It's Never as Easy as it Seems

Ken has a mantra: "It's never as easy as it seems". This is usually said when in the middle of some home improvement or other such project. He says it so often, that I've teased him about putting it on his headstone.

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work, I could hear a dripping sound in our bathroom. I figured I just hadn't turned off the faucet tight enough, so I gave them a good tightening. A few minutes later, I can still hear it; perplexed, I start searching more intently and discover that there is water dripping out of the ceiling. Never a good sign. It's still early, so I wait about 20 min, until I know that the guy upstairs is just about out the door to head to work (if I haven't previously mentioned it - Larry is the maintenance guy of our complex.), and then I head upstairs to tell Larry about the leak apparently coming from his house. He tells me that he has a crack in his bathtub, and he had just taken a shower. Supposedly, the tub repair man had told Larry that he could use the tub, and that it wouldn't leak down below - hhm?

Larry comes downstairs, looks at the leak, and determines that they'll have to cut a small square of ceiling out - about 5x5, replace it, paint it, and it will be as good as new. But they'll get that all done while I'm at work. I give him a key, and head to work.

At 6pm, I come home to find Larry greeting me at the door - again, not a good sign. He explains that the water damage was worse than he thought. Did I mention that less than 1/4 cup of water had actually dripped through the ceiling? We walk into the bathroom and I find this:

A close up of where the water was actually coming out.

And along the top by the shower head - where no water was coming out.

And my favorite - this gaping hole on the opposite side of the shower. Apparently water can travel quite a distance.

Larry came this morning to get a key so that they could finish fixing everything, and determined that things were still wet and they'd have to wait until Monday to fix it. And so, "It's never as easy as it seems." and hopefully all will be well on Monday night when I get home from work.

By the way, should I have been excited that life gave me something to blog about . . . even if it wasn't such a good thing?