02/24/2010 Once Upon an Ironic Time
Once upon an ironic time, there was a couple who lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in a city highrise. One day, following maintenance work to the outside of the 21 storey building, their little bedroom began to leak. It started as a small drip, then became several drips, then over the following year evolved into a soggy mess of peeling drywall. Then one day, their little living room became soaking wet. ARGH! A new leak in the living room! Now the only dry places in their little home were their bathroom and kitchen. And both had sinks, hence they did not stay completely dry for very long. Well, this couple put on a brave face and put up with the mess that the building refused to address. They felt very badly for the nice lady who owned the unit and the the fact that no one would listen to her and fix her little house. Finally, the nice lady told the couple that they could break their lease. After finding mold in the bedroom, the couple decided to accept her kind offer.
By luck, the couple was able to find a totally awesome condo to rent. It was in their favorite neighborhood! It was in an incredible building! It had two bedrooms AND two full bathrooms! And a fantastic kitchen! And a washer and dryer in unit! Boy oh boy, this couple was stoked. They moved in and were so happy to be living in a nice house that didn't leak. Even their cat was excited, running and scrambling around and around the apartment after his toys at 3 am each morning. Life was good.
Well, after 2 months, suddenly, their new pretty bedroom started to leak! ! ! "Hmmm. . " they thought, scratching their heads as they watched the drips plop into the tupperware containers they'd set out. The night after this, the wife woke up to find her husband shining their flashlight onto the ceiling. There was a new leak, this time a couple feet from the foot of the bed. They set out more tupperware containers. Soon the drips began coming in faster, splattering against the tupperware containers and splashing over their nice new landlady's hardwood floors. The couple set out towels. As this happened, they looked at eachother and said, "Well isn't this ironic? ""What are the chances? ""Honestly, something must be wrong with US!"
No sooner than these exasperations were muttered, drips began coming in along their windows in the living room. And into the closet holding the furnance. What the heck was going on? "Maybe it's a problem with the drainpipe that goes through the unit, " the building engineer wondered. The husband nodded. The wife knew little about drainage, but pretended to agree wholeheartedly with this hypothesis and nodded too. Everyone was nodding and scratching their heads. "The fact we're in another leaky unit is pretty weird, right?"
It was winter, which is a difficult time to assess the reason for a ceiling leak. It kept snowing. As soon as the sun came out and began melting the snow, the leaks became heavier. "This is getting worse! " the husband emailed the nice landlady and the building company. Finally, just last Friday, the temperature increased into the 40s, and the building's architect, engineer, roofers, and plumber where able to test the drain pipe by pouring water into it from the roof to see if this changed anything in the couple's unit. Well, something must have become. . .dislodged. Water began pouring into the unit, stretching from the windows all the way to the opposite wall, coming in so quickly that the workers ran around finding large garbage and recycling bins to collect the water. Then they had to keep emptying the bins and moping the floor. They bought the couple more towels. The unit next to the couple started leaking too. ARGH! ! ! THE SKY IS FALLING, the couple thought when they came home from work and got about to moping the water off their nice landlady's pretty wooden floor. Wasn't it ironic? The couple had to move their furniture out of their bedroom and living room. The roofers and plumber engaged in a day-long project to drill through their bedroom ceiling to the roof and insert a new drainpipe. Then they had to carve a new hole from their bedroom into their living room and connect the new drainpipe to the good part of the old leaky one. And the couple was told that this should be the solution to the problem.
The evening after this repair work, the wife was home on her own. She sat in the partially empty living room after pulling the plastic covering off their couch and television, and looked around at the dry floor and buckets. They seemed dry. They really did. But with their history, could the leaks really be over? Really and truly? Seems doubtful to me!
