With any luck the fluff from the cotton wood trees will soon be done for this year. Someone sure wasn’t thinking long term when they picked them as the tree of choice and then planted them too close to the buildings.

The purpose of these newsletters is to keep all residents informed and ask you to help us control costs. The condo fees go directly to paying the bills as well as save/set aside money for larger projects. If you are a renter, your rent goes to your landlord who uses a part of that rent to pay condo fees. If expenses go up so do condo fees and logically rents as well. We all play a part in what it costs to run this complex and we sure would appreciate your help.

Water is a large part of our budget.  Please use the water sensibly. If you suspect there is a water leak PLEASE report it immediately. Make sure your taps don’t drip and your toilet doesn’t run.  We have encountered a few water leaks over the past year or two. Not only is it costly to waste water, but water can do a lot of damage if not caught early. If we catch these leaks early, we normally can repair the damage for hundreds of dollars. If left a few days, it becomes thousands of dollars. Please note, if water damage goes unreported, you or your tenant may be liable for the increased amount of damage and any delays in content removal or occupancy incurred during repairs.  By the way, our insurance company has just increased our water damage deductible from $5,000. to $10,000.

One place where we don’t mind you using a bit more water is in the laundry room. The washing machines are continually being overloaded. Please fill the washer only until the laundry is ½ to ¾ the way up the window. (½ for heavy items and ¾ for light items.) You don’t pay per laundry load, so please split the load into two.

When you overload the washing machine several things happen:

• To start, your laundry doesn’t come clean and secondly it damages the machines;
• Overloaded washers put pressure on the door and the unit leaks water out the front;
• During the spin cycle, excessive loads cause undue and premature wear on critical parts.

We had to replace one unit in building142 at a cost of almost $4,000.  The dryers of coarse don’t use water but they do use electricity. And boy, do some of you ever overdo it there. Very little cannot be dried in 40 – 45 minutes, unless, again, it’s overloaded. These dryers can run very hot and that heat over an extra 30 minutes wears out your clothes much quicker.

The south facing roof of buildings #138, #140, and #142 had the shingles replaced last month along with ice and Water shield under them. The Chimneys were removed and the ducting was all redone to code. There was no code for this when this building was constructed.  The south side facing roof of buildings #130, #132, and #134 will undergo the same procedure next spring. We hope the north facing roofs will last another 4 or 5 years. 

The past two winters has created some icy conditions around the complex. It seems that our weather patterns are changing, since we did not have similar conditions prior to that. This past winter, we took steps to reduce the ice by hauling away the snow piles a few times prior to the spring melt. To address this issue, we also had Pot Holes Plus fill in the low spots: pathway / sidewalk & 2 entrance approaches on the school side up to and including Bldg. 132 (to minimize standing water from run off) and in the fire lane the ramp entrances for Bldg. 134 & 138 to help eliminate pooling of the melted snow during the day which turns into ice overnight. We are hopeful that we have created safe passage to and from the parking lot and the bus stop. However, you will still need to adjust your pace to surface conditions and watch where you are stepping.

We all want to live in a nice tidy complex – this is our home. From time to time, we get complaints of untidy and/or messy balconies / patios. Some of the complaints consist of: garbage and recycling being stored on the balcony, boxes, coolers, totes, empty beer or wine bottles as well as hanging laundry. Please try to keep your balcony /patio clean & uncluttered and limit your contents to items usually associated with balconies / patios, such as Patio furniture, BBQs, etc.

It was brought up by one of our owners at the AGM that we re-stain the patio fences on the main floor. This is not within our budget at this time. However, if you would like to freshen up your fence, we would be willing to discuss the process required to re-coat the fence, provide you with the stain / paint color and reimburse you for the cost of the paint/stain upon completion (receipt is required).

We hope you all have a great summer and thank you for helping make Paddington Green a great place to live.

Your Board of Directors