In mid-July we finished preparing the last vacant apartment. Jana rented it a week later and it's been all good there. Just once a week mowing the lawn, basically. Oh yea, and a dead refrigerator this week!
So, we're done, right? Not so fast Tonto! You forget that we still have my Mom's house as a rental.
Death of a Deck
We knew the back deck was creaky and unstable. We knew that at least one of the posts didn't even touch the ground. But we did not know that only hope and good thoughts were holding that thing up! We started dismantling the deck on Saturday, Sept 2.
Nail by nail we started taking the deck planks off. Then, when we pulled the last plank away from the joists nearest the house the entire frame of the deck, joists, header, and all, just tumbled to the ground. Really?! I think the deck planks were holding the deck together with friction. It turns out that the header didn't even attach to the house! There were no footers under any posts. Some posts just landed on the dirt or a sidewalk. One post missed the ground by about six inches!
Saturday we tore the deck apart. Sunday we hauled the wood out to the back pasture where old tree branches and scrap wood goes to die.
Water Heater Crisis
Monday, Labor Day, we were distracted from the deck. We knew the water heater had been leaking a tiny bit for months. Now it was REALLY leaking. So off to buy and install a new hot water heater.
Back to the deck
Saturday, Sept 10 we turn attention back to the deck. After stringing lines, measuring, doing the 3-4-5 thing to make sure we were "square" with the house, we finally located where to dig post holes. Dig, dig, dig. Dig, dig, dig. Dig, dig, SPURT! What the heck? Yes, we hit a sprinkler line. We also found the sprinkler line when digging the second hole.
No worries, we thought. Keep digging. Dig, dig, dig, ping! What? Yep - hit the sewer line out to the septic tank. Good grief! Later when we were tracking down which sprinkler zone pipe we hit, we found out that we cut through two different lines. Definitely a Murphy's law day.
If you are thinking about becoming a landlord - think twice. Here's our experience managing rentals in northern Colorado.
