I must preface this entry by stating that it was typed on Tuesday, 7 November
So lemme fill you in on a little home ownership 101…buy new! My grandma never bought previously lived in homes. She never wanted to clean up anyone else’s dirt; she wanted to make her own dirt. My grandma was very smart.
My 1925 Craftsman seems quaint and cozy, but last weekend I was carrying laundry down to the basement and floor was covered in water. After quick inspection I noted the source: a concrete wall, five feet underground. For all of you unfamiliar with basements, the foundation of my fucking house is leaking.
Now here comes the annoying part, there is no crack, no seam, no joint, no opening of any sort. Water is streaming out of the middle of a concrete wall. This is so weird to me. I could understand if water was leaking from the old windows or from what I am sure is a shitty roof, but from the middle of a wall?!
Anyway I was fed up because there was a puddle of water underneath the electric dryer (whose outlet was replaced in a jimyrigged fashion by yours truly with her partner, Toxx, standing by with a broom handle-in case I was being electrocuted- last winter. This changed outlet has been hanging by wire and is unattached to the wall or outlet box of any kind. just one example of my genuine handiness) and anyway I was annoyed because a really wanted to finish my laundry (and by finish, I mean start).
So I yelled to Toxx and she swabbed the deck, so to speak, and we piled up the towels and decided she would deal with it on Monday.
So Toxx shoots me an email on Monday and tells me she’s found this great website that is completely focused on crappy old houses like ours and all the shit that goes wrong with them.
Apparently according to This Old Piece of Shit Home (or whatever the site’s name is) spontaneous, middle of the wall leaks are commonplace and should be tolerated. If unbearable you are instructed to go donate $27 to your local hardware store and shove a bunch of grey dust into the leak site and hope to God that the powder dams up the wall. duh
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