Another Section 8 Inspection

Today was a busy day for me. It was supposed to start with a woman moving into one of my 3 bedroom duplexes. I still had a few little things to finish before she moved in, so I started early today (at about 9am). I went to Lowes to pick up a few items and then went to the duplex. One of the items that I needed to do was install a GFCI outlet in the bathroom. The house had the strangest outlet that I have ever seen in this bathroom. It was a normal size outlet, but instead of having two spots to plug in appliances, this one had FOUR spots (obviously without grounds). I check it with a voltmeter and all four spots were hot. Very odd!

My next project was to change three miniblinds, but before I got that done, I received a call from a tenant a few blocks away who had a leak in her kitchen faucet.

I drove over to look at the leak and discovered that there was a small pinhole in the neck of the faucet. I made a quick trip to Lowes and picked up a new faucet and then went back to the unit (another duplex) to change the faucet. About 5 minutes later, I had the faucet changed and checked it for leaks. It was bone dry and I left to go back to the first duplex to change the miniblinds. Before I could even get back, the tenant with the leaky faucet called to say that there was water leaking badly under the sink. She said that she put a pan under the leak and had already had to empty it once (in the 5 minutes since I left). So, back to fix the new leak. Sure enough, the hose going up to the new faucet had developed a leak! What are the odds of that happening? So, I drove about 2 blocks to a nearby plumbing supply store and bought a stainless steel hose. A few minutes later I had the hose changed and was once again on my way to the apartment to change the miniblinds.

I changed the miniblinds; changed a couple of lightbulbs; and vacuumed a couple of drawers. That finished up the duplex.

My next stop was at one of my apartment buildings to show an apartment to a victim of domestic violence. Unfortunately, after talking with her, there was no way that she could afford the rent. Next, I walked to another apartment building to pick up the rent from a tenant who receives his money from a government payee. His rent is always paid on the 5th, because of the government payee, which is a day after my normal rent period. As I was doing that, I received a call from the tenant who was supposed to move in today and she rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

I could really tell that the holidays are over by the number of phone calls I received today. I received more phone calls just today than I've been receiving in an entire week during December.

My next stop was at one of my three bedroom houses for a Section 8 inspection. This is a very nice house and it easily passed the inspection.

Next was a trip to my local Ford dealer to have my truck looked at. My truck has been leaking antifreeze when the heater is turned on for the past few days. I looked for the leak and thought it might be coming from the top of the water pump, although the water pump isn't making any noise. I had planned on taking the truck in for service around the middle of the week, but the leak got very bad over the weekend and it obviously needed to be fixed ASAP. After about an hour in the shop, they discovered that the leak was coming from a small pipe just above the water pump. This pipe is just a simple tube with a flange, but it had to be ordered by the dealer. That little pipe is $233! OUCH! They'll have the pipe on Wednesday morning and I'll finally have it fixed.

My final stop of the day was at a duplex that will have a Section 8 inspection tomorrow. Everything looks good, except the tenant reported that the water coming from the shower isn't very hot. I took a look at that and determined that the hot water seems to be restricted to the shower only. I don't know if there is dirt and rust particles clogging the line or if the shower valve is misbehaving (it's about 6 months old). I'll look at it again tomorrow before the inspection, although that won't keep the unit from passing.

That was it for today!