Fireflies and other good tricks
I wrote this a month ago when the leak started and it was peak firefly season, but I didn’t want to post it until the infrastructure problem was under control. Now firefly season is mostly over, but there will be more next summer and they’ll be magic too.
I’d love to hear your ceiling leak or open car window or flooded basement horror stories, I think they’d make me feel better. And I’d love to hear who you usually call for advice. No one is calling me for roofing tips, and it will probably stay that way.
Have a good week, and I hope you scare your parents in all the best ways.
Oh man, I had a ceiling leak last year--the kind where a whole chunk of ceiling turns into to world's worst water balloon, waiting to pop and drench you with water.
It trickled from my upstairs walls to my kitchen ceiling, leaving destroyed plaster in its wake.
Insurance covered a new roof (old one was installed wrong??) and water mitigation (including a giant industrial dehumidifier--it dried ME out so much I started getting bloody noses) and repair. HOWEVER, they found lead paint, so instead of a quick & easy repair job, it required mitigation with walled off plastic partitions and took way longer.
Hopefully this makes you feel better?! It can happen to anyone, and sometimes there's dangerous paint. 0/10 would not recommend.
Our roof leaked so badly, one night during an average rainfall, we had water pouring down from the ceiling in every single room in the house. I thought it couldn't get worse until I saw water seeping in from the living room floorboards. The landlord hired a contractor who was on crack, and they dithered around until we lawyered up. Then, suddenly, a crew showed up, found the leaks, repaired them in three days, and all has been well ever since (knocking on miraculously mould-free wood). I hope the same for you.