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The ceiling fell in the utility room where the leak was. Actually, I still hear pieces coming down intermittently, so it's not done yet. I had to clean it up right away, because it fell on some of the cat litters. I don't know where the water will come through, now that there's no wallboard there to channel it. I wish I could say it will be interesting to find out, but I'm tired, and sore, and really depressed right now, so no. But I'll find out anyway- we're due more thunderstorms today. After all, this is Ohio.
Leaking water grossness
Jun. 20th, 2014 04:58 pmI've calmed down some now. But I am still soggy with dirty water from the leak in the utility room ceiling. The water has traveled down through the wall from the soffit of the half-story roof above, or at least that was the way it went last time.
OK, couldn't stand it anymore, so I changed all my clothes. Because I was that drenched.
The leak is a known factor- or, it had been. This time we had the downpour, but not the wind that had been a factor before. Obviously things have deteriorated further. I keep the bucket on the top shelf under the hole, and would usually check it to see if there was anything in it when it rained. Since there hadn't been for awhile, I got out of the habit of checking, but I did do a sound check when I went through to the bathroom when it was raining.
The first downpour today I didn't hear any dripping when I went through. The second one, after it had been raining awhile, I realized that not only was it dripping, but it sounded like the bucket was very full. But, since I started the bucket-on-the-top-shelf system, I have blown out a ligament in the rotator cuff of one shoulder. To be honest, I couldn't have handled the full bucket even with both shoulders fully functional, but since I can't even get my right arm above waist height without stress, I was not able to easily hold another container to slop off some water to begin emptying the bucket enough to get it down. And ladder work, to get up high enough to bail out some of the water, has been beyond me for a couple of years now.
Skipping most of the details, after the bottom of the bucket skidded backwards as I tipped it, I ended up wearing a good 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of dirty water, with plenty of it on the floor where the cat litters are surrounded by what is now mud (formerly clumping litter). And now I don't dare go anywhere if there's going to be rain, because I could come back to even worse.
Bonus: when the bucket dumped, part of the festivities included me getting a nice gouge down the back of my index finger. Which, really, I can't even figure out exactly how it happened. But it was a thrilling touch, having blood running down my finger as I'm trying to lug the partially full bucket to the back door to dump.
Right now? SO DONE WITH THIS HOUSE.
OK, couldn't stand it anymore, so I changed all my clothes. Because I was that drenched.
The leak is a known factor- or, it had been. This time we had the downpour, but not the wind that had been a factor before. Obviously things have deteriorated further. I keep the bucket on the top shelf under the hole, and would usually check it to see if there was anything in it when it rained. Since there hadn't been for awhile, I got out of the habit of checking, but I did do a sound check when I went through to the bathroom when it was raining.
The first downpour today I didn't hear any dripping when I went through. The second one, after it had been raining awhile, I realized that not only was it dripping, but it sounded like the bucket was very full. But, since I started the bucket-on-the-top-shelf system, I have blown out a ligament in the rotator cuff of one shoulder. To be honest, I couldn't have handled the full bucket even with both shoulders fully functional, but since I can't even get my right arm above waist height without stress, I was not able to easily hold another container to slop off some water to begin emptying the bucket enough to get it down. And ladder work, to get up high enough to bail out some of the water, has been beyond me for a couple of years now.
Skipping most of the details, after the bottom of the bucket skidded backwards as I tipped it, I ended up wearing a good 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of dirty water, with plenty of it on the floor where the cat litters are surrounded by what is now mud (formerly clumping litter). And now I don't dare go anywhere if there's going to be rain, because I could come back to even worse.
Bonus: when the bucket dumped, part of the festivities included me getting a nice gouge down the back of my index finger. Which, really, I can't even figure out exactly how it happened. But it was a thrilling touch, having blood running down my finger as I'm trying to lug the partially full bucket to the back door to dump.
Right now? SO DONE WITH THIS HOUSE.
Overachieving, is how I intend to sell it
Sep. 3rd, 2013 01:46 pmYeah, I have problems with the plumbing in most of the house, it's a very old house and the plumbing has been partially redone as needed over the years. The downstairs bathroom requires close attendance with a plunger for most toilet flushes, and the sink had been running very slow.
I knew the sink slowdown was plain old hair in the drain. It didn't respond much to drain cleaner, so I knew the clog was higher up. So I finally remembered to look for one of those narrow, flexible drain clearers when I was at the store. Sure enough, it got a big hunk of hair out, and things were way better.
Until I decided that it was time to try to get the drain stopper to work again. The hair clog was high enough that it was probably caught on the stopper cylinder, so I hoped that clearing it might loosen the stopper again. So I tried pulling up on the lever that closes the drain. Nothing, still. Hmm. Maybe if I push a little on the stopper itself- oh. That's not good.
Yeah. Stopper is dropped and is no longer attached to the mechanism that raises and lowers it. And let me tell you, it's down in there solid. The sink is deep and the drain is too close to the back wall of the bowl to fit a plunger over it. I can't seem to come up with anything thin enough to get down between the stopper and the housing to pry with- tried an old paring knife and just broke the tip off.
It's not a completely tight seal, the water that slops over the edge of the plastic basin I now have in the sink does drain out slowly. But it is aggravating, having to make sure I don't run too much water when I wash my hands, brush my teeth, etc. And dumping the basin into the toilet just makes me more irritated from the toilet having its own problems. I just wish I could figure out how to fix it, you know?
I knew the sink slowdown was plain old hair in the drain. It didn't respond much to drain cleaner, so I knew the clog was higher up. So I finally remembered to look for one of those narrow, flexible drain clearers when I was at the store. Sure enough, it got a big hunk of hair out, and things were way better.
Until I decided that it was time to try to get the drain stopper to work again. The hair clog was high enough that it was probably caught on the stopper cylinder, so I hoped that clearing it might loosen the stopper again. So I tried pulling up on the lever that closes the drain. Nothing, still. Hmm. Maybe if I push a little on the stopper itself- oh. That's not good.
Yeah. Stopper is dropped and is no longer attached to the mechanism that raises and lowers it. And let me tell you, it's down in there solid. The sink is deep and the drain is too close to the back wall of the bowl to fit a plunger over it. I can't seem to come up with anything thin enough to get down between the stopper and the housing to pry with- tried an old paring knife and just broke the tip off.
It's not a completely tight seal, the water that slops over the edge of the plastic basin I now have in the sink does drain out slowly. But it is aggravating, having to make sure I don't run too much water when I wash my hands, brush my teeth, etc. And dumping the basin into the toilet just makes me more irritated from the toilet having its own problems. I just wish I could figure out how to fix it, you know?
I've had extra-painful days this weekend. There's been high winds for two days, which means the air pressure is changing rapidly, and that's a bad thing for my arthritis.
But, the grass keeps growing. So I managed to get out these this afternoon, and mow. WOW did it hurt- the worse knee felt weak, like I couldn't be sure it wasn't going to just give out. The bad knee was the same as usual, but since it's better at the bending but not at the holding strong, it was a struggle. So the fact that there is one small part of the front yard that did not get mowed before the mower ran out of gas is really good. I was wanting to give up way before the mower did.
The other thing I did this weekend was read. The book is The Highest Frontier, by Joan Slonczewski. It's a science fiction/college coming-of-age novel, and that means there's no real plot, per se, but the worldbuilding is amazing. However, I'm still having trouble getting used to certain aspects of it. You see, the story involves a college in an orbiting habitat, that was put up by the state of Ohio. There's the Ohio River, and the Scioto, and the little homesteader town that's on the other side of the habitat from the college is called Mt. Gilead.
Which is the county seat of Morrow County, the next one north of mine.
The author blurb on the back flyleaf indicates that she lives in Gambier, and is the head of the biology department at Kenyon College there. So, she lives about 30 miles from Mt. Gilead (where I'm about 22 miles from the place). I'm sure people who live where there are many novels set don't even twitch when they see things like this, but I am really not used to it.
Oh, there are other issues I have with it, but it's been interesting enough to keep me going, just to see what happens next. So. Enthusiastic endorsement? No. But, if you enjoy science fiction that is well-thought-out, give it a try.
But, the grass keeps growing. So I managed to get out these this afternoon, and mow. WOW did it hurt- the worse knee felt weak, like I couldn't be sure it wasn't going to just give out. The bad knee was the same as usual, but since it's better at the bending but not at the holding strong, it was a struggle. So the fact that there is one small part of the front yard that did not get mowed before the mower ran out of gas is really good. I was wanting to give up way before the mower did.
The other thing I did this weekend was read. The book is The Highest Frontier, by Joan Slonczewski. It's a science fiction/college coming-of-age novel, and that means there's no real plot, per se, but the worldbuilding is amazing. However, I'm still having trouble getting used to certain aspects of it. You see, the story involves a college in an orbiting habitat, that was put up by the state of Ohio. There's the Ohio River, and the Scioto, and the little homesteader town that's on the other side of the habitat from the college is called Mt. Gilead.
Which is the county seat of Morrow County, the next one north of mine.
The author blurb on the back flyleaf indicates that she lives in Gambier, and is the head of the biology department at Kenyon College there. So, she lives about 30 miles from Mt. Gilead (where I'm about 22 miles from the place). I'm sure people who live where there are many novels set don't even twitch when they see things like this, but I am really not used to it.
Oh, there are other issues I have with it, but it's been interesting enough to keep me going, just to see what happens next. So. Enthusiastic endorsement? No. But, if you enjoy science fiction that is well-thought-out, give it a try.
First entry posted on here
Apr. 4th, 2011 04:23 pmAnd really it's just a placemarker for me- LJ is down right now.
I had plans to go do the shopping, but the latest severe storm in place has enough rain with southerly winds that instead I have to linger around the house so I can empty the leak bucket in the utility room at frequent intervals.
And I hear the rain getting harder now, too. How I hate not having the money to get things FIXED, forget about getting the house nice to live in.
I had plans to go do the shopping, but the latest severe storm in place has enough rain with southerly winds that instead I have to linger around the house so I can empty the leak bucket in the utility room at frequent intervals.
And I hear the rain getting harder now, too. How I hate not having the money to get things FIXED, forget about getting the house nice to live in.
FAIL of a post
Apr. 4th, 2011 03:50 pmTried to post a tarot deck list here, and it kept giving me an error that indicates that Mozilla isn't playing nicely with Dreamwidth. I presume it was something to do with me copy-pasting from word processing. But I give up.
I'm too depressed to do much but whine right now. The leak in the house has gotten substantially worse- so much so that it is running down the inside of the wall in the utility room, and this corner of the dining room (where the computer is set up) has wet streaks on the wall and something is dripping onto what sounds like cardboard or something. There's a tacky corner shelf nailed into the corner, that I suspect is actually holding up the walls these days, The drip sounds to be floor-level, behind that shelf. There is a gap between shelf and wall because of the baseboard, so I'm not sure how the drip is working, but it's there.
I just don't know how to find someone who can come with a big ladder and staple heavy plastic over the outside of the house in that corner where the water's getting in.
I carry my stress in my stomach. And right now my stomach hurts like crazy. Also, it sounds like it's time to go empty the bucket again.
I'm too depressed to do much but whine right now. The leak in the house has gotten substantially worse- so much so that it is running down the inside of the wall in the utility room, and this corner of the dining room (where the computer is set up) has wet streaks on the wall and something is dripping onto what sounds like cardboard or something. There's a tacky corner shelf nailed into the corner, that I suspect is actually holding up the walls these days, The drip sounds to be floor-level, behind that shelf. There is a gap between shelf and wall because of the baseboard, so I'm not sure how the drip is working, but it's there.
I just don't know how to find someone who can come with a big ladder and staple heavy plastic over the outside of the house in that corner where the water's getting in.
I carry my stress in my stomach. And right now my stomach hurts like crazy. Also, it sounds like it's time to go empty the bucket again.
