Moving

On Dec the 18th The Wife called the landlord's Office and reported that the ceiling in the kitchen was leaking. She was told that it would be taken care of. Then ... Nothing. Then about 2 weeks ago we got a leak in the basement spraying hot water. We called the landlord's office and reported that and also reminded them of the leak in the kitchen. Then the leak turned into a spray and I had to shut off the water from the hot water tank to get it to stop.

That was 2 weeks ago yesterday. Since then we have effectively been without hot water.

He sent a guy out here who "fixed" the pipe, only to have it bust and flood the basement the next day. Myself, The Wife, and Cell Phone Ears (our oldest child) spent over an hour mopping up water with towels.

So we called again.

Last Saturday The Landlord sent another guy out here who said we would have to wait until Monday before he could work on it, but in the mean time we could duct tape it and it would work just fine.

Sunday night we duct taped it hoping it would hold long enough for us to take quick showers ... HAHA, stupid us. It lasted about 30 minutes then flooded the basement with hot water again. Another hour spent mopping up water.

Monday I miss half a day of work because the other guy comes and spends 15 minutes replacing the defective part with another exactly like it. He was suppose to be here at 9am, he showed up around 11:45, then he asks me to tell the landlord he was there 2 hours working on it so he could make a little extra money. Yeah Right.

Tuesday night I'm laying in bed (in the basement) when I hear the oh so lovely sound of water spraying. I jump up and what do my wondering eyes see?? Water spraying through-out the basement. We moved what we could of our stuff out of the water and said screw the basement, called The Landlord and slept upstairs in the living room.

Wednesday, Called The Landlord again but no answer, left a voice mail.

Thursday it was raining and the drip in the kitchen is back, now the ceiling is turning a yucky blue/green color. Called and then sent an email to The Landlord saying that we still have no hot water, the kitchen is leaking and we are no longer going to pay rent until everything is fixed. No response.

Friday The Landlord sends out one of his guys to replace the galvanized pipes that are rusted and spraying water with copper pipes. Did not look at the kitchen, nor fix the other 2 leaks in the basement. While fixing the basement pipe he busted a hot water pipe in the main bathroom upstairs. Rent is 3 days late at this point. The Landlords office calls looking for the rent, we tell them that we are looking for a new place to live and will not pay any rent until every leak, crack and busted pipe is fixed. We now have hot water, just not in the main bathroom where the shower is.

Saturday ANOTHER guy shows up and looks at all the messed up stuff ... claims he can fix it all no problem but in reality he can only fix what The Landlord tells him to. Says he will be back that afternoon or Sunday to fix what he is told to. We go looking at houses and put in an application on one of them.

Sunday the 3rd guy still has not come back, it starts raining and the leak in the kitchen turns into a flood when the leak pops to reveal a hole under the ceiling paint more than an inch in size.

Monday I call the county health inspector. We are told that we were accepted at the new place. The 3rd guy comes back a little after 5pm, fixes everything but the roof / kitchen ceiling in about an hour.

Tuesday I turn in my formal complaint to the Building Inspector, got new tags on the van and got lost in the middle of downtown Cleveland, Tn trying to get to work from the courthouse.

Wed it starts raining about noon and I have to use my lunch break to rush home, clean up the flood in the kitchen and put a soup pot under the hole in the ceiling. It is now dripping a black/green slime as well as rain water. Go back to work and call the Building Inspector. Spent most of last night packing boxes.

Today we signed the lease on the new place and I met the building inspector. She inspected the house and basically said that if we had not already been in the process of moving then she would have had to make us move. She is coming back in the morning to take pictures. Said that she was going to have to get an electrical and a plumbing inspector out here before she could write her report. This evening the Landlord called again asking about the rent and to see if everything had been fixed, I told him the roof and kitchen had not but the other stuff had been fixed for the most part.

Basically it is like this ... Helen Keller did most of the electrical wiring for this house and the water heater / pipes in the house are so old that Moses installed them, then hit them with his staff to get the water to flow through.