is sold in any drugstore. Put it in a spray bottle and soak the area deeply enough and it should kill it down to the roots. And a plus is that when it breaks down the only fumes it gives off is pure oxygen, unlike other cleaners like bleach. It did such a good job that I use peroxide as a general purpose cleaner now. I wi…
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It infuriates me to no end that we are expected to put up with building design and technology from 1900 as a consequence of the obsession with "property values must go up" (notwithstanding the property ) and a healthy helping of "regulations are only ever added to, everything old is forever grandfathered". Like, central ventilation is not magical unobtainable technology. Simple heat recovery even vastly improves heat…
What’s the alternative? Governments pass regulations and all buildings must be adapted within 12 months? 36 months? What of the buildings that don’t comply in time? Or can’t find trades to do it in time? Or we notice to our eternal shock that projects to ensure code tracking are priced at a serious premium? Or, how many improvements to code would we decide weren’t desirable because of the costs of retrofitting, so no…
Not to mention, a lot of places around the world care about the look and character of historical locations. If a structure wasn't designed for central HVAC, for example, then there's often nowhere to hide the condenser units, air handle units or the ductwork. Same with insulation -- if that exterior wall wasn't intended to have it you've got a couple options and they both hurt.
Last of all, I'll mention labor. The type of skilled labor that can do any specific trade at all is relatively rare in the aftermath of the "college-or-bust" era, but the kind of labor you'd want for renovation work (fast, efficient, can tackle multiple different aspects at once without calling in different trades, and gets it right the first time to minimize disruption/call backs) is even more rare. To carry out some kind of massive renovation project at a national level even with infinite money you're talking about a generational timeframe just due to labor constraints.
It is sometimes possible to learn about these problems by carefully reviewing reviews and remarks from current and past tenants.
> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment. The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely ar…
Roaches are notoriously hard to get rid for a reason. If you don't call an exterminator with the proper poison almost any effort you make will be moot. I can tell you from firsthand experience that roaches will move with you. My partner's old apartment had roaches and even though we took great care to clean and separate everything, keep all of her kitchen stuff in tubs and slowly sort through it they still managed to…
I have lived in many apartments that were decades old and well taken care of. None of the problems mentioned in the blog occurred. I don't see how even an slight exaggeration of this theory could remotely be true. Although I am sure specific cases can be found where it is true, but not universally.
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If you see more and more of them in your kitchen, you most likely are not cleaning it properly after every meal. Sure, if your kitchen was on the moon, you wouldn't have a bug issue. That would still be dirty.
I had neighbors with filthy apartments who thought the solution is routine spraying. Every time, the roaches would take shelter in mine through unknown passages.
> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment. The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely ar…
I've unfortunately lived in too many houses where mold becomes a problem. It's never my fault, it's always been because the house is old/doesn't have proper damp proofing/cheap paint was used, or no damp proofing applied on exterior walls. I clean it, of course, so I'm not literally living in a house with moldy walls, and I keep the house as dry and ventilated as possible. But in certain climates it's nearly inevitab…
I've got a lot of exposure to new home construction here and can tell you I don't even know what "damp proofing" is, and our bathrooms don't need special paint. They're ventilated and we have HVAC. Beyond that, if homeowners take 30 minute showers with scalding hot water and the door closed then, well, the outcome is inevitable no matter what you do. Not just mold but you'll start damaging fixtures, etc.
It's hard to get old caulking clean and keep it mold free, just gotta recaulk regularly, but I'm somewhat skeptical of blaming paint.
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Fwiw, most mould is caused by buildings. Poor ventilation, leaks, no waterproofing, substandard building materials. Yes, you can avoid mould in older buildings by carefully airing out rooms and keeping things dry and away from walls. But not if the previous three tenants had a mould issue and the landlord just painted over it.
> most mould is caused by buildings. An honourable mention to fitting Cavity Wall Insulation , heavily sold and encouraged by UK government energy saving schemes thorough the 1990's and 2000's. Except by stuffing the wall cavity, you provide a nice moisture bridge to outside whilst simultaneously stopping air circulating in the cavity and whipping away moisture; thus an explosion of mould. The policy was a disaster,…
As a retrofit without those things I guess I can see it being problematic.