apartment maitenance

[rm]

We have water dripping from our ceiling around the radiator/heating pipe in the living room. I'd say about 2 drops a second from the main location, another location that drips a bit, and the ocassional rivulet coming down the pipe as well. Filled up 3/4 of a spaghetti sauce jar in about 3 hours. From the looks of things (we came home from the weekend and noticed dirty water stripes on the pipe) this has been going on to some degree all weekend.

I've called the management company, but the odds of getting a response tonight are low.

Patty is going upstairs to try to talk to the neighbors, who may not speak English to see if they have a dripping radiator that's then coming down into our place. (ETA: they aren't home, we're going to put a note under their door).

How concerned should I be, in terms of floor/ceiling stability? Is this just one of those things that I shouldn't worry about? We've had our radiator in that room drip lots of water before, but it was clearly just our unit, not stuff coming through the ceiling from the apartment above.

What else can we do until we hopefully hear from these people tomorrow?

Is there any reason calling 311 (local NYC complaint/information line for those not from here) would help?

And no, I have no way of contacting our super.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

So how much of a problem is this? As in, do I need to continue to feel flipped out, or can I cook dinner, be a normal human and just be agressive on the phne about it tomorrow?

Sometiems it slows down a lot (and I feel better) then it speeds up -- I can find three dripping locations -- the fast one, one that's every 5 seconds or so, and one that's every 10. I suspect that this third location isn't new, and I just haven't been focusing on it all so well.

[angstzeit.livejournal.com]

With steam there should only be water when the boiler is running (the steam condenses and runs back down to the boiler and there's pressure then). So the dripping should cycle with the heating. There shouldn't be a flood or anything like that. I'd say keep an eye on it but don't panic.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup, this seems to be what is happening.

We're down to drip spot 1 going every 5 seconds, dro pspot 2 every 7 or 8 and drip spot 3 every 15 - 30 as we seem to be on a down cycle now. Because this building is shit, I expect most of the night to be a down cycle, for which I have never been so grateful.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

If you have an electric fan for summer, it will come in handy to point it at the wet plaster when the drips stop finally or the repairs are made, btw. Drying that stuff ASAP will help you not get mold. I don't know NY landlord stuff, but if a patch of mold or mildew grows there, report it ASAP.

OH, and if you have a digital camera? Take pictures. Just in case. Electrons are cheap and if you have to argue with the Rent Board or whatever you have there, being able to prove that there was a leak in X spot and that the mold or any other damage isn't the fault of your negligence will come in really handy. (And don't ask me about having to save a bowl of sewage-and-wet-plaster in the fridge for the housing inspector.)