Apartment Manager Adventures

Being the man of the house, I do the majority of the maitenance in the building. I like to think that I’m pretty good at most common maintenance items. I have a decent knowledge of most of the buildings problems. I install dishwashers, do electrical repairs, patch holes in walls, fix tiles, install lighting fixtures, etc.

By far, my worst category of repair is plumbing. Most of the time I stumble through things just fine installing disposals, repairing pipes under the sink, replacing sink faucets and valves. But plumbing problems have certainly been what give me the most trouble and frustration.

Today, I’m going to tell you about what I consider the worst experience I have faced with plumbing. You see, there was an apartment that had a slight drip coming from the shower faucet.. It was an unusual drip. It would only drip if the knob was in a certain position. I have replaced this type of shower valve in the past in other apartments, but…

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As apartment managers, my wife and I are responsible for everything with the building. We take care of repairs, maintenance, cleaning, collecting rent, etc. If there is a problem we can’t take care of ourselves, then we hire someone else to do it. We live on site, so as you can imagine, we spend quite a bit of time tending to the various demands of the building, tenants, and property.

One thing that I particularly dread is winter snow removal. You may or may not be familiar with winters in Alaska, but we can get some serious amounts of snow here. So much snow, in fact, that the state often has to bring out huge equipment to pick up and haul the snow off the streets.

So with that bit of background, let me tell you about an experience I had one cold winters night…


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Okay, Now our apartment complex that we manage happens to be in a part of town that isn’t the greatest as far as crime goes. Its been improving slightly in recent years as the city has attempted to clean things up. But we still get plenty of … uh… what should I call them? “Interesting” people that pay our building a visit. Or just walking by at all times of day and night.

Its a secure building which means you cant get in without a key or being buzzed in. But there is an entry way that helps keep the heat of the building from escaping in the winter. These entry ways tend to attract homeless people, drunks,  strange objects, and many other things.

 One night a few years ago, my wife and mother in law (Mama) were hauling in some groceries into our apartment. My wife spotted a pile of something in the corner of the entryway.  My wife asked her mom to investigate the bundle… it looked like just a bundle of  clothing or something. Now I should mention that we have found all sorts of strange things on the property so we often assume the worst and hope for the best. So, she goes to investigate and as she gets ready to pick it up, something inside of it starts moving! This obviously scared her a bit because it was dark and it could be practically anything. What was even stranger is it started making this high pitch sort of whining sound that neither my wife or Mama were familiar with. They started debating on who would have to touch this heap of moving, whining, something, sitting near their feet. Eventually Mama took charge (I wasnt there to be the hero ) and went in. (click the link below to continue)

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