All Forum Posts by: Bob H.

Concentrated Awesome cleaner from Dollar Tree is a cheap and good degreaser. Use thinset tile mortar, not grout, to patch holes and cracks in the concrete before painting.

I have used the two-part Rustoleum epoxy from Home Depot on two garages with good results. Paint the surrounding foundation at the bottom of garage walls with regular latex paint before you paint the floor. There's no need to use expensive epoxy on the foundation, and, because the epoxy sets up fast, you need to move quickly and not spend time on the foundation once you mix the epoxy.

I like @Chris Szepessy's suggestion, if you have room to park both a car and a truck. You can buy an old truck, preferably a small one, and fix a few things at a relatively low cost. I like my 1989 Ford Ranger, which works well for landlord stuff. (A sunroof and no AC is a bit rough in Texas sometimes.) At other times I prefer the mileage and easier driving of a 2007 Corolla.

I don't know what your lease says, but mine says that after the tenants report a problem, the landlord will take a reasonable time to investigate it and arrange for the repair. It also says that, after a reasonable time, the landlord may elect not to make the repair and then terminate the lease without liability to tenants. You need something like this.

You say the water "never gets really hot." It could be as simple as a bad control valve, which shuts off the heater prematurely. I have the opposite problem -- the water staying hot with the valve on the vacation setting. The manufacturer sent me a new valve under the warranty, and I'll install it today.

I doubt that this thread needs yet another reply, but here goes...

First, I've been a landlord for 19 years and never have gotten a call from a tenant in the middle of the night. That concern is widely exaggerated, and I agree with others here who say you should be accessible.

More on Google Voice: I use different Google numbers and email addresses for two geographic areas, so my advertising and contact information looks local. Calls to those numbers are forwarded to both my cell and home phones. Text messages and voicemail also are forwarded to my email inbox. At home I use an Obihai Obi200 VOIP box with a Google Voice "home" number and both of the numbers I use for rentals. I've set up the ring tones to be different for the three lines, so I can tell which line is being called. Beyond the one-time small cost of the Obihai box, all this is free. An add-on from Callcentric for $1.50 a month gives me E911 service and caller ID with name on the home number. (Google Voice has caller ID with numbers only.)

Use 12-2 for the new cable only if this is a 20-amp circuit. If it's 15-amp, you need 14-2 wire.

No, but a couple of alternatives if you like to fool with locks:

1. Buy a rekey kit from Change-a-Lock or Primeline, available online or at home centers. You can rekey six locks for about $15.

2. Get a locksmith to make a key with the same cuts as your current key but in different positions. Then move the pins in the locks to match the new key and duplicate the new key. It might be a little cheaper than No 1.

And if you don't like to fool with locks, convert to Kwikset SmartKey locks, which let you rekey without removing the locks. You still need some new key, though.

Look at the threshold carefully. Many of them have several large screws that allow you to adjust the height of the threshold. You might be able to raise the threshold slightly to create better contact with the rubber bottom of the door.

dirtcheapsigns.com in Lago Vista, TX, is great, but I don't think these signs work.

As others have said, get the rough areas as smooth as possible before proceeding. I've always primed the newly applied drywall compound with Kilz water-based primer, and it looks fine. I don't know why you'd want to bother with oil-based primer unless you were working with exterior metal or something special like that.

People debate whether to prime before or after texture or both. I've always primed before the texture and painted over the texture without additional primer, with good results.