The "Joys" of Home Ownership: A Rant

officerripley

officerripley

Well-known Member
Location
Porlock, Calif
Ah, yes, the "joys": had to have some work done on the thermostat only for our air conditioner, the unit itself is supposedly still good which thank goodness since it's over 100 right now. Welp, guess something happened when the guy was up in the attic working on that the other day because water is now dripping down from the ceiling there enough that all the clothes hanging there are all wet. And that part of the ceiling and the carpet under it will have to be replaced of course. Luckily we got a repairtech out here even tho it's Sunday. But I betcha we're gonna have to do without the A/C for a while. So tired of all this...
 

Pepper said:
Without a/c for 100 degrees? What a nightmare! So sorry to read this. Take care.
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Thanks, it actually got up to 104 yesterday, sigh. I shouldn't complain but since I grew up where it never got hotter than about 85 and that was rare, I guess my blood's just too thick or something.
 

Here in the South, it's extremely rare to find a house with a basement. Basements, usually, house things like the HVAC unit, water heater, water main shutoff valve, etc.

So what do homebuilders do throughout the South? Glad you asked. They put air handlers (the big, bulky things, but not the condensers which are usually outdoors) and the water heater IN THE ATTIC. What do air handlers generate when running a/c? Condensate. What do water heaters hold? Thirty to forty gallons of water. What happens when an air handler's condensate tray runs over and the sump pump that's attached to it fails? Water in your living area in the floor below. What happens when your water heater finally rots out and it dumps all 40 gallons of water through the bottom? All that water has to go someplace, and it's usually downhill.

When designing and building a house, I would pay 10% more to have all those utility functions in a separate room on the ground floor, with a floor drain that routes to the storm drain. Putting a water heater or an air handler in an attic is like putting a time bomb in your house.
 
I think officerripley is right. You own this thing that always needs something. And no matter what goes wrong, you're the one, who has to deal (pay) with it. Plus, with a house, there's no damn user's manual.
My new problem is how to get rid of a groundhog, who made a home underneath my deck. Those suckers love to gnaw through underground utility/cable/ power lines.
 
officerripley said:
Luckily we got a repairtech out here even tho it's Sunday. But I betcha we're gonna have to do without the A/C for a while.
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Maybe they just need to get some air out of the tube that takes the water somewhere, at least that is what my Nebraska house needed one time when there was water in the heat/air conditioner's closet. I'm probably not remembering correctly, but I think the repair guy made a loop out of the tubing to prevent hot air backing up into the hose or something simple like that.
 
Sounds like what @HoneyNut said or the condensate drain is clogged. Once a month I pour a cup of white vinegar down my drain to help keep anything from growing in there and clogging the drain up.

I've seen others post about using a shop vac to go outside and hook up to the end of the drain and suck all the muck out when the drain is clogged up badly. Best to do that rather than blow air into the drain. Blowing air in, creates pressure that might rupture the drain pipe at a connection along the line.

Anyway, yes the joys of home ownership. Had to replace my heat pump and air handler last year. After 18yrs, it had come to replacement time. So I have a new system that's covered by warranty and bonus ... the new system is much more energy efficient than the old one and my power bill has gone down quite a bit. But OUCH !!! ... the six grand for the new system.

Good Luck !!!
 
HoneyNut said:
Maybe they just need to get some air out of the tube that takes the water somewhere, at least that is what my Nebraska house needed one time when there was water in the heat/air conditioner's closet. I'm probably not remembering correctly, but I think the repair guy made a loop out of the tubing to prevent hot air backing up into the hose or something simple like that.
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Naturally said:
Sounds like what @HoneyNut said or the condensate drain is clogged. Once a month I pour a cup of white vinegar down my drain to help keep anything from growing in there and clogging the drain up.

I've seen others post about using a shop vac to go outside and hook up to the end of the drain and suck all the muck out when the drain is clogged up badly. Best to do that rather than blow air into the drain. Blowing air in, creates pressure that might rupture the drain pipe at a connection along the line.

Anyway, yes the joys of home ownership. Had to replace my heat pump and air handler last year. After 18yrs, it had come to replacement time. So I have a new system that's covered by warranty and bonus ... the new system is much more energy efficient than the old one and my power bill has gone down quite a bit. But OUCH !!! ... the six grand for the new system.

Good Luck !!!
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That's what it was, as you both mentioned, in our case rats had chewed through the plastic drain pipe in the attic (you should've seen the whole they chewed, yikes) and it was steadily pooling up on top of the closet ceiling, sigh. So thankfully the guy replaced the pipe and got our A/C running again but it cost us $232 since it wasn't their fault. So now we'll have to see if our homeowners insurance will cover any of it, I hope so. (We had our pest control co. put a bunch of rat traps up there but not close enough to that drain pipe, I guess.)
 
officerripley said:
That's what it was, as you both mentioned, in our case rats had chewed through the plastic drain pipe in the attic (you should've seen the whole they chewed, yikes) and it was steadily pooling up on top of the closet ceiling, sigh. So thankfully the guy replaced the pipe and got our A/C running again but it cost us $232 since it wasn't their fault. So now we'll have to see if our homeowners insurance will cover any of it, I hope so. (We had our pest control co. put a bunch of rat traps up there but not close enough to that drain pipe, I guess.)
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I hope your insurance covers it for you. Maybe so; there are all kinds of policies. I can only tell you that I have a 1% deductible on my homeowner's policy, meaning I have to pay the 1% (around $2800 in my case) for any covered loss before insurance pays anything.

My name is on the deed to my house, but I don't own the house - it owns me.
 
I had a similar problem. For some reason, instead of using PVC pipe for the entire condensate run, the builder ran a piece of flex for part of the run, and the condensate backed up. I could suck all the water out using a shopvac through the pipe. It was very confusing.
I had an AC guy come out, and he told me the flex had formed 3 loops like p-traps, which stopped the flow.
He replaced it with a straight run of PVC, the way it should have been in the first place.
 
My late husband and I rented a townhouse in a nice community for about 1 1/2 years once when we were between houses when we sold one house and were deciding where to buy next.

It was marvelous to be able to call down to the rental office and say, "YOUR airconditioning isn't working, YOUR toilet won't stop flushing, YOUR sink is leaking, YOUR refrigerator is gasping, YOUR roof is leaking...." and voila! someone showed up and fixed it.

Of course, we were lucky to be renting from a company that was very attentive to complaints. Some aren't so lucky with their management company.
 
Yes home ownership and maintenance is time consuming and expensive, I just recently had to replace the roof, cost me $3000 deductible on insurance..This is my home...I'm just trying my best to stay here for the time I have left, even if that means I'll have to let some repairs go.
 
JustBonee said:
I learned the true meaning of STRESS when my husband died, and I was left with a house needing attention.

It was a dark time for me, until I sold the property and moved on. It took a few years.

Too many people like to take advantage of the situation they know you are in ..
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This is what I'm so afraid of happening to me if my husband dies or moves permanently into a skilled nursing facility before I do and why I've been trying to convince him to move to a smaller/more manageable place. But every time I've brought it up, saying what if that happens, it'd be so hard on me, etc., he's just always said, "You'd figure it out." (I've had a lot of other gals in the same situation tell me their husbands have said the exact same thing to them: "You'd figure it out." It's like they've all taken the same class.)
 
officerripley said:
This is what I'm so afraid of happening to me if my husband dies or moves permanently into a skilled nursing facility before I do and why I've been trying to convince him to move to a smaller/more manageable place. But every time I've brought it up, saying what if that happens, it'd be so hard on me, etc., he's just always said, "You'd figure it out." (I've had a lot of other gals in the same situation tell me their husbands have said the exact same thing to them: "You'd figure it out." It's like they've all taken the same class.)
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Oh, we had “that talk” too. … and I got the same response, for what it’s worth.
I wish I could offer some advice, but I have none.

I guess after so long, things do get figured out. 😥😢😿
 
JustBonee said:
Oh, we had “that talk” too. … and I got the same response, for what it’s worth.
I wish I could offer some advice, but I have none.

I guess after so long, things do get figured out. 😥😢😿
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Thanks, you're so right. As a friend who's been widowed told me when I told her what Huzz said, "Well, sure you'd get it figured out, but as I can tell you from first-hand experience, it's hell going through it."
 
JustBonee said:
After selling my house 8 years ago, I moved to my present Senior apartment - which I love!
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That sounds like paradise to me now. Especially since we're dealing with a bunch of water damage, the A/C drain pipe up in the attic leaked & ruined part of the ceiling, wall and carpet in the master bedroom closest. Annnnd, the insurance co. told me earlier today that they may or may not pay for the repairs and even if they do, we've got a $500 deductible. So tired of this, sigh.
 

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