On the Level
by Terry Meany
This past October, Buffalo, New York, had its two snowiest days ever for that month. Almost two feet of snow fell in less than one day, only to be followed by a flood advisory as it quickly melted. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, and roads and highways were closed during this unprecedented snow free-for-all. In our more climatologically civilized part of the world, snow is rare. In the last 150 years, San Francisco has had six documented snowfalls of greater than one-inch accumulation in downtown. The biggest one was on February 5, 1887, when 3.7 inches graced the streets, much of which was hurled at streetcar drivers; the San Francisco Chronicle reported at the time that “the streetcar men journeyed up and down their lines, running the gauntlet of hundreds of men and boys who did not content themselves with snowballs, but flung hard, sharp ice, and acted as maliciously as fiends. The streetcars were pelted with snowballs without mercy, and much glass was broken.”
The Bay Area may not have snow, but it does have plenty of fog and bouts of rain. The occasional El Niño weather system and global warming brings spurts of drizzle, sometimes for days on end, and this can affect your properties. Exterior problems are a given if you skipped your fall maintenance on the roof, windows and painted surfaces. Inside moisture-related problems get exaggerated in wet weather if your tenants keep the heat low and the units either do not have bathroom and/or kitchen fans, or you have tenants who don’t use them daily.
I press for tenant education and the new year is a good time for a lesson or two. Moisture trapped inside our homes is a breeding ground for mold and mildew. A tenant has a legitimate complaint if a unit does not have fans. Opening windows won’t pull moist air out as efficiently as a ventilation fan will through ductwork. And on cold days, who wants to open a window and heat the outside (as every one of our parents told us if we left a door open for too long on a cold day)? Before you find yourself facing a tenant’s health-related grievance over mold growth—even if it is due to boiling pasta five days a week and not venting the steam out—be sure all fans are in good working order with clean filters and no obstruction in the ductwork or roof vents (birds will sometimes build nests in vents). Make it clear it’s the tenant’s responsibility to use the fans in order to keep the unit in clean and habitable condition. Yes, there will be some heat loss, but this can be kept to a minimum if fan usage is monitored (a timer connected to the bathroom fan is a big help).
Wet weather means wet feet and wet bicycle tires. Be sure you have a big entry doormat. Watch the stain patterns in common-area carpets and decide if you should get a doormat for each unit. Consider leaving a basket of old towels there, as well, to wipe down bikes (and send a flyer to all your tenants asking them to dry their bikes before wheeling them into their units). I’m all for secure bike storage rooms when there’s space for them, but it’s tough convincing tenants to leave $2,000 road bikes in an unmonitored area.
Biting Back at Bedbugs
Last February, I wrote about bedbugs, the not-so-cute Cimex lectularius, who apparently hitchhike in travelers’ luggage before finding their way here, the land of insect opportunity. Once they get a taste for the wine- and cheese-laden corpuscles of globetrotting Californians, going back to a diet of pensionne guests just won’t do. In San Francisco, most of this luggage and other belongings are found in single-room occupancy and other alternative lifestyle housing, although bedbugs have been found in some of the world’s best hotels. They’re a fact of life and they’re making the news again, but their future prevalence is really a matter of conjecture.
University of Kentucky urban entomologist Michael Potter told The New York Times that the reappearance of bedbugs “is one serious issue. This will be the pest of the 21st century—no question about it.” But, despite a large increase in calls to exterminators and health departments, the numbers remain small. However, it only takes one occurrence in one of your units to make your life miserable, even if the tenant is responsible for bringing them into the unit. By the time you’ve finished fighting over who is responsible, you could have added a full-time exterminator to your staff.
If you have bedbugs, getting rid of them is going to be a cooperative effort with your tenant and most likely an exterminator experienced in their eradication. The tenant will have to strip out all bedding and clothing, area rugs, anything in the vicinity where the biting occurs, and wash everything in hot water. You will need a written plan from the exterminator in order to explain the procedure to your tenant. Don’t be surprised if you have to put your tenant up in a hotel room for a night.
Rather skip the exterminator and do it yourself? Richard “Bugman” Fagerlund is a board-certified entomologist at the University of New Mexico with more than thirty years’ experience in pest control. His website, askthebugman.com, discusses bedbugs on its FAQ pages and offers instructions and materials needed for their safe elimination. Used furnishings, always a fun find on local streets, can be a fertile source of bedbugs. Regulation of the used furniture business decades ago, along with the use of DDT, helped eradicate bedbugs in the United States, but not surprisingly these regulations escape street freebies. All you can do is educate your tenants, check each unit thoroughly at turnover, fumigate if necessary and certify that the apartment is bug free when a new tenant moves in.
Are Paint Fumes Inevitable?
For years it seemed that the paints and finishes with the strongest smells formed the toughest finishes; the odors and the drying times were just part of the package. I have no scientific evidence this observation is true—besides, it’s highly subjective—but what you choose to do in your own home isn’t the best choice for an olfactory-challenged tenant for whom the mere whiff of latex paint can cause a breathing fit reminiscent of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet, or one who has true chemical insensitivity or allergies. You have to paint your units, sometimes when they’re occupied, but what do you do about the odors?
Latex finishes have eliminated most, but not all problems, especially if you’re painting a large area. It’s a matter of VOCs—volatile organic compounds—the paint solvents that keep binders soft and the solids in suspension. It isn’t simply a matter of water keeping these ingredients liquefied.
Major paint companies have low- and zero-VOC paint lines available. Low-VOC is defined as 50 g/L (50 grams of VOC per liter of paint) and no-VOC is defined as having, you guessed it, no VOCs at all. Although early versions—much like the first generations of latex paint—left something to be desired from a durability standpoint, current formulas are big improvements. You won’t find a low-end zero-VOC paint, but you’ll find prices comparable to better-quality standard paints. Stick with the major manufacturers, such as Sherwin-Williams and ICI. Smaller, specialized manufacturers are simply too expensive.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Terry Meany is a former contractor and landlord. He is now a full-time writer and author of Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows, now in its second edition from Lyons Press. He is cost conscious but not cheap, and he knows deferred maintenance always costs more in the end. He can be reached at tfmeany@msn.com. Copyright © 2007 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.