The work begins

The building inspector said everything was in fair condition for a building built in 1925. There were some problems of course. The old owner didn't do any work unless it would fall apart and then just did a half-assed hack job. The radiators drip a bit from the blowoff valves as radiators are wont to do. This had been going on long enough that the hardwood floors underneath had rotted out and the radiators were tipped down the wrong way. Not only was it ugly, but they couldn't drain properly so they banged and rattled. Chris (my contractor) and ! spent several weeks cutting out the rotted wood and replacing it w/ durarock covered w/ tile. Now they are level and impervious to water. ! got to paint every one of the radiators. Some were black. Some were white. One was gold. Then the leases started expiring. Tenants would move. ! guess they didn't like having the holes in their floors fixed and a manager who they could actually get in touch w/. As vacancies came up it was obvious that painting hadn't been done for nearly 10 years. ! wanted to do something special so no off-white. Yellow, blue, green. Alas, ! bought just as vacancies in one of the best rental 'hoods in Denver exploded. Low interest rates were drawing renters to ownership and thousands of new apartments were coming on the market as the recession hit. Rents were beginning to plunge. Must hang on.