I can pretty much just continue from my last post (2 years ago this month) and report that next month I'll be relocating, at least temporarily while the old Chesterfield Hotel goes through a renovation.
Since receiving that notification letter back in 2012 it's taken a full two years for the grant[s?] to be approved, and all the business details to be completed. Finally the construction will begin in about a month.
Maybe the building is aware of the changes coming. Twice today our new fire alarm system has gone off for no apparent reason. A detector in a entryway was the source of both alarms occurring just hours apart but it wasn't smoke/fire that set it off. That's the only good part of having to evacuate the building twice in the same day and wait until the fire department checks and gives the all-clear (and shuts off the alarm!), at least there was no actual fire. I'm sure the fire fighters, like the residents, have better things to do on a Sunday afternoon than respond to false alarms.
I wasn't even sure that the building could be renovated. There is so much dry rot evident in and around my apartment and the vinyl siding separating in so many places because the nails holding it on don't have any decent wood to attach to. The wood sills in two out of three of my windows are rotten and the single 'modern' window started separating from my wall when I tried installing an air conditioner in it. Just the fact that water was able to get into the framework around those windows, for who knows how long before I moved in makes me wonder how much mold is in the walls.
The apartment next door had a shower stall leaking into the apartment below for quite a while and the apartment on the first floor (# 1) supposedly has a recurring issue of sewage backing up.
The shingles (at least on the back section) have been falling off faster and faster all of which contributes to water getting into places it's not supposed to be.
The foundation (a very old one) has a serious leak (when it rains) that flows across the basement floor and required a sump pump (cheaper than fixing the foundation but pound foolish in the long-term).
I've only been here two years but I get the feeling this building has been neglected for much of it's later life.
I certainly hope the renovation includes some badly needed energy saving improvements, and after the work is done I would hope the property is maintained better than it has been recently. The same goes for the other properties being renovated.
As I hope we've heard the last of the fire alarm.
- Edited on 9/30/2014 4:49 PM
