r/ApartmentMaintenance

Corporate recently said we are NO longer allowed to move appliances (washer/dryers, fridges, water heaters,etc) across property using golf carts. Essentially they want us to hand truck everything. We are a very large property with a big hill as well. Summers here trend in the 100s.

How are y’all transporting your appliances to units? Any suggestions as to what we can do/use? We don’t have a company truck nor does corporate foresee any budget for one. Thx.

I’m renting a condo downtown Toronto, I moved in August 2025 and dropped a spice jar causing the corner of my stove top to crack. All the elements still work perfectly fine. It looks cosmetic…

We had someone come in and put some epoxy on the corner which helped a ton.

I’m moving out next year and just want to know how to go about this. I haven’t told my landlord about it but it’s in my contract that any damage to appliances I am liable to fix. The stove top is not damaged as it still works but the glass is cosmetically damaged.

Does this count as wear and tear? Do I have to pay for the replacement of the whole stovetop? Can insurance cover it? What is the best way to go about this? Please help!!

The hot water heater in my condo blew a gasket this morning and the water flooded out of my unit, into the unit below me and into the hallway below that. The condo is in DC, rented out, and I live in California. The plumbers called in today (Michael & Son) to address the emergency are insisting that remediation MUST start within 24 -48 hours or there will be terrible mold etc. They have not provided a quote for any of that work saying "The reason we wait until the work is complete is that restoration is a dynamic process." The quote they gave to replace my water heater (over $4K) seems exorbitant, so I'm not exactly filled with trust. My preference would be to get several quotes and determine what my insurance company will pay before starting. Any thoughts on whether the damage is likely to become that much more severe if they start Monday instead of tomorrow?

UPDATE: thanks all, for the wisdom. Moving as quickly as I can over here (I did call my insurance company immediately).

hello everyone

We recently evicted a tenant successfully for non payment of rent and were given back the keys to our house through the sheriff’s involvement.

Our house was brand new and we have paid around $4k just to remove the junk that this tenant had left behind (yes it seems she was a terrible hoarder).

Apart from this and significant other repairs I had a question which is concerning me the most - THE CAT Litter smell.

I noticed a few cat droppings in the unfinished basement area and a few pee marks near the baseboard.

I need everyone’s sincere advice, on how I can get rid of smell and if you know of any companies who provide full scale service from - deep cleaning, enzymatic cleaning, ozone and if needed odor sealing in the OTTAWA area.

To give you what I have done:

1. removed the carpet and their underside and disposed it off (carpet was only on the stairs)

2. we did a round of deep cleaning but I’m not very happy with the cleaners that came in since they didn’t do such a good job.

3. junk removal and any cat feaces have been removed form the house.

Pls any recommendation would be appreciated on a company that can deep clean the entire house using enzymatic cleaners, undertake odor sealing on all floors and basement and then do an ozone treatment throughout the house.

Thank you

I live in an apartment and I mostly love it, it’s sunny, it’s quiet, it’s affordable, and I don’t really want to move, BUT:

it gets mold along the windows and glass no matter what I do. They did a landlord special before I moved in, everything painted over with primer, ok pretty standard, and mold control is outlined as my responsibility in the lease so I stay up on cleaning it, and haven’t complained about it. They haven’t been very responsive to other issues (took a year to fix the package locker when someone broke in, it was fixed two months and then someone broke in again and it’s stayed like that; we have an ongoing DV situation that escalates periodically that they can’t do much about legally but I don’t think they’ve even tried, &c), so I don’t have high hopes about their responsiveness with this and I don’t want to be charged for mold damage when I have been doing my best to keep it under control.

Then in the last year there’s been a mild persistent smell of damp that in the last four months has increased to rank mildew and sometimes rot. I got air filters that I run constantly to deodorize, but no dice. There’s a coating of white powdery mold on stuff in my closet I don’t use often (suitcase, less comfortable shoes) and in a desperate attempt to get rid of the smell I got three bags of damp rid which filled IMMEDIATELY.

This feels like something structural that’s beyond my ability to address with cleaning and keeping the environment dry.

Anyone have experience with a situation like this, is there anything I can do besides move, or should I give in and move?

Ive been at this property management company for about 2 ish months now. To make a long story short. I was put at this old property thats been neglected, 16 vacancies. As im going throught the vacants i bring up multiple things i notice (do these rusted fixtures need replacing and ither things of that nature, trying to get a feel for what they want me to do) anyways i get told we need to get these units turned asap and thay well focus more on renovating later. Okay so i finished one of the turns and a family moves in and the next day my prop. Manager gets a lengthy email saying its "hard to live in" and i get chewed out by my maintenance supervisor. I basically told him like "hey i brought up my concerns multiple times but you guys wanted to rush the turn and this is what happens" and im all for learning and being coachable but i cant help feel like im being used as a scapegoat even after i felt like i did exactly what they asked. To also add my maintenance supervisor was in that unit with me for a couple hours thay day and didnt notice any of that stuff. Let me know what you guys think.

I was in a vacant apartment doing some touch up cleaning and realized I could greatly improve the appearance of the toilet. I did, and after I washed my hands I heard a steady drip. I discovered it was in the plumbing for the bathroom sink drain. I submitted a maintenance request and the maintenance person came and got me to show him where it was. He ran some water, didn't find the drip, felt around the fittings, and, with his finger visibly wet from where he felt for the leak, gave up on it and left!

It wouldn't bother me so much except that most of the job postings I see for maintenance people expect a person to be on the level of a journeyman plumber and HVAC person and a master carpenter to even be considered for a position. There is such a big contrast between what is expected on paper and actual performance.