The last 3 days have been an absolute nightmare
Wednesday afternoon, just nodding off for a nap.....both smoke detectors started screaming like banshees (I have one in the kitchen and one in the hallway, both mains operated and fitted by the Council who own the flat).
Once I had jumped back into my skin, I went to investigate what the heck was going on.
Niagara Falls had moved to my kitchen.
The upstairs flat had a water leak somewhere and the water had discovered the smoke alarm and decided to use it as the way out of the ceiling space. Thus short circuiting the smoke alarm and setting it off screaming which in turn set off the one in the hallway.
Frantic phone calls to the council and the upstairs tenant (who was out at the time due to being a live in carer elsewhere but who had given me their phone number incase of emergency)
Within an hour the upstairs tenant, a council electrician and plumber arrived to the screaming banshees...one of which sounding like it was underwater.
Upstairs flat's toilet had cracked its cistern and for many weeks had been leaking til it could take no more refilling to replace what had leaked out and broke open...still refilling automatically.
Flooded the flat upstairs....flooded my bathroom and kitchen underneath.
Plumber sorted the cistern.
Electrician removed the screaming banshees.
Two days of manic cleaning up.
Upstairs flat is perfect again.
Mine...not so much.
I have acoustic ceilings that soundproof tween the flats. The flat upstairs has wooden flooboards. Water pouring into the ceiling space for an unknown number of weeks.
Part of the acoustic ceiling is a 3" thick layer of rockwool. Now as aquatic hooligan keepers we all know what rockwool does when wet (its why it is used for plants that are seedlings etc)
It soaks up water like a sponge.
The other part of an acoustic ceiling is that the plasterboard used to seal the ceiling has a rubber layer attached that sits under the rockwool layer. Effectively sealing the ceiling....and all that lovely water in the rockwool.
So today a council surveyor is coming cos he thinks that, given the amount of time the upstairs toilet has been leaking into my ceilings, the entire ceilings in the bathroom, kitchen and part of my hallway are going to have to be taken down, the original standard ceiling under the acoustic one will need to come down, the entire wooden floor upstairs and rafters dried out and then the ceilings replaced.
Estimated 7 to 10 days work.
Thank goodness I do not have to pick up the bill....but it will be very disruptive (to say the least).
Just what is needed when the weather is giving torrential rain, flood warnings etc outside.......Niagara Falls and no ceilings inside.