Another slab leak

Great. Another slab leak. Seriously. Argh.

I didn't want to believe it... the guy who has the slab leak is also refusing to pay rent. Not only do I have to pay for the repair, I'm not getting income to cover it. *sigh*

I called a plumber but he couldn't get here fast enough, so I ended up going with my trusted choice of Adee-Do Plumbing. They'll be here first thing tomorrow.

I started the three-day notice over the weekend, but the lawyer says I should have handed the tenant a copy then mailed one, so I had to start over. At least I only lost one business day. It was awkward handing a guy a three-day notice and then arranging for a plumber to fix a problem. *sigh*

Apartment ownership sucks.

God is good, even though leaking pipes are bad

The weekend was ugly, I must admit. However, having called Adee Plumbing on Friday, they sent out a plumber who found the leak, rented a small jack hammer, found the leak (update: there were two, next to each other) and fixed it. The concrete should be about dry now, so I'll be going by tonight to cut off a section of water-damaged drywall.

Fortunately, the carpet survived as it was not wet for long. Cathy's got a repair and cleaning place coming tomorrow morning, so the folks in #2 will be able to let their toddler run around again.

Although the ordeal will cost us upwards of $2,500 it is a blessing that Adee Plumbing is extending us financing options. Thank God!

James 1:1-8 and Plumbing

I had to comfort my stressed-out wife last night, hugging her in the laundry room, when I realized that she was being strong, but at the end of her strength. It is painful to me, as a man, to hold my God-given woman in my arms as she cries. I did my best to reassure her, as much as I was reassuring myself, that God is good and faithful, and He would take care of this, one way or another.

After shutting off the hot water (thank God we still had cold water!), I took Cathy out to dinner just to get away for a bit. We informed the tenants and made arrangements for plumbers the next day.

So, like I said, I read James chapter 1 last night, and I did devotions from it this morning. The verses most people focus on are James 1:2-4...

“Consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and compete, not deficient in anything.”
James 1:2-4 (NET)

Reading on, we are told to ask for wisdom:

But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8 (NET)

How do I proceed? What must I do next? I do not know how to handle this difficult circumstance, but God does. The key to a proper response to difficult circumstances is a proper response to God; we must trust God full, giving Him our undivided devotion and total dependence.

It was thus that I had my faith in God reinforced at the beginning of this day, a day I was planning on taking a cold shower. The plumber is here, now, so we'll see what the financial damage will be. However, these days will only push me willingly closer to my our God and to trust Him more.

What, another slab leak?

Just after Christmas, Carrie in #2 told me that she hears water running in her tub, and the floor is hot. I looked at the crawlspace under the tub, couldn't find any leaks, but tried to listen as closely as I could for the source. It sounded to me like it was coming from the wall. I worried that I would have to take apart the drywall to fix a leaky shower pipe, but could find no evidence of water.

That's when I began to worry... another slab leak?

After failing to shut off the water at the base of the tub (old valve, won't turn without a ratchet), I figured it may just be a faulty shower valve. I resolved to fix it after the new year, and just pay a higher water bill.

Well, Carrie from #2 just called and said that, this morning, she felt a wet spot on the carpet and thought her cat threw up. Now, the carpet is soaked and water is definitely coming from somewhere! *sigh*

Cathy's on her way home, and I'm calling a plumber now. We'll see what's next... probably an expensive re-pipe that I don't have the money for.

Update 1: It is hot/warm water, so at least we won't be completely without. However, I am not looking forward to a week of cold showers (while we get it repiped).

Update 2: Cathy found the spot it is coming out of the carpet, so it is a confirmed slab leak. Crud.

Plumbing and Tenant Neighbors

So... about noon I get a call from my tenant in the third unit. The problem with having neighbors that are also tenants is that nobody ever makes a social call. The relationships are cordial, but bound by the strictures of our landlord-tenant relationship. I think we all tend to intentionally forget until rent is due.

That said, my neighbors do not call unless something is wrong. So I was not glad to get a voicemail indicating that unit three had flooded (argh). Thoughts of the "slab leak" (which turned out to be a overflowing toilet) came immediately to mind.

Anyway, unknown to me, the toilet in unit three will occassionally run continuously, wasting money but probably easy to repair. However, the toilet also flushes funny: it will flush, then the water will rise almost 3/4 of the way up, then essentially flush again.

What happened today was that the toilet stuck so it was running continually. The extra water caused the bowl to overflow, and once it does that it apparently doesn't receed. There's less resistence to overflowing, so the water keeps coming out the top. Thankfully, it was clean water.

The bathroom in three is connected to a hallway and is between two bedrooms and the livingroom. The overflow was not noticed for 15 minutes or so, and by the time my tenant noticed, the water had spread partially into all the rooms.

*sigh* Click to hear me whine

Anyway, I called in for an insurance assessor. Ironically, the flooding from unit one was due to a toilet as well (it was newly unoccupied, so nobody noticed). The toilet in three is the only toilet I had not replaced. I'll be replacing it soon, and hoping that solves the problem.

Slab Leak VIII - Conclusion

I replaced several angle stops in the apartment that the plumbers indicated were trouble. That fixed the problem, and the water main has been on for days so I am very confident there is no slab leak.

The restoration company picked up their equipment on Friday 08/05/2005 and I was supposed to hear from Allied. I had to call and follow up, but last week I finally got the claim adjuster to come out on Thursday. He took pictures, wrote up some notes and taped a statement from me. In about a week they'll be sending us a check. The repair from the damages are entirely up to us, though; I'll have to hire someone or do the repairs myself.

I've posted several more Slab Leak Parts (Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) on the dates the events actually transpired. I know, I'm back-posting... shame shame. But it seemed to make more sense than one long post to try to catch everybody up.

It appears I'll need to patch some holes, replace the carpet in aparment one (it's pretty old anyway) and paint. I finished tearing out the cabinets already, and today I had help clearing the carpeting and the trash (I'll post later on it). Next, paint and prep for a new rental! We already have two very interested familes; it must be the "pets welcome" thing.

Thanks for your prayers on this!

Slab Leak, Part VII - Yeah!

Thursday, 08/04/2005, close to noon (see a pattern?) I met with the tech from L&D Plumbing, sent by our insurance company. He asked what the problem seemed to be; I told him I could have a slab leak. He proceeded to use similar equipment to Adee Plumbing inside each apartment and soon concluded there is no slab leak. He did suspect that apartment three's refrigerator might be leaking water, but that he could not determine if that was the case. After checking the pipes and the fridge, he's not convinced the fridge is leaking, but we don't have another suggestion at this point. He would update the insurance adjuster, who would contact me.

I now felt confident there was no slab leak. I called Old Republic, who indicated our claim was denied because Gennaro's said we had multiple slab leaks caused by acidic water. Acidic water? They never saw running water, let alone tested any water, so how would they know? I complained, and they said I was welcome to send them a second opinion. If you were considering a home warranty company, stay far, far away from Old Republic.

Slab Leak, Part VI - I'm Confused!

Close to noon I got a call from Adee Plumbing. I met Danny the slab guy; he's been doing slabs for 13 years. He gave me a quote for re-piping ($15,000 !!!) and voiced his doubt that I had three slab leaks. He took out a very sophisticated-looking piece of equipment and placed it against the plumbing inside the house. Any leaks would be detectable from an angle stop inside the apartment. He turned on the main and tested all three apartments before concluding there is no leak! Danny found that the toilet in apartment one was stuck on, it would overflow and would simply not stop. He thinks that caused the problem in our office and bedroom, although it is a mystery how it could have got to Apatment Three.

That would be great news, of course! Except now I am confused... either Danny is right (no leak) or Franco is right (two or three leaks). Danny insists that you can detect one leak for sure, and you can speculate on the possibility of a second leak, but you cannot pinpoint two leaks at once, let alone three. Maybe Franco from Gennaro's Plumbing was trying to soak me for some serious money, I'm not sure...

I updated our insurance adjuster, who told me that his tech would be contacting me as well. I arranged for a Thursday visit from the insurance tech. I had not heard from Old Republic (seeing a pattern here...) so I called them. They indicated they would call Gennaro's Plumbing and get their report and call me back. Jack Stephen, the owner of Adee Plumbing, called me; he expected me to happy (no slab leak) instead of confused. I suppose he's right, but I was afraid to believe in such good news.

Slab Leak Part V - Can It Get Worse?

Tuesday, close to noon, Gennaro's Plumbing showed up. They had two tech, the senior tech being Franco, placing what looked like an oversize stethoscope on the ground. Apparently, you listen for leaks in the slab. The techs first asked where the water was coming from (Apt 3 living room and Apt 1 kitchen) and then listened around those areas. They concluded that there is a leak in our apartment, in the kitchen, under the tile floor. They also concluded that there is a second leak under the tile in the middle of apartment one's kitchen. Also, there was possibly a leak near the toilet in the full bath of apartment one. Two, possibly three slab leaks! All at once! That would also mean that Monday evening's adventure was from a previously unknown slab leak. It was disheartening...

Gennaro's suggested that it would be cheaper to re-pipe the triplex rather than fixing the slab, especially since slab leak detection was not exact and the repair could cause secondary damage. All the jack hammer action may cause other problems, they said. I asked them to give me a quote; I should get a call from Old Republic within 24 hours. That afternoon I called Adee Plumbing. I've dealt with their computer system before and had worked with the owner during an upgrade. He was very helpful and suggested that he send a tech out the next day. I updated our Insurance company, who indicate he was planning on sending his own tech out, as well.

Tuesday evening, on Cathy's suggestion, we called our insurance company, who indicated that they felt that they should take care of the damage immediately. They would send a restoration company out that same evening. The restoration company cleans up the water damage and dries out the carpet (and if necessary, the walls). They were very efficient and were set up in about 30 minutes. Our restoration tech indicated that everything should be dry by Thursday evening, and that our carpets should be completely salvageable. There are these big dehydrators with tubes running to our sinks, and large blowers to aerate the carpet. We'll be like this for three days... ugh.

Slab Leak, Part IV

On Sunday, 07/31/2005, Cathy and I followed our morning routine, then went to 24-Hour Fitness and showered before grabbing breakfast (bagels and coffee) and heading off to church. It was a great message from an elder in our church; I was truly challenged to get more involved again and I felt refreshed. After the service I called Old Republic again (since they failed to call me back), and they indicated they had found a contractor who would be contacting me, most likely on Monday (same-day emergency not withstanding). We went to a church fellowship potluck, had a good time and then headed home early. Cathy was feeling worn out from all the upheaval, which is why we left early. After we got home, Cathy actually felt worse; I think the wet carpet was getting to her as she is sensitive to mold.

Monday morning, 08/01/2005 came and I called for an update from Old Republic. They had assigned the call to Gennaro's Plumbing; they'll contact the plumber and call me back. After hearing nothing by noon, I called again and got Gennaro's number and called them myself. I discovered that Old Republic had failed to tell Gennaro's that it was an emergency, so they had scheduled me for Tuesday! Unfortunately, it was too late to reschedule people. I called Old Republic to complain, and was told that I would get a call back within the hour (yeah, right...).

I continued to remodel apartment one by pulling out more kitchen cabinets. Even though the water was off, I shut off the angel stops for the kitchen sink. The floor was pretty gross; I'm not sure if that was from the accumulated dirt or if previous water damage had caused some discoloration. Our tenant in number three needed to take a bath, so I turned on the water for 30 minutes; Cathy took the opportunity to clean up a bit as well. Afterwards I found a new wet spot in our office... I found water on the floor in the kitchen of apartment one. This is a mystery, since I turned off the angle stops under the sink; I figure that one of the angle stops was faulty. We cleaned up the water and went to bed... ugh, could anything else go wrong?

Slab Leak, Part III - Continued...

So last night Cathy & I were in apartment one looking at the kitchen and considering how to remodel the cabinet layout. We settled on this...



While we were kicking around the idea of an archway made of cabinets, John from apartment three comes to find us ans says his carpet is wet. At first he thought his cat did something bad, but there was just too much moisture.

"Oh, Lord", I thought to myself, "this is going to be expensive, huh? We shut off the water main, talked about it and prayed. I shut off the water main to prevent further damage. Then, Cathy remembered the home warranty our Realtor had negotiated, so we gave them a cal. Our home warranty is with Old Republic, and they indicated that it was Friday and weekend contractors are hard to reach. Without water service, it was considered a same-day service emergency, so we were authorized to call an outside contractor. We talked it over with John and decided the morning would be O.K.

So here it is, Saturday 07/30/2005, and I called Rapid Plumbing. The tech indicated it was a possible slab leak, and he told Old Republic as well. It turns out we have a $1000 cap on slab leaks, so anything over that comes out of our pocket. Rapid Plumbing wanted $375 for a leak detection and $19.95 for truck operating expenses. But, Rapid does give free estimates and would count the leak detection fees towards the cost of the repair. I sent them home and gave Old Republic a chance to find a contractor. Old Republic would call me as soon as they found someone.

I called back several times on throughout the day and each time I was promised someone would call me with some news. Nobody ever called, so I just kept calling Old Republic every couple hours. Finally, about 4 p.m. I spoke with someone and explained that life without water is very difficult, to which she replied, "you don't have water at all?"

Yes, that's right; it turns out nobody we had talked to previously had noted in their system that our water was completely off. Old Republic updated our call status to emergency service (sound familiar?) and told me they would call me in the morning.

I still had a kitchen to remodel, and not having water wouldn't stop that. I took down the top cabinets from the kitchen, then Cathy and I showered at 24-Hour Fitness, grabbed some dinner and called it a night.

Slab Leak, Part II - More

The continuing saga of the slab leak...

Update: To make matter worse, I just called at 4:30 P.M. to get an update, and they did not notate in their system that our water main is off. They updated their system, so maybe we'll have some work done on it tomorrow, we'll see!

Slab Leak!

We have a slab leak in Aptment 3. That means that a supply line has sprung a leak, in the concrete (the slab) that serves as the subfloor for the triplex.

Yeah, I really thought that sucked. I was just praying to God, "Now, Lord? I'm pretty sure we can't afford this! Please give me the grace to handle this...", and then Cathy remembered the home owner's insurance that our agent arranged for us.

Well... I'll update as we go. So far, the main is off so we're going to have to figure out something for bathing and eating...