During the first week of December, the co-op had the sewer lines from individual units cleaned out to our private little streets, and they, in turn, were flushed out to the main road. It was not a thorough cleaning as no water blasting was done from inside the units and no vacuuming was done in our street sewers.
On December 7, 2012 I wrote the following email to the Board of Directors:
We installed a one-way check valve in our basement floor drain when we moved into this unit. We would pour water down the drain every month because of sewer gases coming up through the drain, at which time we'd also inspect the check valve. After the sewer maintenance person left, we noted that the check valve was broken. The rubber float has disappeared and the spring plunger is bent.
As the sewer contractor installed another one-way valve on top of ours and destroyed our valve in the process, I would imagine that the contractor did the same in many other units which had check valves installed.
Kindly have the maintenance staff install another one-way check valve in our unit.
Prior to writing this email to the Board of Directors, I met up with a sewer maintenance fellow and asked him if he had noticed that our check valve had been destroyed in the process. Our Property Manager who just happened to be close by, quickly intervened and instructed the sewer maintenance person NOT to speak to me - that SHE would deal with it.
Well, to date I have not yet received a reply to my request for a replacement check valve to be installed. In the meantime, we've been smelling sewer gases in our basement and have been dutifully pouring a cup of water down our drain to deter the gases.
The sewer maintenance company has been back twice this week trying to unclog a blockage in our roadway sanitary sewers. Weren't they supposed to have done this when they first cleaned out our sewers in early December?
Are my headaches being caused by sewer gases seeping into our unit? I was going to notify our Property Manager about this prospect — BUT!
Is this not something that by-law officers from Property Standards (or Health?) could look into given that it seems to be creating a health risk --- or other risks?
ReplyDeleteWhen we experienced the latest bout of rotten egg odour in the basement, we wondered if it was a gas leak. We poured water down the drain and the smell diminished. We were, of course, on guard to report a gas leak. We, and others in the co-op. bought 1-way check valves at a discounted price and installed them ourselves. The co-op may have installed others. As the co-op is most unlikely to replace our check valve, we will have to foot the bill ourselves. An active odour would have to be present for Property Standards to make a report. Even if we paid for a radon gas, or methane study, the co-op would negate it as a money-making venture for the company hired to do the work. However, if a Director were to occupy this unit, the co-op would use this study for an entire rehabilitation of the unit.
ReplyDeleteStill, the appearance of any legal authority on the co-op's premises always ruins a property manager's day
ReplyDeleteI'm no expert on this stuff (or any Maintenance matters) and since I wouldn't trust a co-op to put things right, I'd call in By-Law. They can make determination and even if they don't find anything at the time, they can put co-op on notice that they'll be following up.
BTW: Think this is the second time you've said that as you were talking to a contractor, your property manager just happened to come by and got him to stop talking to you. Ever wonder if she (or a director) managed to implant a tracking device in you so they know where you are and what you're doing at all times?
It's the same comment by the Property Manager that I'm referring to. Under my blog post PIPES in December, I described the incident in which the sewer maintenance man had dislodged and broke our one-way check valve. When I approached the sewer fellow about this, the Property Manager, who was on the same little street in our co-op knocking on doors, intervened and told him NOT to talk to me - that SHE would deal with it. I reiterated the incident in my STUCK post in January, as I was still waiting for an answer to my email about the incident from the BOD. I'm still waiting. The sewer company came back in January to unclog the main sewer drains.
ReplyDelete