What I am up against in our condo rehab

[Nico]

My wife and I bought a foreclosure condo for use in the summer and part time rental (long weekends, families of college students visiting Chicago, etc.) as it is literally on the beach of Lake Michigan. We are in the process of rehabbing it from top to bottom. Over the weekend I took the vent covers off the two cold air returns (one bathroom, one kitchen) and this is what i found....



 I don"t think these were ever removed since the building was built in 1951. There were SO many layers of paint on them...But it gets even "better"...



The backs look like they have never been cleaned. It looked like a a quilt exploded. GROSS!!!

So I spent quite a few hours cleaning, disassembling, paint stripping (two applications), buffing with a wire wheel, and sealing the metal with a clear coat acrylic...



The back louvers were buffed (to remove the rust), painted with rustoleum and reassembled. THEY ACTUALLY MOVE NOW !



One down...one to go...

[musclehead]

I've heard of deterred maintenance, but that's ridiculous! 

[R J]

Some people who own Condo's think that someone else will clean that sheet up for them.

My newly divorced daughter rented a Condo on a year lease.

The furnace quit working.   She called the owner of this condo in Florida and they said oh, I'd say you will have to fix it.

So, dad came over, put a new thermostat on it and she sent them the bill with her next rent payment deducted.    Owner had a tizzy, she told them then you fix the stuff in this condo when it breaks or malfunctions.  If you don't that is grounds for me to cancel my rental agreement.

Ain't heard nothing back from the condo owner.

Daughter is hoping something else breaks and the lady pulls this crap as she will cancel her rental agreement and go buy a house that is in foreclosure.

Daughter's bank has the papers on this foreclosure house, she went to school with the bank President, so they told her they would hold it for 9 months.    That is 5 months past her renewal on the condo she is in.   So she is saving her pennies to make the down payment on it.

[da prez]

   Good job on that part. I suggest that you take a shop vac and use it in the vent pipe as you will find that to be in worse shape than the vents. I have appartments that are cleaned regularly and still get awfully funky. If you do not own a shop vac, it is a good investment. Get a good one , as you can clean some of the ductwork with it. If you think the ducts are filthy, I can recommend a duct cleaner that we use. It is worth the money 
                                                              da prez

[DFragn]

If you think that's bad, what do you think the inside of your air-duct system looks like?
Ya might want to have the ducts professionally cleaned!

[..]

If you think that's bad, what do you think the inside of your air-duct system looks like?
Ya might want to have the ducts professionally cleaned!

+ Gross

[art]

Clean it up ,you have to breathe that stuff.Three years ago I rented a home tha was 60 yrs. old .Kind of neat but it had issues.One was the plumming.One day it got clogged up so the property mgmt. people called roto router.Ended up the pipes to the sewer had to be replaced out to the street an across to the neighbors driveway.It took two weeks an cost the owner about $7000 ,then the forced air heater went out,another $900.Sure glad it was not my house.