Regency Heights II

REMINDERS and HINTS

These reminders are important all year long:

Reminder #1: Please leave the power on to the front motion-detecting lights. If you need help configuring the lights, please contact Ayre & Oxford, and someone will visit you to help.

Reminder #2: Visitor parking stalls are not for resident vehicles. If you have a guest who needs to park overnight for several days, please contact Ayre & Oxford to let them know. The roadway is a fire lane. No parking on the roadway is allowed at any time. Parking in the visitor parking area is always "park at your own risk."

Reminder #3: Smokers are advised to not put out their cigarettes in flower pots. Peat moss catches fire easily, even in cold weather.  Smokers are asked to use ash trays to keep the complex safe and clean.

Reminder #4: Residents must contact Ayre & Oxford’s after-hours phone number for all emergencies outside of business hours. The emergency phone number is below, and on the fridge magnets that were distributed to all units.

Pets: All residents must register their pets with Ayre & Oxford before bringing them to live in the complex. This helps ensure the security of all residents. Pet owners must clean up after their pets have done their thing outside. Any damage to lawn grass must be repaired at the owner's cost.

Red handle exterior water taps: These are owned by the corporation, for lawn and plant watering only. Car, sidewalk, driveway and window washing must use the owner’s own water from taps with normal coloured handles, such as one inside the garage. The units with red taps in the back include:1, 4, 6, 10, 13, 17, 25, 29, 31, 34 and 36. Units 15 and 21 have red taps in front for watering front lawns.

Absence: While the pandemic is limiting our ability to travel very far, just in case you are planning to be away from home for a period of time, please remember to have someone check on your place regularly to ensure insurance coverage.

The "Downloads" page contains some documents that are for owners only. You need to enter a user id and password to gain access to it. If you click on the "Downloads" button above, a pop-up window will appear prompting you for the security information. The user id and password will be provided to all authorized users who want it. Please contact Ayre & Oxford, or send a message on the "Contacts" page, to get the user id and password. The Downloads page is split into separate sub-pages for Board Meeting minutes, AGM minutes and general information (insurance documents, so far). Click on the little down arrow beside "Dowloads" in the menu to access these pages.

Garage Ceiling Problems Caused by Car Heat

In winter, parking a warm car in the garage can cause condensation to build up in the ceiling. Unless the ceiling in the garage is insulated, a hot engine and hot disk brakes warm the air above the ceiling, which causes a condensation build-up. This can eventually lead to weakened ceiling drywall.

The solution is to leave the garage door open for a few minutes to allow the cold winter air to cool the engine and brakes. Owners may want to consider putting insulation abpve the ceiling in the garage. This won't save on heating bills, unless you have a heated garage, but it can reduce the chance of condensation build-up.

Preventing Sewer Backups

The south end of the complex encountered a sewage backup this past summer, requiring an emergency cleanout. The Board is looking to book a maintenance flush of the system in the spring.

Residents should be careful about what they flush down the toilet so as to help prevent future sewer clogs. Click here for some advice from the County of Strathcona on how to keep the sewage system clean, in particular, by not flushing certain items.

One way to mitigate sewer problems in your own unit to install a backflow prevention valve in the floor drain. These can be acquired from most hardware stores. Home Hardware sells this one for around $25 (most of the drains are 3 inch). To install it, you lift the floor drain cover, insert it and tighten the anchor screws. You can also get a slightly more expensive model that replaces the floor drain cover (click here for the Home Hardware model).

LED Bulbs in Motion Detecting Light Fixtures

If you want to put LED bulbs in the motion detecting front light fixtures, you must get dimmable LED bulbs. Non-dimmable LED bulbs will flash on and off every few seconds. Dimmable LED bulbs are designed for fixtures in which the power is switched on and off via motion sensors, among other things.

Winter Notes

While winter is gone, cold air may still pass through occasionally and condensation on windows can be a problem. In our relatively dry climate, turning down the humidifier on the furnace usually is all that is needed. Classic Exteriors, the company that has provided our windows, has provided a document that can be downloaded from the "Downloads | Information" page on this website.

Class Exteriors also advises residents to watch for a snowflake pattern between the panes of a window, particularly during cold weather. This is usually a sign of a defective seal. Defective windows are covered by warranty. If you see one of these in your unit, take a photo showing the pattern and attach it to an email to reghts2@gmail.com, identifying where the window is in the unit.

If you decide to head south for a spell, to escape the last stretches of cold air, make sure to have someone check on your unit on a regular basis. Check your insurance policy. It might require checking the unit every two days to maintain the policy. If your furnace goes out and pipes freeze, water leaks can cause major damage. You don't want to return to a flood.

General Maintenance

Residents who have a sump pump in the unit should change the battery in the sump overflow alarm every year. If you are not sure how to do this, contact Ayre & Oxford to send out someone to check on it for you. Also, if your unit has one of the original built-in smoke alarms, it should be removed and replaced with a battery-powered one.

Another good thing to check is the shut-off valve to each toilet. Turn it to the off position and back on again. This ensures that the shut-off valve does not rust up, and will work in case of emergency (e.g. crack in the toilet tank).