Grossed out
Do you remember when I told you about my upstairs neighbor’s toilet leaking into my kitchen some 14 years ago?
Never told you details about it but one thing that drove the workmen at the time crazy was that the original builders that first put in that toilet seem to have stuffed greased up newspapers into the gap between the waste pipe and the cement because there was a gap there.
The second set of workmen “fixed” the issue some 20 years later, sealed up my ceiling, and that was the last that I thought of it until about two weeks ago.
And the reason for that is that two weeks ago, I wrote in this entry that I climbed up to check out the same spot and was on “top of my refrigerator, looking at a huge crack and some mold.”
Well, it turns out that the workmen were, among other things, hypocrites.
Because instead of removing the old, incorrectly seated flange – the part that connects a waste pipe to a toilet – pouring fresh concrete and then reinstalling a new flange they ended up stuffing plastic bags into the gap themselves and installing a toilet over the whole thing.
Welp, the plastic bags finally deteriorated enough from 14 years of water and waste such that sewage – urine and fecal matter – soaked through my ceiling and came pouring down.
It was precisely as gross and as nasty as you’re imagining it.
Worse, actually, because I keep my cookware – pots, pans, Instant Pot, food processor, etc – on top of my fridge.
Me: Clearly, I have to burn my entire unit to the ground.
Plumber: (laughs) Well, maybe just toss all your cookware?
Me: You think!?
The unit owners, though, are friends of mine and sent a plumber to come by yesterday and he did what he could but he said that he could only do a temporary fix since the floor was uneven and that was outta his skillset.
Him: Do you have cardboard?
Me: Sure, why?
Him: Well, either I have to seal it to keep critters out or…
Me: Nope, nope, nope, nope – here’s some cardboard.
After he left, I slapped on double gloves and double masks and cleaned the whole thing.
After about two hours, most of the most disgusting stuff was gone but the smell of urine was palpable even after scrubbing everything.
My fear is that some dried under the fridge and I’ll need to empty it out, have the whole thing pulled out, and then clean under it.
So, home ownership hasn’t been the best this week.
Here’s hoping twice in 14 years will be the limit of my ceiling caving in.
Location: Another basement apartment on WEA and W 80th Street, avoiding two dogs.
Mood: grossed TF out
Music: I’ll keep waiting, and, someday (Spotify)
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