Sometimes you stumble across such incompetence, such abject stupidity that you just have to shake your head in wonder.
Given all the hassle with mice of late, I decided to check the crawl space under the master bathroom to see if there was any sign of critters. When I looked in the hatch, I noticed that some of the insulation had fallen, which made me fear that not only did I have mice in there, but a snake had found its way to some easy meals. Upon closer inspection, it was even worse.
Observing a pool of water on top of the plastic sheet used to prevent water vapor from seeping into the crawl space, I asked Joy to run some bath water to see if I could find a leak.
And did I.
Now, generally I give people the benefit of the doubt the first time they do something suspicious. I could understand that the previous owner might not have known of the leak in the bathroom roof or the broken water supply -- even though at least the latter happened before closing. But I'd like to know exactly how the owner, who presumably used the master bathroom at least a few times in the 10+ years it's been there, didn't know that the drain in the master shower was not connected to anything whatsoever.
You read that right. For all intents and purposes, all of our shower water had been draining directly into the crawlspace insulation, which finally fell from degradation, but not before causing both a floor joist and some foam pipe insulation to rot.
So I spent the better part of today hooking up the drain, removing some insulation and putting some fresh back in. Next weekend, I'll cut out a chunk of the joist and splice in a new piece, and redo the rest of the insulation.
At least I've been down there long enough to stop worrying about snakes.
Pictures here.
Given all the hassle with mice of late, I decided to check the crawl space under the master bathroom to see if there was any sign of critters. When I looked in the hatch, I noticed that some of the insulation had fallen, which made me fear that not only did I have mice in there, but a snake had found its way to some easy meals. Upon closer inspection, it was even worse.
Observing a pool of water on top of the plastic sheet used to prevent water vapor from seeping into the crawl space, I asked Joy to run some bath water to see if I could find a leak.
And did I.
Now, generally I give people the benefit of the doubt the first time they do something suspicious. I could understand that the previous owner might not have known of the leak in the bathroom roof or the broken water supply -- even though at least the latter happened before closing. But I'd like to know exactly how the owner, who presumably used the master bathroom at least a few times in the 10+ years it's been there, didn't know that the drain in the master shower was not connected to anything whatsoever.
You read that right. For all intents and purposes, all of our shower water had been draining directly into the crawlspace insulation, which finally fell from degradation, but not before causing both a floor joist and some foam pipe insulation to rot.
So I spent the better part of today hooking up the drain, removing some insulation and putting some fresh back in. Next weekend, I'll cut out a chunk of the joist and splice in a new piece, and redo the rest of the insulation.
At least I've been down there long enough to stop worrying about snakes.
Pictures here.
