Guess what? There's a big ol' hole in the ceiling at the bookstore.
Guess why? A goddamn rat.
Guess what? There's a big ol' hole in the ceiling at the bookstore.
Guess why? A goddamn rat.
Hi!
My name is Andrew.
I run a bookstore ( https://hemlockbazaar.com ) and we, very unexpectedly, need to replace two walls and part of our ceiling, probably out of pocket.
I do a lot of other things. You can learn about some of them at https://andrewroach.net but that's out of date, because life keeps happening.
You can also learn about some of them at https://impractical.computer which is significantly less out of date, because it's brand new.
One of the other things I do is run a Makerspace ( https://ellijaymakerspace.org ) which needs a new A/C unit to survive the summer heat.
As a result, there's a hole in the ceiling and the drywall is missing off of two walls.
We've stopped the problem from getting any worse. We're working on making it better. We'll find out how much it's going to cost soon.
But a lot, probably.
We're also replacing an A/C unit at the makerspace right now, which is likely to cost more than $8k.
So uhhh
So I turned the water off and I got a better look at the pex pipe. It has gnaw marks all over it.
No obvious signs of a recent visitor (again, who knows how long it's been like this! )
So, at this point, we called in some experts.
There's a man removing the walls right now. He'll be doing mold remediation as well.
Tomorrow, a plumber will come and replumb the supply line for the sink.
In a few days we'll find out if the insurance is going to cover this, or if we're going to have to go out of pocket.
So I cut the ceiling open.
And I felt water on my head.
And I smelled damp.
And I saw mold.
And I heard dripping.
And, for a second, I tasted blood. I think I imagined that last part.
I traced the stream on my head back to a piece of pex piping. It had a tiny little puncture in it, and a pinhole of water was shooting out of it.
Apparently it's the supply line for the upstairs sink.
And how long has it been slowly leaking a pinhole of water? We have no idea! Weeks? Months? Long enough that *two* walls are completely saturated and molding.
Why was the ceiling dripping water?
Well, because it was wet.
There have been a lot of bad storms recently. Could have been from the storms, right?
Except yesterday was mostly clear!
And there's no evidence of water in the apartment above the store.
So ... ?
Maybe it's the roof leaking in to the wall and then ... ? Why is it pooling in this particular location? It doesn't make sense.
We get occasional rats in the building because we're in a city, and because there's a restaurant across the street, and an abandoned building next door. They get under the floor, and then climb the inside of the walls. They rarely make it out of the walls, and on the few occasions that they have ... well, they don't live long after that, is what I'm saying (and then we patch the hole, and they don't come in that way anymore.)
We haven't seen any evidence of rodents in the kitchen, we haven't seen any evidence of rodents in the bookstore. We haven't really seen any evidence of rodents anywhere in ages.
But today I walked in to the ceiling dripping water.
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