Joyce Kropewnicki

We have been remodeling apartment E5 since August 2012. Every time we looked at the place, more items for change cropped up.

This place was rented for about 20 years by John and Mary.  They raised their kids there and John died there.  When we bought the apartment in 1998, they came with the place.  John was a grumpy kind of guy who always had a half empty glass and plenty to complain about.  Mary was a sweet lady who worked hard at her job at Coors to support the family.  One of them was a smoker and maybe both liked to drink a lot of beer.  I often bumped into John at the trash dumpster deposited his empty 24 pack of cans or bottles from the evening before.  There was a scrawny pine tree barely growing close to his front door.   He told me that he planted it and it was his tree.  It just didn’t get enough water or care to make the thing grow past four or five feet tall.  As Mary became ill and had some disabilities that didn’t allow her to work anymore, John became distraught.  As long as I knew him, John had never held a job.

John finally couldn’t take it anymore and shot himself dead.  It was such a blow to Mary and others at the apartment complex who had grown to like the guy with all his short comings.  I remember going to his funeral.  We talked briefly with his wife Mary and meet his grown children and grandchildren.  It is such a trauma when something like that happens.  His son cleaned up the mess and painted the apartment as if nothing had happened.

We thought Mary wouldn’t be able to keep the apartment with all the memories and cost.  I remember whenever I saw her come to the door she was in a well wore bathrobe.  My daughter and I bought her a new one and took it to her shortly after John died.  She was so happy to have it.  Next time we stopped by she wore it proudly and looked so cheery as she stood in the doorway.

At Christmas we deliver Baskets of Joy to various neighbors in the community.  If a person who had signed up for one had moved or passed on, we could go ahead and deliver it to someone in need.  We always thought of Mary first.

A couple of years went by and Mary finally moved in with one of her children.  We were happy for her to have her family close to help her out.

Her place stayed vacant for a couple more years as we working on other more pressing needs at the complex.  Finally, this past fall in August 2012, it was time to take this one on.  I had repainted it the summer of 2011 and Miguel, our part time helper, had removed the carpet including the kitchen carpet.

We surveyed the wear and tare that had taken it’s toll from having the same tenant for over 20 years.  I thought I would be easier to fix it up than what we discovered.  Each day we would assess the situation and possible solutions.  We would look at the bathroom with its well wore tub and tiles that had been patched and patched.  Stan concentrated on the bathroom floor and his concerns.  I worked on chipping up the old vinyl floor while he pulled the toilet to get a better look at the soft floor.

He had a better feel for damage that needed repair than I did.  I thought we could make due with the tile and tub with a little clean up.  Knowing the floor was soft from water damage under the tub, Stan knew the tub was coming out too.  I spent a while chipping off the tiles and cutting holes in the end walls so we could remove the tub.   The back wall was a brick firewall.  When Stan disconnected the tub hardware we could carry out the tub to be recycled at the local recycling center.  The side of the tub had the date it was installed in 1970.  I guess it was about time it was removed.

Now to the floor. It took a while to pry up the pieces of flooring. I worked on it using a small saw around the edges and a crow bar. The nails with their twisted shaft, just didn’t come up easily. When it just got to be too hard of work, Stan took over the demolition. Stan had to go clear down to the joints to remove the damaged wood. He relaid the sub-floor and then the top layer. Months went by while we worked every day on something at the apartment.

While I was working on the bathroom floor, Stan had been removing the old oven / stove and rewiring  it for safety. He moved to the bathroom to do the “real” work while I moved to the kitchen to see if I could make some progress there.

Twenty or so years of jam and other such things being spilled on the cupboards had taken their tole.  I washed and scrubbed a little until we decided a make-over was required.  We shopped at Buds Warehouse and Extras looking for cabinet door replacements.  Bud’s (I70) had stacks and stacks of the most beautiful solid wooden cabinet doors.  Unfortunately, they had nothing that would fit our size of cabinets.  Less to inventory, but similar experience at Extras off furniture row by I25 and I70.  So much to choose from and nothing fit.  Big disappointment.

I was relegated to cleaning, sanding and painting for the months of December and January.  This Old House had a web site Do-It-Yourself (DIY), link with just the information I needed to re-painted the cabinets and doors.  Of course, they did it zip-zip.  It took me a couple of months to get all the steps completed.  What a mess cleaning up the gook in the corners of the cupboard doors with a stiff brush and heavy duty purple cleaner.  Good I wore rubber gloves.

Once cleaned, I sanded then down using 100 grade paper.  Keep in mind I sat at a desk every day before retiring in January 2012.  I really didn’t use tools or sanders.  Now I did.  Stan bought me a little sander as his was too heavy.  I had a couple of cupboard doors that were literally falling apart.  They had been patched with little nails and glued with some silicone type gloppy glue.  I had to chisel it off.  I used some smelly wood filler and then found a tube of safer and washable putty that worked better.  The ones I fixed were just marginally passable.  The rest looked pretty good.

The inside of the cupboards were stained with years of use.  After washing them I painted them a nice tan color.  It really made a difference to clean them up.  We decided to keep the outsides brown as a contrast to all the white we had on the appliances and walls.

As it turned, out our renter did not take us up on our offer to do some painting at the apartment to help out to update his late rent. He just didn’t show up and didn’t bother calling.

Nor did his squatter pay us what she deemed was her part of the rent.

These vague decisions and lengthy stories have caused us to proceed with eviction.

Sometimes disappointing circumstances in renters situations intersect with business decisions.

Court date for the renter is 2-5.  We checked 2-4 and squatter was still there with more tails of moving soon with a house and job all lined up.  It finally, just goes in one ear and out the other.

Today was an eye opening experience at the apartments. One renter was in Aurora shooting – injured with a bullet in his head. His girlfriend was shoot in chest and stomach – is now paralyzed and lost a baby of his she was carrying. Her little girl was shot dead.

We have worked with him for months on the rent. He is trying to be responsible to his lease while living with his uncle in Aurora.

He was able to receive some funds from the shooting gifts. Now that time is up. He was trying to be responsible and had sublet (not really cleared by us) to a friend or more from one of his rehab groups.

Turns out his homeless friend had her three kids also visiting and another homeless women. She explained she was a recovering addict and was on the upswing from her last relapse. She is a really smart accountant and knows the ins and outs of land lord rights and her rights during evictions. We don’t really have any lease with her. She claims that February 1st she will have a “bed” at New Directions. It has taken her 4 months to get into that service. She is unable to hold a job for 45 days as part of their program. Some of the rules for help just don’t make any logical sense. I don’t know where she finds money for food. Paying utilities is just out of the question and added on to all of our rates.

We could either evict the guy on the lease which will take about 2 weeks: ~2-1-2013 when her bed will be ready. We were just taken back by how smart people do life changing things that effect so many. It puts everyone between a rock and a hard place.

What a tear in the fabric of our society.!. She has no place to live while she waits for government / charity help, if she hadn’t squatted at our place thanks to the soft heart of the guy who was shot in the Aurora situation. I didn’t really want to make her cry, but did. Not sure if this was just a reaction to her standard operating zone when confronted with issues or it was real.

At any rate we are out Jan rent while the Aurora guy continues to try to get his life together while visiting his girlfriend in Aurora who was paralyzed at the shooting and then he drives occasionally back across town to our apartment to check on why rent is not paid by his homeless friends. He’s only 28 and it sure is a lot for a guy so young to endure.

He is a tree surgeon and mostly out of work in the winter. He said he could paint. I start him on Wednesday to paint the outside of our apartment eves where I can’t reach. Heights sure don’t bother him as they do me. Nor does climbing up on a ladder, which my knees just don’t tolerate.