In the latest episode of Rental Life…
I recently saw on the news that housing costs in my area (Raleigh/Durham) are basically out of control. Rental costs and home buying costs have increased to the point that nothing is affordable and in many cases, you aren’t even getting what you paid for.
Well for the mortgage payment I pay in rent, the latest episode is about my apartment complex’s latest improvement campaign. You can go read the first post and learn about everything from bugs to maintenance.
Not long after I moved in they announced they would be pressure washing and repainting front doors and buildings. As time went on and summer faded away and fall turned to winter, they alerted us that the process was now about to begin. Now I don’t know who actually pressure washes in winter when you could be at risk of freezing surfaces but I guess that’s a thing. I have always heard also that you shouldn’t paint exterior doors during the winter months but what do I know-I get all my information off Youtube *lol
So the day before they started they put out notices to remove everything from your front door or entrance. If you know the bug story you know that even in winter I wasn’t happy about taking my bug guard off the front door. But I was hoping it would be quick and I would be able to put it back on. No such luck. After a week of taking it off every morning before leaving for work, there was still no washing or painting. I called for an update but no one returned my call. At that point, I put the bug guard back on full-time, and since they claimed they would not be responsible for your damaged items that you didn’t remove that I would just have to get another one if it ended up with paint all over it because I didn’t want any and everything crawling in all day.
Every day I came home and as I entered my breezeway my eyes always gravitated to the floor right in front of my door to see if they had at least pressure washed. Nope. Nothing. I started noticing that they had taped off items and were painting exteriors..I assume all at the same time.
Then lo and behold this week I come home and the had painted the front door. Because of my bug stopper, the bottom didn’t get painted and because you can’t properly paint the doors without them being open, we now have all the edges of the door still the old paint color (similar to a light rust orange color) and the center of your door is now black.
I am thinking these must be the same people who did the remodeling upgrades with no regard for excellence in their work. When people visit they are just as stumped as I am as to the reasoning of upgrading some things and leaving unpainted and unfinished molding all over, scuffed baseboards, rusty bathroom hardware, etc. During a pandemic you would think most companies would be thrilled to have work in general and step their game up to ensure repeat business but if they got away with it before I guess they figure–who cares? But trust me if they had done this work at your home that you own, you would surely end up in court if they left things like this. Ok, now back to this door situation.
Now when they painted the doors, they didn’t bother to tape them off so they sprayed not only the door but oversprayed onto the white trim. So now you have a door that actually looks worse than it did before the “upgrades”. I will insert pictures. It’s beyond me. And I dropped by the office yesterday to inquire in person and was told they should have already pressure washed BEFORE painting. Hmmm…well if they pressure washed they are horrible at it because you can clearly see the spot where my mat used to be that’s cleaner than the surrounding area. Maybe they pressure washed with a spray bottle. (insert side-eye). I was told if they had already painted my door then I could put my items back on the door. I didn’t because I refuse to believe they are leaving this trim this way. They have dripped black paint on the concrete and keep leaving trash like notices that were on doors and painters tape they have removed just thrown on the ground.
I can’t say much more at this point. We are currently having a holiday door decorating contest at my complex—tacky or regular.—I think I can win the tacky one hands down without even trying.
#apartmentliving #raleighdurham #rentallife #preissco
