Sunday, April 28, 2013

The rain, the leak, and things that go "bump" in the night!

Have I told you all about my leaky ceiling in my kitchen?  After a high wind accompanied by rain and hail a few weeks ago, my kitchen ceiling began to leak.  Now, bear in mind that the roof was replaced less than 3 years ago.  It was one of those "rubberized" roofs that is guaranteed for 20 or 30 years. I had the original roof guys here, and they used some sort of caulking around an upstairs window, and around the "flashing" what ever that is.  I am not a contractor, so I really don't need to know this stuff, or didn't until now.  The last big rain we had early last week had water pouring in like I didn't even have a roof.  I had pans, buckets and any other receptacle handy placed strategically around the floor to catch the drips.  Oh, have I mentioned that I had contacted my State Farm Insurance agent after the first leak...3 times before he returned my calls.  When he did call he said that the adjusters had lots on their lists and were handling the calls by seriousness, and he was sure they would call soon.  Meanwhile, I had a contractor here to start figuring costs of repairs, and he agreed with the #1 roof guy that the leak "may" becoming from around the upstairs window. No way to "tarp it" as my insurance agent suggested, and it was sunny out and no rain predicted for a week or so.  I thought I was in the clear. 
Yesterday, still no call from said adjuster.  One trip thru the kitchen doing laundry, I noticed that the drywall on the ceiling was sagging more than it had been.  Hmmmm!  The adjuster called late that afternoon to set up an appointment for next Wednesday.(Almost 2 weeks later)  He asked me how bad it was.  I said that I considered it really bad, and wondered how much longer it would be before the ceiling fell in.  He laughed!  Well, it was no laughing matter, and you could tell it wasn't his house!  AND, then last evening, and mind you it hadn't rained for at least 3 days, I was sitting watching TV, and heard a loud crash in my kitchen.  I hurried in there and lo and behold, half of my ceiling was on the floor.  I began cleaning it up, and another chunk fell taking a blade off of my ceiling fan.  Well, that is cleaned up, but let me tell you; wet drywall is heavy.  I lugged the big pieces that didn't fall apart out to the fence, and then swept up the small stuff, along with several big chunks of original plaster.  Now, my kitchen ceiling looks like a house from the "projects."  I have always prided myself in having a nice home.  This is so frustrating. 
Now, it's raining, and without the drywall and plaster up there, I have drips where it never dripped.  And I still can't do anything until State Farm says so.  I am seriously pissed off about the whole thing.  And I can see $$$$$ signs rolling as the leaking continues!  And my beautiful cabinets and stuff might get ruined.  Drats!!!

Peace, (soon please)
JE

4 comments:

Terry said...

Best of luck to you with your roof and leaks, JE. I am always annoyed with insurance companies. They don't mind collecting premiums but they aren't so anxious to respond to claims.

Curley said...

Wish there was something I could do to help. Hopefully it won't rain too much more today.

Anvilcloud said...

Wow! This is terrible. I hope you get it sorted.

momto8 said...

oh my gosh! that stinks! I hope you have this issue resolved by now!! keep calling the agent!!!!