Smoke Detector Addendum: Fill & Download for Free

My last cigarette smoke remediation was on the order of $10,000+, including the chemical cleaning and stripping and repainting *everything*.The tenant had disabled the CO detector and the smoke detector.They are now hard-wired into the mains, with a battery backup.It was spelled out in the lease in no less than 4 places: no smoking, at all, on the property. He did it anyway.I likely would have needed to spend around $3,000 on the apartment, even if I hadn’t done the smoking remediation — he destroyed the washing machine door on a top of the line washer, and there was other damage. He did not get his deposit back.He tried to take me to small claims court for the deposit, despite me indicating to him three times, within the required time frame, that there would be significant remediation exceeding his security deposit required because of the smoking.Had he won there (he did not — dismissed with prejudice; I had documentation out the butt, and was loaded for bear — very angry) our next stop would have been Superior Court, and I would not have stopped at the amount of the deposit. He got off cheaply.This is in California, where it’s not only legal, it’s sometimes required by the neighborhood/condo/HO associations that you have a mandatory non-smoking policy in the lease. There’s a specific lease addendum for San Francisco.You would not believe, however, the number of people with “medical conditions” requiring marijuana these days … and it’s suspiciously higher in the Mission, SOMA, and near Golden Gate Park. It must be something in the water causing their illnesses.Bottom line: if the contract says you do not smoke: you do not smoke. Period. Or there will be contractual penalties.You are screwing my ability to re-rent the place without waiting on months of work to get done, because those services all have to happen serially, so that a non-smoker would even consider moving in there — especially an asthmatic or otherwise allergic one. I will be going after you for my lost rent.If you must smoke, do it elsewhere.

They haven't and you wouldn't want kids to do that!There was one guy who bought a lot of smoke detectors and tried to extract the americium, but this couldn't have led to a fission reactor and just created a lot of radioactive waste.Addendum: from Mani Gandham's answer, it appears the Farnsworth fusor is included.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FusorThis is in fact fairly easy. Most likely it hadn't occurred to contestants in India or was considered too dangerous. It does emit neutron radiation though much less than a nuclear power plant.

I have bought and sold dozens of homes. What “sells” a home:LocationStreet appealKitchensBathrooms[I might add that women are the home buyers, if they want the home, hubs says, “Yes, dear.” Therefore, as a home seller, you are in the women-pleasing business. Forget that at your peril.]You can’t upgrade your location, so on this, you are stuck. But I have been successful taking poor landscaping, kitchen, and bathrooms, putting some $$$ into modestly upgrading them, and getting back upon sale far more than I put into the upgrade. I’m not talking about a major remodel. For example, simply painting and changing out hardware like toilets, faucets, minor hardware, lighting, can make a big difference.I always try to walk through a house potentially for sale with one or more real estate agents and ask them “Where should I spend time & money to make the house sell quicker and for more money.” They all have their opinions, and I usually follow their advice, to my advantage. In my experience, they know what sells and what doesn’t and what current buyers want and will pay a premium for. That’s worked for me. And whatever you do, make sure the home is CLEAN & TIDY (and not cluttered up with your personal stuff).Addendum: The last home I sold was last year in Woodinville, WA, on the eastside of Seattle, just north of Bellevue & Kirkland. I had my RE agent walk through. She said:Repaint the interior.Recarpet the front room.Restain the deck.Reseal asphalt driveway.Add smoke detectors.Empty all your stuff out of the triple garage.Clean up the outside and keep the lawn mowed.Get a home inspection and do all the minor recommendations.I spent a week or two in my spare time on these projects at an out of pocket cost of approx. $5K.She did some modest restaging before listing (ie, brought in some furniture and wall hangings).Zillow estimated the home at $775. Home was listed at $895 and sold within a week at $915. Had none of the projects been done, I expect the home would have sold for around Zillow’s estimate and taken longer than a week to do so.