On June 20th, our evaporative cooler had a meltdown, and flooded our kitchen. Yes I said evaporative cooler...also known as a "swamp" cooler. Our house was built in 1949, and is still, 60 years later, not vented for A/C. Honestly, the cooler works fine most of the time...except when it doesn't. We lost one wall and a third of the ceiling in the kitchen, but not the hardwood floor (miraculously).
It is now July 6, and we still have no wall, no ceiling and no cooling machine. Just try to get a contractor to respond to you in anything resembling a timely manner. Go ahead...I'll wait. I'm getting very proficient at it. Stupid me. Here I thought the industry was slow, and that contractors were desperate for work right now. Apparently not. Some don't even return phone calls. Some come out and decide the job is to small for them or whatever, and never send you the quote they promised, or even return phone calls. Some come out, give a quote, then go on vacation for a few weeks, during which time they don't even return phone calls.
Okay, I sort of get this last one, because I don't like to return calls while on vacation either, but still I'd like to know when they can get to the work. I mean an estimate? A ballpark? Something? Of course that would entail the insurance company calling me back as well, and I'm sure you can guess the likelihood of that happening.
To add insult to injury, we decided to spend part of our three-day weekend doing some minor, MINOR home repairs, like switching out the tub and shower knobs, spouts, and whatchamacallits (I am very technical when it comes to these kind of things, so try to keep up). In the process of shopping for these items, we spied a new bathroom sink faucet that we really loved and decided to buy. Of course it was brushed nickel and everything else in the bathroom was chrome, so the shopping spree began. Unfortunately, in the process of changing the pipe that goes from the shower head to the major plumbing behind the wall from chrome to brushed nickel, we encountered a set back. The damn thing snapped like a dry twig...behind the wall. Way behind. The really bad kind of behind.
And so minor repairs have turned into major ones. In addition to the holes in the kitchen, we now have holes in the bathroom. Uhm, so does this make us holy? After the profanities I have uttered over all of this, I'm thinking no. If I had known that damn sink faucet was going to end up costing several thousand dollars payable to the general contractor You Fuck It Up, We Fix It (who won't even return phone calls), I would have happily lived with the old one, which wasn't even broken to start with!
So my question to you is...why? Why oh why are we suffering this home repair karma? Is this some master plan to keep a contractor employed for one more week? Or maybe it is a scheme concocted by the state assembly to syphon more sales tax dollars into the California budget? Or maybe Verizon Wireless wants me to use up all of my minutes calling and recalling a bunch of people who won't even return my phone calls, so they can charge me a premium rate when I have to, at last, call a shrink. For all I know, the shrink may even be in on it! Or even the makers of Prozac!
It's a conspiracy, I tell you! A conspiracy!
I need a drink. And some Prozac.
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5 comments:
I used to perform house repair myself. Contractors, friends, neighbors and entities of the kind will certainly fuel conspiracy theories. In fact it is poor judgment that makes things go awry. I used to do a lot of previous thinking, even years sometimes - in the case of insulating my flat. It's a challenge anyway, we can never be wise enough, all depends on our innovative talents, patience, and and a great deal of transcendental support.
I don't get this comment... poor judgment snapped an old pipe in the wall? "Transcendental support"? Maybe Maggie should call the Mahareshi Heating and Plumbing, LLC.
It's not a conspiracy, but it is a rough run of luck. You have my support to transcend, if you like...
Sorry to hear of your troubles. How frustrating! Last year we had so many things break on us all at once - oven, dishwasher, dryer, water heater. It sure seemed like a conspiracy to me!
I am so sorry, MM. Hopefully the bad luck is just a bump along the route to something fantastic.
I can relate, on several levels.
Grew up with a swamp cooler (and you know where, Maggie). They actually work fairly well west of the Rockies where humidity is a crime against nature.
Also on that "freakin' swamp cooler overflowed and cause a boatload of damage" part.
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