At one am on Monday morning, Jim and I were awakend by a loud crash. It sounded like someone had broken a large window. Jim headed out of our bedroom as I thought that it must have been the 2 strings of lights that I have taped up in the front bedroom window. But they were still secure in their place. Then we thought it must have been one of the reclining deck chairs being blown off of our porch during the gale force winds we have been “enjoying” night and day for the last week or so. (It had happened during the day once before) A flip of the outside light proved that they were both still pushed snug against the wall. We searched all over the first level (all of 3 minutes, our house isn’t that large) and couldn’t find anything out of place. Jim remembered that a co-worker had said that sometimes the roof tiles blow off, so we looked in the yard but didn’t find anything. When we went back upstairs, we flipped on the balcony light and it didn’t turn on. On further inspection, we found that it had fallen from the ceiling and was on the tile floor, wires still attached. It is amazing how it’s always the last place that you look that you find the problem. (Think about it) The next morning we found the builder had “secured” the light fixture to the ceiling with a two inch plastic screw into drywall.
I know that MN has been having quite a winter, with record snowfalls, etc. But, so has San Jose. On Monday night, the low temperature was 12C, the coldest it has been in 15 years. Yes, that is only 12 C (55 F). As mentioned above, we have also had massive winds howling through all of the cracks in the doors and windows. It was reported that the winds were up to 70 km/h on Monday morning. Obviously, the wind rocked the fixture enough that the screw finally enlarged the hole and fell out. The other side effect of these great winds, was that our tile floors were covered with a very fine volcanic ash. Our bare feet and socks are always dirty. (The picture is from sweeping a 2 square foot area, after 2 days)
The light falling prompted an e-mail to our landlord, where we also mentioned two other water issues that had not been handled from before. So a guy (and his girlfriend) came out to fix everything yesterday afternoon.
First, the leak under the kitchen sink. Oh, I wish Jeff (our friend and plumber) were here. He would just shake his head at the mismatched pipes under the sink. So, instead of replacing pipes that would then fit properly, our handyman just gooped a lot of silicone around the joint in hopes that it is now sealed. I haven’t run water in that sink yet to test that out.
Second, the leak above the shower ceiling. This isn’t a major issue now since the rainy season is over but it should be fixed. Mr. Fixit started by painting some Kilz type of product on the mold on the ceiling.
Third, he then attacked the balcony light project while the paint was drying. That entailed crawling through the trap door in the master bath and pulling up the wires and somehow fastening them in the empty space below the roof. That went smoothly and he was back to the bathroom. While in the crawl space he patched up the hole in the roof above the shower. The girlfriend was getting impatient for the paint to dry, so she asked me for my hairdryer. When we went back to the bathroom, we realized that the cord was too short to reach the shower. I did not pack any extension cords for Costa Rica, so our man General Electric went out to borrow one from the construction crew in the complex. He came back with the Tico equivalent of an extension cord: a wire with a plug at one end and two exposed wires at the other. He then proceeded to insert the bare wires directly into the wall socket. (Yes, you read that correctly) Two exposed wires just inserted into the wall socket. Are you cringing , yet? He finally painted the ceiling and left after being here for two and a half hours.
Later, I went to plug in our Christmas lights and they didn’t work. Plus, they had been partially ripped out of the tape from the window. Using my own extensive knowledge of electricity, I found out today that the fuses were blown in one of the strings. I am guessing that General Electric tried to use my Christmas lights as an extension cord for my hair dryer. (Cringe, again)
Oh, yea. The paint is already peeling off the shower ceiling.
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