on the level

By Terry Meany

March brings thoughts of spring cleaning, throwing open the windows and some sense of renewal. Maybe it’s time to replace the refrigerator, paint the living room or even do something as simple as wash the windows.

It’s one thing to make those improvements in your own home, but it’s quite another in a multiunit apartment building where you might have a dozen or more refrigerators to think about and 50 or 60 windows to clean. In the case of worn carpets, you’re looking at hundreds (and hundreds) of square feet of potential replacement flooring. Replacing carpet comes with the territory of being a landlord. We don’t give much thought to the fate of the old, ripped out carpet once we see the new carpet, all fitted, installed and filling the room with new carpet smells.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, carpet takes 50 years to decompose in a landfill. In California, anywhere from 2% to 5% of landfill space is taken up by carpet, including the good (tossed out because someone didn’t like the color, even if the carpet was almost new), the bad (as worn out as presidential candidates stating they’re for “change”), and the ugly (lime green shag). Do you really want your grandkids dealing with the neutral beige, low-pile bedroom carpet you remove today when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes the Landfill Reclamation Act of 2040?

Fortunately, carpet recycling is available and growing due to consumer response, industry demand and growing new-carpet costs. DuPont established the first used-carpet recycling program in 1991. The Carpet America Recovery Effort
(www.carpetrecovery.org), a program of the Carpet and Rug Institute, reports that 4.6% of the total discarded carpet nationally in 2006 was recycled, more than four times the 2002 total when CARE was first established. This represents approximately 240 million pounds of carpet kept from landfills. That’s still a fraction of the total, but it’s an encouraging start.

In San Francisco, two carpet recycling facilities are available. San Francisco
Carpet Recycling (www.sfcarpetrecycling.com) is located at 1588 Carroll Ave. in the Bayview District. Go to its website to determine which carpets are accepted for recycling into new carpet, carpet pads and other plastic consumables. They currently charge $7 per cubic yard based on the size of the container used and they will provide containers for collection. The California Integrated Waste Management Board lists Diversified Flooring, 435 Forbes Blvd., South San Francisco (650-829-3300) as an additional source.

Before replacing, consider a dye job. You’ll get an extended life, lower cost, less waste, and less disruption for your tenant. Not all types of carpet can be dyed, but a simple fiber test by a carpet technician will determine the suitability of yours for this simple makeover.

Speaking of recycling, Organizing Services and Organizational Consulting has a terrific resource section that could benefit your tenants by reducing their clutter and ultimately benefit you because their units would be neater, easier to clean, and more manageable. Send them the link with your next “Happy Rent Due Day” card.

Must-Have Tools and Supplies
During a recent workout at my gym, the manager mentioned that the dryer was taking forever to dry a load of towels. After two hours, they were still damp. The gym’s laundry area leaves something to be desired. Neither the washer nor the dryer are commercial quality and lint accumulating behind the dryer, as well as a less than ideal route for the exhaust ducting, did not exactly impress the fire inspector. I asked the manager if she had ever cleaned out the ducting. Oh, no, not really, she replied.

This was a job for the Makita Electric Blower UB1101 with variable speed control. This is a terrific tool that has paid for itself over and over again since I bought mine 20 years ago. It won’t die, regardless of how many times I’ve dropped it or unintentionally abused it. The new model has a maximum air velocity of 114 MPH, and it can be used for a multitude of jobs.

For dryer vents, disconnect the end at the dryer, insert the blower, and blast the ducting clean. Use the Makita for blowing dry debris from gutters and roofs, cleaning driveways, and blowing dust out of power tools and vacuum cleaners—extending their lives and saving you money on replacement filters. This blower also converts to a small volume vacuum cleaner for hard-to-reach areas. And what easier way is there to clean out the family mini-van, or your kids’ rooms, than a blower? This is one power tool I would never, ever be without and highly recommend, even if the price has doubled (around $170) since I bought mine.

I recommend some small, but useful hardware to keep on hand as well if you own an older building. Sagging plaster is a given in a city that shakes, rattles and rolls every time there’s a seismic coughing fit. Plaster is forced into wood or metal lath forming “keys,” which hold the plaster in place. If these keys break away from the lath, the plaster is loose and can break away entirely. One-and-one-quarter-inch plaster washers are perforated metal discs designed to be screwed into wood lath or wood framing and force the plaster back where it belongs. At ten cents apiece, these are a great bargain when compared with plaster replacement costs.

To install, remove any loose bits of plaster, pre-drill your screw holes an inch or so away from the edge of the damaged area and install a generous number of washers. For large repairs, move away from the loose plaster and start installing the washers in the firmly attached area of the plaster, working your way inward in a series of circles. Skim the washers with a thin coat of plaster patch or drywall compound, allow it to dry, and then sand smooth. The washers will still be visible. They can then either be taped with drywall tape and then coated again with two to three layers of drywall compound or recoated with plaster patch. Each coat must dry and be sanded smooth. Prime and paint the final sanded coat to match the surrounding plaster.

Another handy hardware item is the doorknob set screw, an almost headless screw that holds a doorknob onto a straight spindle with tapped holes for the screw to tighten into. You always need one or two of these for your door knob collection because one or two of them always seem to be missing.

Replacing smoke detector batteries once a year has been drilled into every property owner, but what about the detectors themselves? According to the United States Fire Administration, smoke detectors should be replaced every ten years. Hard-wired units should be replaced with a single type and brand throughout the rental unit—don’t mix different manufacturers.

Most smoke detectors contain a minute amount of radioactive material and are best disposed of according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Some manufacturers will accept used detectors for disposal at no cost.

A Word from Our Sponsor
One advantage of being a columnist is the opportunity to plug one’s other written work. The third edition of my book, Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows (Lyons Press), will be out this spring. In the strange and bizarre world of publishing, Lyons kept Working Windows out of print for 2007 so they could focus “new energy” on its marketing and that of other home-related books in 2008, even though I was being contacted last year by potential customers looking for it then.

In my submicroeconomic view of the world—meaning my bank account—this made little sense, but the new and improved edition will be available soon, and I recommend it for anyone who prefers to repair old and original wood windows rather than replace them.

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors 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, soon to be in its third 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 © 2008 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.