Insidious leaks
Nov. 6th, 2005 01:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vettecatWe've been having trouble with leaks in our kitchen. Specifically, water running down the built-in bookcase where we keep our cookbooks and small appliances. The first instance was Wednesday night; ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sdavido found water creeping across the kitchen floor when he got home from work, and was understandably upset. (This came on top of an already stressful day.) He called me at work, and I came home to help him deal with it. We called our upstairs neighbor, who is a condo trustee, and she came down to look at it.
We had a problem once before with water leaking from our ceiling, which turned out to be caused by their bathtub overflowing, but she said that had been fixed so she didn't think it could be the cause. But she said she'd call the management people in the morning and ask them to come investigate.
Thursday morning, the water was back.sdavido nobly cleaned it up again (thankfully we'd moved the cookbooks the previous night), but then was worried he'd be late for work, so I drove him in. I got a note later that day from the trustee saying that the management people would be in touch. Unfortunately they called SD-'s cell phone, which is off when he's teaching, which means he basically leaves it off on Thursday...
Friday afternoon I reached the designated management worker, who told me that they'd discovered that a radiator had overflowed on the 3rd (top) floor above us, while the owner had been away, and they thought that was the cause of the leak. He said this was now fixed, and he'd come out next Thursday (gee, thanks) to assess the damage.
Friday evening, as we were getting ready for Shabbos, I walked into the kitchen and noticed that water was running down the wall and across the floor again. Yike! I called the designated contact back, and got his voicemail. SD- called the management company on his cell phone at the same time and was told we had to speak to the designated contact. Argh! I also called my mother and told her we might be a little late for dinner (we were supposed to be leaving for her place about then).
While I laid down towels, SD- ran upstairs to see whether either of our neighbors had been running the shower, in case that might be the cause. They hadn't, but the trustee's husband C. (nice guy, handyman type) came downstairs to check it out, and was suitably horrified. He diagnosed it (by color, smell, speed of dripping, etc.) as water from the heating system, and hypothesized that the management company hadn't properly bled the pipes before turning on the heat for the winter, and a seal had burst somewhere. We had already lit the Shabbos candles by this point, so he offered to call the management people and tell them the leak had started back up. (Non-Jewish neighbors can be useful!) It seemed to be slowing down, so we thanked him for his help, and he went back upstairs.
Shortly afterwards, as we were preparing to leave, the leak sped back up... and we saw a leak starting in the ceiling, as well. Right by the light fixture. Gulp. SD- ran back upstairs to get C., who came back down, looked, and told us to shut off the circuit breaker. Um, we can't, but if you want to, it's fine with us... So C. shut off the circuit, which lessened the danger of an electrical fire (good), but meant we would have no light in the kitchen or bedroom until we could turn it back on Saturday night (bad). Fortunately we had a couple of the really big Yankee candles, which C. kindly decided to light and leave in useful places. He also said he was going to call the management's emergency number, as he considered this now qualified. We gave him a set of keys in case they showed up, he went back upstairs, and we watched the leak until it seemed to stop again, at which point we left to walk over to my mother's for dinner.
A few hours later, we fearfully returned, and found that the leak had not reappeared, and C. had left a note on our door. He said that the management people said the problem had been diagnosed and fixed, and he would return our keys Saturday night.
We spent Shabbos mostly by candlelight (not entirely bad), and, fortunately, without leaks. Shortly after sundown, C. appeared with our keys. He said they had discovered that the radiator had not, in fact, been fixed, and was still leaking. But they said it was fixed now. OK, we'll hope so...
In the meantime, we're still hesistant to put the cookbooks back. We'll watch it for a few days, and if nothing happens, we'll hope that they really have fixed it. Then we just need to assess what's been damaged, and start negotiating with the management company about who's responsible for fixing it, paying for it, etc. Bleah.
sdavido found water creeping across the kitchen floor when he got home from work, and was understandably upset. (This came on top of an already stressful day.) He called me at work, and I came home to help him deal with it. We called our upstairs neighbor, who is a condo trustee, and she came down to look at it.We had a problem once before with water leaking from our ceiling, which turned out to be caused by their bathtub overflowing, but she said that had been fixed so she didn't think it could be the cause. But she said she'd call the management people in the morning and ask them to come investigate.
Thursday morning, the water was back.
sdavido nobly cleaned it up again (thankfully we'd moved the cookbooks the previous night), but then was worried he'd be late for work, so I drove him in. I got a note later that day from the trustee saying that the management people would be in touch. Unfortunately they called SD-'s cell phone, which is off when he's teaching, which means he basically leaves it off on Thursday...Friday afternoon I reached the designated management worker, who told me that they'd discovered that a radiator had overflowed on the 3rd (top) floor above us, while the owner had been away, and they thought that was the cause of the leak. He said this was now fixed, and he'd come out next Thursday (gee, thanks) to assess the damage.
Friday evening, as we were getting ready for Shabbos, I walked into the kitchen and noticed that water was running down the wall and across the floor again. Yike! I called the designated contact back, and got his voicemail. SD- called the management company on his cell phone at the same time and was told we had to speak to the designated contact. Argh! I also called my mother and told her we might be a little late for dinner (we were supposed to be leaving for her place about then).
While I laid down towels, SD- ran upstairs to see whether either of our neighbors had been running the shower, in case that might be the cause. They hadn't, but the trustee's husband C. (nice guy, handyman type) came downstairs to check it out, and was suitably horrified. He diagnosed it (by color, smell, speed of dripping, etc.) as water from the heating system, and hypothesized that the management company hadn't properly bled the pipes before turning on the heat for the winter, and a seal had burst somewhere. We had already lit the Shabbos candles by this point, so he offered to call the management people and tell them the leak had started back up. (Non-Jewish neighbors can be useful!) It seemed to be slowing down, so we thanked him for his help, and he went back upstairs.
Shortly afterwards, as we were preparing to leave, the leak sped back up... and we saw a leak starting in the ceiling, as well. Right by the light fixture. Gulp. SD- ran back upstairs to get C., who came back down, looked, and told us to shut off the circuit breaker. Um, we can't, but if you want to, it's fine with us... So C. shut off the circuit, which lessened the danger of an electrical fire (good), but meant we would have no light in the kitchen or bedroom until we could turn it back on Saturday night (bad). Fortunately we had a couple of the really big Yankee candles, which C. kindly decided to light and leave in useful places. He also said he was going to call the management's emergency number, as he considered this now qualified. We gave him a set of keys in case they showed up, he went back upstairs, and we watched the leak until it seemed to stop again, at which point we left to walk over to my mother's for dinner.
A few hours later, we fearfully returned, and found that the leak had not reappeared, and C. had left a note on our door. He said that the management people said the problem had been diagnosed and fixed, and he would return our keys Saturday night.
We spent Shabbos mostly by candlelight (not entirely bad), and, fortunately, without leaks. Shortly after sundown, C. appeared with our keys. He said they had discovered that the radiator had not, in fact, been fixed, and was still leaking. But they said it was fixed now. OK, we'll hope so...
In the meantime, we're still hesistant to put the cookbooks back. We'll watch it for a few days, and if nothing happens, we'll hope that they really have fixed it. Then we just need to assess what's been damaged, and start negotiating with the management company about who's responsible for fixing it, paying for it, etc. Bleah.
