So I woke up the other day & got Kai ready for the day like I always do. I sat down in the living room in our favorite chair & began feeding him, playing on my phone & enjoying the quiet sound of the rain outside as Kai slowly woke the rest of the way up. It was turning out to be a very calm day. The Seattle-like weather was really making me miss my family, & I was just thinking about calling them when I noticed a noise...
What is that noise?
It was coming from the corner next to our chair, around where I have Kai's car seat stored. Since little man was eating, I couldn't really lean to see what was going on, & was just going to worry about it later. But with the silence in the room, whatever was making that noise just got louder..
& louder..
& LOUDER.
What the hell is that noise?!
Now this is the first full day of Ryan's work week, so he is already over in Sumner. (Back on the Seattle side of the mountains) So I can't ask him to look into the mysterious sound, & the longer I sit there...
Louder..
...& Louder..
OH. MY. GAWD.
I'mGoingToRipMyHairOut.
So in a moment of insanity, I took little man off the boob & set him on the couch to search for the incessant sound. In the moment it took Kai to realize what had happened & begin to scream for his breakfast back, I found the source of the ridiculous noise.
A small hole in my ceiling from an old plant hanger hook was slowly dripping water down into the middle of Kai's car seat. I wasn't to upset at first.. that was until I realized that the bucket lid that the car seat was sitting on, was FULL of water! The car seat was SITTING in at least an inch of water that had leaked in from the rainstorm we were having... if not more!
-___-
Seriously?
With Kai screaming & big alligator tears rolling down his cheeks I made the decision to deal with it in a few minutes. It had leaked this long, whats a few more minutes? But as I started to make my way back over to pick Kai up, I noticed somethings else...
Something much, MUCH worse.
Directly above our favorite chair, hanging from my ceiling right above my wailing son...
was a GIANT, car seat sized WATER BUBBLE forming behind the drywall in the ceiling!
"Oh My GAWD! Kai!!"
I threw the ottoman that was between me & the chair out of the way, & grabbed the entire sofa seat he was laying on & pulled it half way across my living room before picking Kai up.
As I stared at the looming bubble of doom precariously drooping down in my living room
I did the only thing a wife at the end of her rope can think of. I called my husband.
In the end, he told me to go downstairs & get his dad, who is living with us until we can be fully integrated into Spokane life. I hurried downstairs with Kai in tow & Ryan on Facetime. We get my father-in-law upstairs & show him the damage, but with his bad eyesight (& having left his glasses downstairs) he can't really see the giant bubble on my newly white painted ceiling.
So even after I said,
"Be careful dad, it's full of water...
I wouldn't touch it or anything, it's prob going to pop."
What do you think he did?
"Where? right here?"
He asks... as he reaches up above his head, & unintentionally sticks his finger through the bubble, consequently dumping over a gallon of water all over his face, & onto my floor.
>.<
You have GOT to be kidding me.
So after mopping up as much water as possible, & placing pots under BOTH now dripping holes I quickly started calling around to different roofing contractors in the area. when I finally found one that was willing to come out same day, I was confident things would be fixed soon.. but frustrated because I knew it would come at a cost.
Oh, how right I was.
The contractor that showed up was very nice & sat with me for quite awhile talking over the things that needed to be done. In the end, he informed me that a simple repair was not in my foreseeable future. No, as he put it,
"Your roof his basically reached the end of its life cycle, & is barely holding on."
*Uugh.* Now I have a headache.
Pretty much, even a small patch could in the end cause more damage since my roof is so far gone. At this point, the whole roof just has to be replaced. I told the guy that had actually been in the plans for this summer, we just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Generously, he gave me a rough estimate on how much square footage my roof is, & some pointers & tips on self installation like where to get good materials & some things to look out for.
I guess I know how Ryan's next paycheck is going to be spent.
What was your first home/apt/car big fix?
Tell me about it!
Help me feel less alone in my misery...
