When It Rains, It Pours

A few weeks ago, we discovered a damp spot on the dining room ceiling at our condo. We called our management company to send someone out to check the problem. A construction guy showed up the next day and told us that a sprinkler line appeared to be leaking. He said that he could not work on sprinklers and we would have to notify our management people to arrange for someone from the "fire protection" group to do that. As he walked out the door, he smirked, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" A week later, a worker from the "fire protection" firm was finally available to come check our now-dripping ceiling. He cut some holes in the drywall and found that there was no sprinkler line anywhere near the leak. Naturally, he was only authorized to work on sprinklers, so he recommended that we call our management company to arrange for a licensed plumber to repair what seemed to be a dripping pipe. As he walked out the door, he quipped, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" Six days later, a plumber came to the condo. He peeked at the leak, declared that the problem originated at an upstairs toilet, and proceeded to fix what he called an improperly-installed commode. I now have a new respect for licensed plumbers because - after one construction worker, one sprinkler man, and two weeks of the management company passing the buck - this guy diagnosed and fixed the problem in about 45 minutes. Jake and I had used the upstairs bathrooms sparingly throughout this whole ordeal, and I can assure you that it is once again nice to be able to go to the restroom during the night without trudging down the stairs.

Believe it or not, the dining room ceiling in the Texas house now also has a leak. The issue down there is a roofing problem which was repaired earlier this year, but apparently was not quite patched up correctly. Jim noticed the drip there after two-and-a-half rare (for this year) inches of rain fell the other day. Hopefully any more precipitation will hold off until a worker can mend the roof.

I really started to worry when the condo ceiling actually started dripping water.

We will have to live a while longer with our hole-y drywall since the wood is slightly damp up there. Things should dry more quickly if we leave the ceiling open.