Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Disaster Recovery, Part II

Yeah, so it's never a good sign when there's a small pool of water on your dining room floor. After squishing through an unexpected puddle, the homeowner (yours truly), engages in a frantic game of Find the Source.

I quickly ran through the easy-to-resolve theories -- maybe an ice cube melted on the floor? Maybe one of the kids left a juice cup under the table that we didn't see? And I looked up. And I saw the spot on the ceiling.

Uh-oh.

A few months ago I noticed some spotting on another part of the ceiling. But since it was the first time I noticed it, I figured it could have been there for ages and I just didn't see it. I'd just keep an eye on it, right?

I really, really need to learn to trust that I have keen observational skills, and that if I notice spots on the ceiling, they probably weren't there before.

There's no denying this, though. These spots and bubbles weren't there before. We have a Leak, a professional, hulking leak that is turning the ceiling into mush. And for what it's worth, it's not from the recent monsoon-ish rainfall. Oh no. This is an interior leak, baby. The best kind. The excavate-the-ceiling kind.

Time to research the merits of home equity loans vs. refinancing the whole house. JUST how I wanted to spend my day.

2 comments:

Kate said...

Oh, no! I am so sorry. Aren't there just times when you want to give back the house?

M.C. Vaughan said...

Yes, yes there are. Like when you find out that the previous owner apparently didn't replace all of the faulty piping in the house WITH THE AWARD FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST THE DEVELOPERS FOR USING FAULTY PIPING. He only replaced the easily accessible pipes. The ones in the ceiling? Not so much. Gar.