Community Chat

[Mustang Shar]

Ugh! If you’re in an upstairs condo, could you please be careful with water leaks. My ceiling in my furnace / laundry room flooded because the girl upstairs had her Dad switch out her washing machine.

Well he clearly messed up because SURPRIZE!  Seriously, have professionals do the work so it’s good. Now my furnace blower for the AC stopped, that’s why I went in. If I hadn’t, the whole ceiling could have collapsed because they were doing laundry.

Its very common, but if upstairs folks realize they could be damaging the downstairs neighbor, perhaps the losses could be reduced. What a mess

Had to vent, now I feel better

[jlkz]

@Mustang Shar

So sorry you had to go through that water mess !

a few years ago while we were in our second floor FL condo for the winter, our downstairs neighbor came up to tell us that our sink or dishwasher was leaking on their counter.

Immediately turned the dishwasher off....the hose had disintegrated at back of the appliance.  Got a new one that day.

[Mustang Shar]

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@jlkz wrote:

@Mustang Shar

So sorry you had to go through that water mess !

a few years ago while we were in our second floor FL condo for the winter, our downstairs neighbor came up to tell us that our sink or dishwasher was leaking on their counter.

Immediately turned the dishwasher off....the hose had disintegrated at back of the appliance.  Got a new one that day.

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Sometimes, there is no way of knowing like your situation. Did your HO policy cover their damage to the ceiling?

[Azcowgirl]

@Mustang Shar...Your post reminds me of some of the hazards of condo living ...

A kitchen fire started from the stove in our rented upstairs condo (rented while we looked for a house )  a couple yrs. ago, while I had stepped out to run an errand.The ceiling sprinklers came on and flooded the place, and the kitchen shop below us sustained water damage. Thank heaven insurance covered all of it 

As for the condo above us....the guy would dump buckets of water in his railing planters and dirty water would splash down on our patio and furniture. Also he would empty his ashtrays of cigar butts over his railing and guess where they landed ?! 😠

Caught him in the act one day and he said he didn’t realize it was causing a problem.

[lovesrecess]

Another reason I couldn't wait to get out of the apartment of I lived in once. The guy right above me was single and "entertained" girlfriends all the time. His bedroom was directly above mine. Need I say more? This was back when the coil spring mattresses were the thing...and they squeaked! He also was a weightlifter and would drop his heavy weights on the floor. I expected them to come crashing through the ceiling every time I heard them being slammed on the floor upstairs.

[sunshine45]

we have a beach condo that is 15 floors high. we had a leak a few months ago from a toilet up above into our bathroom. the seal was broken. it is definitely a pain and an inconvenience, but it is something that is to be expected. another time our neighbor had an ice maker line leak that leaked into our bedroom. it did not come from above, but from next door.

yet another time our icemaker line leaked to the downstairs condo into their kitchen.

we try to be as careful as possible, but sometimes these things happen......especially in condos and apartments.

this is why we all have insurance PLUS the building has a master policy. there were never any headaches getting things covered.

[VaBelle35]

Some of the condos in my development share a back wall (they are called back-to-backs or piggybacks) and a vent, which requires the HOA to help negotiate repair and replacement of shared things like this.  Everyone is responsible for their own interior repairs.

[libbyannE]

Not a nice way to have to live. 

[Eileen in Virginia]

We had a garden condo in a four story building before we bought our house. The condos each had an HVAC unit that were in the same location. In the Spring, it was critical that each owner be available, or have someone else available, when the air conditioning condensate lines were cleared of the algae that grew in them during the Winter. If a condo was missed, the condensation from the AC would back up and overflow into the condos beneath them. We were out of town one weekend and returned to find the drywall in our bedroom soaked because water was overflowing from an upstairs condo through the duct at the top of the wall. The ducts became conduits from the blocked condensate lines. If we’d been gone much longer, the wall would have buckled.

[Mz iMac]

@Mustang Shar

As a bonfide "highrise lover,"  I've always lived in the penthouse (top floor) level of highrises to avoid what you are going through.