Plumbers

We have had plumbers, who have put a hole in the wall and agreed that there is a leak. Now we are in the middle of a jurisdictional dispute between the plumbers hired by the company that manages this individual unit on behalf of the owner and the plumbers hired by the condominium association to manage the entire complex. The first set have gone away, and the second set are likely to appear within an hour or so.

At least in theory, this shouldn't cost us any direct money out of pocket, because it's either a problem with the common drains (and thus the condo association's problem), or a worn-out shower and piping (in which case it's the condo owner's problem). OTOH, if it's the latter, I reckon we can expect a rent increase next year to pay for the cost of the capital expenditures. However, we now are faced with neither shower being usable because running water in either of them causes water to (eventually) drain onto the floor in Cheryl's bathroom.

Down the Drain

After having several sets of workers through today, plus a representative of the condo management company, we seem to have made progress. The worst-case scenario (tear out an entire bathroom) does not appear to have happened. The jurisdictional dispute may have been settled by having the condo association's plumber do the necessary repairs and to bill the rental management company for the portion associated with our unit.

What seems to have happened was a pair of problems. The first was a large clog in the common drains. That serves not only our two showers, but those of the two floors above us. Responsibility for that goes to the condo association. However, a portion of the drain in Cheryl's shower was also shot, and that's a "local" problem, now repaired. The backup in the drains was causing water to back up into Cheryl's shower. The reason my shower leaked into hers was because hers is "downhill" from mine. Anyway, fingers crossed that the drains are all working again.

There are still things to be done before we can put the apartment back together again. A workman needs to come and patch the hole he cut in the drywall to access the pipes. And Cheryl's shower really needs re-grouting, although the plumber says it's not actually leaking. Still things are looking better than they were this morning.