A Call is Returned!! 05.27.09

I got a call from Frank Didio 5:16 pm. Well a message on my phone. He said that Frank Delorbe is going to do work on our upstairs neighbor shower body because that is where the leak is coming from. He called me again by accident but I did not think to ask him all the questions I wanted to ask especially the extra charge on our maintenance bill. I left another message saying I would like to ask a couple of questions. I updated Cesar by leaving a message on his phone, and I actually got in contact and updated both Greg and Marta.

No mention of when though nor of needing to go into our apartment. There has been no letting Greg know when either. They need to use that bathroom because I believe he said his other one does not work.

Wednesday May 27 2009 No response

Yesterday I resealed the cardboard after Cesar saw the drips. Cesar and I went upstairs to talk to Greg. He told Greg that they would have to go through their shower fixture wall. Finally got to meet Greg face to face. Nice guy. Cesar left and told me that he was going to call Frank Didio. I figured ok, I've done all that I can do. I called Cesar to see how things went. No response. Then I decided to call Frank around noon today. Got his Machine. I left a message asking him if Cesar had called him and that Cesar saw where the dripping was coming from. From our upstairs neighbor. So my bases our covered. I left another message for Cesar. He got back to me at around 2:10pm saying he called Frank and left a message as well and that he has not called him back. He asked me to call him if Frank calls me. I said I would. Here goes the same pattern.

Yesterday we also wrote a letter to the president of the board, Lawrence Manning to expedite this repair. We sent one letter via snail mail and dropped another copy off on his apartment doorstep. It's in writing.

So we are waiting.

Also earlier yesterday I talked with Marta and she said that she got a call from Frank that some guy Davis can fix her walls and ceiling and that the building was going to pay for it. I told her everything about the source coming from our upstairs neighbor, we wrote a ltter to the president of the board, and that we are waiting on Frank to do some work on our place. She appreciated me telling her everything and she said that she too is going to wait until this leak is fixed.

Plumbing 05.24.09 Dripping from above again

After a long walk we came home around 9:50 pm and noticed that the plastic bag around our cardboard was full of water. we also heard a constant dripping on top of the cardboard.

When we replaced the cardboard (which again had become drenched with water that also filled a plastic bag we had placed over the cardboard) on May 24, 2009, we noticed that the dripping is coming from a pipe. We recorded a video of this:

Removal and evidence of dripping.

Cardboard Coverup 05.02.09

Here is a shot of how the plumbers covered the openings they made. The one above is the one in the bedroom wall.

This one is the one on the bathroom ceiling. I called Andrew about this, that it was leaking again. He said he was too busy. I called Frank. No one came as it kept getting wetter and wetter.
Eventually it started to drip. Not great to have drips coming from who knows where while you are trying to take a shower. So I called Andrew. He told me to call Cesar, and then Cesar told me to call him back. Frustrated that nothing was being done about the leak I still had to replace the cardboard to prevent water coming from above into our tub. This time I wrapped some cardboard in a plastic bag to prevent any soaking.

Our upstairs nieghbor stopped taking showers for awhile while we waited for someone to be sent here. No one was sent. The dripping apparently stopped. Later our upstairs neighbors resumed taking showers and no dripping. I finally got hold of Frank and he said that we had to wait to see where the leak is coming from. So we had to wait again.

Plumbing 05.02.09 Bathroom ceiling

Here's a shot of the hole the plumber made to get a closer look.

Closer...

Here's shot straight up into that opening. It's kind of wet around this area as well. There is also something quite disturbing in here as well. Let's back up a bit...

Here's a shot from the ceiling. You can actually see sunlight coming from what is suppose to be a brick wall.

Here's a shot of a fan vent. And that is sunlight! We have a hole in the brick wall!

Inside this hole I took a picture (this time with the flash on) of the fan-vent that is obsolete. This is located just right above our bathroom. It is built into the brick wall. Behind that grating is the outside. There is nothing that is keeping the cold air from blowing in blasting through the walls of our apartment, especially in the bathroom. Sometimes so cold in the winter we have to wear our jackets in the bathroom. Not good for anyone's health. We've had to put tape along the area where the walls meet the floor because you can feel a cold draft blowing in this apartment during the winter. It is also possible that this cold freezing air is causing damage to pipes and walls, wood, and who knows what else. This is a health violation.


Here's a shot from our kitchen window of our bathroom window. Right above it you can see the vent.

Here's a close look at where are cold air is coming from. Easy access. Difficult living.
I called Frank about this. He was concerned that there might be water coming from here. He gave me the number of his waterproofer, Maula. Maula came and said he could take out the fan and seal this, but he wanted to know who would pay for it. After several calls I finally got hold of Frank and he said the buidling would take care of it but we would have to determine first where the leak is coming from.

The beginning 05.02.09. Bedroom wall cut out.

A couple days later after the vanity sealing, we got a call from Apartment 2B complaining of additional leaks and worse water damage. The managing agent’s plumber, Andrew, then cut a 14-inch x 2-foot square hole in our wall and a 1-foot x1-foot square hole in our bathroom ceiling. He found that the leak is coming from the bathroom in Apartment 32. He also found that the inner woodwork wall between our bedroom and bathroom, as well as the bathroom ceiling, were soaked with water from a water source above our apartment.

Here is the opening they made. It's around 14"x2'.

Closer...

And closer. Here you can see how the water has soaked the wood in the wall.

This is a shot in the wall looking up. Water can be seen dripping down the pipe. Woodwork on our wall is soaked...great conditions for mildew...

This is a shot in the wall looking down into the downstairs neighbor. Water must have dripped down to their bedroom ceiling from above us.

Plumbing 04.29.09 Bathroom Vanity Seepage?

Plumbing Leak and Water Damage

Last December, Marta, the resident in Apartment 2B complained of water dripping from her bedroom ceiling to the building superintendent Cesar. Cesar advised us that a small area of broken grout in my shower may have allowed water to seep through to Apartment 2B. We immediately stopped using the shower. We hired a contractor who fixed the grout and replaced the shower body, fixtures, tile board, and wall tiles. After the superintendent ran some tests, he cleared our shower for use and we began using the bathroom as usual in January 2009 and with no complaints from Apartment 2B.

Unfortunately, on April 18, 2009, Apartment 2B again experienced leaks in her bedroom. Cesar ran tests with our shower and found no evidence of leaks. We asked our contractor to run some tests. They found no leaks but caulked up some tiny holes in the grout of the shower wall that were hardly noticeable.

About a week later, April 29, 2009 the managing agent sent a plumber (Andrew) who did some splash tests in our bathroom and laid caulk on cracked areas under our bathroom. They claimed that it was the water coming from the shower between the tub and the vanity. Which is odd because it is always covered by a plastic shower curtain. We might grab something real quick from the vanity, but I don't think it would be a significant amount of water that would cause the damage that had happened in 2B. There was no mention that we would get billed for this.









So unbeknown to us we were charged $471.86 on top of our regular maintenance.