Nine years of nicotine stains, this fixture had a light cover

Today was dedicated to thorough toothbrush cleaning of every surface in the front bedroom of my rental unit at Holiday Park with Fabulouso cleaner.   Look what years of nicotine smoke can do – and yes the light fixture had a cover on it until now.   The ceiling was primed yesterday with stain killer, then painted.  I can’t really complain though.  My tenant lived there for 9 years, she was the ideal tenant, paid rent on time and asked for minimal repairs.  Even the dozens of cigarette burn holes were on the carpet that she put down.   There was the matter of me finding that underneath both bathroom sinks, the shelves had all but crumbled due to some water leak in the past.  I wrote on Facebook, “And it’s deja vu all over again in the front bathroom cabinet under the sink. This crumbling set of shelves my tenant never told me about. I’ll have my friend and master craftsman Tod McNeal check it out. ”  

Fabuloso works great at removing nicotine stains and smells — wear gloves when cleaning nicotine or you may get nicotine poisoned as I did

One thing I like to do is take care of any rental repairs as soon as they happen.  Especially in the case of any kind of water leak since it’s a mobile home.  The subfloors on these older models were made of particle board, which pretty much dissolves when it gets wet.  Tod tightened theplumbing and built cabinet shelves in the master bathroom earlier this week.  He used a combination of plywood and hardiboard, and that’s what we’ll reinforce the floors with wherever it needs it.   After watching some youtube videos on mobile home floor repair last night, when I saw the damage underneath the sink in the second bathroom today,  I didn’t freak out because I knew what the fix was.  Subfloor damage just means the new floor will be stronger, and be a real floor, not a fake cardboard floor.

Today I went to Home Depot and got more supplies,  toilet seats, ceiling lights, light bulbs, I still need burner pans.  My priority was going to be cleaning the interior windows and window frames of the front bedroom, and especially toothbrushng all the crevices and corners.  Nicotine gets into everything and leaves a fine orange film.  I unscrewed all the window locks and scrubbed them with Fabuloso cleaner and a toothbrush.

Nicotine stained metal windowframe, cleaning with my bare hands

This is the window frame in the room my tenant smoked in most.  To the left is where I ran the cleaning cloth once along the metal frame and on the bottom is the part of the frame I have not yet cleaned. Fabuloso is great for knocking out nicotine stains and smells,  thanks Tod for that landlordly tip.) Make sure to wear plastic gloves when cleaning so you don’t get nicotine poisoned as I did (ugh!)

Even if it looks clean, I’ll give all surfaces a few more complete wipeovers just to be sure. I like my living space to be light, bright and fresh so I’m sure everyone else appreciates that also.

I worked as long as I could and then came home.  I met the next door neighbor on the way out.  I told him to put in his order for what kind of neighbor he’d like.  “Quiet,” he said.  I’ll hold that vision!  I’ve had a couple of inquiries on the rental already.  It will be ready by Sept 1, so I’m prepaving and doing my visualization and staying in the vortex.

Andrea

Getting my rental property ready for the next lucky tenant
Wear gloves cleaning nicotine damage to avoid poisoning
My tenant is moving out this weekend