As the Apartment Crumbles

[psychick]

Quick update: Life good, weather gorgeous. I've taken to walking from Columbus Circle to work, rather than going down and taking the E. Because the E at rush hour requires a quality of zen-like calm that I am fully capable of, but which no one (sane or otherwise) would seek out if there was a better option.

Purpose of post: Last time I posted about the apartment, it was bugs. Happily, those are all gone, praise your diety of choice. THIS time I'm posting about a problem that has been ongoing since moving into the place - the pipes in the bathroom.

So. This building is old. The plumbing ain't the best, and about this time every year the ceiling in the bathroom leaks. This happened as per usual, and yesterday the super got it all fixed.

Then, last night at about 1:30 in the morning, the ceiling collapsed. I ain't kidding.
So this is what my bathroom looks like right now:


This would be why:


God knows how long that rag's been up there. It's covered in mold.


The bit over the sink:


The pipe that started it all:


Bath anyone?

That tinfoil you see is ductaped around the middle of the pipe to divert water and drippage into the tub.

So yes. This will be a fun telephone conversation.

Comments

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

AUGH.

Oh, man. I am so sorry. I feel the old-crappy-apartment paaaain.

You have to come down here and stay with me one of these days.

[psychick.livejournal.com]

It's one of those things I can't even be upset about. My roommates knocked on the door and pointed it out and all I could say was "Oh. Huh."

Which seems to have become my default reaction. I'm not sure if that's good or bad for my blood pressure...

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

Well, it's kind of...there's not a goddamn thing you can DO about it. Like when my roof was leaking. I ended up just sticking all the saucepans I owned under it and moving all the electrical shit to the other side of the room and going back to bed. Ho-hum.

Same when my catalytic converter got stolen. It's not like I could pull another one out of my ass and fix it myself.

[psychick.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Maybe if I got some caulk...

I feel like coming up with a list of You Know You're In NY When: The only afordable housing you can find looks like something out of abandonedplaces

Though I guess that applies to Bal'mer just as easily. You Know You Ain't In College No More When?

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

Heh. I should take pictures of my ghetto-ass bathroom for you to enjoy. The tub is a claw-foot cast-iron affair dating back to the original construction of the house. They built the bathroom around it, not very well, and there's a gigantic fucking drainpipe running up one corner which I have tied a pink scarf around in an effort to be festive.

[psychick.livejournal.com]

Huh. The tub sounds delightful, but...yes. The rest of the bathroom looking like it's made of layers of paint an inch thick on top of cardboard makes it a moot point.

Unfortunately in my case, I cannot even manage festive, as the pipe pictured above is the soggy cousin of the "Hot Pipe" in your icon there, and is far too hot to tie things around. Also wet. Also AHAHAHAHA.

Hm. Perhaps I should not have applied coffee to the delicate neural balance...

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

Oh, the tub is ghetto. It is so old that all the enamel has gone rough and unpleasant on the inside, plus with my water pressure filling it up would take approximately seventy minutes, so it is never used as a bath. It is used as a place to stack half-empty conditioner bottles and old razors. Yay.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Yyyyyyyyeah, that's a problem. Um. Argh.

If you wanna take a vacation to Albany while they fix that, you're more than welcome. Or, like, any other time! Because we live in the same state now!

[psychick.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thanks, hon. "While they fix that" hasn't been addressed yet, so at the moment my brain refuses to think further ahead than lunch.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Most understandable! But if it seems like a clearing-out-over-a-weekend kind of thing, keep scenic Albany in mind?

[colubra.livejournal.com]

Wooow.

I thought I had it bad when I slipped in the tub, slapped my hand against the wall to stabilize myself, and put my hand THROUGH the drywall.
Wait, that's not drywall, I said to myself, that's particle board, what the...

I knew that two landlords back had fixed the tub surround very halfassedly but I had no idea HOW half-assedly. Now-landlord came in to have a peek- and wound up tearing out every bit of the plaster and lath, putting in drywall, doing a new tub surround, new sink and console...

Hopefully this will be reparable more quickly than my ghetto-ass nightmare of a bathroom was fixed... but will be as pleasing of a repair as my Lovely Shiney New Bathroom was.

[(Anonymous)]

Repeat after me,ooooooommmmmm.....

Sorry to hear about the crappy apartment woes. I'd offer you a vacation in sunny scenic Blacksburg, but it sounds like you've got much more tempting offers.

[ursa-mater.livejournal.com]

Ok and that is full of the suck.

And as for places to crash, you could always try the northeast for a week or so, the weather up here is nice for a change.