That's way better than earlier this week, when we had a gaping hole in our floor. I got to take a good look at all of our support beams and plumbing (good news: no sign of termites, and our pipes are cast iron, not lead).
The pipes behind the tub started a slow leak a few years ago, and the floor has been slowly rotting through since then while our landlords wondered when the best time would be to rip the bathroom apart. Meanwhile, the bathroom sunk lower and lower over our alley (it's an old house, and the bathroom was added later, so it hangs unsupported off the side of the house). Finally it got to the point that I was taking 30 second showers because I was afraid of falling naked into the alley in a shower of tile and bubbles, and we petitioned the landlords for the repairs.
The plumbers came Monday. They tore the cast iron tub apart and broke it up with sledgehammers, then ripped up the floor. Beneath our linoleum were two other linoleum styles, wood, plastic tile, other plastic tile, ceramic tile, and hardwood. Then sub-flooring! Before they put the new tub in, the plumbers checked out the visible pipes, and discovered a few more that needed to be replaced. They did that Tuesday, and Wednesday they seated the new tub and had the carpenter replace all the rotten wood.
Next, they'll run pipes to the tub and redo the tile and flooring (none of which will match, unfortunately). Hopefully this will be done this week, because I'm tired of having no bathroom.
We've had use of the sink and toilet, but we've been bathing in the yard under a hose. Kidding! We've been driving all the way to the gym to shower. It's half an hour away in traffic, but luckily close to my work. It's still a pain, and so is the iron and ceramic dust all over the house, but it beats landing naked in the alley one day, rubber ducky in one hand and loofah in the other, so no complaints here.
Driving to the gym to take a shower isn't that bad, as compared to falling down naked covered in soapy bubbles! At least the people you hired seemed competent as you had no further troubles. Your bathroom will look and feel brand new, which means there'll be no leaky problems in the near future.
ReplyDeleteSheryl August @ CentralNewJersey.MrRooter.com
I feel your pain. A few years ago (in a different house) I came home from work to find my toilet sitting in the kitchen, because the landlord had decided it was a GREAT day to come rip out the shower / bathroom walls to address the mold issue we'd reported to him, with zero warning. He was all, "Hi! This will be done in two weeks!" & we were all, "Soooo...where are we supposed to shower?" & he was all, "Maybe you can work something out with the 2nd floor flat?" No gym at the time, so I can't say there weren't a few days of sponge bathing in the kitchen. Also we moved out ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThat's not much fun. But neither is falling naked onto the street below.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you weren't injured (obviously), the thought of anyone tumbling onto the street mid-shower makes me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteOh my! Definitely a time to be thankful you're not the home owner, eh? Hope all goes as planned. We've had our one toilet out of commission before and that was quite the bummer to say the least.
ReplyDeleteOh no! That sounds like a royal mess. We had a pipe bust at my old house, and it totally ruined nearly all of our carpet. That kind of stuff is SO annoying. At least you will have a nice, new bathroom out of the whole deal. :)
ReplyDeleteLeaks can truly cause immeasurable interior damage if left unchecked. I'm glad that you had experts take a look and fix the situation before things could get any worse. How's your new bathroom now? It's really advisable to have maintenance check-ups to avoid the same problem from occurring again.
ReplyDeleteMonica Ryan
Well thank goodness for the gym! In college, I guess my husband (we didn't know each other then), lived in his car. He slept there and every morning went to the U of O student gym and did his workout and took his shower. All to avoid driving an hour each way to school or renting an apartment. The gym works! Maybe you just need to move closer to it. Sorry... couldn't resist.
ReplyDeleteI would be irritated.
ReplyDeleteI want to let you know that I nominated you for the Liebster Award. You can check it out on my most recent blog post. I hope you have as much fun with it as I did!! If you don’t have time no worries!!