My roommate and I have come to a decision. We're going to go to the dorm office tomorrow, and yell, scream, do what we possibly can to be moved to one of the newer dorm buildings. Several people have just left, or are leaving this week (people who only came for a semester), so the rooms are clearing out some.
Let me describe our apartment. When you walk on the floor barefooted, you feel like your feet are growing fungus. The apartment is so moldy, that there's a monumental difference just from walking in... you can smell the mold, you can feel the fungi all over the place. Our kitchen is full of small ants that crawl over the dishes that our other two flatmates never wash, and into the fridge, full of food that they often forget to throw away.
Our shower is covered in brown spots... the walls, the floor, everything. I picked up my shampoo bottle the other day, and the bottom of it was caked in mold. In our actual bedroom, the screen on the window is broken, the blinds don't work, and various random wires protrude from the walls, behind peeling, flaky, moldy plaster. I put new sheets on my bed, and the next day, they feel like someone dumped Palm Beach on them. Nobody knows what color the floor should be, because it's so covered in mud (that refuses to come off when you apply a wet cloth) and mold.
Sounds fun, n'est-ce pas?
I have several friends in the newer buildings... I was visiting one the other day, and her apartment was clean, the walls were white (imagine that), the tiling was fairly new (and not broken), the smell was normal, and the kitchen was antless. They also have DSL internet, while we have to pay separate for a phone line. I refuse to live in this dump anymore.
Wish Ana and I luck when we go to the office tomorrow!! *crosses fingers* I really really hope this works...
[ March 02, 2005, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: Raia ]
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
Eww... thats a very vivid description of you're room... and talk about unpleasant. (((Raia))) Good luck tomorrow!
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
The mold can potentially be a health hazard. If they are not taking care of it, I would say they are guilty of neglect. In what state did you get your apartment?
For now though, I would take some good mildew remover to the shower once a week. It might help. There isn't a lot you can do about the ants if you have roomates that don't take care of their things.
[ January 04, 2005, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: Amka ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
You'll need to be careful not to bring the mold with you when you move your belongings.
Any tips out there on how to do that?
Dagonee
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Good luck, Raia !
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Ack! I didn't think of that...
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
Wipe everything down with bleach if possible. Can't do that with books. For those, just make sure you've removed as much dust from them as possible. Maybe shake them out before you bring them into the next place? Every item of clothing needs to be washed after you remove it from the one apartment and before you put it in the next. Throw away all your old sponges and rags and get new ones.
But the fact of the matter is that mold spores are in the air. If you are in a humid climate, there is nothing you can do about the mildew but wipe it down every week. Window sills are big offenders, and check behind your toilet tank. Wash out under the cabinets with sinks about once a month with something as strong as you dare use on the paint and finish work. Perhaps keep one of those tubs of dehumidifying chemicals under those sinks. Always run the vent when you have a steamy shower...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Damn, Raia, that's even worse than our place! Okay, so we do our dishes, but we still have major ant problems. Yick!
Good luck!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Yeeeees. I think it's a safe bet.
While not Israel, I could tell you what it's like here.
When you rent a place, it's not cleaned. You clean it to your own demands after you rent the place. You pay a deposit, but it has nothing to do with cleaning. It's to make sure you don't skip out on rent, and it's frequently six months or a year in advance. If you need repairs done to the place, make sure they get done before you move in and before you fork any money over, or they may not get done at all.
Houses are not automatically painted when necessary, necessary not being determined by North American standards. The house we're living in has one coat of paint over a darker shade, and if you scrub the walls, the paint comes off. The walls need painting desperately according to my standards, but they're perfectly fine according to local standards. But paint is expensive, relatively speaking, so it waits.
Spraying for bugs - as in, spraying the whole house rather than a patch at a time - is a foreigner thing to do. Most floors are cement (if they're not dirt, which many poor people have) and are covered with a filthy (to me) brown waxy substance. Floor polish. Which all the locals use and love. I don't get it. It gets wet, it comes off. It comes off on your feet. Dirt sticks to it. It's gross. I'd rather have painted floors to wax, but I'd rather have tile more than that.
Having said that, when you move out, you don't bother cleaning either.
It's a whole other world out there, Dorothy. Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Yes, adam, you remember correctly... and this isn't a rented apartment, it's a dorm building. When I moved in, one of my roommates (one of the ones who isn't bothered by the mold and doesn't clean anything) had been living there by herself for two months. The place was a mess.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
*shudders* *twitches madly*
ew...if they don't listen to screaming, stoop to blackmail and other threats...good luck
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
In the meantime, is it possible to get a dehumidifier? Good luck!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
It didn't look so bad when I was there, but it was still hot enough to keep the mold at bay then, presumably.
GOOD LUCK!
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
So, for the past two months, nobody's been listening to a word we've been saying about this issue. We've talked to... I don't know how many people, and they all basically said the exact same thing: "that's tough. You can move out, goodbye."
However...
When it got to naked men in the kitchen at 4:00 am, and thumping against the wall (next to which my bed is), not to mention that the smoking didn't stop, despite warnings that they will be fined 200 nis per cigarette...
Ana and I refused to give up.
Today, I got a call from the dorm office. They might, just possibly, have the option of moving us!! Not together to the same apartment, but to the same building. Away from our horrendous roommates. And there's an even slighter chance that it will be to one of the newer, DSL-laden buildings (which is a bloody miracle).
Wish me luck! I have to talk to Ana later, and then to the dorm office, but hopefully I'll be moving out next week!! Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Good luck with this!
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Good luck, Raia !
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Good luck! About not moving the mold: anything you can't wash with bleach, lightly spritz with two parts vinegar, one part water in a spray bottle, and let dry in the sun. Hold books by the spine and lightly spray them. Wash clothes that can't be bleached with vinegar. When you're going to put things in boxes to move, get the boxes and don't bring them into the dorm room. Treat things as I have described, and when they're dry, pack them out in the hall. If you do move some mold, bleach it off right away, and then spritz the air of the room with vinegar. It will smell for a few hours, but it should kill the mold.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Thanks, KQ... I'll bear that in mind. Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Raia this all has to work out soon. This may have been mentioned earlier, but you should go to a doctor and have them say that since you get strep so much you can't be near smokers or mold. And hopefully the naked guy won't follow you.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: The apartment is so moldy,
Wow -- I always thought of Israel as a very arid (dry) place -- never thought about mold even being a problem there! So is there much more humidity than I imagined?
Farmgirl
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Farmgirl, no... the problem occurs exclusively in my apartment. Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
(((((Raia))))) *Wishes Raia much much luck*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Good luck, Raia.
*laugh* And while mold is not terribly common in most parts of Israel, in the north does get wet enough to grow mold (at least in the winter).
And in Raia's apartment. Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Ewww! Mold sucks!
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
Good Luck, Raia!
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
When I lived in La Honda, I couldn't stop the mildew no matter what I did. When I moved out, I got rid of pretty much all my clothes. They were ruined.
Pretty much nothing from before that time in my life survived Mildew-Land...
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Oh dear...
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
College isn't for the obsessive-compulsive, huh? I'm going to have so much fun.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
I've moved! I schlepped all my stuff up to my new apartment earlier today (it's number 18, so it was no easy task, especially as it was 80 - 85 degrees the whole day)! I haven't met my new roommate yet, but the apartment is cleaner, bigger, newer, and has free internet. How bad can it be?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Yay!!!!!!! Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
Congrats on the new place!
(I hope my dorm won't be icky... )
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Woo-hoo!
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
quote:but the apartment is cleaner, bigger, newer, and has free internet. How bad can it be?
That phrase is just asking for trouble. I hope you knocked on wood for luck when you typed that. Everything going well with the roommate?
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Theca: Tfu tfu tfu! It's ok, I'm Jewish, I'm allowed to be paranoid.
I STILL haven't met my roommate!
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
I hope she is cool, but anyway, yay for a new place !
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