Community Chat

[Kalli]

Yikes! Guess I can be thankful we still live in our home and neighbors aren’t very close. 

We just bought a condo in FL but it’s only one floor. I have no idea what our neighbors will be like. Hub was going to leave today to drive down and buy a tv and some furniture for the place but Hurricane Michael changed his plans. 

[Josefina]

I live in a high rise and water issues are common. That is one of the problems with condos. Water heaters breaking, AC leaks, washing machines, dishwahers hoses brake, bathroom, kitchen sinks and toilets hoses leaking. Maintenance is required in all of them, and hoses should be changed periodically.

I recently had my kitchen and living are ceiling damage when the apartment upstairs flooded because of the washing machine hose. t was literally raining in my living room. Very very upsetting.

[ValuSkr]

@Josefina  I also live in a downstairs condo and have had only minor water issues so far.  But I have wondered: when you have major issue such as yours, does your insurance pay or does the neighbor's?   If you have a deductible, who pays that?

[Qshopper1991]

@Mustang Shar

And some of us that live on the top floor are extremely considerate of the person below, while the person below isn't.

For instance, I wake up at 2 AM.  I walk VERY softly because I know my neighbor's bedroom is directly below me.  I'm quiet as a mouse, even during the day.  But she manages to slam doors (she's single like I am) and makes all kinds of noise at times knowing that I get up early.  She simply doesn't give a s*@%, which is pretty rude.

So now, I have a white noise machine so I don't have to deal with her stupidity when I go to bed at 8 PM!

And as far as leaks go, well.....thanks the price you pay living on the first floor condo.  Cut the girl some slack.  Maybe she didn't have the money...or maybe her dad volunteered.  That's why you have home owners insurance. 

[Josefina]

The damage in my living room ceiling was in a straight line across the whole room. Rug went to the balcony to dry, furniture dried up with a fan, I have tiles so the problem was lots of mopping and emtpying of buckets.

We have security in the building, I requested a copy of the incident report, took pictures of the damage, got an estimate from a handyman and emailed everything to the owner of the apartment above me. He rents it out.

He was nice enough to send me a check for the estimate give and the nightmare was over.

If this happens to you and you estimate the damage to be less than the deductible, do the same. If you have insurance, call them up, they will come check it out and get in contact with the above owner. The will probably handle the issue for you, if the above owner does not have insurance you can request payment from them like I did, otherwise there is always small claims court, but that is a pain.

[Mustang Shar]

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@Qshopper1991 wrote:

@Mustang Shar

And some of us that live on the top floor are extremely considerate of the person below, while the person below isn't.

For instance, I wake up at 2 AM.  I walk VERY softly because I know my neighbor's bedroom is directly below me.  I'm quiet as a mouse, even during the day.  But she manages to slam doors (she's single like I am) and makes all kinds of noise at times knowing that I get up early.  She simply doesn't give a s*@%, which is pretty rude.

So now, I have a white noise machine so I don't have to deal with her stupidity when I go to bed at 8 PM!

And as far as leaks go, well.....thanks the price you pay living on the first floor condo.  Cut the girl some slack.  Maybe she didn't have the money...or maybe her dad volunteered.  That's why you have home owners insurance. 

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Thanks Me,

I am behaving  My furnace is ok from the water, so I’m very relieved. I realize this is one of the hazards in any situation where there are shared walls. Could have been much worse and they are good kids, still learning home ownership. 

I think i was venting because I couldn’t run my furnace until it was thoroughly inspected and the Chicago temps dropped to the 30’s. Brrrr, love my little Dyson heater, it saved me.

[Jtdmum]

AH...My favorite thing...Upstairs peeps.

Flooded my entire unit (rental unit in another state)-

Left the water running upstairs, Two and a half weeks later the maintenance people found it.

Walls went down to the studs, rugs ripped out, new cabinets.  That was 18 months ago.

I think the only thing that stayed was the toilet.  Insurance paid most, still waiting for the HOA to reimburse me - Annual meeting coming up in 2 weeks. 

Between the heavy hoofers and the basketballs bouncing-Kids running on the decking -ugh.  Thank god it's a rental and not my primary residence. 

[lenapecci]

I lived in an upstairs condo for 22 years. I was very considerate of my downstairs neighbors, as prior to moving into my condo I was in a downstairs apt and knew the noise just walking heavy makes.

I had one neighbor downstairs for about 10 years. She made my life a living $#@w.

She reported me daily to the HOA. They called to tell me.She called the police twice.

Once in the middle of the night. The person who had the condo behind us was having a party on the balcony. She told the police it was me. Nothing like waking up to the cops at your door at 1AM. The second time she complained to the poilce that I took showers and ran water. Stated everyday water was in her condo. The cop asked to go and see the leaks. There was nothing. The cop told her people are allowed to run water and take showers.

She harassed everyone who came to my condo as they had to walk past her condo to get to the stairs. She would open her door and curse at them.

On Saturdays I would put my dishwasher on at noon. And she would bang her broom or some other item on the ceiling until the dishwasher finished.

I worked all week and was gone for 10 hours a day. So she basically had no one above her most days. All day.    

I came home one day and saw she was moving! I wanted to have a party. The condo remained empty for 2 years. It was forclosed. That was the best two years!

I think condo living is hard whether up or down.