Eff this actual money pit of a house.

[mrs.jacinthe]

At least for today. (Caution long rambly overdramatic rant/whine ahead)

OMG.  FOR REAL.

This morning, I got up super early to get work done.  About 5:30 I hear a "pop" sound in the kitchen and hear a lot of commotion.  I look around, all creatures accounted for.  WTH?  OH WAIT, it's a rat, caught in a spare trap we left set last year after we got what we *thought* was our last one and closed up the hole we thought the little boogers were getting in through.  NEAT.  (FYI - just in the ceiling.  They can't get into the actual house as far as we know, but they can - somehow - get into the ceiling area.)  UGH, now we have to start over with finding an entry point.

THEN, THEN!!!  at 7:15, R is taking a shower and I hear another commotion.  Quieter this time.  Again, all creatures accounted for.  DAMN, not another one??  NO.  NOT ANOTHER ONE.  THIS IS A LEAK.  From the bathtub drain on the second floor, into the PLASTER OF THE DINING ROOM CEILING.  DRIPPING ONTO OUR ANTIQUE WOOD FURNITURE AND R'S AUDIO GEAR.  (Yes, all caps is necessary.)  **flailing**  So, I run screaming up the stairs for R to stop and turn off the water.  He does, finishes taking a shower downstairs, etc.  Great.  Then, I call the plumber.  Then another plumber.  (Remember, I'm a realtor.  I'm calling my actual plumbing contacts.  That I refer customers to.)  NOBODY IS CALLING ME BACK OMG.  Finally, someone does, they send out a guy, he discovers there's no way into the leak except through the dining room ceiling - which I was expecting - and starts cutting into it.  Then, after breaking two sawzall blades and a drill bit, discovers that the plaster patch from last time this was leaky may have been stuccoed instead of plastered instead?  So he calls his boss to get advice, and boss tells him no way is he dealing with that liability.  So he boogies, all apologetic-like - at least he didn't charge me? - and leaves me with a tarp full of weird-colored plaster dust and a wet ceiling with two tiny holes in it.  WHO THE HELL DO I CALL NOW???  No plumber is going to want to hold a jackhammer overhead to deal with wet stucco patch from the previous-dumbass-owner and no contractor is going to have time for this tiny little job.  ARGH.  I'm going to have to call in a favor, I think.

Have I mentioned we're supposed to be going out of town on Wednesday afternoon?  Because of COURSE we are.

TL;DR = My house is old, crappy, and weird; it's previous owner was a contractor with a penchant for cutting corners in the stupidest possible ways, and no single tradesman wants to deal with this crap.  

[thatgirl2478]

oh man that SUCKS! I'm so sorry you have to deal with both those problems.

any idea how big the patch might be? could you get up there and hit it with something? (a hammer? a screwdriver and a hammer? IDK)

[mrs.jacinthe]

May 14, 2018 19:34:28 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

oh man that SUCKS! I'm so sorry you have to deal with both those problems.

any idea how big the patch might be? could you get up there and hit it with something? (a hammer? a screwdriver and a hammer? IDK)

It's giant. We need a hole at least 18 x 36.

My co-workers husband may be helping us out himself next week. What a nice man. Seriously. Arghhh. (He's also suggested making this a possible homeowners claim and just replacing the whole tub/surround/dining room ceiling/bathroom floor/etc). Basically, make it right again.

[thatgirl2478]

actually, it might be easier to make the patch bigger - 4 x whatever - to more closely match a sheet of drywall or plasterboard.

[thatgirl2478]

also - it's entirely possible that this is an EASY plumbing fix. We had 2 tubs leaking and they both turned out to be loose nuts between the overflow & the drain line. Annoying, but easily repaired once we got to them. One we had to go through the kitchen ceiling (luckily ours wasn't stucco) and the other we were able to access through the tile surround (it's one of those awful 90's jetted tubs - I hate it but we can't afford to replace it now). Hopefully it's just something simple like that. I'm not sure the insurance would pay for a new tub/surround without evidence that THAT's the problem :/.

[Susie]

Oh, brutal. I don't have anything helpful to add, but I'm sorry!

[mrs.jacinthe]

May 14, 2018 21:28:00 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

also - it's entirely possible that this is an EASY plumbing fix. We had 2 tubs leaking and they both turned out to be loose nuts between the overflow & the drain line. Annoying, but easily repaired once we got to them. One we had to go through the kitchen ceiling (luckily ours wasn't stucco) and the other we were able to access through the tile surround (it's one of those awful 90's jetted tubs - I hate it but we can't afford to replace it now). Hopefully it's just something simple like that. I'm not sure the insurance would pay for a new tub/surround without evidence that THAT's the problem :/.

Well, here's the problem (as explained by the actual contractor/coworker's husband): the actual fix, plaster/flooring/etc notwithstanding is an easy one.  The leak is most likely caused by the drain on the tub, which we knew.  The problem is that given the age of the bathroom (remodelled in the early 90s), apparently during that time frame there were issues with piping and pipe glue that are causing pipes to prematurely wear/crack/break/separate, like we're experiencing here.  So, if it's happening at one pipe joint, it could be happening at ALL the pipe joints, or it's a ticking time bomb until we have to do it again, basically.  So he recommends replacing all the tub piping as a result.  He's willing to just fix the leak, obviously - and it would only be a couple hundred bucks, but either way, given the water damage currently, we'd be in for a new bathroom floor and new dining room ceiling or at least repair in that corner.  If we need to also replace anything up into the wall (which ALSO has no access points, thanks crappy previous owner), we're also in for a new tub surround.  Then we're in for a penny and might as well replace the stupid bathtub we hate anyhow.  LOL

This is "if you give a mouse a cookie" on steroids, even for us.

[bellalynn]

Invite sorry. Sounds like a nightmare.

We had a similar issue on a smaller scale. After putting everything together we also put in multiple (hidden) access panels in hopes that if it does ever happen again we would hopefully nip it in the bud.

[thatgirl2478]

May 15, 2018 8:11:16 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

May 14, 2018 21:28:00 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

also - it's entirely possible that this is an EASY plumbing fix. We had 2 tubs leaking and they both turned out to be loose nuts between the overflow & the drain line. Annoying, but easily repaired once we got to them. One we had to go through the kitchen ceiling (luckily ours wasn't stucco) and the other we were able to access through the tile surround (it's one of those awful 90's jetted tubs - I hate it but we can't afford to replace it now). Hopefully it's just something simple like that. I'm not sure the insurance would pay for a new tub/surround without evidence that THAT's the problem :/.

Well, here's the problem (as explained by the actual contractor/coworker's husband): the actual fix, plaster/flooring/etc notwithstanding is an easy one.  The leak is most likely caused by the drain on the tub, which we knew.  The problem is that given the age of the bathroom (remodelled in the early 90s), apparently during that time frame there were issues with piping and pipe glue that are causing pipes to prematurely wear/crack/break/separate, like we're experiencing here.  So, if it's happening at one pipe joint, it could be happening at ALL the pipe joints, or it's a ticking time bomb until we have to do it again, basically.  So he recommends replacing all the tub piping as a result.  He's willing to just fix the leak, obviously - and it would only be a couple hundred bucks, but either way, given the water damage currently, we'd be in for a new bathroom floor and new dining room ceiling or at least repair in that corner.  If we need to also replace anything up into the wall (which ALSO has no access points, thanks crappy previous owner), we're also in for a new tub surround.  Then we're in for a penny and might as well replace the stupid bathtub we hate anyhow.  LOL

This is "if you give a mouse a cookie" on steroids, even for us.

that's legitimately the worst case scenario!

[mrs.jacinthe]

May 15, 2018 8:55:45 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

May 15, 2018 8:11:16 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Well, here's the problem (as explained by the actual contractor/coworker's husband): the actual fix, plaster/flooring/etc notwithstanding is an easy one.  The leak is most likely caused by the drain on the tub, which we knew.  The problem is that given the age of the bathroom (remodelled in the early 90s), apparently during that time frame there were issues with piping and pipe glue that are causing pipes to prematurely wear/crack/break/separate, like we're experiencing here.  So, if it's happening at one pipe joint, it could be happening at ALL the pipe joints, or it's a ticking time bomb until we have to do it again, basically.  So he recommends replacing all the tub piping as a result.  He's willing to just fix the leak, obviously - and it would only be a couple hundred bucks, but either way, given the water damage currently, we'd be in for a new bathroom floor and new dining room ceiling or at least repair in that corner.  If we need to also replace anything up into the wall (which ALSO has no access points, thanks crappy previous owner), we're also in for a new tub surround.  Then we're in for a penny and might as well replace the stupid bathtub we hate anyhow.  LOL

This is "if you give a mouse a cookie" on steroids, even for us.

that's legitimately the worst case scenario!

Yeah.  I mean, it's entirely possible he'll open it up and go, "oh good, just a minor thing" but more likely, he'll open it up and go, "yeah .... so ... "

I'm also concerned about how long it was leaking before we noticed, because if there's mold or mildew up in the walls ...

[TBM]

I would check with your homeowner's insurance if I was in your situation.

My sister had a plumbing issue and the plumber brought up checking with insurance. She wound up getting the plumbing repaired and because they had to dig through the slab in one room, flooring had to be replaced. She had the same really old ceramic tile throughout her house, and because it couldn't be matched, she wound up with new flooring everywhere. And paint, because of whatever mess or damage may have occured during the removal of tile. Her house is newer now than when she moved in 30 yrs ago.

[pumpkin]

Oh goodness!
I hope it's not too much trouble to get it fixed.

[kath16]

this might be a very very dumb question, but is it possible to go through the floor instead of your dining room ceiling? At least to look at what's actually going on and if it's worth an insurance claim?

[thatgirl2478]

May 17, 2018 11:34:56 GMT -5 kath16 said:

this might be a very very dumb question, but is it possible to go through the floor instead of your dining room ceiling? At least to look at what's actually going on and if it's worth an insurance claim?

If the problem is UNDER the tub, going through the floor isn't going to work.  The plumbing is usually under the tub :/. 

[thatgirl2478]

mrs.jacinthe, how's the situation working out?

[mrs.jacinthe]

May 17, 2018 15:04:28 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

mrs.jacinthe , how's the situation working out?

The plaster was *still* wet when we left yesterday afternoon.  I won't have any news until next week, when friend's contractor husband can cut the ceiling open (18x18 hole to start) and take a look.  BAD news is that I checked with our insurance, and, because of our fire risk, in order to keep our rates reasonable, we're carrying a giant deductible ($2500), plus we have a discount for no claims.  So if we made the claim, it would have to make it worth our while.  And honestly, even replacing the tub and replastering wouldn't make it worth the while at this point.  We'd have to completely gut the entire bathroom to be a worthwhile project (and while I wouldn't mind doing that, we'd have to find significant mold to justify that and I sincerely hope not.)

[thatgirl2478]

May 17, 2018 17:16:03 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

May 17, 2018 15:04:28 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

mrs.jacinthe , how's the situation working out?

The plaster was *still* wet when we left yesterday afternoon.  I won't have any news until next week, when friend's contractor husband can cut the ceiling open (18x18 hole to start) and take a look.  BAD news is that I checked with our insurance, and, because of our fire risk, in order to keep our rates reasonable, we're carrying a giant deductible ($2500), plus we have a discount for no claims.  So if we made the claim, it would have to make it worth our while.  And honestly, even replacing the tub and replastering wouldn't make it worth the while at this point.  We'd have to completely gut the entire bathroom to be a worthwhile project (and while I wouldn't mind doing that, we'd have to find significant mold to justify that and I sincerely hope not.)

WOW I hope you don't have mold. I know that there are a lot of policies that don't cover mold (especially if there was 'something you could do to stop it). And $2500 is a huge deductible. Ours is weird now, it's like 10-20% of whatever the cost of the repair is.

[nursecramer]

Ugh. That is awful. I'm sorry you're having such rotten luck.

[mrsukyankee]

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this.