I know, usually it’s “TGIF” – but I’m someone who also really enjoys a good “TGIM”. I like Mondays because it’s a start of a new week, a new start all the way around.
Last week was terrible. I’m going to write about it, at length, because I have a feeling if I just get it down I’ll get it out of my head and I can move on.
Last Monday was Memorial Day, and it was then that I realized there was a spot in the carpet by the front door entry way that was wet. At first I assumed the baby just left her water cup there a bit too long, and it leaked (despite all the “leak proof” claims), but by Monday night the spot had gotten BIGGER so I called our property management (PM) and left a voicemail. It was Tuesday morning that Paul was in our garage and noticed our water heater was leaking – and had been – seeing as how the surrounding area (a raised wooden structure covered in plaster board) was drenched.
I called out of work, got on the phone with our PM again (I hadn’t heard from them about my previous message), and someone was out to our house pretty quickly. Beforehand, Paul & I spent a bit of time in the garage getting the boxes we were storing (that were now wet and ruined) out of the way. Once our PM rep was there we drained the water heater and called in someone to replace it. He said we’d have to remove not only the water heater, but also all the wet plaster board and the heater that was sitting on the raised structure beside the water heater. He estimated $1,400 – and said he’d have to go and get all the necessary tools and return – which he did around noon and worked until about 8pm. He told us he’d be back the next morning, around 6:30am, and that he had to leave at noon for a funeral. He didn’t say anything else, so I took that to mean he’d be done by noon.
That night we bought an electric kettle, to quickly boil large amounts of water in order to at least clean and sanitize the baby’s bottles and stuff. We also pulled back a good three feet of the carpet on the west side of the house and set up multiple fans to dry all of the wet padding & carpet. We had to move a ton of furniture and the house was in complete chaos – and smelled like an old sponge. Plus, I hadn’t showered in two days, we’d unfortunately been on the cusp of needing clean clothes & towels, and there were a ton of dirty dishes. But it had been a long day so we just went to bed.
I come home from work Wednesday night to find that A) the water heater was in place, B) our heater was not C) our clothes dryer had been moved and not replaced and D) there were tools everywhere. Clearly, he was not done – and when we try the hot water we just got a lot of sputtering and brown water. Frantic that I’d be ANOTHER night without hot water, I called our PM asking questions. After some investigation we found out that he’d not been able to finish the job before noon, the water heater was working, the heater was not, our air conditioner was not, and he’d return the next day to finish the job and install the clothes dryer again. So, we weren’t able to run the air conditioner (after a hot day the house was in the 80′s), we weren’t able to run the heater (after the sun set, it cooled down drastically and since we had the house open and all the fans on it dropped into the 60′s), we couldn’t dry clothes, but we COULD shower and do the dishes.
Thursday the job was completed, though we had another team in the garage because of the heater & air conditioner. They finished up around sun set and I was glad that it was finished. They decided to let us know though, that our heater & air conditioner should be serviced because of their age. They offered to do both for a good price, and said it would improve their performance. I said we’d talk to our PM and see who would be responsible for it. We didn’t bother trying to put the house back together, because it was late anyhow, so it wasn’t until Saturday morning that we removed the fans and laid the carpet flat and replaced all the furniture.
Friday I was frantic to find out that Paul’s paycheck was so small that we were hardly able to make rent. Money stresses me out so much. Not only did I have to worry about rent but also a credit card payment. I realized I could remove some money from a secondary checking account, but I had to rush down to the bank before they closed at 6pm and it was too late to make the payment by then. So I was late, which I REALLY hate seeing as how that’ll be on my record and they’ll charge me $39 in a late fee. I’ll be SO glad to get this all paid off and closed next year when we move in with my parents.
Feeling like such a failure, I decided to call and make an appointment to get the brakes done on my car. I had a coupon, and I knew that we could afford it if I took a bit of extra money from our secondary checking account, which I thought would be worth it. I also was determined to get the garage cleaned up seeing as how the “flood” forced us to move a bunch of boxes anyhow – maybe a weekend of getting stuff done would make up for the terrible week.
Saturday we got the house put back together, in a sense. The carpet is still not tacked down so we’re trying to keep Evy away from where it was pulled up so she doesn’t hurt herself on the tacks. We drove two cars down to get my brakes done (because they said it could take up to 3 hours) to get there and realize I’d misunderstood the coupon and it would cost about… four times as much as I’d budgeted for. So we headed home – but instead of working on the garage we just ate lunch, lounged around, let the baby nap and then went to church. That was the bright point of my day – as church was really good and we had dinner with my sister & friends afterward. We’d work on the garage on Sunday.
Sunday we slept in. By the time we got up and started on the garage it was noon, 80° in the house, and we skipped breakfast. We got very little done before we stopped to eat. We got some more boxes pulled out but once I looked inside it was hard to say, “toss it!” like I thought we would. It ends up a lot of the stuff we have stored needs to be reorganized, not just discarded. Plus our one trash can supplied by the city filled up quickly with trash that was just lying around. We started to pile trash in a corner but we still didn’t make much progress. Still cannot park my car in the garage.
After lunch our PM rep came by the house to take pictures. She dropped a bomb on us to say that the homeowner was thinking of seeking monetary restitution from us because she felt that it wouldn’t have been such a cost if we’d noticed the water heater was leaking earlier. That’s of opinion, and I told the PM rep that much. She suggested that we not get too excited about it until the homeowner decides – which I think is a good idea, but I’m still upset about it. If she does decide, then she’s looking for $600, which is just not fair. We’re looking at our options – so far as what is expected of us as tenants and what it expected of them as landlords and we’ll pursue it further if she chooses to.
I slept terribly, my mind couldn’t shut off and the stress was horrible, and woke to a fly buzzing around my ear. So annoying.
So, like I said. It’s Monday – a new start.
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