Do you know where your pipes are?
So I went out of town to bask on the beach in Cozumel for a weekend. It just happened before a deep freeze swept Texas.
I stepped off the plane and it was colder than a well-digger’s ass outside.
I got home and despite leaving the heat on it was too late, my kitchen faucets were frozen as they were on the outside wall. I live in a small condo in a very old complex. So I went upstairs and met my neighbor over me, a young college kid who said his kitchen faucet was frozen for three days already.
That’s bad.
I tried to heat my pipes with a hair dryer…. Nothing happened.
Then I remembered that the condo under me is vacant and has been quite some time. Now I was worried because whoever owned it obviously never left the heat on or dripped the faucets. So I assumed everything was frozen down there long before mine froze.
I texted the owner of my place and told her I was worried somebody should get in there and make sure the heat was on etc. She sent a message to the HOA about the unit below.
Turns out the HOA of the complex had no idea who owned it.
That was bad
I went to my neighbor next to me and told him that the guy upstairs and most likely the unit downstairs were frozen
His comment” oh shit”
I get prepared for the worst, I move my rugs and furniture to the far end of the condo, and layered towels and sheets, and throw rugs around the kitchen floor. I made a makeshift dam with towels and 3-hour logs from my fireplace from the kitchen door to the living room in case it blew. I hoped I might be able to stop it from getting too far.
The next morning I headed to work, but fearing a break when the temperature rose I came back at 11 am, and the faucet was still not running. . I go outside and walk the property to find the main shutoff, just in case. I find a lone box outside the building with no lock on it, but unsure what it is. Should shut-off boxes be labeled or something? Then I see a HVAC truck parked outside the condo and note the number in case there is a plumber onsite already.
I again tried to warm the pipes under the sink and then I saw a drip…then another,
Ok then maybe it will be ok I’m thinking, then suddenly the faucet runs full blast….I run upstairs, and the college kid’s is running too…
I run back to my place, I text the owner, so far so good, no break…. Yea, she says!!!
Then it happened.
An explosion; It was like a gunshot in the wall, everything vibrated, then it was like Niagara Falls behind the wall. Oh shit..
That’s really bad.
I run outside look down and water is pouring out the window of the condo under me and out the door and walls…
I bang on my neighbor’s door he comes out and says oh “fuc!
I run downstairs to the box to see if the water will shut off, there are three levers one to a pipe, and the other two for the outside faucet sticking out the walls. I turn one lever and the water is still pouring out the windowsill of the condo. I called the HVAC truck # I saw outside and got a dispatcher who said there is no plumber on site but an AC guy in A32.. I ran up 3 flights and banged on their door, I tall thin guy with a beard opened the door. Out of breath I yell are you the plumber? he says “No. I live here, and there was an AC guy here, no plumber.”
I m freaking out and tell him what happened I’m not sure if the water is shut off and he goes with me…. We find the box that I was messing with but he’s not sure that’s it either. My GOD how do people live here and not know this information??? I cursed under my breath.
I run upstairs to check my apartment and I see water coming out under my dishwasher I’m now in full-blown panic, my apartment will flood next, holy shit, , I call my brother in NJ a plumber, and tell him I can’t find the main shut off. His response:
Call 911
I do.
I’m freaking out and the neighbors are gathering outside the condo downstairs and we are watching water pour out the doors etc. Everyone is milling about but no one knows anything.
Im texting my owner and told her emergency!, there is a break in my apartment too.
I hear the fire trucks come and I run to another building to flag them down, I’m out of breath and feel like the road runner in a cartoon. Four firemen, one holding a metal pipe thing head toward me.. I lead them to the condo and the box, they pull the insulation out and there it is; the 4th lever that turns off the water.
It was right there in front of me if Ide knew to pull the insulation out.
They then shot a heat sensor at the walls and could tell the break was behind it from the condo downstairs just like I thought.
They go upstairs and shut the water off behind my washing machine just in case. I asked about the condo downstairs can they break in? they said no since no one is in there.
Off they go..
Now the water is off in the whole building and four neighbors are outside.
Two neighbors try and contact the HOA and find out who owns the apartment under me. No one knows anything. Of course. why would an HOA know anything about the owners? What a concept.
Finally, The HOA manager, an older pudgy-looking guy shows up and he has a pencil and paper and says he is looking to see “how many pipes have broken”. But reminds everyone they are responsible for their own repairs.
Then he and my neighbor got into an argument yelling and swearing about needing someone to break into the condo below me to cap off the break-in there. He yelled, “Why don’t y’all know who owns it?? Ya’ll are the worst HOA ever! with several bad words thrown in.
Then my hot-headed neighbor gets really huffy, and goes and gets some big pipe cutters and says he’ll try and break off the lock box and figure out the code.
um is that legal?
If I break in is that a misdemeanor? My neighbor says who was yelling at the HOA guy. Um does that mean he’s had experience with being arrested I’m wondering...The HOA guy says “I’ll ask the board if we can get permission to break into the empty condo” and wanders off.
Then I figured it out, since that condo had a lock box on it, it meant there was someone who managed it. I call my realtor and tell her what’s happening, she says she knows who the realtor is of that condo, calls him and he calls me. “shut the water off” he says. I’m like dude, I already called 911 and got it done. No thanks to you idiots who should have preemptively turned on the heat and dripped faucets three days ago before the freeze.
“It’s totally flooded,” I tell him, “water was shooting out the windows and it was running out under the doors and walls,” he says ok, he’ll send a plumber and that person will have the code to get in.
The four neighbors and I exchanged numbers, and I went back to work.
At 7 pm I came home, the water was still off and the so-called plumber sent by that condo’s mgt company downstairs knocked on my door, ‘My name is Jorge” and said he couldn’t find the break downstairs and asked to see my apartment. “ I think you have the break,” he says with an accent and broken English. He’s from Guatemala it turned out. Where is my damn Spanish now?
But it was shooting out the window down there I tell him, with no response. Um how do I say “test the water and watch the water come through the walls and Ill prove to you its that condo not mine” in Spanish now?
Does he test the break and turn on the water? NO
He says he can tell my owner for me…and asks for her number. He leaves me his business card as if Ide really use him, I mean you announce you can’t find the break but don’t test it ? Where did you learn plumbing? on U-tube? jeeese
My owner spoke to him then called me and said no way, I’m sending my own plumber since he didn’t even check the water” I don’t who that guy is” I don’t believe him” she says.
Sure enough, her plumber shows up at 8 pm stays two hours and I have a hairline break behind my dishwasher. He fixes it with no problem. We tested it and it’s good to go.
Then the realtor of the unit downstairs calls me to tell me the break is mine, not his. I tell him we tested the water and it still shooting out his window down there as mine is fixed.. He asks me and my plumber to go “check it” so we go downstairs I now have the code by the way, and my plumber sees the hole in the ceiling, and it’s dry, we turn on the water outside, and sure enough it shoots out the window. It’s that condo’s break.
I break the bad news to the realtor. I told you…..
Long story short,
He sends another guy the next day and we all have water again.
The BIG break was his, in the vacant condo with no heat.
And not just one pipe but two.
Moral of the story:
Drip the faucets but first know who owns the damn condos.
Figure out where your shut-off is even if it’s an entire building.
Get to know your neighbors and who has pipe cutters.
Firemen do more than just put out fires.
Somewhere in the US with bottles of water .
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Published by Chif
I am a nurse, divorced, and love travel. I climb stairs with a bunch of friends and I’m the Captain of a stair team called Tower of Power. I’m also a cancer survivor. I had anal cancer and before you think something rude… I was married 21 years to a greedy controlling cold asshole. That’s why I got ass cancer. And that’s what gave me the strength to leave. Sometimes it takes near death to wake one up. Now 8 years out, here I am embarking on another change. Move to Spain, teach kids English, and travel some more. I’m not rich but I’ve saved a little to float until my pension kicks in, in a few years. That’s why I chose Spain. I can live here pretty cheap, and travel farther on less, and well have some fun finally. I’m no spring chicken,.I’m 58, and well..you never know when your pink slip on life will be handed to you. Been there done that… I’m not waiting for another one……..adios chicos and chicas
About Me
This blog is about changing my life again. But this time, as a single, late-50s woman who has survived advanced cancer and a terrible divorce, I’m stepping into a completely new chapter. I’m moving out of the USA to do something I’ve never done before: teach English to young elementary children in Spain. As an experienced geriatric nurse who never had kids or even babysat much, this new path feels like uncharted territory.
With no Spanish under my belt, feeling too old to start learning, and questioning why I would leave the comfort of a good job and health insurance, I sit here wondering: Whose f***ing idea was this anyway? Mine, all mine. And here is my story, one painful step at a time.
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Published by Chif
I am a nurse, divorced, and love travel. I climb stairs with a bunch of friends and I’m the Captain of a stair team called Tower of Power. I’m also a cancer survivor. I had anal cancer and before you think something rude… I was married 21 years to a greedy controlling cold asshole. That’s why I got ass cancer. And that’s what gave me the strength to leave. Sometimes it takes near death to wake one up. Now 8 years out, here I am embarking on another change. Move to Spain, teach kids English, and travel some more. I’m not rich but I’ve saved a little to float until my pension kicks in, in a few years. That’s why I chose Spain. I can live here pretty cheap, and travel farther on less, and well have some fun finally. I’m no spring chicken,.I’m 58, and well..you never know when your pink slip on life will be handed to you. Been there done that… I’m not waiting for another one……..adios chicos and chicas
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