No Traction This Week

Dunno what's up this week but absolutely no traction. Got so much done last week but this week I am shattered.

Must take the gun to the range at somepoint as well (gun is the M&P in the photo). Kinda annoyed that I'm not getting any range time at all at the moment, but need to get these houses done.

Which leads me to the latest house. Sigh.

This was one that we purchased some time ago, and spent a fair amount of money having it renovated. Pictures tomorrow. Essentially the house was a mishmash of unfinished projects, so half the cost of getting it ready several years ago was finishing other people's projects. This house was also managed by someone else until early next year, when...they simply gave up and disappeared.

But since we've started on renovating and renting these houses we've started to learn the difference between a good job, and a crap job. And I wish I could say that the contractors all those years ago did a good job.

For instance, the ceiling in the lounge has a hole in it and is dis-coloured from water. Apparently the aircon unit is in the attic --- for reasons which we cannot fathom as it means it's a pain in the arse to reach. It could easily have been in the main part of the house, but I'm assuming the contractor just couldn't be arsed to build a cabinet. So shoved it in the attic.

The unit sits above a huge drip tray that catches condensation from the unit. If you run these units really cold they will generate a fair amount of condensation and cool the attic so the condensation doesn't evaporate very quickly. But the drip tray is meant to have a drain.

Well I found the drain pipe that was supposed to be on the drip tray, and the hole in the ceiling matches exactly where the drip tray's outlet is.

So this thing has been filling with water and just dripping it straight onto the ceiling below. Marvelous.

I also discovered that $600 of insulation that was supposedly blown into the attic is no where to be seen. The contractor was a thief, he knew that we were going to check, and that's what we get.

What is also a bit odd is that this air con unit has been serviced, and whoever did that a couple of years ago - didn't mention that the drip pan wasn't connected either!! He merely told us that the drain pipe occasionally gets gummed up and will need cleaning when it starts dripping again. I hate air conditioning contractors for the most part. Second hand car salesmen would baulk at the way these guys conduct business.

First job tomorrow is drilling a hole in the side of the house, and feeding a new drain pipe (3/4") through it from the drip tray. Essentially doing the job that should have been done 4 years ago.

Second job is finishing the repair to the ceiling so it can be painted.

Probably best that I don't take the gun out with me on these jobs at the moment.