Helpful Hints

How to be a Smart Homeowner and Save Money for Your HOA
 
Our goal at Rubin Properties, Inc. is to educate all homeowners on what they can do to be a smart homeowner and help alleviate any unnecessary costs for the property.  Remember, the HOA money is partly your money – as it does help the betterment of your property! The more preventative actions you take, the more you save your building on repairs…and the more your HOA saves in their reserves for future capital improvements. Protect your investment!
 
Be proactive! If you see a leak in the garage, or a problem in the building, report it right away so we can attend to it quickly. Don’t assume someone else will do it. Take initiative and pride of ownership for your building. Following the guidelines below will help everyone in the building to enjoy their home and alleviate costs.
 
Dos and Don’ts Using the Garbage Disposal
When using your garbage disposal, you should allow all items to completely breakdown before turning off the appliance. You should also never utilize this fixture without running water. Upon, turning off your disposal, you should let the water continue to run through the pipes for approximately 30 seconds to help ensure all particles have cleared the drain.
 
The following items should never be disposed of down your garbage disposal:
 
Potato Skins
The starch found in both potatoes and potato skins becomes glue-like and ultimately wraps around and sticks to the disposal’s moving parts, causing clogs.
 
Grease, Oil & Egg Shells
These substances tend to thicken in your pipes making the passage of water more difficult, which can often lead to sewage backups.
 
Fruit & Veggie Peels & Skins
Stringy, fibrous items like onion and garlic skins, celery, carrot peels, corn husks and asparagus do not breakdown well and should not be put down the garbage disposal. Additionally, fruit peels like those from oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, bananas, and melons should not be placed in the disposal.
 
Meat
Often, meat contains gristle and fat, which is very hard for disposals to break up. As a result, our Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles plumbers highly suggest that you do not place any cooked or raw meat down the disposal and all meat bones should always be avoided.
 
Flour
Like potatoes, when flour mixes with water, it becomes glue-like, which can be quite difficult for your disposal to digest.
 
Bathroom Plumbing
To avoid a plumbing issue, make sure your faucets are not dripping and your toiles are not running. And, know what to do in an emergency, like how to shut off the valves.
 
To avoid a sewer backup, do not dispose of the following items in your toilet:

• Hair
• Cotton balls & Q-Tips
• Baby or Adult Wipes
• Tampons & Other Feminine Products

Garbage and Pests
Pests should remain outside, not in our homes or in our buildings! Here are some things you can do to keep them out.
 
Rats
Don’t leave dog food, potatoes or onions on your patio for rats to come. They like onions!
 
Cockroaches
Don’t leave your pizza boxes and food boxes in the trash room for roaches to enter the building. Break the pizza and food boxes down, put them in a trash bag, tie it up and put it down the trash chute.
 
Clogging Up the Trash Chute with Smelly Trash
Tie up your trash bag before you put it down the trash chute. If you don’t tie it up, your smelly sauces and other garbage gets all over the chute and smells. It costs money to have it power washed.
 
Clogging Up the Trash Chute with Boxes
Break down your larger boxes and take them directly to the trash dumpster. Putting them down the trash chute can clog up the chute.
 
Water Conservation
Think strategically about water conservation. Perhaps your showers are a little shorter or you don’t use as much water. Just be conscious that we are in a drought.
 
Be Courteous!
Don’t wash your dog poop from the balcony. It is disgusting for those below you and you will be fined.
 
Protect Your Home with Homeowners Insurance
All owners should carry their own homeowner’s insurance. The HOA money covers issues related to the building and property, but does not protect your furnishings or individual unit.