Dihydrogen Monoxide Poisoning

[helen99]

Last night we were admiring a newly arrived copy of "The King in Yellow" by Thom Ryng. rialian read the the hillarious introduction to the first edition and then the more serious introduction to the second edition (because by the time of the second edition, the world had taken a turn for the serious, and some of the contents of the play were scarily applicable to it). Presently, I wandered into the kitchen, whereupon I heard a sound I never want to hear: "OH DRAT!!!" rialian had heard a dripping noise behind him. When we looked behind the couch at the large window, we saw that water was dripping down from the ceiling (leaving a brown stain and puckering in its path).

The irony that we were looking at a Lovecraftian book when this happened did not escape anyone...

The last time I had a similar water intrusion was a very long time ago, but in the dim recesses of my memory I recalled that it had something to do with "the A/C ductwork". That wasn't entirely accurate, but based on that, I began to shop around for someone to clean the ductwork, thinking that dirt in the ductwork may have caused condensation to form (I don't know HVAC systems very well).

rialian and also someone at work informed me that it was probably the condensate drain line (not the ductwork). I hadn't had the ductwork cleaned in about 15 years, though, so I thought maybe this was a strong hint to just go ahead and get it cleaned, whether or not it was the direct cause of the problem. So I called the A/C people and told them to do both (and to service the entire system while they were at it). So much for my shredded pocketbook.

The A/C people are scheduled for Friday morning. Meanwhile, we will roast half to death, since we can't run the A/C or the ceiling will cave in. As it is now, I can repair it with joint compound, drywall tape, spackle, sandpaper, and paint. If it gets worse, I'll have to get someone to replace it. I'm wondering if I should wait till later to clean the duct work, since probably cleaning the drain line alone would solve the immediate water problem - but no, I was supposed to clean it every three years and haven't for about 5 times that long. It has to be done now so people don't get sick.

Comments

[lyssabard.livejournal.com]

o.O;

And you have HOW many cats/animals? Oh man, hon. Hehe...and I thought it was bad when we pulled a hairball the size of a kitten from the vacuum. (B couldn't find bags for the model for 6 months, and we kept...emptying and refilling, long story.)

Your ducts scare me. And yet...I have a Call of Cthulhu urge to explore the findings....

Lys - Risking Maddness for the Sake of Curiosity Yet Again.

*HUG*

Hang in there, it will all be fixed, slowly but surely...

[lyssabard.livejournal.com]

btw...I can tell you first hand what happens when gutters aren't cleaned. Heh, so can Ri--he saw the puddle forming in my basement apartment. Easy to forget...scary results ensue! Um...but it's instant compost? (trying to find bright sides)

Lys - who is VERY glad she was not in that apartment when the floods hit.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

The gutters are yet another story. These days, we clean them often, though not often enough. I don't know if "often enough" is possible, given the number of trees in my yard. However, we didn't always clean them often. After about half a year of not cleaning them, I saw small maples growing in my gutter on several occasions. They were so cute. We got better since then...

Anyway, no matter how often I cleaned them, their lifespan has now come to an end. The board to which they're attached has rotted away, and the gutters are slightly separated from the house (bad). Surprisingly, this is not what was causing the water stains you saw. They're still scheduled to be replaced next week, though, to prevent the house from crashing down around us.

On the bright side, instead of craving dessert, I now crave a desert...

[helen99.livejournal.com]

The findings might be sentient by this time. Dealing with them in a proper manner may be important... if we just carelessly put them in the compost pile, they might, um, crawl away.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Wellp, I had the A/C people over and they cleaned out the condensate drain line (the duct people haven't shown up yet). However... before the serviceman started, he told me that the leak could not possibly be the condensate line. It wasn't backed up and was draining just fine, and was nowhere near the ceiling where the water came through. Even if the water came from the line and followed gravity to that area, there was no sign of any wetness on the floor anywhere around the drain line, and there *was* wetness outside where it was properly draining. So now the question still is, what was causing the leak. Maybe my original theory is right and condensation in the vent system is causing it. Or maybe it is the roof as I thought initially (and as the A/C man told me). But if it's the roof, then why did it start leaking when it wasn't raining? The duct people are on their way, and as I said, I'm having it cleaned whether that's the problem or not (for everyone's health).

Between the A/C servicing and the roof replacement, the ceiling leak should go away once and for all, unless I have a water ghost. But just to be safe, I'm getting drain pans under the condensate line and under the hot water heater. Drain pans with water level alarms (otherwise known as ceiling savers)... To be done after recuperating from zombie roof outlay...

[lyssabard.livejournal.com]

Wow. Odd. *thinks* I know when the gutters at my old apartment backed up, the water rolled down a specific part of the roof and drained down the wall--and it was an inner wall, because of the place where the 2nd story gutter/house part dripped into the main roof. So, maybe it is a gutter/roof thing, but I know little about such matters.

I do know what rotted out gutters/underroof bits do to a house. *sigh* my gramma's attic had leaves near the window. No one had done any upkeep on it and left it shut up for 3 years or so. It was an old house, the wiring bad to begin with, roof needing redone (was last done when I was 5 yrs old), other issues, plumbing...to see those dried leaves and dirt curled behind her dresser ,the dry rot/rain touched decay on the back of the dresser, and the gaps at the ceiling broke my heart. It was as if the house was passing along with my grandmother.

They are still cleaning it out.

Heh, as it is, it sounds like your house needs some specialist care--but hey, once it's done, it's done and will not be a problem, save for upkeep. That's the good thing abt major renovations/refixes.

Your house rocks. With proper work and care now, it should last for years. :)

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Is there any chance your grandmother's house can be saved, or will they have to completely tear it down? Dryrot on the dresser and gaps in the ceiling sound pretty bad. Not hopeless, however (restoring ancient rubble-heaps can be an interesting hobby - there are books written about that for people who don't mind a challenging level of mildew while they work.

That's approximately the shape Rivendell 1 is in at Ri's parent's place. The underneath of the house has been restored - it has a really nice, airy crawl space with a real floor and a waterproofing drainage system. The structure of the rest of the house is being shored up ATM. The problem is the interior. Mr. W. had filled the interior up with junk so it's hard to get around in there and do the necessary sanding, plastering, sanding, painting etc.

There's also a leaky area in one of the upstairs bedrooms where apparently squirrels have made nests, and everything smells like mildew. The plumbing froze one year and burst, and is currently in pieces under the house. So it has a ways to go... I think the electrical system might work (but maybe not. The front porch was rotted away and has to be replaced. If Mr. W. could possibly get the junk out of there (or pigs could fly), I could have the interior all nice and shiny in a couple of weeks with a little help from a repairman to escort the squirrels elsewhere and patch up the entrance where they're getting in. But that may never happen...

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Wellp, the duck people just finished cleaning my ducks (they finally stopped quacking). Rialian came home and said the air tasted and felt better. The guy who did the cleaning started sneezing nonstop and reported that there was enough dust in there to make a new fleet of cats.

So I guess it's all good.

Next, Zombie Roof: The Movie...

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

Tantric Chef could do it.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Which part could he do? I'm assuming it's the spackling, sanding, and painting repair for the ceiling? If so, he can email me at helen99@his.com and we can set something up.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I'll give him your e-mail.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

We'd better wait to do this until after the roof is repaired. The A/C people said that it couldn't possibly be the A/C causing the water to leak through the ceiling, so I'm not really sure what *is* causing it. They told me it was probably the roof, which is scheduled to be replaced (not sure of the schedule yet).

Once the roof replaced, then I'll let you know and we can set it up, if tantric_chef is willing.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

He said he knows nothing about air conditioning.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

The A/C and the roof are being done by other professionals. The part I was wanting to involve him with was the ceiling (repairing the water damage to the ceiling). The damage isn't that much though, so I can probably do it myself if he doesn't feel like it. Anyway, I'm not going to do it until the roof is done, since that's probably one of the culprits.