Another apartment woes thread

[UtwigMU]

I moved to new place this week. Since I do more and more consulting work for one company which is 100km drive away 1h commutes or staying in hotel was becoming unbearable and they were not to thrilled about me showing up around noon or so.

I rented 2.5 room apartment (bedroom, kitchen, living/dining room with balcony, little room) in a very nice place. Price was only 25% more than 1 room without balcony. It's about 10 min walk from Italy and 10 min drive from company. I also considered renting on Italian side (rents are same, it's cheaper to buy) but Italian ISPs are slower, fiber is less spread and they block things (here they don't).

There is a bit of boom in west Slovenia (lowest unemployment rate in the country) so 1-room apartments are non-existant. For this one I had to pay 2.5 rents as deposit/fee (often you can get away with 1 rent as deposit).

So the woes that I'm having:
- no washing machine. I'm wondering whether to buy new for 300-ish or used for 100-ish (I may not need it in couple of years.)
- no mattress. Since when I rented I didn't know the size of the bed I bought blow up bed in Jysk. It's surprisingly not bad for the price. You do wake about 5cm lower then you went to sleep though. I can borrow company van and go to Ikea which is only 15 min drive into Italy away. But I need to buy washing machine before I buy bed linen.
- one section on glass ceramic stove is broken
- kitchen boiler doesn't work.
- no internet yet. I'm using my phone to tether and until midnight I only get Edge speed. Facebook feed without images (2500ms ping) looks like Twitter. They will connect fiber on Monday though.
- i need to paint the flat.

I need to cancel, paint and empty the office I had been renting until now before I focus on the apartment. I'm only renting so I won't put as much effort as VJ in it.

Pics Soon(TM)

[VJ]

I moved to new place this week. Since I do more and more consulting work for one company which is 100km drive away 1h commutes or staying in hotel was becoming unbearable and they were not to thrilled about me showing up around noon or so.

Nice! Hope it all goes well. Most of those woes seem quite common for many apartments, so nothing too worrying. Lack of a washing machine may be the most difficult one to decide on...

Pics Soon(TM)

Now I really have to hurry up... there is competition!

[UtwigMU]

Yesterday went to Ikea (only 15 mins away) and bought king size matress and two slatted bases. Everything fit in little VW Polo. Since mattress is vacuum packet it needs 3 days to take shape.

[VJ]

I did the same! In the apartment I rented initially there was no bed, just a fold out couch. So I went to Ikea, was lucky have a promotion on a full bed and had it shipped to the apartment (my car was not there yet).

The unpacking of such a mattress is hilarious though... I cut open the plastic and then it just starts growing and growing... (I was a bit unprepared)
But I can tell you that after that it is fine, even though at first it may seem odd but it will really take shape.

[UtwigMU]

To fit bed support I had to saw off 25x5mm piece of slat support in the edge. Bed is now done.
Optics is connected just in time to download Game of Thrones yesterday.
I figured out how to turn on boiler in the kitchen and got dishwasher going.

[UtwigMU]

While working on this project another apartment project came. There is an apartment that belongs to mother's relative and mother is managing the apartment. Since the apartment wasn't in the greatest shape, the rent has also not been that good and it had been empty during the summer.

Me and brother decided to help, so we bought new kitchen in Ikea (which I designed together with Ikea staff speaking only Italian), new bed and new chairs. We repainted the entire place, stripped the 70's painted over wallpapers, stripped the old kitchen wall tiles. Contractors did some of the work as I live and work 100km away. I did some of the painting, old tiles removal, furniture assembly, contractor coordination, new electrical sockets and switches, rerouted fiber cable, threw out old phone cable.

The woes were: the dudes stripping tiles understood my instructions wrong and at first did the wall leveling wrong with a bump where tiles were. The guys assembling kitchen had one part missing and had to come back twice. While me and brother transported bulk of the stuff (you won't believe what you can fit in VW Polo) they still had to bring a few minor pieces missing and come back once more for water leak but everything is fine. We still ended up paying transportation fees. In the end they cost 3-times as much as anticipated but did good job at the end. Since we decided to strip wallpapers there was a whole lot more work with painting. I wasn't paying attention and bought fancy glossy black Italian light switches and sockets for 90 EUR. When I tried to mount them, the rim wouldn't fit on plastic frame since it got bent. The way they assemble is same as Kinder Surprise. I think Italians should focus on culinary, design and fashion and leave technical stuff to others . I bought plain white Slovenian switches and sockets with metal frame and they're much better fit. The watter outlet in the kitchen got clogged in the plumber had to come. Overall the project was a month late and cost twice as much as planned initially (mainly since we did more things than we had planned).

I'm getting good at this. Now I can turn attention back to my own apartment - I need to improve the office: Two desks, bookshelves and generally make the place a bit better.

[VJ]

(you won't believe what you can fit in VW Polo)

Oh, I believe that.

For desks, I just got some finished panels (like table tops) and solid legs: it makes for a very light desk which is easy to move, while being very sturdy (the legs can hold up to 500 kg each).

At our place, full building renovations are planned; it is a five year plan which includes everything: facade, isolation, gas, electricity in the common areas (and connection to the apartments), common areas (floors, walls), security systems (video intercom, self closing fire doors) to even the heating system.

Particularly the latter will create the need for some renovation inside the flat. But I've been living there for 6 years now, the building renovation is scheduled over a 5 year period, so by the time they get to it it is probably time to refresh the flat a bit anyway. I would love to change the wardrobe and the closets in the corridor: there were still by the previous owner and while they don't look bad, the internal organization is sub-optimal. That might be the thing to do next time, after the renovations...