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I got divorced when I was in my last 20s and had responsibilities but little money. That’s when I started doing things myself. We had no youtube. If I didn’t know anyone who might know about what I needed help with, I’d go to the home improvement store and look at the books they had. Obviously those books are rarely seen now.
Point is, you can save a lot of money and get a tremendous amount of satisfaction by doing things yourself. So many times I see people posting here who are trying to run an Airbnb but don’t know the first thing about maintenance.
Instead of blogs about how to get a dependable cleaner or more bookings someone should do a “how to maintain your vacation rental” blog/youtube channel.
Each generation will have different resources they can utilize but it’s always clear who is willing to put in the work and who expects others to do it for them. I’m happy to have youtube available for my use instead of the books at home depot! A little hard work goes a long way especially when you can see the money that you are saving by putting in the extra effort.
Thats not a bad idea though, maintenance tips for vacation rentals. I’d be interested obviously.
I feel sorry for home owners who have to call and pay for simple repairs and maintenance jobs. Some simply don’t have time or interest, but I think a lot are just under the impression that things are harder than they are or require some sort of specialized expertise.
Not only does it save a lot of money to learn how to do things yourself, you don’t have to wait for an “expert” to show up.
There are books on simple repairs for homeowners- it doesn’t have to be specialized for vacation rentals.
One thing I read years ago is that it’s good to put some coffee grounds down your kitchen drains on a regular basis. They bind to any oils and flush them through the pipes.
We are small businesspeople. One of the things we do as small business owners is support other small business owners. So we hire local contractors for repairs. We have given business to plumbers, electricians, painters, landscapers, housekeepers, tile installers, rug cleaners, and more.
I’ve hired plenty of experts who can’t do as well as I can. This past year I had my bathroom remodeled. Although I lined the undersink area with a plastic lining, I overlapped two pieces. The pull for the stopper assembly wasn’t installed properly and so it leaked. I didn’t notice until after the bottom of the cabinet sustained some water damage. I reinstalled it correctly. I’m mad at myself because I know to check the “professionals” work but I still missed it.
I had a convo with a host who had a leak in their bathroom. The guest told them about it but said they cleaned it up. The host didn’t do anything to fix or check the leak!!! So it continued to leak and the host didn’t notice until the floor, baseboards and bottom of the drywall had been damaged. All it was was the water supply to the toilet. Simply turning off the water at the wall under the toilet would have stopped the leak. On top of that replacing the supply line is so simple. The plastic fitting that attaches to the toilet tank had cracked.
I was a contractor/carpenter for a bunch of years and learned to figure things out. I, however, don’t do much in the way of plumbing or electrical, except wouldn’t occur to me to call someone to unstop a sink.
I did have a professional here to enclose my entryway in my living room for a private entry and do some plumbing upstairs. He did not install a proper tub faucet which I found out after guests started coming. Found someone else to fix the problem. I hate with a passion tacky, cheap fixes on problems. I’m dealing with another cheap fix in the bathroom before the next guest arrives tomorrow.
@Jefferson I didn’t read this whole thread but did someone suggest that this would work? Lol. I remember a few years ago when there was a thread with a poster having issues with guests pouring bacon grease down the drain. Someone actually replied that it was okay as long as you put a squirt of dawn down first. Omg. I can just imagine plumbers going into apoplexy.
@DozerPug Correct - this rather harmful notion was posted somewhere in this thread. It is unfortunate that such folklore is propagated, given the very clear potential of harm/expense.
. Coffee grounds are great for compost. Your local farmers coop will be interested if you don’t need them. I’m a professional coffee roaster - all our used grounds go to a local farm.
I learned all about home maintenance, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work by spending 15 years holding tools for a do-it-yourself-if-you-want-it-done-right Dad.
I agree 100% and stated exactly so. They should never go in the drain.
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A close friend runs their family farm. He gets all our used coffee grounds. For compost, they can be new, old, wet, moldy, etc - all that is fine.
That sounds horrible… I don’t live in this rental so hopefully I’ll stay safe from the norovirus but i’ll be sure to warn my cleaners about this. I think from now on we’re all going to approach a smelly bathroom with much more precautions.
I never said people should dump a clump of wet grounds down the drain. And if your drain is already plugged up, it would make it worse.
One has to use common sense.
I am talking about occasionally putting some grounds down the drain, not a “clump”. I have been doing this for 30 years and it has never caused a problem, nor has my sink ever gotten plugged up with grease or anything else.
So citing articles about what a terrible idea this is makes assumptions that have nothing to do with what I meant.
I alternate dumping the grounds in the toilet, the sink, and the compost. And when I dump the grounds, they are swimming around in a French press full of water.
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Honestly, I have no idea why you want to perpetuate this old wife’s tale. It is a myth and folklore and not supported by any plumbing site or article. Feel free to peruse any/all: a small amount of coffee grounds is good for your plumbing - Google Search, coffee grounds for septic tank - Google Search.
. There is no evidence that “some grounds” down the drain are beneficial. None. The contrary is rather well-established, with hundreds of reliable sources.
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Please just let it go.
