Saturday, October 20, 2012

A Plumbing Problem Story


Recently I had a leaky bath faucet (tub/shower), I let it go for several days (steadily going nuts) and on a Friday evening finally called maintenance. They scheduled to fix it for the following Monday treating it as something that could wait (well yes and no). They asked me if I'd be home, and I thought they meant if I was going to be home for the evening or at worst during Saturday.

Since it was "late" Friday I thought they might come by on Saturday to do the work. I got up early, at the time I would get up for a workday, and waited and waited and waited. Then realized that they had meant they were coming on Monday a day I was working. **Heavy Sigh!**

Monday after coming home from work I noticed they had left a note, on the work order ticket receipt, telling me to empty the HALL closet so they could shut off the water to do the repair work, which even though it is across from the bathroom, has nothing to do with the bathroom stuff, has a bunch of shelves and has no access panel to switch off water. Then I figured (correctly) that they meant the BEDROOM Closet.

Well after four years of living in the same apartment I learned that the access panel in the bedroom wall behind the door (the wall directly behind the shower faucet), was NOT the one that accesses the controls for the water shutoff. No that panel OF COURSE is in the bedroom CLOSET. The far back wall (which is the same wall as the foot of the tub). That closet of course for the last four years has been totally cluttered to almost overflowing, if you count the laundry which gets cleared once a week. The entire closet had to be emptied before the maintenance guys could shut off the water to replace the washer or whatever part was causing the streaming leak.

That Monday evening it took me about an hour and a half, with a couple of rest breaks to empty everything and put it temporarily somewhere else in the apartment.

They came back on Tuesday and fixed the leak.

UPDATE:
I don't think too many people who commented read the entire post. As I said above the problem HAS BEEN FIXED. I live in an apartment so it was the apartment complex maintenance staff who fixed it. NO extra plumbing bills. That is one of the few advantages to renting.

I have closed this post to further comments because I have gotten tired of seeing them. No offense to any one in particular. I just find it odd that most of the comments seemed to be of concern and offering suggestions for help like it was something that was currently going on. I was mentioning something that had already been taken care of and had been corrected. Also most of the comments came 2 or more weeks after the original post the last one being over a month almost two.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I hope that your plumbing woes are now settled. It is quite stressful dealing with these problems no matter how small they are. But I guess the lesson here is to know the ins and outs of your house. Knowing the structure, the piping system, and the whatnots can help you when the problem arises. For one, it would be easy for you to spot the problem, and you can help the plumbers pinpoint the source.

[Carmella Vancil]

Darryl Iorio said...

I hear you. Dealing with leaking faucets can be frustrating at times. I do remember having the same problem in my house. I never did any inspection since I moved into the place. But when the bath faucet started to leak, I began to suspect that is something wrong. After a few days, all hell broke loose. There is water everywhere and it was not a pretty sight. Good thing my trusted plumber gave it an immediate fix. (Darryl Iorio)

Unknown said...


Oh, plumbing problems are just so distressing! It’s good that you immediately called a plumber to fix the problem because if it’s neglected, it can result to serious structural damage. What’s the reason behind the water leakage then?

- Althea Tumlin

Unknown said...

Remember that if you take action immediately, whatever plumbing issue you may have wouldn’t be hard to fix. Not only would it resolve the situation but you will also have to pay less for the repairs and this will take away a lot of the burden of fixing your plumbing for sure.

Gayle Manning