Had a landlord call me yesterday who was losing his mind over a slow leak

Guy named Derek from St. Albert called me up because his bathroom floor started feeling spongy. He said he noticed a small water stain under the toilet like 4 months ago but just put a towel over it. The leak had been going into the subfloor the whole time and now he's looking at like $8k to replace the floor and joists. I told him a simple wax ring replacement would have cost him maybe $30 and an hour of his time. Has anyone else run into tenants or homeowners who just ignore obvious signs till it becomes a huge problem?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithbaker8d ago

So Derek just let it go for four months knowing full well there was water sitting there? I mean, how do you feel a spongy floor and think "yeah, that'll sort itself out." Did he actually admit he was hoping the leak would just stop on its own, or did he try to blame the toilet for being defective? I've seen people act like water damage is something that just evaporates into a different dimension, not spreads through their plywood like a slow motion disaster. The worst part is he probably still tells himself it was bad luck instead of a choice he made over and over.

kevin_bailey8d ago

Four months is impressive. I once ignored a slow drip under my sink for a whole weekend and that was enough to turn the cabinet bottom into a science experiment. @faithbaker hit the nail on the head about bad luck vs choices, I've definitely told myself a few bad homeowner stories were just rotten luck when really I was just too lazy to crawl under the house with a flashlight. Derek could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd just bought a $5 wax ring and spent twenty minutes instead of waiting for the mold to start a family reunion in his subfloor.