Serious maintenance issues in my building

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
I think I have mentioned I live in an apartment building for Seniors. It should be said that many here have mobility issues....use wheelchairs and walkers. I live on the 4th floor
We are a 6 floor building. Two elevators. Since spring, one elevator has had hydraulic issues and has been completely out of service. The other has, well, issues. It goes fine from the 1st through 3rd floor. THEN it will skip and go right to the 6th then down to 4th and 5th. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Makes emergency responders crazy. I have calls into the building inspector and code enforcement for the city. Management says "We are working on it" . Since Spring. They claim to have the parts for the broken elevator...saying it was "taking a while" due to not having correct parts. The building is 40 years old.
It is nuts.
 

RadishRose said:
Keep on them, @Marie5656 .
@katlupe had a similar situation in her building awhile back with the elevator, It did get fixed but it took some time.
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Yes, our elevator has issues from time to time. Right now (knock on wood) it is working fine.

Code enforcement was useless for us. I was stuck on my floor for a whole month (through the holidays). What actually worked for us was when a lady upstairs called the television news station in a neighboring city. We were interviewed for the news and I was the one who's interview was shown on television. Because I was stuck on my floor for a month. Surprisingly...........it was fixed and working that evening!

They also own another building in another city that has not had a working elevator in at least 6 years. They have one of those chairs that will take you up and down the stairs. I would be scared to have to ride on that. Our stairs are very steep. Since then, I was stuck in the elevator this past May. Not a pleasant experience!
 
katlupe said:
They also own another building in another city that has not had a working elevator in at least 6 years. They have one of those chairs that will take you up and down the stairs. I would be scared to have to ride on that. Our stairs are very steep. Since then, I was stuck in the elevator this past May. Not a pleasant experience!
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On those chairs how would a person get their wheelchairs or walkers down with them? A volunteer carries them? How is that managed?
 
Pepper said:
On those chairs how would a person get their wheelchairs or walkers down with them? A volunteer carries them? How is that managed?
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I wonder that myself! How would people move in and out if they can't afford to hire movers to do it for them? It looks scary to me. What about groceries or taking a dog outside? Some of the dogs in my building were old and could not do the stairs themselves.
 
I went to PT to help with my balance. We did work on doing steps, But I am unable to do much more than a few, plus having to drag my walker with me. In case of emergency evacuation, I would need help on stairs.

I did call authorities, building inspector and code enforcement. I did leave messages with my number in case they want to call me
Thing is, the new owners of the building is some corporation which owns several properties. Not sure they would be of much help
 
Marie5656 said:
I went to PT to help with my balance. We did work on doing steps, But I am unable to do much more than a few, plus having to drag my walker with me. In case of emergency evacuation, I would need help on stairs.

I did call authorities, building inspector and code enforcement. I did leave messages with my number in case they want to call me
Thing is, the new owners of the building is some corporation which owns several properties. Not sure they would be of much help
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@Marie5656 scroll up to post #6 or clickšŸ‘‡

Serious maintenance issues in my building

Katlupe gave you some info per my request. Maybe it will work for you?
Good luck!
 
Marie5656 said:
I went to PT to help with my balance. We did work on doing steps, But I am unable to do much more than a few, plus having to drag my walker with me. In case of emergency evacuation, I would need help on stairs.

I did call authorities, building inspector and code enforcement. I did leave messages with my number in case they want to call me
Thing is, the new owners of the building is some corporation which owns several properties. Not sure they would be of much help
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You know I've realized that in all the falls I've had, no agency
has ever offered any rehab/instructions about falls and so on...wonder why that is.....!!!
 
gruntlabor said:
Kat, take the stairs in a seated position, just slide yourself on down. And practice makes perfect!
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I would if I could sit down that far. Going down the stairs I could probably do that if I went down backwards. That is how I did it at my house. Going up is a whole different story! The thing is these stairs are very steep and scary when you are standing at the top.
 
Marie5656 said:
I went to PT to help with my balance. We did work on doing steps, But I am unable to do much more than a few, plus having to drag my walker with me. In case of emergency evacuation, I would need help on stairs.

I did call authorities, building inspector and code enforcement. I did leave messages with my number in case they want to call me
Thing is, the new owners of the building is some corporation which owns several properties. Not sure they would be of much help
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Might be time to contact the news. Corporate owners. There is your answer. That building is not that old, this needs to be fixed.
 
Because one of the elevators in my condo complex has been broken for 3 months I know something about the issues regarding this problem. Our buildings are 47 years old and unfortunately the electrical panel can no longer be bought but must be custom built after obtaining the parts from Asia.

All the parts have arrived but one. Itā€™s causing a big hardship for people not able to use the steps. I was surprised to find out that some of the parts are only made in Asia.
 
When our elevator was out of service the management told us they were waiting for a part too. The day the news came here they called Otis (who is the manufacturer of this elevator) and their repairman came and had it up and running in less than an hour that day. Our management kept telling us that having an elevator is a luxury not promised to us with our apartments. It is not in our lease but in all their ads and on the sign out front it shows that these apartments are for the disabled.
 
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katlupe said:
I would if I could sit down that far. Going down the stairs I could probably do that if I went down backwards. That is how I did it at my house. Going up is a whole different story! The thing is these stairs are very steep and scary when you are standing at the top.
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I have a similar, sort of vertigo, at the top of the stairs to my apartment but it seems to fade away once I get started.

It might help to have your son or a neighbor start down the stairs a step or two ahead of you to help block the view.

šŸ¤—
 
katlupe said:
I would if I could sit down that far. Going down the stairs I could probably do that if I went down backwards. That is how I did it at my house. Going up is a whole different story! The thing is these stairs are very steep and scary when you are standing at the top.
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Backwards is good. In your apartment, can you practice the 'Downward Looking Dog' position? If so, you maybe can go up and down stairs that way. I'm assuming you can't get on your knees.

As long as you know you can do it if you have to, that's what matters.
 
Building maintenance? The problem is that when people are provided with funds to do certain things, they are tempted to use part of it for personal matters instead.
 
One of the buildings I was responsible for had an old (40s/50s vintage) Otis elevator. It was a continuous source of problems. We had to get some parts from an elevator ā€œboneyardā€ in another state. Then, refurbish the part and hope it would work. Other parts came from foreign countries. Some staff refused to use the elevator and took the stairs. I sometimes wonder if it is still working.
 
Pepper said:
Outrageous! I knew there must be a "catch" in this type of housing. Shame!
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Iā€™m on the condo board and thereā€™s nothing we can do to get it repaired faster. The electrician said as soon as we get the part the panel will be finished and installed immediately. Iā€™m assuming this is probably the case in Marieā€™s situation.

People are furious in our complex but there isnā€™t a thing we can do to make it go faster. Since we have 2 buildings we are replacing the one in the other building before it breaks. We have many seniors and people with disabilities that bought here because of the elevator.

In my building the hot water boiler broke and we had no hot water for 16 days. The boiler had to come from the east coast. We decided to replace the boiler in the other building before it breaks. Thereā€™s no quick fixes when you have older buildings because the parts arenā€™t readily available.
 

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