Renovations
The big news around here this summer is that all of the windows in this building are being replaced. Our building was built in 1961, and the outside reveals its age-- googie architecture and all. The individual units vary though. I've had the opportunity to go into a few, and ours is one of the better looking apartments in the place. Still, overall, it's very nice considering the neighborhood we live in, not to mention the town we live in!
We loved the look of our windows-- the old-style "slat" windows that you find in apartments and houses from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. None of this modern stuff for us. Unfortunately, some of the other residents have complained about problems with mold, etc. and the landlord has also had an eye on the bills as well-- so all the windows are being replaced with modern, full-sheet glass versions that are energy-efficient.
We've never had a problem, never wanted our windows replaced. We're satisfied with how it is. But we didn't exactly get a say, so we've had maintenance people tramping in and out of the apartment, in and out of the building. They were supposed to start with us and our next door neighbor in mid-June, then that got pushed back to late June/early July. It was a bit annoying as I had to take everything off the balcony, away from all the windows, and essentially ended up with a huge pile of our stuff cluttered in the center of our living room. I anticipated it would be a day or two-- it turned out to be about three weeks before I could put everything back.
The bigger hassle, though, is that we had to keep moving the car. Street parking in this area is problematic, and it didn't help that the parking slots in our building were blocked off from 8-5 daily. This meant I had to make sure the car was moved before 8, then keep moving it every two hours, unless I was doing errands. We were housesitting during part of this time, so I hinted strongly that this would be an excellent time to finish our windows. Did that happen? Yes and no... they finally started towards the end of our housesitting gig, but didn't finish until after we had returned.
Then this week was a bit worse-- a new tenant moved into the building, and like every third idiot in this town has a SUV. Well, this behemoth won't make it up into the rear parking area thanks to the overhang, so we were asked to move our car to the back from now on. A very minor hassle, not too big a deal. O-kay... Unfortunately, before, all I had to do was move the car out of our stall, down past the sidewalk, and onto the driveway itself. Now, I would have to remove the car completely and compete with everyone else for street parking.
It was okay, up until today. I completely forgot that the parking area directly across from us is off-limits on Fridays from noon to 3 p.m. due to street cleaning. So this morning I cheerfully got up, pulled out of our spot, out the driveway, across the street, and left it for the day. I went upstairs, and later on, I left to have lunch with my wife at her office in Echo Park.
After I returned, I strolled up the street, when all of a sudden, I had a sinking feeling as I spotted a slip of paper stuck in the windshield wiper...
NOOOOOOOO.
$^#&@!
I immediately decided to erase this horrible memory as quickly as possible, so I've just dashed off, a few minutes ago, my $45 "contribution" to the City of Los Angeles. *grumble*
The good news is I just saw the crew foreman a few minutes ago, and he announced they're done, at last. I decided to take a look for myself, and navigated the perimeter of our building. Yep, yep, and yep... all the windows have been replaced on all three floors.
Last year it was the plumbing, this year the windows. What's next?
We loved the look of our windows-- the old-style "slat" windows that you find in apartments and houses from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. None of this modern stuff for us. Unfortunately, some of the other residents have complained about problems with mold, etc. and the landlord has also had an eye on the bills as well-- so all the windows are being replaced with modern, full-sheet glass versions that are energy-efficient.
We've never had a problem, never wanted our windows replaced. We're satisfied with how it is. But we didn't exactly get a say, so we've had maintenance people tramping in and out of the apartment, in and out of the building. They were supposed to start with us and our next door neighbor in mid-June, then that got pushed back to late June/early July. It was a bit annoying as I had to take everything off the balcony, away from all the windows, and essentially ended up with a huge pile of our stuff cluttered in the center of our living room. I anticipated it would be a day or two-- it turned out to be about three weeks before I could put everything back.
The bigger hassle, though, is that we had to keep moving the car. Street parking in this area is problematic, and it didn't help that the parking slots in our building were blocked off from 8-5 daily. This meant I had to make sure the car was moved before 8, then keep moving it every two hours, unless I was doing errands. We were housesitting during part of this time, so I hinted strongly that this would be an excellent time to finish our windows. Did that happen? Yes and no... they finally started towards the end of our housesitting gig, but didn't finish until after we had returned.
Then this week was a bit worse-- a new tenant moved into the building, and like every third idiot in this town has a SUV. Well, this behemoth won't make it up into the rear parking area thanks to the overhang, so we were asked to move our car to the back from now on. A very minor hassle, not too big a deal. O-kay... Unfortunately, before, all I had to do was move the car out of our stall, down past the sidewalk, and onto the driveway itself. Now, I would have to remove the car completely and compete with everyone else for street parking.
It was okay, up until today. I completely forgot that the parking area directly across from us is off-limits on Fridays from noon to 3 p.m. due to street cleaning. So this morning I cheerfully got up, pulled out of our spot, out the driveway, across the street, and left it for the day. I went upstairs, and later on, I left to have lunch with my wife at her office in Echo Park.
After I returned, I strolled up the street, when all of a sudden, I had a sinking feeling as I spotted a slip of paper stuck in the windshield wiper...
NOOOOOOOO.
$^#&@!
I immediately decided to erase this horrible memory as quickly as possible, so I've just dashed off, a few minutes ago, my $45 "contribution" to the City of Los Angeles. *grumble*
The good news is I just saw the crew foreman a few minutes ago, and he announced they're done, at last. I decided to take a look for myself, and navigated the perimeter of our building. Yep, yep, and yep... all the windows have been replaced on all three floors.
Last year it was the plumbing, this year the windows. What's next?
posted by Mr. Sandman | 4:47 PM
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