House and Yard Maintenance:

TeA intends to make 3 regular maintenance inspections, on or about June 15, October 15 and February 15. These will be scheduled at least one week in advance at which time the tenant will be provided with a list of items to be inspected/maintained; he should mention concerns to TeA at this time.

According to the standard lease, the tenant is responsible for at least the following items as needed: mowing the lawn, cleaning gutters, shoveling the walkways and driveway (especially the public walkway in front), properly winterizing the outdoor spigots, replacing the smoke detector batteries (fresh ones installed prior to commencement of lease), light bulbs, keeping the appliances and fireplace/chimney clean. Why it doesn't also make the tenant responsible for cleaning the lint trap in the dryer is beyond us, but this is clearly the tenant's responsibility. TeA will assume responsiblity for maintaining the shrubs, all HVAC filter changing and any caulking; the tenant should bring any of these issues to TeA's attention if action is needed.

Anything that should be brought to TeA’s attention should be directed to dave(a)thursdayassociates.com. For emergencies, call 301-229-5489 (this number, in Dave’s house, is forwarded to various cell phones as appropriate, most likely Dave or Brian).

Basement Stairs:

Due to the fact that a clogged drain can lead to a flooded basement, the tenant is required to keep the drain at the foot of the outside basement stairs clear of leaves and other debris.

Outdoor Light Switches:

The 3 light switches “behind” the front door operate outdoor lights. The front yard light operates on a photocell; it may be turned off entirely by the middle switch. The floodlights on the sides of the house operate via motion sensors, or may be turned off entirely by the other 2 switches. The switch for the backyard motion sensor floodlight is next to the dining room door (with the deck light).

To make any of the motion sensor lights STAY on, quickly turn the switch off then on. To reset to motion sensor operation, turn the switch off for 10 seconds, then turn back on. The lights will turn off about 7-10 minutes after they sense motion. Note that these lights also have photocells.

HVAC Zoning:

The house has 2 heating/cooling thermostats-first floor hallway and upstairs bedroom.  They feed into the Harmony II control panel in the first floor hallway.

The top row of the control panel sets the zoning mode-either Zone (each thermostat controls its zone separately), Central (the upstairs thermostat is disabled, and the downstairs one controls the air sent to the whole house), and System Off.

The second row of the control panel sets the temperature mode-either Cool, Heat, or Auto.  We suggest you avoid using the Auto mode, and set the system to either Cool or Heat (note that the Heat bulb on the Controller seems to be burnt out). Also, each actual thermostat must be set to Heat or Cool as desired.

The bottom row of the keypad controls the whole house fan (the fan switches on the actual thermostats are not connected). The system has been programmed to run the fan at extremely low speed (25% of normal speed) if the On key is pressed, and is virtually silent; doing this allows the dust filter and humidifier to be operational full time. If the Auto light is on, the fan will only come on for normal heating or cooling as needed.

The main reason TeA put in zoned HVAC was to make sure the house cools evenly in the summer.  It shouldn’t be necessary in the winter-Central mode should work fine.

Hot Water Temperature:

By all means, if you think the water is too hot, turn the temperature knob down on the water heater in the utility room.

Outdoor Faucets:

Turn sill cock handle to closed position and detach hose from spout during freezing weather. If hose is left attached, the frost proof sill cock cannot drain properly, and trapped water may freeze and damage the sill cock. The frost-proof sill cock assures no-freeze operation because the valve mechanism shuts off water inside the building, where it is heated.

Telephone/CATV/Network Wiring:

TeA extensively prewired the house, because the last thing we want is some utility company stapling ugly cables to the door trim. If you need a jack of some sort in a location where there isn’t one, please check with us first. If you need help configuring the wiring, please ask. The house has:

• 12 phone jacks. These are wired for standard 2 line phone service; extra jacks in kitchen/dining room are labeled.
• 8 CATV jacks; with a standard splitter, only 4 can be hooked up at a time. 5 or more will require the use of an amplified splitter, which is the tenant’s responsibility.
• 12 network jacks; any connecting equipment is tenant’s responsibility, but one again please ask if you need help.

Large tree in front yard:

At times in the past life of this house, the drains have become stopped up, although this has not happened in the past few years. WSSC is aware of the problem, and has taken steps to fix the problem, apparently successfully. (And we have a cool videotape of the sewer line under the house to prove it.) They have promised in the past that they will remove the tree between the sidewalk and street, because its roots are growing into the pipe, but have yet to do so. Just don't be surprised if it's missing one day.

Payment of Rent:

TeA is relying on your rental payments to make our mortgage payment. The lease says rent is due on the 1^st of the month. It also says you are charged interest if you don’t pay by the 10^th, but it doesn’t say we can’t bug you if we haven’t seen a check by the 5^th.