The Vent and Rant Thread

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

As to the socks, the aura I shall leave to fertile imagination that pervades this universe.......

There is no pervasion in imagination.

Or was it "no imagination in pervasion"? Or "no pervasion not imaginable"?

[zelda_pinwheel]

.
FARKING


RAIN !!!!!


i've just mopped up over 4 litres of water (possibly over 5) from my living room floor.

we had some kind of diluvian downpour and apparently my window (which was CLOSED !!) leaks.

the rain was coming down so thick that it ran along the underside of the window overhang above in a solid wave (presumably after washing down the facade of the building), then splashed inward onto the window pane and down along that, and then came in at the bottom of the window, down the wall and across the entire floor. which is surprising, since i have some insulating strips in there which (in addition to blocking wind) you would THINK would keep the water from pouring in too.

i noticed it pretty quickly but the water had already covered half the floor and it was coming in so fast i could see it spreading. i tried to tape the bottom of the window to stop it coming in but of course, tape won't stick when the surface is WET. now it's stopped raining i've opened the window so things will dry out but i'm wondering whether as soon as the wall is dry i should tape it shut just in case.

i piled whatever i could on top of the table / chairs / etc. to keep it out of the water (but there is still a lot near floor level) and i've sopped up as much as possible with the mop and now i just have to go and move the furniture around from time to time in hopes everything will dry.

of course, i don't know what i'm supposed to do about the furniture which is too heavy for me to move.

for god's sake, if i wanted to worry about FARKING FLOODS i wouldn't live on the FARKING FOURTH FLOOR !!!!!!!!!!!

and of course by the time i finished mopping up everything the hardware store was closed so i can't go there and buy... whatever it is i'm going to have to buy to fix the damned window so it won't leak anymore (i don't even know what that could be. ).

[Sweetpea]

*Hugs Z*

Next time, get some sandbags?

I found about a meter of snow on my bed one day... (it was on december 31st, actually, don't remember the year...). We were sleeping on the attic and the roof window was open just a peep (we sleep with the windows open year round, I don't mind a cold bedroom). The wind had turned to the east and had picked up, the snow was picking up too and we were downstairs celebrating the new year.

Due to that specific direction and speed of the wind, the snow had been blown underneath the window, right on top of the bed. To show the temperature of the room: the snow hadn't even melted yet

[nekokami]

Yuck!

How long have you lived there? This seems like a pretty odd kind of event.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

*Hugs Z*

thank you for the hug. in fact your new avatar has made me feel a bit better, it's so sweet and snuggly.

Next time, get some sandbags?

*note to self : stock some sandbags. somewhere. just in case.*

I found about a meter of snow on my bed one day... (it was on december 31st, actually, don't remember the year...). We were sleeping on the attic and the roof window was open just a peep (we sleep with the windows open year round, I don't mind a cold bedroom). The wind had turned to the east and had picked up, the snow was picking up too and we were downstairs celebrating the new year.

Due to that specific direction and speed of the wind, the snow had been blown underneath the window, right on top of the bed. To show the temperature of the room: the snow hadn't even melted yet

i do sympathise, but honestly, i think unmelted snow must be easier to clean up than water.

i had a flood on new year's eve once too : there was a huge tempest in paris in december of... 98 ? 99 ? can't remember. anyway, it tore the skylight window off the top of the roof. since i live on the next to last floor, i didn't notice. but along with the tempest, we were having near-continual pouring rain, and it was pouring right in through the gaping hole in the roof directly over the landing. why the upstairs neighbor didn't report it, i have no idea, but at the time the guy living there was a psychopath so maybe he was just too CRAZY. anyway, the water saturated the upstairs landing, and when it was completely imbibed, it seeped through to my ceiling, and then ran along sideways. new year's eve we had yet another rain storm and when i went in the bathroom to get ready to go to the party, i discovered that the walls had been transformed into niagara falls.

of course, new year's eve, there is nobody who will come and fix anything. and since it was a friday, and the next day (saturday) was a holiday, and the day after was sunday, i couldn't even contact anyone to report it until monday. (i did call the fire department, but they told me they were too busy with people who had lost their entire rooves. ). the worst thing was, since there had been so much damage, that all the roofers of the whole country were backed up for months ; so all they did was put a plastic sheet over the hole. which of course was shredded in the next storm, and the leak continued. it took over one year to get that hole repaired.


edited to add sweetpea's adorable avatar (for posterity) :

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Yuck!

How long have you lived there? This seems like a pretty odd kind of event.

i've been living here about 10 years, and in that time i've been flooded by the tempest i just described, by the upstairs neighbors several times (it wasn't their fault ; the new owner redid that appartment before renting it out again, and hired a bunch of buffoons to do the plumbing. when they redid the main drainpipe, they apparently "forgot" one piece. so every time they used the sink, or the shower, or the washing machine... water running down my walls. i would call the building owner, he would send a plumber, the plumber would put some silicone around the shower and say "done !" and go away. in the end i was the one who deduced where exactly the leak was coming from. they had to tear up the bathroom floor to get to the drain and fix it. that was ONE YEAR later.

this particular kind of flooding is a new and hellish experience though.

i hate this farking buiding, but the rents have gone so high in the past 10 years i can't afford to move.

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

...we had some kind of diluvian downpour... ).

Welcome to *my* world. Sorry about your flood.

WDE (WettedDownEnough)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

Welcome to *my* world. Sorry about your flood.

WDE (WettedDownEnough)

is your building made of swiss cheese too ? i'm sorry.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i do sympathise, but honestly, i think unmelted snow must be easier to clean up than water.

Yes, but it was cold and we only wanted to go to bed... And it wasn't that nice dry snow, nooooo.... it had to be that kind of snow that is just dry enough to stay, but too wet to remove easily.
And did I say I only wanted to get into bed?

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

is your building made of swiss cheese too ? i'm sorry.

No, Vancouver is made of rain. Instead of snow in the winter, we get rain, and lots of it. Although, many buildings end up getting rainscreened (waterproofed) after they are built, to great expense to the owners.

WDE.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yes, but it was cold and we only wanted to go to bed... And it wasn't that nice dry snow, nooooo.... it had to be that kind of snow that is just dry enough to stay, but too wet to remove easily.
And did I say I only wanted to get into bed?

yes, those things always happen at the worst time... it must have been such a nice way to start the year...

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

No, Vancouver is made of rain. Instead of snow in the winter, we get rain, and lots of it. Although, many buildings end up getting rainscreened (waterproofed) after they are built, to great expense to the owners.

WDE.

*note to self : never move to vancouver.*

i wish this building would be waterproofed.

[ravenne]

Oh no, Zelda! Big hug! I'm so sorry Did you call the owner? There must be a better solution than standard strips from do-it-yourself-stores or silicone....

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ravenne

Oh no, Zelda! Big hug! I'm so sorry Did you call the owner? There must be a better solution than standard strips from do-it-yourself-stores or silicone....

i don't think the owner will do anything... he is evil and a money-hungry jackal and hates me because i've lived here since before he bought the building and he can't double my rent like he would like to. every time i have to talk to him i end up furious and with adrenaline going through me like electricity.

anyway, i called a friend, and they told me i should get some "putty" (mastic) for the window. when i had time to take a look, i noticed that the putty on the bottom of the window is coming away from the glass, and in fact about 10cm is gone altogether (probably from that damned rain). it still seems strange that the water could come in so much, because even without the putty, there is a little ledge at the bottom of the window going towards the outside, you would think the water would run down that away from the glass... anyway, i guess it could be worse : it could have flooded the bedroom, which has wood floors instead of linoleum, and a lot more furniture which is too heavy for me to move (bed, armoire, more bookshelves...).

thank you for the big hug though ; it helps.

[nekokami]

Putty does dry out and pull away like that. You might want to replace it with silicone instead.

Now I understand why you don't want to move, despite the SHUMS and the flooding. Is rent controlled like that all over France, or just in Paris, or what?

[Lady Blue]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

yes, those things always happen at the worst time... it must have been such a nice way to start the year...


*note to self : never move to vancouver.*

i wish this building would be waterproofed.

There is never a GOOD time for things like that to happen.

I can relate somewhat to all your experiences here. I had a similar catastrophe in my home a few years ago that took two years to (sort of) fully remedy. But telling you about it wouldn't make your situations any better. So I'll just say that along with everyone else, I'm really sorry you're going through this and wish there was something we could do to help (in the spirit of a neighborhood barn raising so to speak.)

If you weren't on the 4th floor, maybe you could tack, nail, tape or otherwise attach a tarp (heavy plastic sheeting) over the outside of the window covering all the possible openings so it doesn't happen again (until you can find and fix just what the problem is that caused the leak in the first place.

Hope you can dry out quickly and nothing actually gets ruined beyond repair.