Rental Properties Basics Managing Light and Heat and Improving Your ROI

If you own a rental property, you may well be aware of the “interesting” issues which light and heat can cause in any house or apartment. The heat can practically renovate the building from inside and out. The thermodynamics of buildings can be very complex, and it’s often a matter of “find a solution or face the costs”. Fortunately for landlords and tenants alike, new sunscreen blinds, window screens exterior screens and awnings are coming to the rescue.

The Problems, Explained
Heat can demolish buildings. Constant expansion and contraction can quite literally take a building apart. Different materials heat differently and expand and contract at different temperatures. The result is chaos, and if you’ve ever wondered why your rental property has that sad look about it, this is “normal wear and tear”, but in a different and sometimes dangerous form.

The interior is also subjected to heat effects. The interior does the same thing, to a lesser extent in most cases, but that just means a separate problem. If the interior has rising damp or mold, the heat triggers growth and corrupts surfaces. Expansion and contraction of buildings can also affect wiring and plumbing.

A building can literally pull itself apart with expansion and contraction, unless these things are managed. Gaps and cracks don’t just happen. If you’ve seen one of those mysterious new gaps around a window frame, (always in some nice, semi-accessible place, of course) the usual suspects are heat or water, but heat can do this without any help. Any sort of problem of this sort has another trick to play- It can become progressively more of a problem, and in a hurry. A small gap or crack can turn itself into a cost base overnight, or over the course of a hot season.

The Solution – Blinds and AwningsThe safest, and definitely the simplest approach to these problems is mercifully simple- External screens, retractable awnings and similar straightforward fixes. The exterior screens block heat before it makes contact with building surfaces. That effectively stops the problem before it happens.

Even the exterior of old buildings gets a boost, because the outer faces of the building are spared the ravages of heat. This cuts down on costs for everything from painting to just holding the building together. Window frames aren’t heated to egg-frying temperatures, either.

Tenants appreciate the improvements, and the old buildings get a new lease of life, literally in one sense, because the heat effects inside are minimized. Carpets don’t get bleached, and the interior of the building isn’t subjected to heat-based expansion and contraction.

Best of all, you can get customized, tailored blinds, screens and awnings to deal with the problems on a case by case basis if necessary. You can arrange for a consultation to protect your valuable property and talk through the options, finding a good working solution to any situation.

Check out the options, and you will find solutions.

Windows

These are windows of Saung Dolken (Dolken House), a rented wooden villa. The villa located inside a fishing place area. It takes only ten minutes car ride to reach the place. I've never yet rented the villa, as it's too big for only one family.

The Weekend in Black and White

Installing a New Shower Rose

Is the shower rose in your bathroom old fashioned? Is it too low? Does it leak or use too much water? What about the shower taps-have they almost achieved antique status?

A quick way for you to take years off your bathroom is to replace these ancient fittings with new, good looking modern ones. They can, in most cases, simply be screwed onto the existing wall outlets.

Shower roses come in a variety of shapes and finishes. Many have specific uses. For example, by varying the number of holes in the shower rose and their diameter, some shower roses cut down water consumption. This is useful if water and heating bills are excessive or if water pressure is low.

The bubble-stream shower rose is a clever little innovation worth considering; it mixes air with the water to give the illusion of a fast-running shower.

Other roses are pulsating and according to the manufacturers, they are therapeutic as well stimulating! These types meter the water out in spurts of varying intensity and volume, and can also be adjusted to give a normal spray.

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Maintenance and Rental Properties- Why It's so Important to be on Top of any Problems

There’s an unholy and remarkably stupid myth in the rental market that not doing maintenance saves money. Nothing could possibly be further from the truth. Failure to maintain rental properties can be an absolute financial disaster, and a self-inflicted one, for landlords who are foolish enough to believe this myth. Property maintenance is a form of control over assets, like home insurance for homeowners, making sure that those assets are properly protected.

Maintenance basics- The difference between making and losing money on rental properties

Buildings can’t repair themselves. They also can’t do much about typical wear and tear, or their age. Nor can plumbing or wiring fittings be expected to survive without regular maintenance. These fittings can also become dangerous to buildings, in the case of electrical fittings risking fires and with plumbing, actual destruction of the building and/or damage to other buildings.

Building structures are also vulnerable. Rising damp, movements in the footings of buildings and other problems can literally gut a building, given time. A small structural problem can be relied upon to become a major issue, particularly if you’re thinking of selling. Prompt maintenance is the cheapest, quickest way to deal with these issues. It’s also the only way of preventing major costs later on.

Case study

Ridiculous as it is to believe that not spending $100 on simple repairs is “making money”, it’s even more bizarre if you consider that a simple plumbing job can prevent spending thousands on water damage later.

This is a simple case study of a rental apartment’s maintenance issues:
The apartment is on the fourth floor. It’s an older building, circa 1970s vintage, with a timber frame and brick veneer exterior. The apartment’s plumbing is the same age and also experiencing “water hammer”, knocking on the pipes and spitting water coming out of taps, indicating problems. To save money, the owner does nothing, despite repeated warnings from the real estate agent.

The plumbing gives up the ghost one weekend while the tenant is away. It was simply too old and water pressure in the pipes finished it off. The apartments below are flooded. The water flows through gaps in the old apartment block and emerges in a large pool in front of the building. The owner receives multiple lawsuits from the owners of the apartments below and the strata title manager also threatens legal action.

For the sake of saving a few dollars on a correctible problem, the property owner is now faced with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damages, plus legal costs. Half of the building is now uninhabitable, and the amount of water which has seeped through the rest of the building is also a possible problem.

Was being cheap about maintenance a good idea? How could it be? The plumbing was sure to cause trouble at some point. “Water hammer” is a well-known sign of potential problems about to emerge.

Maintenance in this case would have been the equivalent of contents insurance, making sure that any risks from the building’s fittings was under control.

The moral of the story is simple enough: Maintenance = common sense. Don’t take the risk- Find and fix problems as they occur.

ATV Ride

Last Sunday, we hosted a family gathering at a restaurant inside a fishing place. After the event was over and guests were going home; we tried to have an ATV ride.

My hubby rode it first to learn driving it. Later, both of us were wandering around the place by ATV. It’s fun!

Home Security Basics

Security is an issue for most homes and the fact is that the simplest approach is often the best. Sophisticated alarm systems do provide a lot of features, but the bottom line is always going to be preventing access to your home. A good security door is as important as any other feature in achieving a reliable level of security.

Homeowners, understandably, often feel a bit baffled by the security issues and are sometimes mystified by the security technology now on the market. The other issue is cost, and for big homes, that can be significant. However, it’s not a lost cause for homeowners.

Good security pays for itself, providing peace of mind and it’s actually pretty simple to understand when you know how this technology works. In many cases in relation to home security, simpler is better. Modern security doors are designed to take major impacts, cutting and any attempt to break them down. An intruder won’t get in, simply because they can’t. Security experts will tell you that’s the most effective deterrent of all.

Home security issues

The major security issue with any home is access. What points can be used to get into the home easily? The usual culprits are old windows without security screens or old doors which can’t provide much resistance to a break in, because they’re not designed to do that.

The best approach to access issues is to make a list of the weak points and upgrade them. If you have a local security firm, it’s worth your while to get a professional inspection done. Security screen doors and window suppliers can also give you some useful tips.

Integrating your security

It’s actually very easy to integrate door and window security with an alarm system. Most of these alarms work on the magnetic lock principle, meaning that if a window or door is opened, the circuit is broken, triggering an alarm.

Security doors are easy to fit with alarms, and have the added advantage of acting together as double security layers.

The same situation applies to windows. Unless using security screens, windows are no real barrier to access from outside. Best practice is to use the same sort of double security as on the doors, and it’s equally straightforward, using similar principles.

Shopping for security doors and other features

The best option for consumers is to do some research online and learn about the security products available:

Security screen doors and windows: Check out the top of the range first. This will show you the best products available, and you’ll also have a figure for your budget. You’ll be able to compare quality and deals and make an informed decision.

Security alarms: Service and value for money are the big issues in security alarms. Top of the range is a monitored alarm system, meaning monitored 24/7 with direct access to police and emergency services. Compare rates, services provided and any options the security firms provide.

Home security is actually pretty straightforward. All you need to do is make sure you get the products and services that make you feel most secure.