Saturday, July 24, 2010

Water, water, everywhere

Two days ago, I awoke to the sound of a strange hissing noise. I didn't know what it was at first. I thought maybe I had left the sink water running. But when I stepped out of the bedroom and into the hallway, I got quite a shock as my feet stepped in cold water soaked carpet! The hallway carpet was wet!

I went into the bathroom, looking for the source of the water. Only, there was water on the bathroom floor, but it wasn't from the sink or shower tub. I tracked down the strange hissing noise to the small closet that held the water heater. And when I opened the door, there it was, the source of the water and hissing noise. The water heater had broken and was leaking water onto the floor. I couldn't figure out how to turn the water heater off, so I did the next best thing.

I picked up the phone and dialed the apt manager's office. I explained to her the nature of my problem. And within ten minutes, maintenance showed up and turned off the water heater by shutting off the power and draining the rest of the water through the tub. My 20 year old water heater had broken down.

I reached for a mop, but the maintenance man told me not to worry. They would clean up the mess and replace my water heater with a new one. For the next four hours, they shampooed, washed, and cleaned my carpet in addition to installing a new, energy efficient water heater. Then they put a huge dehumidifier and a large, industrial size fan to dry the carpets. I was told the machines would be in place for three days to ensure the carpets are dry and to prevent any mold and mildew from forming.

Now, I fall asleep to the hum of large machines in the dry air of my apt. It's better than dealing with the awful humidity outside after the summer thunderstorms pass on by. I'm really glad that I was home when the water heater broke down. I can't imagine how much worse the water damage might have been had I not been at home to catch it early on. And having great maintenance staff is one of the reasons why I like renting an apt. I can't imagine the hassle and drama I would've faced had I been on my own, left to deal with the mess. I wouldn't have a clue of where to even start, except panic that there was water, water everywhere and it was going to be expensive to fix and find out what's happening. Thank goodness for great apt maintenance staff.

23 comments:

  1. Glad you were there and have a good maintenance team to back you up!

    I once lived in an apartment that had un-insulated water pipes in the attic! They froze and burst during the day. When I got home my ceiling and insulation lay in a wet glops all over the place! Happened to a lot of other units in the complex as well. Took several weeks to get it all repaired. Plus some of the cleanup and repair crews stole some of my stuff.

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  2. Things like this should not happen to Infomaniac heroes.

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  3. Sounds like you got great service from the men in overalls.

    And I'm sure there's a desperately predictable joke in there somewhere.

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  4. It is good you were home. And awake! TM was luckily home during our flood - we own our condo so what saved us was having insurance and like you, building maintenance staff who acted quickly. I now swear by insurance. I've had it for years, even as a renter.

    Glad you are safe and dry again, although I have no ideas how you manage to function with those huge fans. We had to move out.

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  5. Oh hai xl, kapi and mj. How's it hangin?

    I've been wracking my brains to think of something witty to say about damp shag pile and maintenance men...keep coming up blank.

    Seriously, that's a really crap thing to happen. But I'm so glad you've got good people looking after you (though that's partly our job).

    Many hugs.

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  6. XL, That's awful that happened to you. It's bad enough there's a lot of damage from the burst pipes, but it's just even worse when the clean up and repair crews are stealing from you!

    I was lucky to be home to catch this before it got worse. And I'm really lucky that maintenance is really excellent here. It's why I'm still staying at this old apt complex.

    MJ, Well, I live in an old apt complex. Nice, comfortable, good staff and maintenance but it's an old complex, and my water heater was 20 years old when it finally broke. It's older than one of the maintenance staff, a high school kid who's an apprentice to one of the maintenance guys. I'm just happy that I was here to catch it before it got worse.

    Kapi, You can say that I am one happy customer.

    Snooze, Being there when it happens and having good maintenance staff makes all the difference!

    I don't mind the large fans. It's like white noise to me. I'm sleeping in the living room, far away from the fans. And I fall asleep faster with the regular fan blowing on me, lulling me to sleep with its hum.

    Roses, Hugs back to you and thanks for looking out for me :)

    It is a crappy thing to happen to have a hot water heater break down. But I consider myself lucky that I was off and I was home when it happened. I dread to think of how much worse it would've been had I been at work. I'm just really happy that it got fixed fast and that things are looking great now.

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  7. Good thing you were at home instead of getting there on a Saturday night coming back from a pleasant evening, just to find out that you had to enter your flat in a canoe!

    I am amazed at the efficiency of the maintenance staff. I wwwonder if you would be so nice -you are, I already know :)- as to send them over to fix a few zillion things in my flat? LOL.

    @ This is for Roses ONLY:

    YOU LOOK STUNNING! I love your new pic! Passion Red is definitely you colour!

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  8. Oh hai Leni.

    Thanks my darling, that's so lovely of you to say.

    And Eros, as they say in the military, I've got your 6.

    Life is sure as hell shitty, and if we didn't look out for the ones we care about, there really wouldn't be much point.

    Infomaniac Bitches are the most wonderfullest of peeps in the world!

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  9. You'd better get out of those wet clothes right NOW!

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  10. That is awesome how they got to work so quickly and even shampooed the carpet for you! Now you have a brand new water heater.

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  11. Oooo...can I help you out of those wet things? :-D

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  12. Blimey! I can't quite believe the speed and efficiency of your maintenance men! I'm so glad it was sorted out so quickly for you.
    I also can't get a certain image out of my head as input my a certain Miss Roses...

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  13. Input BY Miss Roses, not MY Miss Roses.

    D'oh!

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  14. IVD, you know I lower the tone at any opportunity. Though, I don't often have the chance to get in first round here.

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  15. Leni, It would have been an unpleasant shock to have to come home and swim in my apt. I'm really glad I have good maintenance staff here.

    I'll see what I can do about sending them over ;)

    Roses does look amazing, doesn't she?

    Roses, Hear! Hear! We certainly do a good job of looking out of each other. If I'm ever at war, I'd be honored and very glad to have an ally like you on my side. We'd definitely win the war!

    MJ, I'm typing and wearing just a towel right now.

    Tara,, It's really something when you have great maintenance staff. Today, the apt manager and a carpet specialist came by. They told me that they are replacing the pad under the carpet and will be shampooing it one more time. The carpet looks great all ready--nice and dry and clean.

    Roses, Thank you for the offer. I'll keep it in mind the next time I need a helping hand.

    IDV, The maintenance staff provides exceptional service...and I'm one happy customer.

    Anyone who's willing to take care of my six and lend me a helping hand shows incredible kindness that is cherished and reciprocated in these parts of the country. It's the hospitable thing to do.

    Roses, Lowering the tone is an art form our group has perfected and practices with great skill ;)

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  16. Glad it all got fixed to your satisfaction, me man.

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  17. WW, Me, too. Having a responsive, great maintenance staff is the major reason why I'm still living at this old apt complex.

    I used to live in a gated, brand new, fancy apt complex. But it took forever to get maintenance to come fix anything, and the staff/management was kind of snobby. I left as soon as my lease expired.

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  18. OOOH
    Just a towell???
    How could I possibly miss that???

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  19. Nothing worse than leaking pipes...
    Lucky you discovered it so quickly and had it promptly fixed.

    I once had a slow sneaky water leak that distroyed the carpet in a rarely used guest room. Didn't realise until I had guests sloshing about on wet carpet... most embarrassing... cost a fortune to have fixed...
    They still refer to there stay as the time they stayed in the swimming pool...

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  20. Ooo Princess. Nothing worse than soggy, wet carpet. Ugh. Smells awful.

    You mean you don't have a guest's cabana by the swimming pool in the Palais? Have the houseboys build you one immediately.

    PS. my wv is buctivo. Sounds like a product designed to enhance performance.

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  21. Leni, It was too hot to put on anything else after getting out of the shower ;)

    Princess, Ha! Ha! At least your guests have a great sense of humor. Ah, yes. Nothing worse than finding out you have water damage from leaky pipes. You have to worry about how much damage they're doing to everything!

    I count myself lucky to be at home when the water heater broke down. It minimized the damage.

    Roses, Oh, yes, wet carpets do stink--I remember because growing up, we went through a lot of hurricanes. After one serious hurricane, we went over to inspect the damage at an aunt's new house. Her roof had leaked and her new carpet was soak. It took several days to dry it in the sun, but man did they stink! She eventually had to toss them and put tiles on her floor instead.

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  22. Mago :)

    Yes; dry now...just busy :)

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