So, my roof has been leaking in 3 places since the weekends torrential downpours. This is bumming me out somewhat. I moved all my belongings away from the spots that are leaking, because of water and liquefied plaster and other building materials that are sloughing off the wet spots.
Those that have seen my living room know that the ceiling is slanted... well, this was causing the water to drip down the slant and then deposit itself randomly, not just in the spot where the leak was. So I goy a long board and propped it up in the path of the water, with the base in a bucket, to redirect the water. I felt pretty smart for this.
Yesterday, I went to brush my teeth before bed and saw that the ceiling of my bathroom - a room previously unaffected - had sprouted what looked like a huge blister, softball sized or larger. It was a bunch of water, caught up in the (presumably) latex paint of the bathroom ceiling. Not knowing what else to do, I got a bucket and a screwdriver and popped it. It smelled really gross. So that makes 4 leaks.
Monday, I called my landlords and let them know, and they seemed bummed. Yesterday they apparently came over while I was at work. I hope they can do whatever work needs to be done without me having to leave the apartment or something. Anyone have any experience with roofing?
myriam [email] said at 1:55 PM 06-28-2006: The biggest problem with roof leaks where you have that much water collecting and (ack, the worst) sitting above the plaster is wet insulation. The right way to fix this is to take down entire sections of the ceiling where the leaks have occurred and pull all of the insulation out and replace it with new dry insulation. Once they retar the roof, the insulation will take forever to dry, if it does at all. This is a huge problem because mildew grows in it and can make you very sick. Retarring the roof is the quickie landlord fix and if I were you I would let them come in and take down the ceiling--it's not actually THAT big a deal, we're actually doing it in the office next week for the same problem. They'll need to cover all your stuff with plastic for 2 days while you're at work, take a sawsall and chop out your plaster, pull out the installation and stuff new batt up there, then throw up new gyb board and plaster over. They can do a crappy job if they like--it will still be vastly superior to you than simply patching the leak and hoping for the best. If there is a significant amount of water up there it could rot the old beams as well--which are probably all hacked apart and exposed and ready to suck up water, if I know anything about 100 year old buildings, which I do.
Tell them your medical claims from respiratory infections will be much higher than the cost of fixing the water damage. It takes some SERIOUSLY lax maintenance to get THAT much water through a roof from one week of raining.
josh [email] said at 1:58 PM 06-28-2006: hmm, thanks for the advice. i know nothing about home construction. i will ask the landlord what they think. i dont want to get sick, that's for sure.
myriam [email] said at 2:00 PM 06-28-2006: The American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggest that fiber glass batts can be removed, dried and replaced if they are wet from clean water.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), however, recommends that all wet insulation be discarded and replaced.
josh [email] said at 2:02 PM 06-28-2006: thanks again! i will send this to roy, my landlord... actually i will probably ask him what they plan to do first, so i don't seem too aggro. but this is useful
myriam [email] said at 2:12 PM 06-28-2006: You're very welcome! It's nice to feel like what I do all day actually has some usefulness. :) Bring on the building problems!
anotherben [email] said at 12:11 AM 06-29-2006: i am trying to design an underwater modular housing unit that will be tethered to the sea/lake floor below with a large black floating lilypad-like reverse heatsink above. the idea is to generate adequate electricity for the structure using the temperature gradient between the lilypad and the tetherbase to drive the system. theoretically, in tropical and some sub-tropical climates there should be a sufficient gradient on a moderately sunny day between a 100 square meter blackbody at the surface and the tetherbase at 40 meters to power a single household. im not sure how to make this work though. please help.
julie [email] said at 9:20 PM 06-28-2006: My basement flooded. Blech. But I'm trying to laugh about it, so it's much funnier in a Scottish accent: Me beh-smint fluted! Ach!
