One of the many social phenomena one runs into as a handyman is something I call “the tenant changeover.”
Typically, when someone rents an apartment, they stay there for a good long time, like a year or five. Then one day they decide to move out. Typically a tenant gives 30 days’ notice, so the landlord is often in a spot where they want to “spiff up” the place to get higher rent but they also don’t want to shut the place down for renovations and lose a months’ rental income. So once the tenant moves out, assuming they moved before the end of the month, before the next tenant can come in, there is a mad scramble to clean up and fix up and spiff up the 1-15 years of wear and tear in a very short space of time while the place is empty. And this becomes “the tenant changeover.”
So, this being the end of the month, I had until the first of next month (i.e., one week) to do everything they wanted done. Here we go.
Here we see the bedroom with a less than ideal light fixture:
I call this look “early Alcatraz.”
So with a little guidance from my electrician mentor I popped in a new fixture.
And, also whilst I was at it, I talked the guy into a new Lutron rocker dimmer . . . They are kinda pricey but he’ll have it forever and it adds value. I love dimmer switches. Obviously, this one below is installed but not shoved into box yet.
Next, a bit of water damage was marring the living room ceiling bigtime
So on day one I sealed it all up with shellac, and on day 2 I painted it white and it turned out really well.
It would take way too long to post all the little cosmetic fixes I did in this unit. Those are just the big highlights.
This entire building place is funky in spots but it provides pretty decent housing for folks who need a lower priced place to stay for a while, and I am happy to support those efforts.
