Sprung a bad leak...Glub!!

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Val

Val

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Posts
6,729
Location
Carson City, Nevada
This morning my friend treated me to a belated birthday breakfast out. Afterwards, we went to the shop to make a copy of something for her.
I walked in and got a bad feeling, but couldn't see anything amiss. Until I walked into my moulding room for a drink of water. A separate small room that has a sink, a little fridge, the wall cutter, all the moulding under 10 feet, glass, plexi and a lot of matboard.
The water pipe to the sink sprung a leak during the night, and not a small one. The carpet was soaked, and the moulding was standing on wet carpet, as well as glass scraps and the matboard.
It was bad enough to soak under the wall into the big room, my work area, and soaked over 80 full sheets of matboard, and my 60" mat cutter that was leaned against the wall.(I know, you're s'pose to store them flat, but it was there temporarily, waiting for a shelf to be built for it.)
I put a "closed due to emergency" on the doors and we spent all day getting everything out and, using a carpet cleaning machine to suck up the water,several gallons of it.
This is me, using a cane right now, awaiting double hip replacements, trying not to have a meltdown. I can't reach the landlady, her assistant came in (they're in the same building) and said "You have insurance?" and I said "She have insurance??? This is her responsibility, it's in the lease agreement" She said "Probably" and I said "No probably! It is!"
I also can't reach my own insurance agent, and there's not even an answering machine in their office!
We will spend all day tomorrow (Day of rest, my foot!) doing inventory of wet stuff and figuring out what to do with all that ruined matboard, and making the shop look less wet and scary.Fans are on all night and the heat is turned up. I don't think I should throw anything away until an adjuster looks at it, and the ruined mat cutter, and the wet and probably warped couple hundred feet of moulding. I've taken a lot of pictures.
We're also struggling with her about a leaky roof, I have to use a bucket when it snows or rains, and have cleared everything out from uner it. Ceiling tiles get changed frequentely, and then it leaks again "We're working on it" is what I get every time I go tell her the roof's leaking again. Now this.
I'm so tired I'm cross-eyed, and hurt so bad I can't sleep. Sorry to vent, I'm trying to see The Gift here (maybe a new mat cutter???), but it's hard. I haven't cried yet, but it's in there.
Holy Cow, this just sucks. Anyone got a good joke to perk me up? I need it.
faintthud.gif

Thanks
 
P.S. No art was damaged, Thank God! Time to start an "it could've been worse" gratitude list.
But right now I'm not Sooo Happy!
 
A new monk joined a monastary (as they tend to) and took a vow of silence.

He was only allowed to speak every seven years.

7 years passed - the head monk said, "Well brother John, how have your first 7 years gone?"

"Well" said the monk, not bad, "But on day one I noticed a drip in the ceiling, right over the bed"

So it was fixed - seven years passed

"How have the last seven years gone?"

"Well, the leak must have been dripping on the mattress for some time, it took months to dry out properly and then it was all stiff and lumpy"

The mattress was replaced, seven years passed

"How have the last seven years gone?"

"Well, the last mattress has given me a terrible back, I've been in some pain for the last 5 years, but of course, couldn't tell anyone"

"You are sacked" said the head monk...............
"You've been here 21 years now and have done F*** All but COMPLAIN"


I had a leak once, nothing like yours, from the flat above. In the clear up I found a load of long lost stuff, including the remote for my hi-fi, which I was lost without.

Hopefully SOMETHING good will come out of this, good luck.
 
Val,
I feel very sorry for you!
I know what a wet workshop is like, I had 13 inches of through my entire workshop in 1995. Thankfully insurance covered the damage, but what a nightmare to clean up! I guess you found that out already!
 
You know, I just thought about those that were affected by Katrina. Now I feel bad for complaining. Nothing serious was lost, it's just darn inconvenient. Needed to clear out that room to paint anyway, and get rid of some junk. Guess this is my "opportunity", eh? Timing sucks, but then, when would it have been good timing? Ha!I have lots of help, all I have to do is hobble there and direct.
I know insurance will cover it, maybe even get a new mat cutter out of it, I needed one anyway. So...what the heck am I complaining about???
Geeze, Veee, get over it and get to work!
Thanks!
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Val, I can only imagine the feeling you had when you saw the leak :( . I'm sure the thought of cleaning up the mess and determining the extent of the damage must be overwhelming, especially since you are waiting for a double hip replacement surgery. From what I've read from your other posts, I think you are a very strong willed person, and I have every confidence that you will make it through this tragedy.
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I hope you don't experience any difficulties in dealing with your insurance agency.
 
Val,

As huge and complicated as this problem looks now, it will only get better as you move through the steps to get it back to normal. If you take things a step at a time and get one thing done/out of the way and then move on to another it will all sort itself out eventually. You just have to have enough patience to face the task and put what is done behind you. I can only imagine how your pain is affecting the situation. I hope you don't overextend yourself with your "supervising".

The archives have my "event" stored somewhere from a few years ago. Water is water so I don't need to go into details but I DID have a computer and a large office copier that were so ancient that they couldn't be replaced so the insurance agent, who happened to also be a customer, told me to go out and find something comparable to what I had. I came up with a brand new large Savin copier on a neat rollaround storage cabinet and a computer that was about 5 times as fast as my old one. He didn't even think about it, he gave me the OK and I bought the new items! So good may still come out of this tragedy.

Let's hope it does.

Framerguy
 
"I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet" I couldn't sleep last night thinking about spring break. When all that snow finaly starts to melt..only problem is it puddles up right at the entrance to my store and it is a royal pain, @ -3 inch huge puddle right in the entrance way..Arrrgghhh! Then I woke to read your story Val and suddenly I was wondering what the world am I in a heat for..???
If all you get is a new mat cutter out of this I would really be in a tiff. I sure hope you get a new roof out of it as well, not to mention all the labor compensation and down time and lost sales.
I don;t suppose moving to anotehr place is in the equation?
 
our roof has leaked from time to time and the landlord has had it "fixed" each time, but apparently it's a hard leak to find and last spring the ice built up and part of our roof collapsed - thankfully it was in our office - NOT over our work/storage tables!

We ended up with a new computer out of it but I've warned the landlord that we now have a Wizard in there now - bought and paid for - with a nice price tag (esp since it's in US dollars for us) and we can't have that roof leaking again! - it would go under HIS insurance - so it's up to him to make sure it's all good!

He's a good guy though - MUCH better than the last guy we had............
 
Thankfully, I only have a 1-yr lease, up at the end of the year. Certainly something to think about! We've already outgrown it, but it's a pretty good location, right in the middle of town and visible, now that we've made the lighting better and put out decorative flags for attention-getters.
But...problems are out-weighing the good location, and I've only been there 2 1/2 months!!
Food for thought...
 
Val, That does suck!

If any boxes of glass got wet, you should open them and dry it out. Trapped moisture can etch glass causing a faint filmy stain that won't wipe away. It could save you hidden damage and argument with an adjuster who don't understand.

I assume your mat cutter had a particle board base? We had a water heater rupture and the particle board furnture swelled and split to pieces.

John
 
Yes, an old C$H 40x60 with the particle board base.. I'm sure it's history.
The glass that got wet was all scrap, no boxes, but it got wet nonetheless. Will UV be affected if it was only wet at the base, where it was leaned against the wall? And how about plexiglass, even though it still has the film on it?
 
Good luck with the repairs.

I had a loooooong battle with my landlord over a hole in the roof. Every time it rained water dripped down on top of my Wizard. The first time it happened it brought down all the ceiling tiles in that area and flooded the computer. Then they "fixed" it. So the next time it just made a mess. So they "fixed" it again. It still dripped. This went on fourteen times before it was finally fixed for real!

Even now I get nervous whenever there is rain in the forecast (fortunately not often here in Southern CA). For a long time I rigged a plastic "tent" over the Wizard and arranged it so that water would run off into a container. Not fun!
 
Thank goodness you had that birthday breakfast and then just happened to decide to go into the shop. The "puddle" would have been a lot bigger 24 hours later.
Hope you get things cleared up swiftly.
:cool: Rick
 
A leak in the roof would be the landlord's problem but, a pipe that burst in your shop more than likely will be your responsibility, not your landlord's. Most smart landlords will make sure that they are not responsible for leaks like the one you are talking about.

Good Luck
 
Val,
The film masked plexi should not be affected. I don't know about the UV coating on the glass. I'd dry it, for if it is the one side coated type, the uncoated side could be affected.
John
 
It's Sunday evening, I've left messages for the landlady since Saturday morning. Finally got a voice mail from her a couple hours age (7pm ).She said call the first plumber that will come out, take pictures (yeah, it's all cleaned up now!) and call my insurance agent first thing in the morning. Fortunately, I did take pictures yesterday. And I have the damaged matboards, moulding and mat cutter to show. Carpet is fairly dry, glass is dried, shop's back in order. We're pooped. This should be interesting.
 
In my limited experience with insurance companies, I have learned that they exist for two purposes:

1. Take in premiums.
2. Avoid paying claims.

Good luck, Val. I hope you fare better than most people with a major insurance claim.
 
Val, just wondering how you are making out after your 'flood' last weekend... Hope everything is getting back to normal for you and that you haven't had any problems making your insurance claim.
 
Hindsight is always 20/20 - But, if memory serves me, it seems that every couple of months there is a post on TG about minor "flooding" and having lost $$$ in inventory.
And, I know almost all of us have experienced a leaky pipe, roof, or overflown toilet or bathtub. It makes a mess and it's a pain to clean-up. At least Val, it wasn't as bad as what "Buddy" suffered when Katrina hit his shop in Louisiana!
One solution to these types of minor flooding might be having a "toe-kick" under all your racks that hold your customer's art, your inventory of matboard & moulding. Take a look at your kitchen cabinets at home to see what I'm talking about. You can easily build them from 2x4's and if you need to "pretty" them up, just glue vinyl cove base to the 2x4's. This a good project during those slow times that can be done a "section" at a time. Then, the next time you have a leaky pipe (heaven forbid!) your inventory will be up & off the floor.
 
Update: Landlady paid for the plumber that repaired the guilty pipe connector that blew a gasket,nothing else. Everything else appears to be my insurance company's responsibility.

I was lucky, it wasn't a "tragedy", just one more thing to slow this already-slow framer down. I did lose a lot of matboard. Moulding held upfairly well, since we got it outside right away to dry before the wet climbed any higher than the 1". No art was affected.

I took a lot of pictures on the leaky day. The adjuster has asked for an inventory list, receipts to verify replacement (no problem with foamcore and matbd) and value and a copy of the owner's manual for the mat cutter. As for replacement cost for it, I'm not sure. Looked on what they're going for on eBay, and I'm fairly certain my C&H 40x60 is worth more than the $299 one was selling for there. I don't think it's more than 8 years old and in fine shape. It was not my main cutter, but used to do oversized mats and still quite necessary.

Everything's been on hold this week until I can do all of that. Been in the hospital all week getting an emergency hip replacement. The insurance adjuster knows my situation and said not to worry about getting it done immediately, just do it as soon as I can. Inventory's been done, but now I have to do the research on the matcutter.

I have been so grateful it wasn't worse. I think of Buddy and his Katrina experience, and cannot even imagine what he's had to endure. Now, that's a tragedy. Another reason to work on my gratitude list.

Temporarily, there's plastic and foamcore scraps under the moulding (I'd been wanting to organize all that moulding since day 1, what an opportunity! ...yeah right...bite me!)
Mike's idea about the toe-kick platforms is what we'll do very soon. Sink's fixed, knock on my hard head. Insurance red tape is underway, and after talking with the adjuster, I don't think I'll any problems there.
It's been a very long week. I hate hospitals, but I'm home now, and ready to start framing again soon. Dry!!
 
Val -
Sorry to hear about the emergency hip replacement - remember to pay STRICT attention to your Doc - Take it easy & don't over-exert yourself! At least you had insurance to cover your losses - Good Luck!
 
Replacement value is just that.....What it costs YOU to replace an item. In my case, I recieved new carpet, not used. Look at new mat cutters and get pricing.
 
Don't forget to check your carpet, and walls! You might have MOLD! We had Mold in our walls, and carpet, and it didn't show until about a week after the water had dried.
 
Whoa Susan, I hadn't thought of that. But then, this is high country Nevada, at, like 0% humidity. Except right now it's snowing/raining. We've been keeping the heat up, but keeping the fans on at night is probably a pretty sound idea, Thanks for the input.
BTW, the insurance company wants a copy of the owner's manual for the mat cutter...I have that, but the sales receipt is long gone, purchased by 2 owners ago. So are you guys saying I should submit the replacement cost for the CHN4060A as a new one? I haven't been able to locate one on eBay that's the same age as mine. Other than the cutter, all else is matbd , but lots of it, basically, most of my in-stock matbd inventory.
 
Actually, after I posted that, I haven't been able to locate a new CHN4060A mat cutter anywhere! (squaring arm, production stops, etc) What would be the new equivalant? Any ideas?
 
At least $1200 to $1500.00. Replacement means new. LJ signature may be an equal if they still make them. I"ll look later today for an exact price. Most suppliers will negotiate on these items. Call one of them.
 
Originally posted by Val:
Actually, after I posted that, I haven't been able to locate a new CHN4060A mat cutter anywhere! (squaring arm, production stops, etc) What would be the new equivalant? Any ideas?
Click to expand...
As someone else mentionned, if you have replacement value coverage, you are entitled to a new cutter of the same quality. So if your old C&H was a top of the line commercial machine when new you should insist of that class of mat cutter for a replacement.

I imagine that the replacement for this mat cutter would be any of the high end professional mat cutters out there now: Fletcher 2200, C&H Advantage pro, Valiani etc...

Or you can price it, take the cash and pay your first 4 to 6 months Wizard rental with it...
 
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