From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
hi.
i just got out and i didn't notice any actual leaking.
i'm
going to * this mildly, though. see, it's a little damp (very, very
mildly) on the tile in the same spot as it was before. it doesn't seem
to be leaking from the shower. i don't know if that's a reason to be
concerned or if it's condensation from the wood ceiling or even just me
dripping. i'll keep you updated, i guess.
i did notice
some kind of little insect, though, as i was looking around. i've seen
bugs around there before and just killed them. this one got away, though
- and seemed to disappear into the concrete. i wasn't sure if it was an
ant or a baby centipede. it was fast. is it possible that there could
be some ants in the concrete causing the leak?
google
suggests this is possible, but only if there are existing cracks in the
concrete. i don't know. i know i saw something appear to disappear into
the concrete.
*but i also know i see things sometimes
and shouldn't rely too heavily on isolated experiences*. i was thinking
about that being a possible problem, and that's when i tend to imagine
things. it's actually reasonable to suggest that the reason i couldn't
kill it is because i hallucinated it.
so, i guess i'll have to let you know if i see that a second time...
i
have seen the odd ant in here, all in the living room near that little
storage room, but i've lived in basements most of my life and know it's
not really unusual to see what they call 'explorer ants' - even in brand
new, finished basements. they're just looking around, and won't come
back if there's nothing there to get. it's important to get them when
you see them, but it's not necessarily a sign of infestation. the fact
that i leave all my food in the fridge should dissuade them. the best
way to avoid bugs is to not leave food out...
the
handle, though, needs some kind of fix. i sort of assumed that you just
had it oriented backwards, which i wouldn't care about, but it's worse
than that. the way it was before was how you'd expect it to work - off
when it's to the far right, then moving from cold to hot as you turn it
to the left, reaching maximum flow somewhere about halfway. somehow, the
blend between hot and cold seems to have been broken. *when you turn it
to the left it's pure cold, and when you turn it to the right it's pure
hot, with no way to blend the two*.
the way i got around that
today was to rely on the amount of time it takes for the water to turn
from cold to hot. so, i'd turn it really cold for a bit, then pull it
back to a very low flow on the hot side and wash while i was waiting for
it to warm up. then when it got too hot, i'd turn it back to cold and
repeat.
but that's not just ridiculous, it's also
really wasteful, and requires a very mild flow to be workable. i don't
know how this works, and it doesn't really matter to me if it's lined up
right (i don't care if hot means cold), but i think it's really
important to get the blend of hot/cold working again so that the
temperature is actually adjustable.
j
