Oh the DRAMA!!

Here is my life since Sunday AM....

Zach was playing Wii and noticed a water spot on the ceiling. We assumed it was the drip pan for the AC had overflowed and the gutter was blocked. So outside we went to unplug the gutter. The gutter was not plugged, in fact there was nothing coming out of the AC unit drain pipe at ALL!! So we call the landlord at 11AM and watched the water spot turn to a drip and then a crack. They showed up at 6PM and said yup it is broken. They called the company who put the AC in and someone came over to fix it. Apparently when they put the unit in March of '07 they did not run a strait pipe to the gutter they put a u-shaped trap in but didn't tell any one. The trap had water in it which froze over the winter cracking the pipe.

So since about May when we started using the AC again it has been draining into the insulation in the attic! Monday morning at 7:28AM the ceiling in the living room collapsed. Not even the worst part.

The insulation is original to the house circa 1950's and is called vermiculite and contains asbestos. Yup-at 11AM on Monday my house because a potential asbestos abatement area complete with plastic surrounding the 4x6 foot hole. We had to send a sample to NJ at $400 so we could find out the type and the level. This was important to know because at a certain level OSHA says it is a HAZMAT area and men in suits need to come in and then the debris needs a special license and permit in order to be disposed. Monday evening the landlord informed us that her insurance would not cover abatement so they would not be able to afford to fix it. What!! So as of Monday if the test revealed a certain level-we would be homeless.

Tuesday night at 9:30 PM we found out the levels and type of asbestos-so we went to bed planning in house hunting this weekend and figuring out how we go about getting our furniture cleaned-yeah we didn't sleep much or well.

THE GOOD NEWS!! As of 10AM today the levels are below the OSHA levels and it is not fibrous-it can just be fixed and cleaned like normal!!! I am not homeless!!!

I do however have a MESS-the furniture is brown suede and covered in grey insulation dust. The 3 of us worked as a team and got the coffee table, couch, chair and end table cleaned in about 2 hours this evening. We set Zach up outside wiping down knick knacks with Swifter wipes and damp towels while we did the heavier dirtier work of washing walls, vacuuming furniture and mopping.

Oh yeah-the AC unit is not working until the hole is fixed and we are in a high humidity slump. Lovely huh-oh well.