"What's that dripping sound?"
Well, there's a four word phrase you hope to never hear.
Not unlike "We're moving to Bakersfield."
But that's the phrase I heard when the boyfriend returned from running errands yesterday. I had picked up a decent size job out of LA late Friday afternoon and had been working on it all weekend. He had just returned from the market with the makings for what we planned to be a a relaxed and pleasant evening. Which now wasn't going to happen.
Because a quick check revealed a puddle slowly forming on the cheap Pergo floor of the family room, right between the TV and the couch. Directly overhead, large drops of water formed on the popcorn ceiling.
"Well that's not good" I said. I say that a lot here.
I knew, from spelunking through the attic in search of the opossum last winter, that all the plumbing for the house ran overhead. I also knew, from that little adventure, that the house was plumbed with galvanized steel. And in addition, I knew from the money-pit renovation of our old house in LA, that nothing good came with old galvanized pipes. All together, I knew far too much.
Because of my previous experience in the attic, I was dispatched to find the problem. Inching along the joists on my knees, I quickly found the problem -a pin prick leak in the hot water pipe was shooting a tiny, scalding stream of water on the ceiling dry wall.
That seemed to be a bad combination.
And no sooner did I think that than a platter size section of ceiling fell away directly under me, smashing on the edge of the flat screen below.
"Well that's not good" I said.
Long story short, the boyfriend made an emergency run to the hardware store for putty and tape and between the two of us we managed to stop the leak. For now.
There's now a massive hole in the ceiling of the family room. The rats must be thrilled. They finally have their All-Access pass to the rest of the house.
A plumber is on the way to assess the problem as we speak.
It just so happened that I had finally received a hefty check from a long delinquent client. I had planned to use the money for a return trip to the doctor. My doctor in LA had grown alarmed when I saw him back in August. He had wanted me to come back the next week to run a battery of tests. I've been putting it off because I simply couldn't afford it. I haven't reached the deductible with my shitty insurance company, and, let's face it, I never will. But now I had the funds, or so I thought. Looks like now the money is going for plumbing, just not mine.
I also just got off the phone with Dottie. She works for our home warranty company and seems like such a dear. She's sending someone over this afternoon to assess the damage and see about the repairs.
"Don't worry honey, we'll make you right as rain" she said.
That's sweet, but not fucking likely. Not unless she plans on packing us up and moving us out of here.
