AN UNUSUAL WEEK

 

A tough week, to say the very least

Damien and Brigid are still very sick.  We wish them both a speedy recovery to full health.

This means that the handover to level 6 has been disrupted.  Conroy have been told to delay delivery to Monday, when hopefully Damien will be up and about.  As he says it would be very unfair for him to come in while still ill, and infect the Conroy guys.

Patience is needed from all, and fully appreciated.

Lobby doors

Unfortunately the workers who are putting up the fire walls in the lobby switched off the lobby doors, and forgot to switch them back on when they left.  This meant a security issue, as both doors were left wide open.

Sally Schoon and Steve Russell noticed this in the evening, and Steve closed the doors manually, and put up notices.  Meantime I had been informed, and had contacted Gazelle. At 8pm she turned up, switched the doors back on and made sure they were operating.

This morning they are not closing tightly.  John Nicholson had a look and suspects they are slightly out of alignment.  Aoraki has been informed, and hopefully they will be back to full operation shortly.

Some good news

Gazelle received a phone call from the police to say they had arrested two men and retrieved the power leads and transformer that were stolen from the construction site.  This is most reassuring, and reinforces our faith in the boys in blue.

The picture is of Ngake and Whataitai, Wellington's two legendary taniwha.  I thought that invoking them might improve our week.  

NOTICE OF BUILDING MANAGERS BOTH SICK

To All Residents and Shareholders

A nasty strain of flu is going around, and unfortunately it has felled Damien, Brigid, Opie, Lido.  This means that blinds and curtains will not be going up as scheduled.

Damien will come in tomorrow, Friday, but will still be infectious.  He will wear a mask, but asks that everyone keeps their distance, as he does not want to pass the bug on.

Level 6 is due for a handover.  The weather is against us as well, so there will be hitches.

Patience from all is appreciated.

AGM NOTICE AND MINOR UPDATES

 Under construction and reconstruction

The picture above is just for interest.  It is the view from above of our building under construction back in 1964.  Today, our reconstruction feels a bit like déjà vu, which is the feeling that a new situation is a repeat of a past experience, even though you know it isn't. But the outcome is the same, a beautiful and iconic apartment building.

Annual General Meeting

This is to be held at the James Cook Chancellor on Monday, December 8, starting 5.30pm.  We hope to see a big turnout.  Ken Beard, our chairman, will give an update of the year so far, elections will be held for a couple of new directors, and the financial report will also be delivered.

A somewhat chaotic start to the week

Damien reported sick with Covid, poor fellow, so is waiting out the isolation time, and Brigid has been felled by coughing and general malaise -- not Covid, thankfully, but unpleasant all the same.  We all wish them a speedy recovery to full health.

Lobby

You will all have noticed a lot of work going on in the way of tearing down stuff, carried out by an extremely apologetic carpenter.  Well, we all know he can't avoid making rather a lot of noise. This is part of the fire safety upgrade. If there was a petrol leak or any kind of explosion in the garage that backs onto the trolley room, it could be dire -- or so the fire people say.

It also means a necessary installment of a mimic fire panel close to the lobby entrance.  The new "real" fire panel is located in the basement, so can't be seen from the street.  According to the code the fire trucks must be able to assess the situation from outside the building, which is why a mimic fire panel has to be set up. The existing fire panel, which is in a glass enclosure by the foyer door, will be removed, and the area fixed to look good.

The problem is where to put the mimic panel. It should be protected from the weather by something fireproof, as well as being readily visible from outside. There are three options.  One is on the wall where the evacuation board is now.  Another is where the fire panel is now. The third is outside, on the carport block wall.

Both of the first two would be sheltered from the weather, but the place where the current fire panel is set would not be readily visible. The third, on the carport wall, is not desirable, as it is open to weather, and could be damaged by a passing vehicle.

Siting it by the evacuation board, above the seat where people perch while waiting for a taxi, is by far the most preferable. Not only is it sheltered by the concrete canopy, but it can -- at a pinch -- be seen from the street.  To make it even easier, it will probably be fitted with a blue strobe light.  

Below is a sketch showing the options, with the fire panels coloured orange.

BUSIER THAN EVER

 

Washers and dryers

As you can see, Damien has continued his good work and the ordered washers and dryers are arriving and being installed in the returned apartments.  More good news from Gazelle is that the detectors in the laundries do not react to steam, but are programmed to react to heat.  So it is safe to open the door of the dryer while the laundry is hot and steaming.  (Though it is always a good idea to let the dryer program go through the cooling down process before you take the washing out.)

Insinkerators

There has been some trouble with blocked drains, and the culprit does seem to be what people stuff down their waste disposal units.

First, make sure what you put down is ground down completely.  Keep the water and unit running until the grating noise stops.

Importantly, never put down grease, fat or oil.  Once in the pipes, it congeals into a mass that will block your drains.

Cut up vegetable and fruit skins and peel so that it goes down in bits instead of huge chunks. This will keep your insinkerator healthy.

You can clean your waste disposal unit by running a mixture of ice cubes and lemon slices.  Not only will it clean it, but it will smell good, too.

Finally, do avoid putting down coffee grounds.  I know this is a pain when you live in an apartment and enjoy your morning caffeine fix, but coffee grounds tend to clump together and block the drains. So don't put them down the insinkerator, or even down the toilet.  Instead, pour them (with water) into a fine sieve.  Once reasonably dry the grounds can go into the trash.  Or, if you have the energy, they are great for the compost bins down in the garden. Not only do they help keep slugs and snails away, but they hold minerals that help the plants flourish.

Defects

When reporting what you list as defects, please remember that cosmetic improvements are not part of the project.  If you wanted extra things done, Aoraki and Rachel TBIG have made it easy.  Any problems should be referred back to them. 

AGM 8 December

This will include a report from Chairman Ken Geard, voting for new board directors, and a general discussion in which shareholders can share matters of concern or interest. It should be a lively meeting.  As in other years, it will be held at the James Cook hotel. You will get reminder notices beforehand.

Christmas is looming

Probably the last thing most of us have thought about.  What a year it has been!

Aoraki will close down the site at 2pm on 23 December, and reopen on 7 January. TBIG shuts shops on 21 December, and starts up again on 12 January.

MOVING DOWN THE BUILDING

 

Reclaiming apartments

Level 7 is being handed back to the residents next week.  Level 6 is delayed a little, as there was more to be done in the apartments than anticipated, but those shareholders get back their property 28 November. That day is a Friday, so fingers crossed for good weather, so the hoist can be in action.

Remember that it is a good idea to be present as the furniture is returned, so the movers can be advised what to put where.  Cartons are labelled, and hopefully will be in logical rooms, but it is up to the residents to empty them, and put the contents in the right places.

Old Dryers

The time is running out for decisions, so if you want your old vented dryer kept for friends or family, tell Damien ASAP.  Otherwise, the dryers will be disposed of, as we are running out of storage room. 

Lift stools

Unfortunately the tradies are either sitting on the stools in the elevators in their dusty clothes, or putting dusty gear on them.  Now they are badly smudged. They need either deep cleaning or reupholstering, and in the meantime they are taken away for storage to prevent further damage. Once the project is over they will be returned to their original pristine state and put back in the lifts. 

Printers

This is a tip for those who are returning to their apartments and have inkjet printers.  You may find that the cartridges have dried out over the long interval, and may even have to be replaced -- not a cheap move.  However, with luck, your printer parked and sealed off the printer heads before you powered down, saving you that money.  

After that the advice (courtesy of Trevor at TonerDirect) is not to turn the printer off. 

1. Ink maintenance cycles – Every time an inkjet printer powers on, it performs a cleaning cycle to prime the print heads. This uses up ink. Leaving the printer on avoids unnecessary cleaning cycles, saving ink (and money).

2. Print head protection – When a printer stays on, the print heads remain sealed in a “home” position, keeping them moist and preventing ink from drying out or clogging. Turning it off at the wall or power source can stop this protection.

3. Faster startup and readiness – A printer that’s left on (or in sleep mode) is immediately ready to print, rather than taking time to warm up and run checks each time it’s turned on.

4. Energy efficiency – Most modern printers enter a low-power sleep mode when idle. They use very little electricity this way — often less than a few watts — so keeping them on doesn’t meaningfully raise your power bill.

VENTILATION

 

https://www.aorakiconstruction.co.nz/project/herbert-gardens/

Ventilation

There has been some angst among returning residents because of the freezing draft coming out of the new ventilation vent in the bathrooms.  Some have complained, too, that the shower is very steamy.  Well, that was because the fans in the bathroom risers had not been installed and operational.  Today, they are up and going.  For a while it was noisy, like a breaking sea, but now there is no noise at all in 11D, my current abode, and hopefully not in the other apartments.  And no freezing draft!  Crossed fingers it continues.  As Gazelle observed to me, there is sixty years' worth of dust in those risers, and if the fans are overworked they may need rebooting.  Or whatever the experts do to fix overworked fans.

Sky

The Sky dish or antenna has been removed from the roof.  If you have problems getting Sky up and running again, phone and ask Sky for technical help.  My personal solution is a wireless modem, which is a cheaper and apparently more efficient alternative to a fibre modem.  If you are with Spark ask them for help too, or whatever broadband provider you have.

Charity truck

One is coming on Friday to take the accumulation of donations in the lobby.  Brigid is looking forward to having it cleared, so she can give the lobby a thorough vacuuming.  With the ever present dust, not to mention the tradies with their big boots who trek back and forth, it is very hard to keep the lobby clean and tidy. 

Schedule

Overall, the schedule is on track, with a finish in April still expected.  Levels 7 and 5 are up to speed.  However there is a delay with level 6, so residents will return a few days later than originally anticipated.

Scaffolding

While it was originally expected that the scaffolding on the top levels would start to be taken down last week, it has been decided to keep it in place a bit longer, while investigations into further improving the weather tightness are ongoing.

Fire alarm

Well, yet another one of those, and it always seems to be late afternoon, when people are thinking about getting ready to prepare and cook dinner.  And it was caused by that ever-problematical dust -- dust set off a smoke detector in the level 8 south stair landing.

An Aoraki team was working in the stairwell on level 7, and after finishing the day's job, were sweeping up the debris. Being new to the site, they were using brooms instead of vacuum cleaners, and while there was a dust protection cap on the smoke detector one floor above, a small amount of the cloud they were making must have slipped in, causing it to activate.  The evacuation of both workers and residents went very smoothly, so while a nuisance, it can be regarded as an excellent test. And the Aoraki team is going to make super-sure to check for dust creep and that dust controls are in place.