So when we moved in to this appartment within the first month we had to call and let our landlord know that the ceiling was leaking while it rained. He sent someone by the next day and they fixed it, but that was the first time it had rained since we moved in, and the unit had sat empty for a while before that, so we don't know how bad the leaks may have gotten before we showed up to notice them. All that to say, idk what water damage the roof could have, but at the time we assumed minmal to none and put it outta mind.
Then at the start of last winter we noticed that when we turned the heater on the whole house got sticky and gross and humid and there was a musty fish smell coming from the vent, and we told our landlord who sent like four different people over and while they all told us something different the main story turned to "the insulation around the split unit and vents is/was at one point soaked and that's causing the smell" and our landlord proceeded to blame it on us for using a humidifier sometimes bcs I have asthma and allergies. Apparently the humidifer was supposed to be able to soak the insulation, which every HVAC guy did tell us was impossible but they never contradicted the landlord when he said it was our fault even though again, I cannot stress enough, every HVAC guy said to our faces it was impossible for this to be our fault, up to stressing that we could be running three humidifiers 24/7 and it would STILL never do that. It's impossible for it to be us.
I assumed it was due to the leak from when we moved in bcs how could that possibly not be it? But nah, the humidifier is the problem, surely.
They replaced the split unit and said the insulation was all dried out, but the smell kept happening and tbh it was a warm winter and my POTs suddenly got a lot worse so we just stopped using the heater.
Last week I noticed a bit of a musty smell in the house, but the weather is changing and the monsoon is almost here so that wasn't that odd. I just assumed it would go away on it's own, but there was something about it that felt familiar in a way that bothered me.
Put it together yesterday when two fucking MASSIVE cockroaches crawled out of our ceiling!! In front of us!! That was the smell, our old place had a cockroach issue and had a similar stench. It was why when we moved we bought all new boxes and didn't bring any old ones with us.
Anyway, we killed them and threw them away and took the trash out, and then covered all the massive gaps between the rafters and wall with painter's tape and also have spent the last 24 hours cleaning in case it was us, but nah, it isn't. The few boxes we have currently have been out for a year, if it was us this would have happened a long time ago and it didn't, and while we have a lot of ADHD clutter I have lived with a hoarder before and I can assure you I do not leave fucking food trash laying around. None of the clutter is the kind of thing that attracts bugs. I am fucking meticulous about this.
What I am nearly fucking confident has happened, is that the first HVAC guy who told us the insulation in the split unit and around the vents was soaked and needed to be completely replaced because drying them would take days and the smell would still be stuck in the fiberglass anyway was right, and the water was from the LEAK and not our fucking dinky ass humidifier that we also stopped using and threw away. Our landlord did not like that idea, and as far as we know only replaced the split unit which did not get rid of the smell or the weird humidity issues we keep getting and now bugs are crawling out of the ceiling. He likely did not have his maintenance guys actually check for water pockets after the leak, he clearly is a "well it's fineee" kinda guy. Which tells me that whatever the fuck water has been up in there has just...stayed, and now started attracting insects, who are probably getting in through a hole somewhere the water caused, and all of this could have been avoided if he'd just done his fucking job last May and actually make sure the house is clean and undamaged and fit to fucking live in.
The thing that's scaring me is that he never backed down about the water being our fault for using the humidifier and again, the HVAC guys did not go to bat for us(though it's possible they had tried and he ignored them so they gave up and just tried to make it clear to us), so we know it wasn't us but he doesn't. And if he blames this on us, if there's like a lot of water damage, we could get evicted or something and idk how to prove this wasn't our fucking fault. We haven't used the humidifier since last year.
What I think needs to happen, based on the fact that this is not the only weird thing about this unit—the drain in the bathroom sink smells like ass every time we use it no matter how many times we clean, the dishwasher smells like gelatin or expired nailpolish and he replaced it and it still smells so bad we have to crack the window and point a fan at it when we open it so I don't get a migraine or throw up, there are huge gaps in between the rafters and ceiling, and tbh his idea of clean is not as good as it could be, he said he had the unit cleaned before we moved in after we saw it and no, nope the unit was still dirty and we had to clean everything ourselves, so fuck him for judging us if he does, he's clearly not got the kind of standards that allow for a high horse of that nature—but yeah I think he needs to put us up in a new unit/property of his and get some contractors down here to fix this place bcs I am like 90% convinced at this point that this place is not safe to live in and he has been ignoring signs of structural issues for a year if not almost certainly longer.
But that's still the scary part, because if the damage is that bad and he tries to blame it on us we're basically fucked, right? Like it wasn't us, it was NOT but I just. Hmm.
He has also completely ignored the original text and two follow up ones we sent about this trying to clarify that we will discuss this when he comes by and that's just freaking me out more. Idk if it's just old people brain or what but I don't know what to do if he blames this on us, especially since it could not be more obvious that this is NOT our fault.
But yeah. Uh. I'm going to go finish panic cleaning the last two things that are dirty and pray that this is easy and nothing awful happens. And also wonder if part of the reason my health has gotten this bad is bcs the house isn't safe to live in and our landlord did nothing about it for a year. And wish that things could just be simple and normal for once jesus christ.
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