Fingering My Wet Hole

I've been busy lately, stressed mostly

as you may recall from a previous Haiku Friday Post, I've run into a bit of trouble with my condo.

it started with a knock on my door, my neighbor from down stairs (who i had never seen until this moment) asked me if i had a water leak.

my eyebrow was raised

he told me that was a problem in his bathroom and it appeared to be related to my unit. seeing as though the floor plans are identical i worried that the problem in his bathroom was a problem in mine.

OK, now, before i get into this too far, this is what i saw in my bathroom...


hmmmmm.... a bubble, that's not a good thing

here's what i found in his:




can you believe that? Tinkerbell stickers on the mirror!

oh, and a large chunk of the ceiling collapsed with a sprinkling of black mold (for flavor)

i guess MR. Bubble was hiding a secret



now, as you can imagine, I'm in complete joyous rapture over this. i mean, i can barely pay my mortgage on my condo and now it looks like it's literally falling out from under me. (irony has that effect on me)

So, my pop came over and "took a look" at the problem...



this is what we found. now, for those of you who are not familiar with plumbing and how it works, pipes only work when they're connected. you can see by the calcium build up on the pipe, this "connection" let go some time ago. the pipe off to the left is the one that connects the sink drain to the sewer pipe (where the poo poo goes.)

here's the real pisser. see the rubber coupling there? that's not supposed to be there. you only use those things in "emergency" repairs.

"so why is a temporary pipe thingy sealed away inside a wall behind your toilet" you ask? simple, it's cheaper than doing it the right way.

the funny thing is that no one has been using this bathroom since October of last year (save for the occasional guest), so for the amount of damage that was done this had to be going on for years... and that's just about the time frame that the unit below me has been vacant.

yup, for nearly two years, every time someone has washed their hands or poured something down the drain this pipe has dumped the water right into the wall filling the ceiling of the unit below me. (always wanted an indoor pool).

my first reaction was to do what any sound minded homeowner would do, i called "my insurance company". allow me to tell you what they said about my policy:

Mr. Exile, you policy does not cover the following:
-Water Damage
-water damage to other Units resulting from your unit
-repairs
-parts
-mold or mold removal
Your policy does cover:
-hiring a Leak Detection
-damages done while detecting the leak
Oh, and Mr. Exile, you also have a $1,000 deductible

when i asked what my policy did in fact over he told me it was "slip and fall" protection and "fire damage". (mental note, buy better insurance)

there is one stroke of luck to this tail of woe, my dad was/is a general contractor and "Mr. Fix-it Extraordinaire". he was so enthralled with fixing this problem that he made it a daily routine to come over and tinker on my condo. he'd call me and tell me he wanted me to come over an help, but by the time i got home from work he was already done for the day.

i think his rational for tackling this project were that:
1. he was helping his family, and that makes anyone feel ten feet tall
2. it got him out of the house and away from my mother
3. it's been a long time since he did work like this and was so appreciate for it.
4. because he knew he could (between the cancer, radiation, and Kemo, i think he needed to do stuff to feel like his old self again.)

as usual my dad came through will flying colors. he...
-fixed the pipe,
-patched up the wall,
-killed the mold
-patched up downstairs
-and reinstalled the toilet (after i couldn't do it. the flange broke...)

of course this beast of a project still won't die, with all the commotion, the toilet is now leaking from the tank. this looks like something i can fix, i just have to replace the bolts, re secure a pipe fitting, sacrifice a goat, and so one (typical toilet fixing stuff.) between this and the stress at work (bleck). I've been too pooped to do anything (which is ironic seeing as through I've been without that toilet, yet pooped. oh the funniness)

so thanks to my dads awesomeness, this has only cost me $50 bucks in parts, and a few weekends doing yard work at my parents house. needless to say it's a small price to pay for it all.

*sigh* I've been living in this condo for three years (this September) and it's been nothing but heartache and woe. an uphill battle scraping together what little i can to feed this place.
-I've had homeless guys living in my garage-I've had a roommate try to steal $3,000 dollars from me
-I'm paying $1400 a month on my condo (that's just mortgage and association) and the condos my grandma owns in this complex are renting for just $950. (i love the housing market! don't you?)
-and now I'm sinking so deep into debt so deep that when i finally unload this place I'll be lucky to break even


the only way i can see to pull my self out of this hole is to get a roommate and a second job... so much for my PS3 Trophies.




Exile