Warm, moist, maybe wet. Yesterday started dreary but ended with some sun. It was moist all day though. Today might be a bit less dreary if the national forecast is correct, but it’ll probably still be moist. 85F in the afternoon? Yeah, probably again.
Did finally get to my rent house yesterday to assess the situation. The garage door wasn’t opening because the torsion bar springs had broken. Both of them. That’s a pro level repair. So I have that to find a guy and get fixed. Two trees need to come down, but they are small and I can do it with a pole saw. The porch has some rotting boards that I’ll cut out and replace. I might blow out the gutters, or not. Depends on how I feel.
And the garbage disposal will be top of the list for replacement. I bought a 1/2 hp model to replace the 5/8 hp dead one. There was $150 upcharge for the extra 1/8 hp. Not in a rent house. The previous insinkerator lasted 12-17 years so I went with the same model. I’m sure it won’t last as long. Enshittification.
The LED flood light for the driveway probably won’t last the 20+ years the existing incandescent one lasted either. I’m replacing it because it’s 300w, and the clear part is yellow and almost opaque, where it’s still there. It still lights up when something moves in front of it, just not well, and it looks pretty bad. Might as well fix it on this round of repairs.
Rental property only makes money if you can collect the rent, and control the costs. Fixing stuff helps with the ‘collect the rent’ part. Doing most of the work myself helps with the ‘control the costs’.
So I’ll be working on that today, as well as my normal list. And getting a new battery for the Ranger. Costco didn’t have any at my local store, so I’ll start my day driving to another store for the pickup. 1 1/2 years for this battery. I asked the guy behind the counter if it was my imagination that the ‘new’ interstate batteries weren’t as good as they old ones. He said “nothing’s as good as it used to be.” That’s the death knell for Western technologically based society.
Stack. Skill up. Tribe up.
nick
Many happy returns, Nick!
Thanks for all the effort you put into keeping the conversation going here. A bulwark against enshittification…
Tuesday. The final day of my leave, so I am of course super busy. Have an excellent day!
I’ve put two In-Sink-Erator disposals into the current house, and we’ve been here for 11 years.
Be sure to retain the strain relief on the power cord and put it on the new unit. That’s Texas code but not included in the box.
Home Depot only sells replacements as part of the $12 disposal install kit.
You did remember to knock out the hole for the dishwasher drain, right?
If either daughter gets annoying before you throw the old one away, and let’s face it, what are the odds that neither teenage girl will be annoying in the near future, you can hold up the dead garbage disposal and say that you got it just before the kid was born. And then drop it in the trash. “Time to think about finding a new home, kiddo.”
Some states, eg NYS, make it awfully difficult to collect rent if the tenant doesn’t want to pay. More to the point, it’s awfully difficult to get rid of the tenant if he doesn’t want to pay, especially if it’s a she and she has children and no husband. It’s why I sold my house; all three apartments were occupied at the time but the rent going into my pocket did not meet expectations.
I’ve had good luck with DuraLast Gold from AutoZone. They last the warranty period in Texas but not much more.
Costco is like a shark. Keeping money flowing through the registers is the most important part of the company staying in business. The company will pay for the pro-rated replacement battery in 30-90 days, but you gave them cash/credit in the mean time.
Costco is not going to care about the decline in quality at Interstate beyond a certain point. Most customers replace the battery themselves.
Bad Daddy.
Cue Stephen Williams. The line that made his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XCRLDUl6sM
I’ve been blown off for most of the last decade about the importance of using the vent on our cook surface, and when I went to do the first deep clean on our kitchen in about five years, I discovered that grease accumulation has ruined the cabinets above the burners.
Another item for the list, but whether we stay in the house or move in the next year, replacing the 30 year-old cabinets just moved up the priority list.
I don’t think my marriage would survive a big kitchen remodel so I’m looking at a ductless range hood and some serious elbow grease on the cabinets in the interim.
The previous owners removed the range hood which seems to be standard in the neighborhood. That wife didn’t cook so she replaced the hood with a daaaahling little light fixture.
Wedding planner. Everything surface.
I never wanted to live in the stereotypical Chinese-American household where the kitchen cabinets above the range are ruined by cooking grease from members of the household ignoring western convention, but here I am.
My daughter is the big offender.
Bad Daddy is mean.
The really crazy thing is that the cook surface hasn’t worked right for years, but I’m the one who would have to deal with the sharks on the sales floor of a place like Home Zone or NFM shopping for a replacement. Gas. High end. I walk into the store, and the salespeople will quietly say “Yum yum”.
Of course, *then* my wife will get involved.
I’ll check the deals at NFM for the shareholder weekend in May. The financial anal rape may not be too bad.
After discussion here some years ago I have been using the Everlast Maxx auto batteries from Walmart for all my vehicles with good results.