Cranky, Sore and Wet

[llcoolvad]

Well! Today was Move from Old Wet Storage Unit to New Dry One Day. p_j_cleary showed up around 11:45am and we headed over to pick up sarcasticah and her husband. The storage place opened at 12, and we got there pretty much right as they opened. I think sarcasticah and her husband were horrified at how much stuff we were going to have to move (p_j_cleary knew exactly what he was getting into, having helped me move INTO unit previously, and having visited with me several times since), but everyone gamely grabbed carts and started digging into the piles.

I went off to get the new unit unlocked so we could start moving into it. Along the way to the unit with the manager I asked a question — "So, does this new area ever get any water, because this is the second time I've been warned about water in the old area!" "No, this is our best area! The owner's personal unit is right next to yours!" Ok...so he unlocks it, throws up the door, and ... there's water on the floor! Ack! The skylight above the unit is slowly drip-drip-dripping into the owner's personal unit (HA!). Naturally, I demand another unit. While freaking out a lot.



So he goes off to call the owner and to find me yet ANOTHER unit, and I head back, dejected, to the old unit, where everyone has been busily loading things onto the carts. They see me and start hopping around "Look! Look!! We found why there's water in your unit!" and point me at another unit two down from mine. An empty unit, save for a comforter tossed on the ground, and some glass jar with seashells or something in the corner. And a pipe along the back wall. With this:



A giant hole, with water POURING onto the floor. POURING. (I brought my camera to document all this for insurance purposes, who's a smart girl?)



It's ok, they had that convenient comforter tossed down to sop up all the water. Yeah.

So now I'm REALLY freaking out. That's just about 20 feet from my books. So I scurry back to the manager (who looks like he's maybe 18, and looks really freaked out by my rage) and tell him about the pipe and the water and say "I need a new unit NOW!" and he points me at the new unit, and sees the pipe, and hurries off to get a bucket. Like that will help.

So we start hurling stuff at the new unit; it's me and Team sarcasticah doing the packing of the carts, and Patrick doing the unpacking and stacking in the new unit. Worked pretty well. The front layer of stuff was ok. But then we got in deeper:



First my box of stuff from grad school. Yeah, all the handouts, papers I wrote, homework I did. Fun.



Then my fridge. I bought it about seven years ago. It was really nice when I bought it. See the rippled back now? Sigh.



My freezer and A/C did not escape the flooding. Let's hope that since they're all built to deal with moisture that they dry out and are fine.



But worst of all...eight boxes of books, all the ones on the bottom, soaked! It seems like possibly only the bottom four or five books in each box got ruined, but I will know more tomorrow when I go back over to repack those eight boxes. I need to make a list of everything that was ruined, as I have insurance for the unit and am hoping I can get money to replace all the stuff. So annoyed!!

It took us about three hours, which surprised me hugely — I feared it would take much longer. We all got soaked and filthy and not one of us came away without injury — basically everyone was so awesome I am immensely indebted to them all. I have started the repayment by getting lunch for Team sarcasticah. Obscene amounts of yummy Mexican food, mmmm. Patrick took off to shower and change, he felt too grubby to go out. I will take him out soon. And then grovel more.

ETA: I should mention the other stuff that got wet that I didn't document (yet) — a crate of LPs, a bunch of framed posters, some bookshelves, a couple boxes of kitchen stuff (I haven't looked inside yet, that's probably the least of my worries) and one or two other boxes that I haven't looked in, either. I'm very bummed about the posters and the LPs. And of course the books!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

God, I NEEDED that shower! Sweat and whatever water was all over that floor. Who knew what that pipe was for? Eeeew! Also, I keep forgetting that I'm not working out regularly, so hoisting heavy boxes over my head for three hours made me kind of sore.

If there's another flood, I say you decide to go for the minimalist look. White walls, no furniture, and keep all your books on a hard drive.

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

Oops! Wasn't logged in and I posted. The rant about being sore and needing a shower was from me.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Turns out it was groundwater. The pipe was supposed to be unused, but over time had rusted and eventually the pressure from the groundwater popped a hole in it? Yeah, whatever. Anyway, at least it wasn't sewage!

[ozymandiasism.livejournal.com]

sorry you have to go thru that.... I hope you have beter luck tomorrow when you go thru more of your stuff....

to make you feel slightly more fortunate.... Chaz used to live in Chicago and he had all his stuff in storage. He moved back to the east coast and he got a call one day from the storage facilty They told him that his unit got flooded after a major snow storm. I guess he wasn't able to get there sooe eough and by the time he flew to RI.... and his stuff were GONE. like... zip. none left. And everything he had in that storage was from his childhood.

It really sucks becaus eI have no baby pics of Chaz to make fun of.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Wow! They just chucked it all?! That's awful. Poor Chaz. I guess I'm lucky that the place is only a couple miles from here. P used to have his stuff in storage in California when he lived here -- it was there for a couple years. I can just imagine what would have happened if he got the same call.

So yes, I feel slightly more fortunate. Thanks!

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Well, the storage area better fucking well compensate you for the lost stuff! *And* grovel! I'd have been mad enough to kick the shit out of that idiot manager and threaten to terminate the existence of his future children with a potato peeler, so you are much more restrained than I.

Suck with the books and LPs and stuff. )-: Did you get palettes for the new unit?

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Ugh, no. No palettes. But the new unit is organized better and I can get to the wall of books easily, so if I get some palettes it won't be a gargantuan task to move the books, put the palettes down, and move the books back. The new area seems a lot better, frankly, so here's hoping nothing else will happen. There's a sprinkler head inside, though, the kind that go off when there's a fire. My luck ... let's just hope no one is careless with matches...

[dreamalynn.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief. That is just disgusting -- I am so sorry. I will hope and pray for smooth sailing through the fickle seas of insurance.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I am going to call them tomorrow and see what they say -- will my rates go up if I file a claim? What kind of investigation will they do? What kind of proof do they need? Many questions.

[elevengirl.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. The LPs themselves may be fine---mine were after an apartment flood. Some of the covers were damaged beyond saving, but some others dried out okay.

Good luck with no more flooding!

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

The one box I basically ignored today in the cleanup was the crate with the LPs. I might go back and see what I should do, but I might just ignore the whole thing for a while. Sigh.

And thanks!

[kicking-k.livejournal.com]

I was reading this with my hand over my mouth. I am really sorry you had to go through that...

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

My poor wet books. I was very sad! This is already my third flood in as many years -- my first was when I lived in the underground "garden" apartment. I had to move out for two weeks while my landlords tore up my floor and put in a French drain. Thankfully they moved all the stuff out for me. Second was mom's flooded basement last spring. Now this.

It's practically biblical. I think I need to invest in a houseboat or ark or something...

[sarcasticah.livejournal.com]

The damage was so, so bad. I felt horrible just looking at it. I can't believe the management didn't know about the broken pipe -- Patrick and Jeff and I found it after about 13 seconds of looking! We followed the sound of running water, how novel.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

I hate them all with a white-hot passion. I got back at them a tiny bit today -- I took the five boxes of soaked books and magazines, the wet posters, and all the wet cardboard, stacked it on two carts, and left it over by their trash when they weren't in the office. They can dispose of it all, the cheap bastards.

I was there about three and a half hours today, shuffling stuff around, cleaning up, drying things, tossing things. Fun!