? ● THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MOVING
WEDNESDAY,JULY 21,2004
Keeping spiders out of your new home
By Julie Jones
jjones@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
If you're moving this summer, don't take along uninvited, six-legged intruders.
Spiders, especially brown recluses, are notorious for hiding in cardboard boxes and items stored in closets such as text books, shoes and folded clothing and they can lay eggs under beds and dressers.
These items are often unchecked by students moving to a new residence. As a result, they often move unwanted arachnids with them to their new homes.
To ensure you don't move anything but your personal belongings, follow these safety tips from Larry Trowbridge, owner of Midwest Exterminators, 2500 W 31st St., and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment:
- Don't store cardboard boxes and don't use cardboard boxes that have been in storage since the last time you moved. Because spiders often get trapped in the box's folds and ridges, you should get boxes in and out of your residence as quickly as possible.
- Clean closets out at least once a year. Vacuum, dust and eliminate any unnecessary clutter on a regular basis.
Use sticky traps in problem areas, such as near water lines and in closets.
Spraying isn't the best way to rid your home of spiders because a spider's long legs keep its body from touching the poison. Insecticides and fog sprays can cling to a spider's webbing, helping to reduce the spider population.
— Keep bug lights in entryways.Avoid using white lights outdoors, which attract bugs and in turn attract spiders.
Make sure the outside of the residence is sealed so spiders and insects don't have an entryway. Repair cracks around doors, windows and baseboards.
- Edited by Erik Johnson
Residence halls gear up for a
By Miranda Lening
mlenning@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Around this time each summer students begin to think about life in the residence halls. Meanwhile, the KU Department of Student Housing makes final preparations to get the residence halls ready for students.
Residence halls on campus provide housing for residential camps throughout the summer, but there is a seven to 10-day period between the last summer camp and the August 14 move-in date.
"The deep-cleaning process includes all of the little things," she said. "The floors
During this time, the residence halls go through a deep-cleaning process. Diana Robertson, associate director for residence life, said the transition process from the summer to the fall was intense because time was limited and there was a great deal of work to be done.
have to be stripped and waxed, the rooms have to be evaluated to see if anything needs replacement and there is lots of painting to do."
The custodial staff for student housing does all of the cleaning and maintenance for the residence halls, but individual contractors were hired for several renovations expected in the future.
She said the evaluation process was the first thing that happened after the summer camps were over. They look to see what rooms need improvements like new mattresses, towel holders and specific repairs They then order the needed materials so they will be available in time for the move-in date. She said they usually order several hundred mattresses, towel holders and chairs each summer so the residence halls are on rotation for new items.
The top two floors of Hashinger Hall will undergo a renovation next summer. These floors will not house students during the
upcoming school year, which will allow construction crews to get a jump-start on the renovations next summer, said Robertson.
Oliver Hall is undergoing renovations for a new living room and lounge, scheduled to be completed this October. The lounge will include a dining area with a pizza and sub shop that will be open for late-night eating. In addition to these changes, Oliver will have a new Academic Resource Center. McCollum Hall will expand its Academic Resource Center as well, Robertson said. GSP-Corbin Hall will have new windows, scheduled to be installed by the move-in date.
Parking services is working on a project to improve the parking lot on Daisy Hill.
"The improvements were much needed," Robertson said. "The crews are digging up the roads all the way down to the pipe lines and putting in new roads and new curbs."
— Edited by Marc Ingber
Storage options for students limited
By Miranda Lenning
mlenning@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The summer lease on Matt Towsley's single-bedroom apartment is up at 5 p.m. July 30. But he can't move into his new apartment until August 5. He would move his things into his girlfriend, Miranda Bryant's house, but Bryant and her two roommates move out of their apartment on July 30 as
well, and cannot move into their new
house at 1407 Kentucky until August 1.
This situation is the same for many University of Kansas students.
This weekend is the busiest moving out week end of the year for KU students. The madness of
Photo Illustration by Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan move in. For students.
moving in begins several days later when complexes open their doors to new tenants. Apartment complexes terminate summer leases at the end of July to allow for cleaning and maintenance services to prepare for new renters.
The problem is, with all apartment complexes expiring leases around the same time,all have the same four to seven day grace period before new tenants can
this often means that not only do they have no place to live, but the hassle of the moving process is amplified. Students compete with each other for moving trucks, storage space and friends' couches.
"The problem is not where I am going to go," said Towsley, Tulsa, Okla., senior. "The problem is where to put my stuff and how to get it there."
"I don't know exactly how many people are moving this weekend, but I would venture to say it is in the thousands," said Ryan Blum, manager of Penske Truck Leasing, 1120 E 23rd St.
Towsley most likely will not be using a moving truck rented in Lawrence. U-Haul, Budget, Penske and Ryder — companies that rent moving trucks — don't have any available trucks from July 30 to August 1.
Ric Garcia, manager at U-Haul Co., 540 Kaskold Drive, said a popular thing students did was rent U-Hauls for several days and keep their things in the truck until they could move into their new residence. This, however, could get expensive because U-Hauls vary in cost from $19.95 to $39.95 a day.
Pokey Hall, U-Haul manager at 151st St. and Ridgeview Road, Olathe, said she had about a dozen reservations for people who were making the trip from Lawrence to rent a truck. These people will have to pay 69 cents for every mile in addition to the daily cost.
Another alternative would be to rent a storage unit for several days. But, storage space may be harder to find than a moving truck. Some companies don't rent to students, while others simply don't have the availability.
Joann Givens, property manager at
Public Storage, 2223 Haskell Ave., said their facility was full from the time students left in May until the beginning of August. She said panicked students didn't start calling until July when they started receiving their moving information and realized that they needed to store their things for several days.
"It is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of," said Givens, "It has been a problem for years in Lawrence, but I have never heard of all of the leases running up at the same time."
In case the hectic moving process, the grace period between leases and the dilemma of where to sleep were not enough for students, July 30 marks the end of the summer class session, which can mean only one thing: finals. Stephanie Frost, Overland Park senior and roommate of Miranda Bryant, and Towsley both said they were overwhelmed with balancing the move and studying for finals.
Givens said she wanted to help students,but 449 of her 453 units were full and two were on reserve for July 30.
Space Saver, Parkway Storage, St. James Storage and Ertels Storage in Lawrence are currently full. Rea Baxter, manager of Plaza Storage, 2300 W 31st St., said she didn't like to rent to KU students because she couldn't rely on them to pay their bills.
"It will be hard to concentrate on finals while I am trying to tie up all the loose ends with this moving out process," Frost said. "We still don't know where we are going to put our stuff when we move out of this apartment."
— Edited by Erik Johnson