Tuesday, September 26, 2006

We Found the Leak

So last night, I took off the drywall, where the water was coming from the downstairs bathroom. The insulation is dry, and the water seems to be just seeping under the bottom plate. It's coming from beside the shower. We have a homestay student living in our basement, so I guess he's been getting the floor really wet. I know in some countries, the whole bathroom is waterproof, they have a floor drain in the middle of the bathroom. So I told him not to get the floor so wet. Hope fully he understands. I think I'll run a bead of silicone caulking along the bottom of the baseboard too, to keep the water out. I showed him how to stick the shower curtain to the wall, so water doesn't come out everywhere too. There was no water leaking in to the floor drain this morning, so that's a good sign. He's also the first smoker we've had living in the house. We suspect he's been sneaking smokes inside, even though we told him he had to smoke outside. It smells like a cheap hotel room down there. I know some of the smoke smell will stay on his clothes, it's just such a powerful smell. I opened both the doors down there, and put on the bathroom, and kitchen fans. Hopefully that will help. It seems really humid down there too, so we'll have to make sure he's using the bathroom fan. We had another student down there for 2 months, and it didn't seem humid at all, so I don't think he's leaving the fan on for 30min. (we have a timer) like we told him to. Oh well, the joys of tenants.

4 comments:

John said...

Sounds like a blast, what country is he from if you don't mind me asking.

Derek said...

I don't think it matters really what country he's from, different individuals have different standards of cleanliness. He's from Korea, we've had 2 other students from Korea, and they were both different in terms of cleanliness. And like I said before, the bathrooms are different in other countries, like most places in Latin America that I've been, the whole bathroom is designed to get wet.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad it wasn't the shower pan- that would have been awful! I think the caulking is a good idea & hopefully he understands about keeping the floor dry. That would be difficult to see happen when you put so much work into it. Bummer about the smoke smell-

Anonymous said...

Korea is one of those countries where the whole bathroom floor can get wet and has a floor drain. The tradition there is to wash yourself first outside the shower with a bucket of hot water, draining it onto the floor, THEN showing off afterwards. You may be up against a cultural barrier.