"Character" is not all it's cracked up to be

[tamarinne]

My condo, built in the 1920's, has "character". My condo has also decided to drain my bathtub into the downstairs neighbor's bathroom ceiling, courtesy of the eighty-year-old plumbing. Other examples of my condo's Character include a catastrophic roof failure a few years ago, an inadequate electrical system, no central air, windows that rattle in every breeze, and a kitchen that will not quite hold one person.

Next time I buy a place, to hell with character. I want modern anemities, and I want them NOW.

Comments

[gsh]

*wince*

[reedrover]

How about one with modern anemones? I hear they are tasty and comfortable.

I totally understand. I can't live happily without at least a full size washer and dryer and dishwasher.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've got a dishwasher, but the plumbing system is inadequate to support a washing machine. *sigh* Go back to school? Or buy a new place? I hate making decisions like this.

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

The fault doesn't lie in the character, but in the maintenance. You can have a place with character without problems caused by deferred maintenance. You just need to DO the maintenance.

I would much rather have a place designed before central air, than one after in which the central air doesn't work...

I have a place with character, it is only 3 years old, but it, like everything else, has maintenance issues. None of the things you lament are particular to places with character, or even old places. My sister's 8 year old plumbing emptied the tub (large modern luxury tub) into her living room, this past winter.

Sorry.

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

I realized that like an engineer I tried to provide solution, instead of offering sympathy. Hope things are going well otherwise.

Shouldn't you be off to Pennsic to enjoy some relaxation?

Re: Sorry.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

*grin* I have the same problem - people want a sympathetic ear, and instead I try to fix the problem. But you're right - the problem is maintenance. The problem is also that I can't control what maintenance wasn't done in the 75 years prior to my purchase of the place, and a lot of the problems weren't superficially visible when I bought it - or were tolerable then, but now have started to annoy me.

And several people have pointed out to me that any house will have it's problems, which is true. I guess what I really want is to live with my parents again - not really, but in the sense that taking care of the house was their problem, not mine. :)

I'm off to Pennsic soon now - whee! Which will, of course, have a whole different set of living issues. Looking at the weather forecast today, there are little thundercloud pictures on every day between now and the end of Pennsic. Joy!