so, when i was cleaning in the garage area, i noticed that there was a gaping hole under the steps big enough to crawl into. like, you could crawl in from outside, if you knew the hole was there. i also found some used needles in the crawl space, indicating somebody had actually crawled inside. that might be why it frequently smelled like an ash tray in there.
i immediately nailed the hole shut and noticed somebody had kicked it in the next day.
the landlord indicated he was going to fix it, but he didn't, it was just waiting and waiting. i wasn't able to move anything in there and set anything up in there until the space was sealed up. i finally just went around back and got some bricks out of the backyard and sealed it up with quikrete. i wanted to test it to make sure it worked before i did a second round, and it did. so, i bought some more quikrete and some more bricks last night and finished it up.
the issue is that somebody knocked a window out to run a furnace vent and just closed it up with drywall. so there was a piece of drywall facing the rain and snow and it decayed through. somebody knew it and was sneaking in there to do drugs.
it's fixed now and the leak that was there seems to be fixed as well, so i should be able to finally start moving things into the garage. i just want to wait for it to dry outside before i do a final patch run over it.
i redid a lot of the concrete steps while i was at it as there were big gaps where moisture, rodents or bugs could get in. i'm going to redo a lot of the walls in the garage as well, just to make sure there aren't any further leaks. it will look a lot cleaner with a fresh coat of concrete.
i also bought some roof sealant that i'm going to lather all around the outside to keep the water out. this is in addition to the downspout extender i put in, that has made a huge difference.
so, once i'm confident that the garage is clean and dry, i have a carpet i can put down in the corner. i also have a bicycle rack that i can lock my bicycles to, tables, lamps, tools, a heater and even a stereo. it has to be dry and sealed first. i'm almost there.
i also really sealed up the laundry the other day using cardboard boxes and that really cancelled the smell in there, which is great. it was a mix of garbage, mildew and food i'd find unappealing, as a white european. blocking the holes neutralized it entirely.
so i'm making major progress.