Flood in the Apt...

by Phil

3 Comments

On Friday the 19th I zoned out and after starting to fill the tub... forgot all about it.  The water was of course on maximum and I forgot about it for only about an hour or so but the damage looked brutal.  The tub fills in about 5 to 7 mins, so it looked like about 10 or more full tubs of water were on my floor.  I summed two friends and along with about 35 towels proceeded to soak up and squeeze out the water back into the (now drained tub) and shower.  It was a rough workout that lasted for a vigorous 30 or so minutes.

I thought I was in the clear.  It didn't look too bad... and if the floor didn't buckle any more than it had in the first hour or two I thought it would all be fine.

I was typing away in the office when I got a knock on the door.  It was engineering and the guy in the apt beneath me was having a water nightmare of his own...  The water needed a place to go, and down it went.  I went to speak to him and take responsibility.  It was brutal.  His apt was RUINED.  My oh my, I felt as small as I could possibly feel.

His bathroom ceiling was DESTROYED... he had water seeping down his walls.. his floors were soaked... it was 4 or 5 times worse than I had it.

An hour later we had a water damage company filling our apts with these huge machines ... our floors were taped down.. and the machines started blowing hot dry air along the floors under the plastic tarp.  These machines run for three days straight.  It is a huge pain in the ass.  (I had no idea how impt it is to get these machines in there to REALLY SUPER DUPER dry things down.  In my case it was more or less visually ok, but left untreated, mold develops and getting rid of mold and pores and stuff is apparently such a bitch to do that most insurance companies don't even cover it.  So I was happy to fix it right the first time.)

Ok, so eventually the guy (David) whose apt I destroyed and myself coordinate with the water pros and we start to settled in for the repairs to follow.... That night I started to count up the possible damage that this whole fiasco might cost me.  (You see, the fellow beneath me just moved in and just finished painting and putting the new floors in and didn't have insurance yet.)  I told him not to worry as my policy might cover it and if not... then I would handle it all out of pocket.  Sting....

It has been 4 1/2 days and the air vac machines are still humming along.  I put David up at the Bellagio and the claims adjuster guy comes Wednesday the 24th to give his two cents on the whole thing.  The poker analogy is messed up.  Essentially I have been waiting about 5 days to see the last card.  The last card for our unit is good already... insurance covers it up to it with only a 1000$ deductible.  But for his apt.... arghghgh... this is where the real sweat enters....If it hits good then I will not have to pay for David's apt damage.  If it hits bad... then I will have waited 5 days for an awful bit of news.  The damage to his apt will (I suspect) be between 40,000 and 80,000 dollars.  Sting.  Please... if I have ever needed a good river card this is it.

So essentially now I just wait til Wednesday (1.5 days from now) to see what the claims adjuster says.

Oh yeah.. moral of the story... If you turn your tub on... don't forget and let it flood your house.

There was more to this story.. but it is not fun writing about it.  Suffice to say, there was also water damage (not so extreme, but real enough anyway.) in two other apts.. one right next to his, and the one beneath his.  Arhghghggh.... Oh please let the river be nice on this one...

Will fill you in later..

Til then, be good.

Phil