House_Keeper said:
Well done Duncan. And thanks for telling us about the experience as well. This gives me a bit more confidence about self-managing.
It's great to know that there is a nice end to the story. I believe that when you do the right things, you sometimes get rewards from unexpected places.
Cheers,
Hi,
I appreciate everyones well-wishes!
The New Tenants moved into today.. as pleased as punch they were!
The Old Tenants have spent the day getting more of their stuff out of the shed.. very sullen, surly look on their faces, lots of mean comments between the two ex-tenants.. all is not well on the homefront obviously
I was there replacing the back door.. the weather had got to the cardboard door that was put on either when the house was new or since.. its the weather side of the house, no awning to stop the rain getting to it.. I replaced it with a solid one.. which weighed a TONNE. Hanging a ONE TONNE door alone is pretty challenging I tell ya
I was expecting to get squashed at any moment. But I didnt.. Its hung now.. But I'm curious to know.. Why do door hinges come in packs of TWO when every door I've ever hung needs THREE.. Call my cynical. I bought the cheap ones anyhow
The door was a $140 door.. but for some reason it scanned at the Bunnings Register at a much lower price.. I managed to contain the look of suprise on my face before the Checkout Operator noticed
Late in the day the female-ex-tenant disappeared for a while and the male-ex-tenant sidled up to me and said "Hey, if you find any Cash Convertors slips, they're mine OK.. even if they have her name on them.. dont say anything though OK? she pawned some of my dead brothers stuff.. I really need it back.. OK? but dont say anything OK".... ME: "OK, no worries" and back to work I went. Sad!
I got to meet Mrs ChemDry, LOVELY lady.. much younger than Mr ChemDry, but so politely spoken.. I also met Dog ChemDry, a fat, older Kelpie/Collie cross with a very calm temperament.. just wanted to find his new spot and rest his aching bones when he got there I think.
Mr and Mrs ChemDry have quickly moved in.. They enlisted the help of lots of family including a very elderly Mum and Dad.. Dad was great, must've been pushing 85 but happily negotiated the refrigerator off the trailer with a Sack Truck. Hope I'm that sprightly at 85. Geez, I hope I'm still alive at 85 actually!
Go
Paleo Diet and exercise!
Here's a few images from along the way.. I hope you've got a fast connection.. if you haven't.. erm sorry, consider getting one!
Potatoes on the Lounge Room Floor.. I'm glad I got there when I did, another coupla weeks and the stench would have been terrible.. I cant work out why they had potatoes on the lounge room floor..
Junk everywhere.. The Table in the Lounge Room was the only solid peice of furniture in the place.. I think it was their computer table. Obviously they didn't have Excel to manage their budget.
More junk on the lounge room floor.. Note the Christmas Tree on the right.. not sure why they had it up so early in the year
The Stovetop.. Suprise, suprise, note the deep fryer full of congealed fat. Everything in the kitchen had that greasy film over it. I think the Deep Fryer got a LOT of use.. I suspect the fat lasted quite a while though. The Oven hadn't had much use thankfully..
Ahh I love this photo.. The carefully arranged toilet paper to sit on. The artful pile of used rolls and bags. It was the last thing I cleaned up when I emptied the house.. everyone who visited got taken down to be shown the toilet. It was a hit!
Everyone thought it was a hoot.
I cant work out why they smoked so much in the bathroom.
This is how I found the vanity.. I didnt open the cupboards.. they were already open.. stuff flowing out.
In the Laundry they actually swept the muck into the middle of the floor.. thanks! No washing machine to be seen though, the ex-Tenants-Dad told me it got pawned months ago.
This filthy cat "cage" or Cat Kennel, what ever you call it.. It was obviously used by the cat because I didnt find any suprises anywhere else in the house.. disgustingly it obviously hadnt been emptied in months. I'm not a great fan of cats at the best of times, but at least they crap in the same place with a degree of reliability, unlike dogs
Junk everywhere, all through the house, every floor, every surface.. just like this room.. the beds in every bedroom were covered in junk.. I cant work out where they slept. I think they might have slept on the couches in the lounge-room..
Here's the kitchen benches. No room to prepare food on.. note the white chopping board.. it had some kind of sticky rubber mat underneath it to secure it to the kitchen bench.. I guess if you're chopping veges with a machete or something it might come in handy, I suspect potatos was the only action it saw though. I had to get a screwdriver to lever it up.. I thought they'd glued it for a little while.. the bench cleaned up OK though.
More messy bench. Most of those coffee cups had promising new anti-biotics growing in them.
I honestly thought the lino in the kitchen was a write-off.
And after my Cleaning Dream Team had been thru:
A lovely toilet
A clean, usable vanity.
A pleasant family room
And from today..
The tailgate of my trailer made a great fence to run my circular saw down to cut my ONE TONNE door to size.
Mr ChemDry's Carpet Cleaning Van! If you're in the Southern Area of Adelaide and need Carpet Cleaning.. be sure to call ChemDry (number on the van).. Ask for Lee!
Ahhh.. and at 3pm today, new tenants in.. new door up, new lease signed, bond/rent in advance in CASH in my back pocket. I did a run to the bottleshop to get my usual bottle of bubbly for incoming new Tenants..
And for me.. the end of about 2 weeks stress and hardwork.. Parked out of the front of the house.. a hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer.. and the best cold beer is..