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Monday, June 13, 2011

Plumbing Along

Some of this may be redundant...BUT I just have to chronicle the nonsense that has been our apartment lately. It all started with a "typical" clog that turned in to a full on back up in our sink & tub. The plumbers came out in their overalls (yes, seriously), took the toilet "off" & put some kind of crazy electric snake machine down the pipe which caused a flood of what they call "black water". Later the cleaning crew came out to sanitize our floor as a result of the contamination caused by the "black water". While they were here our landlords friend came over & started nosing around, sassing us because we used a plumber she didn't like. Apparently he's a "snake". She warned that she'd put him out of business & mentioned something about how he must have forgotten who she "works for"...Picture something out of the Real Housewives of New Jersey except instead of a Range Rover she rides in on a Men's bicycle that she "borrowed" from our upstairs neighbors. It's frightening. And funny. 

Anyway while she was there cussing the plumber she also started letting us know how unnecessary she thought it was that a cleaning crew was there to sanitize our floor. We let her know that the insurance company sent them over but she still wanted to know which adjuster we talked to, who called this company, if it was covered under our landlords policy, and ON & ON & ON...No matter how many times we told her that our landlord called his insurance agent she was still under the impression that we had something to do with it. While we were discussing this the cleaning crew blew a fuse. OF COURSE! Our landlord's "friend" took that as a sign that she needed to go out to the garage & bring in several boxes of miscellaneous fuses & start switching them out randomly to see if that would fix the problem. Of course it didn't. 

Obviously the fuse that blew was the one to the AC & the Refrigerator. So Greg went to Home Depot at 11 & brought home 2 industrial extension cords so that we could keep our food from spoiling. The next day when the Electrician came out (2 hours late) he twisted the fuses tightly into their appropriate positions. "They just weren't in all the way. Was somebody fooling around with them or something?" 

That's the end of chapter 1. 

Chapter 2: Greg leaves for Utah for 2 1/2 weeks. Then the plumbing backs up again. We call a different plumber this time. They don't answer. Our landlord instructs us to call the "Snake" plumber back. He doesn't answer. Finally the 1st plumber agrees to come. Until our landlord completely insults the plumber & me by using a racial slur while negotiating the price of the visit. The following day, the "Snake" plumber shows up unannounced & when we tell him we've got yet another plumber coming he says "Well let me know how that works out for ya" & then hangs up. Totally normal. Finally a plumber comes (1 hour late) & says there's nothing he can do unless he breaks through the floor & replaces the plumbing. He leaves saying not to flush too much & don't take long showers in the mean time. 

Of course he's made a COMPLETE mess of my house & the tile floor. So I kept the dogs off of the tile & decided I'd tackle cleaning later. The next day I deep cleaned the entire apartment...mopped, bleached, febreezed...you name it. I even replaced our bath mat. I left for a few hours & came back after 9, looking forward to a fresh smelling, thoroughly cleaned bathroom, hopeful that at least we could treat it gingerly & make it through the upcoming visit of one of my best friends. When I went into the bathroom & found that my new bath mat was completely soaked & there was standing water draining down into my floor I was completely defeated. A few hours later I went in to check again & found a fresh batch of standing water that was again draining down into my floor. But where was it coming from? 

I called in to work today (for the 3rd time) so that the plumber could come BACK & try to fix it. Our landlord is threatening not to pay for the visit 2 days ago until the plumber "actually does something", because obviously if it's not "fixed" it can't be because something more serious needs to be done...no, no...surely it's because BOTH of the plumbers who have been here & said the same thing are incompetent. He's also been in Greg's ear all morning calling us "dramatic' & accusing us of "over dramatizing" the crumbling bathroom floor situation even though it's now been through 4 floods & is absorbing all of the water. Finally the plumber gets our landlord to agree to pay for him to take out the vanity, open up the wall & fix the problem. 


So he's in the midst of that now. re-tracking mud, dirt & toilet run off through my house. I'll be back to work putting this house together in a few short hours I'm sure. But we still have to have the floor replaced, which our landlord's going to fight us on forever I'm sure. To help grease the wheels we're seeking the help of an attorney. It's unfortunate that all of this is happening, and in some ways I feel kind of bad for our landlord. But in the words of my father, "It is what it is". All just 3 days before Ashley gets here & with a looming work deadline, 2 dogs, wedding planning & a traveling Mister. Sheesh. 


Have I said lately that I can not WAIT to stop renting?

1 comment:

  1. Goodness gracious!! I am really thankful, despite all the random mishaps we've had in the various palces we've rented that things were taken care of quickly. And we've not had any real trouble with our landlords. I am truly surprised your landlord would contest NOT paying for something that basically makes it practically unlivable. Backed up plumbing?? GROSS. That's got to be some sort of grounds for breaking the lease, I would imagine. I know that's probably not a fun plan, but I sure wouldn't want to deal with all that extra stress. Hope things get figured out real soon! Make sure you take pictures of EVERYTHING!

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