my awful day ...

[LCBride2007]

I just had to vent, since I am working from home alone this week. So I am sitting at my desk around 3:30 or so, and I hear what I think is a clicking type noise. I go out into the kitchen to check it out, and I look up to see a drip from the ceiling (the "click" was the water hitting the floor). And the ceiling is bubbling, like it's holding a pocket of water. Crap. So I put a bucket underneath it immediately, and call Paul (who is in NC for work).

 

Paul tells me to knock on the door of our upstairs neighbors, but they don't answer. At this time the UPS guy delivers my shoes (see other thread - lol), and my neighbor gets home. While I am in the hallway signing for the package, talking to my neighbor, and to Paul on the phone I hear a super loud GUSH - like someone dropped a bucket of water of a balcony. Oh no, it was my ceiling caving in.

 

I run upstairs to see a pool of water in my kitchen, and the ceiling is still dripping heavily. I turned of my units water, and had my neighbor do the same.

 

All of this as Paul and I are trying to rent our place. Right.

 

Long story short (kinda), Paul's brother and dad came over, both are very handy, and took more of our ceiling apart, and dug in further, and went upstairs to my neighbors. Turns out they had a slow leak in their hot water heater drainage valve and kept a bucket underneath it. Oops - someone moved the bucket. Ugh.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Like I need something else to deal with right now - I thought moving out of state, working a ton of hours, planning a wedding, etc. was enoughh!

 

Here's my ceiling:

[leigh miller]

wow! sorry ann. theyre paying for the repairs right?

[LCBride2007]

i hope so. we have 4 units in this building, and have an association. the people upstairs are renters, the only ones in teh building. they're great people - i don't blame them at all really. BUT i do hope the owner realizes this is his responsibility. i think he will - since when he first found out about this issue from his renters, his first question to them was "did you leave anything on, did you do anything" - he was obviously trying to assess his liability.

 

at the time we didn't think it was them since there was nothing obvious. i am hoping he makes this easy on us - i really don't want to battle over this! Paul is calling him tomorrow to talk.

[~Melissa~]

Oh no Ann this is something you certainly don't need. I'm so sorry! That really sucks. I remember that happened in the condo I was living in once. Our upstairs neighbor's dishwasher was leaking. The ceiling bubbled but nevere collapsed. It ended up turning into a big battle with the condo management and this tenant. That's good that you took some pictures... good proof.

[LCBride2007]

hopefully the guy is a stand-up guy and just does what's right. he owns a bunch of pproperty - so hopefully he just knows he's responsible. grrrr - i just hate dealing w/crap like this. just comes with the home ownership game i guess!

[TammyWright]

shouldnt their homeowners insurance cover this...? you are no way responsible and they owners of the upstairs unit needs to pay for it.

[starchild]

Dang Ann that really bites!! If it's not one thing it's another I guess. We too had the upstairs neighbor with a leaking dishwasher, no collapse, but a crack that constantly dripped. It will work out - but what a hassle!!

[Christine]

oh my gosh Ann that is like a movie or something-I am so sorry, at least you were at home, can you imagine being gone for three days and coming home to that.

[MelissaH]

oh that totally sucks ann! i'm so sorry that happened to you!

i hope your neighbour's an ok guy and everything works out for you!

[TammyB]

Ann I feel your pain, when we moved into our "brand new" townhome just over a year ago (2 days before Christmas) we woke up on Saturday to a driping sound, we called the emergency hotline and we found out they built our dormers wrong and instead of keeping water off it, it ended up collecting water we hand 3 huge spots all over our living room with water damage. Mind you we were planning on a Huge Christmas dinner (the next day) so between unpacking and fixing the ceiling and roof I was a little stressed.

 

The owner of the unit above you should without question pay for any damage done to your place, but at the very least if you have renters insurance it should be covered there. That really sucks, But look at the bright side,, you got your shoes.. lol