cmh blog 03 2005

Well, some of you have been over to our place in the last little while and have been enjoying the lovely renovations that we are experiencing. Our building was sold a few months back, and the new landlord is putting a second bathroom into the main floor apartment (too weird). He is also changing the kitchen and the existing bathroom as well.

This letter is to share our experiences with the recent construction project in our building, and to ask for some consideration to mitigate some of these issues.

First let me say that we understand your desire to improve apartment 1, and having seen the work underway we certainly think the renovations will be a good thing and will attract good tenants. The renovators have been generally considerate and polite as they have been completing the work — being particularly responsive when they need to move their vehicles when they block us in.

Any major renovation project, however, has significant effects on the occupants of a building. One significant problem we’ve experienced has been smoking in the building by contractors. As you know this is a non-smoking building; we moved here from a building which was having major smoking problems, largely because we are both sensitive to the smoke. We appreciated your instructing your crew not to smoke when we met earlier this month. Due to the large number of rotating crews it seems that it isn’t really possible to ensure a non-smoking environment as new crews start smoking as they take over the job.

The renovation has involved tearing out walls, installing ceilings and floors, demolishing fixtures, plumbing and electrical work, in short almost all the housing trades. An inevitable consequence of this is constant drilling, pounding, sawing, cutting of pipes and hammering. Vibration from sledges and saws rocks the whole house, to the point that some objects can be dislodged from shelves and fall to the floor. While you expected that most of the disturbing work would be completed within the first few days, I’m sorry to say that very loud disturbing noises happen on most days, including last Saturday.

Since Jen generally works from home 75% of the time, the noise and smoke has required her on several days to leave the house in search of somewhere else to work.

The inevitable mess associated with the project has also been a problem. We and our guests have been dealing with huge quantities of dust and plaster residue throughout our apartment. We clean the apartment only to find that a thin layer of dust is blanketing surfaces the next day. Dust gets tracked in from the stairs and other areas as well. You can imagine the problems we are having with items like bedding and upholstered furniture as the dust settles into them. This problem is affecting me particularly as I am allergic to dust.

Another problem area has been the basement. Waste from the construction process has been falling into the basement areas, and after the first few days of staircase destruction it has not been cleaned. I have had to thoroughly clean the interior and exterior of the washer and dryer at least five times, as bathroom work seems to be vertically above this area. Despite the placement of a blanket over the washer, dust, stones and wood splinters need to be picked out of it before each washing session, and a full tank of water run through it. On one occasion I had to clean cement off the top of the washer after the blanket had fallen off. The washer’s drain sink is running slower than ever, despite the fact that on each cleaning session I have swept out the sink before running water down it.

The floor in the basement is littered with small pieces of plaster, metal fragments from iron-pipe cuts, screws and bent nails. We do not have steel-toe boots like the workers, and so I would say that in addition to being an inconvenience, this is a danger area that needs to be addressed.

I’m sure you can imagine the unpleasantness of being shaken awake from the vibrations of demolition, to the sound of sawing and pipe cutting, and to the aroma of cigarette smoke coming through the floors into the apartment.

Trying to live and work in these conditions has been very challenging. Our lease specifies a covenant for quiet enjoyment, in a non-smoking environment fit for habitation. Reasonable standards of cleanliness are impossible to maintain. In short, we have been unable to enjoy our apartment this month.

While we certainly appreciate your right to renovate the first floor, we ask for your appreciation of our right to these basic living standards. This is why we are asking you for a rent abatement or rebate for the month of March.