12.18.14 Story of a Water Leak

I think I’ve mentioned below that we tend to get bad rental news when we travel. So, this year at the end of our Thanksgiving trip, we got the photo above texted from a tenant. We recognize this; the walls had water under the paint… at another unit we were seeing a similar effect a few days before the ceiling caved in.

This tenant is in the lower unit of an up-down duplex. So we went to the upstairs unit and asked if they were having any water issues. First they said no, then they said their carpet was wet in one spot near the laundry. Bingo.

We called in our handyman. First he tore up the floor looking for the leak. No luck. Next he tore into the wall, and found the leak. The pipes had not been properly sealed off during construction (2005), suspected to be a very slow leak.

Photo during repair:

Description of work performed: remove and replace laundry room vinyl, sheeting and cove base. Open up wall and repair leaking pipe on the cold side laundry box. Repair the wall, including mud and tape. Replace the sheeting and vinyl with like material. Re-install the cove base and caulk where necessary. Move the washer and dryer back into the space and connect all lines. Re-install bi-fold doors.

$102 cost of materials

$642 cost of labor

$804 total cost with tax

That duplex is still cash flowing almost $300 per unit/month, but I am so ready for this year to be over!