long story...

My brother is moving into his rental property in Commerce Twp.  He'll be moving from an apartment that he'd been renting month to month since his divorce a year ago.

The rental house was being rented out for the last 3.5 years by a husband and wife, who have decided to move on to cheaper accommodations.

He went over there just over a week ago to assess how much cleaning/paint would be needed so that he could live there comfortably.

He left a post on his Facebook Wall that pretty much said "HELP!"

So, since I'm a part-timer now (have I told you yet that "I LOVE IT!!!"?), I have some time to help him out.

The first day I went over there was Monday, March 1.

It was dirty, but what was more remarkable was how smelly the house was.  You walk around the house shaking your head because you have to try to figure out how it is that people decide to live this way; in dirt, grime, smell, dust, filth.

I told my bro that it would take a week to get the house together.  Yesterday marked the end of  the week and I would say it's livable, but not nearly done.  Good thing it's livable, because he was planning to be out of the apartment yesterday.

I went there to help 4 days.  Jerome came after work and helped as well.  My bro had some friends stop by and do a little something here and there - and his son came by a couple of times to help.

What was accomplished?  All walls were washed down (from all the nicotine stains), the kitchen was cleaned top to bottom, the bathroom was cleaned so that you felt that you could actually use it without getting a parasite.  Blinds were soaked, washed, adjusted and re-installed.  Carpets were cleaned, windows were washed, Living Room, hallway and 1 bedroom were painted.  Shelves were constructed for closets.  Garage and Basement were swept out.  A free washer was picked up (thanks Craigslist).

And he moved from the apartment to the house.

Comments

Charisa said…
He's lucky to have a sister like you!
Jabbles said…
I get to get a peek inside many peoples home when I am there to fix the furnace, you are right sometimes you really wonder how people live like that. I will be the first to admit I can be messy but some of the houses I have seen were nasty, and even then I know for a fact there are much worse one out there.
Jan Marie said…
Smells are a funny thing. The Gear absolutely stunk when we took possession. Removing carpet helped. Then when we removed the old vinyl,linoleum, and the horse hide glue that held it down. That removed some of the old house smell in the kitchen.

Removing all this old paint has helped also. We also noticed that when we removed some old rotted wood and discovered a squirrel's home and storage pantry and removed that mess...it also helped.

I'm hoping that by painting the walls and sanding the old finish off the floors that it will remove the last of the old house smells.

When we looked at the house during a walk through, R opened a closet and it was stacked about a foot deep with old tennis shoes. OMG the smells was horrific.

And never underestimate the power of a good three wick soy candle!!!!

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