The hole truth

We were supposed to fly to Arkansas tomorrow. For a week. S hasn't been to Arkansas since last Christmas. KB and I haven't been there since June. This was to be our post-Christmas get-together with my family, and certainly our last trip to Arkansas for a while.

We've canceled the trip. I don't have the energy to re-hash the whole reason again, so here are the relevant bits from an e-mail I just sent to a friend explaining why I wouldn't be seeing her this week:

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There's been a change of plans, thanks to the raging rainstorms in Northern California and the brand-new 2 foot x 2 foot hole in my living room ceiling.

I had noticed a small crack in the ceiling a couple of weeks ago, but no water marks on the wall or ceiling. And the last time it rained, I thought I heard an ominous "drip drip drip" in that same corner of the ceiling. But the weather has been nice ever since, so I was only beginning to think, "Hmmm, the rainy season is coming; maybe I should get someone out here to look at the roof."

And then the rain started yesterday afternoon. By the time I thought to look at the ceiling in the living room (while KB and I were having lunch today), the small crack had turned into a bulging BIG crack, and there were now huge water spots on the ceiling and wall. F.U.C.K. The arm of the couch (directly beneath the bulging crack) was soaking wet. After I pushed and pulled the couch away from the corner, I discovered the carpet underneath was soaking wet as well.

Put a bucket under the crack and called S to ask him to come home right away. When he got home, he investigated both outside and in the crawl space above the living room (accessed from an Alice-in-Wonderland size door in KB's bedroom). He found the leak, and also discovered that the floorboards in the crawl space -- directly above the living room ceiling -- are soaking wet.

Gah.

Then S tried to mop up some of the water that was already in puddles on the crawl space floor. I happened to be downstairs collecting tools for an attempted patch job when I saw a big chunk of the living room ceiling fall. Holy shit. Just the pressure of S rubbing a towel on the floor to mop up water caused a gaping 2 foot hole in our living room ceiling.

He tried to patch up the leak as best he could, and we put KB's baby bathtub underneath it to try to catch water before it reaches the floor of the crawl space.

Anyway, there are at least 2 more storms that are supposed to come through Northern California in the next week, and I don't want to leave the house only to come back to an even bigger disaster next Saturday.

Supposedly, since the house is under 10 years old, the roof is still under warranty. We called the builder today and a contractor is supposed to get back to us "in a couple of days" to tell us when he can come inspect the damage. Apparently they are getting a lot of calls because of this storm. Oy.

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We've rescheduled the trip for a bit later. I just hope we can get the roof and ceiling fixed before then. And fingers crossed we don't get hit by any more mishaps.

I didn't even mention the huge section of fence in the backyard that is hanging by a thread thanks to the crazy winds we had today. Any more of those and at least 1/3 of the back fence is coming down, I know.