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KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010 / APARTMENT GUIDE
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Students face challenges with apartment maintenance
BY BRENDAN ALLEN
ballen@kansan.com
Living on your own can certainly be a challenge: There's rent to pay, roommates to find, and a multitude of other responsibilities that come with spreading your wings of freedom. The safety net is gone and situations often arise that call for independent problem solving.
For the lucky ones, debating the most efficient placement of a futon may be the most difficult problem that occurs. But for people such as Patrick Green, a junior from Lawrence, mismatched furniture would be a welcome sight in comparison to the horror story he's been through.
"During the winter of 2008, I was sitting in the living room playing video games. Both of my roommates were gone," Green said. "All of the sudden, I start hearing a hissing sound, like someone releasing an air hose. I couldn't really tell where it was coming from."
an inch of water on the floor."
After contacting the emergency maintenance, Green was forced to wait approximately 30 minutes for help to arrive. Finally, a maintenance worker was able to shut off the water flow. However, a new complication arose.
"I just kind of peer into the kitchen, and I notice that there's a jet of water shooting out of the drywall." Green said. "It's not like it's dribbling, it's literally shooting a stream of water seven feet across the kitchen and hitting the other wall. I step into the kitchen and there is
Green then investigated the other rooms in his townhouse.
"They had to replace the entire pipes and remove the drywall," Green said. "We didn't have water for the rest of the week. We had to go to our parents' houses to do laundry. It was horrible."
Lauren Giroux, a sophomore from Chicago, didn't have the luxury of returning home when she experienced her own apartment misfortune last January.
"The heat went out in our apartment, and it was one of those weeks where it was like 15 degrees outside," Giroux said. "At first we didn't realize it was out, so one of my roommates kept trying to put the thermostat up to 85 degrees."
Valerie Skubal/KANSAN
After three days with no heat, Giroux finally called her complex's office about the problem.
"Some people came and it turned out that it was a problem with our fan," Giroux said. "And the next day the fan went out again and started blowing out cold air."
In order to stay warm, Giroux and her roommates had to layer up.
Disasters can strike at any time for students living on their own. When Lauren Giroux, a sophomore from Chicago, lost heat in her apartment, she and her roommates had to resort to bundling up to keep warm indoors. Lauren Turner, director of marketing for Crosswinds Apartments emphasizes the need for communication with maintenance staff about problems.
"It was to the point where we were wearing hats and gloves to bed to stay warm," Giroux
When disasters strike, it's important to maintain communication with apartment staff. Lauren Turner, director of marketing for Crosswinds Apartments, suggests talking over
said. "All the rooms have terrible insulation, so without heat we had a lot of cold air coming in. I think I was wearing three layers to bed every night, with long underwear, sweats, two comforters and three blankets. I didn't sleep for four days." Luckily, Giroux found her apartment's management to be very supportive during the ordeal.
any problems with maintenance employees.
"You need to notify management as soon as possible," Turner said. "Try to explain what happened as far as your knowledge, and if anything led up to the problem."
Finally, Turner stresses the importance of simply asking apartment staff for help with any problems tenants may have.
Edited by Kristen Liszewski
"If you have any questions about anything, make sure you contact your office." Turner said.