We will start with some advice you did not ask for – I have been informed by several landlords that carbon monoxide detectors lose their effectiveness after 10 years. If you can’t remember when you bought yours, it is time to get new ones. They save lives. Also, those really old smoke detectors should be replaced as well. I do not know what the shelf life of those is. I would appreciate it if someone who knows will tell me.
More unsolicited advice: Recently, there was a horrible, large, devastating fire on Park Avenue in the Mansion Neighborhood in downtown Albany. The fire quickly got out of control, requiring multiple alarms from other cities. One of the reasons was dried out, deteriorating wooden porches and stairs at the rear of the buildings. Please, if you have buildings with such structures on the back, check their condition right away. Many should be replaced with metal stairs and new pressure treated wood where metal is not suitable. Old, dried out, splintered wood catches fire quickly. Do not wait to be cited by the codes department for this situation. If you do, you will have to make the repairs in a short time and it might be difficult for you to do that.
