home ownership ain't all it's cracked up to be..
I'm puttering at home and am immensely stressed, so I'm going to vent to you, LJ. You always listen.
About two weeks ago, right before leaving for Calgary to visit friends, I noticed a patch of mold at the back of my closet. It was in the corner where my suitcase lives, and I found it when pulling out the suitcase. In this corner the floorboards were also damaged and very cold compared to the rest of the floor....
I went to Calgary and when I got back I borrowed safety equipment and a saw and a shop vac and purchased HEPA filters and set about attacking this patch of mold and damaged floor... upon removing the dry wall, I found that the mold is not isolated.. oh no, it goes all around on the other side of the wall in the wall and in to the laundry room.
I call the home inspector who did my inspection when I bought the place a year ago. He comes over to help me find the source of the moisture that is feeding this mold. He is stumped at first... there's no plumbing in the affected walls, maybe it's coming from above? He sees a bit of dried soap where my washer would normally be (It's pulled out in the middle of the room right now) indicating my washer drips, but that can't be the root cause of this, there's not enough. Finally he removed the drain cap in the laundry room floor and finds it is full of water, and new water keeps coming up. Bit by bit, being absorbed by the subfloor....
I call the condo board president, who is a very nice guy, and he calls the insurance people. They tell me just call a plumber and get the root problem fixed, then they'll come in and assess the damage. I call a plumber out of the yellow pages, and cross my fingers that they're good.
Of course I am a little freaked. I want this fixed, all of it fixed. I want to know why this drain is letting water in, and how bad the damage is. I want the drain fixed. I want the moldy walls and floorboards removed and replaced. I want to know how long it's going to take to have all that done and if I'll need to find another place to stay while it's going on. I want to be certain insurance - the condo insurance, not mine - is going to cover the damage and will fix my floors and my walls.
That brings me up to now.. sitting on my couch, listening to CBC and the noise of plumbers working in the laundry room. They seem friendly enough, and I hope they're thorough and find (and solve) the source of this water. Then I can move on to the next step of getting it all cleaned up and sorting out who will pay for what.
About two weeks ago, right before leaving for Calgary to visit friends, I noticed a patch of mold at the back of my closet. It was in the corner where my suitcase lives, and I found it when pulling out the suitcase. In this corner the floorboards were also damaged and very cold compared to the rest of the floor....
I went to Calgary and when I got back I borrowed safety equipment and a saw and a shop vac and purchased HEPA filters and set about attacking this patch of mold and damaged floor... upon removing the dry wall, I found that the mold is not isolated.. oh no, it goes all around on the other side of the wall in the wall and in to the laundry room.
I call the home inspector who did my inspection when I bought the place a year ago. He comes over to help me find the source of the moisture that is feeding this mold. He is stumped at first... there's no plumbing in the affected walls, maybe it's coming from above? He sees a bit of dried soap where my washer would normally be (It's pulled out in the middle of the room right now) indicating my washer drips, but that can't be the root cause of this, there's not enough. Finally he removed the drain cap in the laundry room floor and finds it is full of water, and new water keeps coming up. Bit by bit, being absorbed by the subfloor....
I call the condo board president, who is a very nice guy, and he calls the insurance people. They tell me just call a plumber and get the root problem fixed, then they'll come in and assess the damage. I call a plumber out of the yellow pages, and cross my fingers that they're good.
Of course I am a little freaked. I want this fixed, all of it fixed. I want to know why this drain is letting water in, and how bad the damage is. I want the drain fixed. I want the moldy walls and floorboards removed and replaced. I want to know how long it's going to take to have all that done and if I'll need to find another place to stay while it's going on. I want to be certain insurance - the condo insurance, not mine - is going to cover the damage and will fix my floors and my walls.
That brings me up to now.. sitting on my couch, listening to CBC and the noise of plumbers working in the laundry room. They seem friendly enough, and I hope they're thorough and find (and solve) the source of this water. Then I can move on to the next step of getting it all cleaned up and sorting out who will pay for what.