Damage control
| 3 min read
Over the past week, during and now also because of the contractor we've been going full tilt on damage control for the house renovation. First we had a surprise tropical storm that brought so much rain that pretty much every window, door, and crack in the concrete leaked.
Years ago I had seen that Flex Seal would work wonders for stuff like that so we bought a few of the Flex Spray cans and treated the corrugated steel roofs with that. I covered all the edges and cracked cement and almost killed myself with the toxic fumes. Then it rained again and the roofs leaked just as bad as before.
Yeah, thanks Phil Swift! I put my life on the line and get zero result in return.
But - I did apply only one layer of the stuff and they recommend two. so today I doubled up and added another layer of Flex Seal. I'm anticipating better results the next time it rains.
Meanwhile, the window I covered over with wood got treated, waterproofed and plastered over with cement. It leaks. But maybe it's water trapped in the sealant from the cement... Because of-course the contractor waited 12 hours to let the cement dry before the sealing compound was put on. We'll see how that unfolds over the next few days.
Also during the last few rain showers the patio in the back kept being flooded, so I cemented a little wall on the pantry roof to force water the other way. A neat idea in theory, but maybe that causes the covered window to leak because water sneaks another way? Could be... I don't know. We're working on figuring that out and resealing the roof with waterproof acrylic paint over the next few days. While sitting on said roof and trying to decide what to do, I noticed the water storage that's on there was leaking as well. Just a tiny drip that got worse when the output pipe moved.
YES, I KNOW! I THINK THAT's TOO MUCH GODDAMN LEAKS TOO!!!!
Turns out that one of the T couplings has no glue on it, or so little that it failed. I couldn't tell. But it didn't matter. The fix required me to replace most of the piping anyway, so who cares about the why. Just fix the problem. I also replaced the fixed pipe with flexible tube so that if anything moves the joins don't flex and tear. That's now fixed and seems to not leak anymore.
yay! \o/
And now back to the contractor, he tiled the kitchen. It looks alright. Nothing spectacular, certainly not if you consider he spent 4 days on it. And while it's all nice and neat, a few details need improving, mostly on the underside of the kitchen counter. Applying a bit more cement to cover over some edges and make it nicer.
Yep, probably not hiring him again...
And Phil, I'll never buy your stupid Flex Seal again either if I can help it. It's way too expensive for too little result, so far anyway!