So sorry your project took on a new dimension! I don't know why bad luck seems to pile on, I have certainly experienced one bad thing arriving on the heels of another. Hopefully, you will be back on track and the sun will shine warmth and good fortune on you now.

At least you are without hot water in June and not January! Hang in there.

Tomorrow, cancel the motel and go to your local fitness center and buy a membership. Use the locker room for showering, and can use the fitness center to work off the frustrations.

Oh, that really would frustrate me! That said, I would have loved a night or two alone in a motel back when I was married! Hope it's the end of your reno surprises.

Me too Oly! My cousin suggested we treat it like a staycation-I might consider that. I was just chatting with a friend about how I can't do laundry or run the dish washer (will have to heat up some water on the stove to do some dishes). So I guess I've run out of excuses for not working on the bathroom then! Time to get off the computer and go cut some more foamboard insulation!

Yes to a staycation. No to dishes, use paper plates instead.

What a horrorshow! So sorry you have to deal w/ all that!

neetsie - yechh to rat infestation. Yea to a new bathroom, really soon(ish). I know you'll enjoy it so much more. :)

Ugg.... you must be happy that all that filth is gone from your house!

Sorry things are not going as hoped. It is a PITA now but good to have found the infestation and other problems so they will be fixed! Soon you will smile at how much better everything will be when complete Do!

Of course you have every right to vent and be foot stomping frustrated, anyone going through that kind of thing would be upset. But whenever stuff like this happens to us, I find the easiest way to get through it is to just take a big breath and try to find the positive. With as bad as it is, it could always be worse; like Roarah says, at least you found it before it got even worse and are even in a position to get it fixed correctly. In the end, things will work out and this whole experience will just be another "remember when" story to look back on.

How awful! Doesn't it always seem like one small project can turn into a giant nightmare? At least in a few days you can breathe easy knowing you have no more nasty, unknown things in your pretty new bathroom, and a new hot water heater with no worries about that for many years to come.

Well, a tiny bit of good news-DH figured out a way to get the WH working (temporarily I think). So there was some warm water last night. I'm still having the old one replaced, we're on borrowed time with this one.

I can't tell you how much better it smells in there. We never noticed a smell before-but the mess was inside the walls and under the tub, so I don't know if we would have. It was just such a shock to uncover all that.

A few months ago we discovered rodents in our pantry and DH had to go thru, pull it out, pull out the sheet rock and found holes in the flooring-again, PO hadn't blocked them up when doing some earlier renos. That stench was horrific!

Our next door neighbor is a hoarder and after a bad tree incident a few months ago, I talked with surrounding neighbors and they too have had to have exterminators come out-we know it's coming from his place. He recently had to have a tree cut down-long story-but instead of having the branches and leaves fed into the shredder, he stacked them up next to our common fence (he's really mad at us that he had to cut that tree down-we were going to sue him if he didn't). It's just another critter nest now!

I've tried to get the County involved, but the ordinance doesn't address his issues. The Health Dept can't do anything, Fire Dept, no one! So I'm seriously thinking of suing him to get his place cleaned up-we're going to have to call an exterminator ourselves after this. We just can't have rats in our house!

Neetsiepie, who would you sue? The previous owner or the neighbor? How long have you owned your house? Did your home inspector not find the damage? Sorry for all the problems.

eta: I reread your last post, would be interesting if you could sue (and win anything from ) this neighbor. In my state you could sue but would probably pay more in attorney fees then any damages you might receive. Good luck.

How frustrating that this is the second round with rats and you can't be sure they won't return with the mess next door. I hope you are able to make some progress there. But what you are doing inside your home and doing right will go a long way toward your satisfaction andd enjoyment.

Didn't mean to sound flippant above, but when stuff hits the fan, I try to find something positive to hang onto (after I've fussed a bit). It would be my luck though, that I would lose AC in the summer and hot water in the winter. In fact, we were without AC for 2 weeks in late June and early July one year -- in Texas and a very hot summer, and I was not only without hot water, I was without any runnning water in winter. All I had to wash with was what I could carry in. One gallon of cold water would wash my hair, brush my teeth and clean off with a washcloth. You sure enjoy the next hot shower or soak in tub ater that.

Hope you are soon enjoying that new bath and lots of hot water.

Oh dear, it sounds like such a stressful situation! Thank heavens for at least a little warm water! Having a bad neighbour is so incredibly stressful on top of everything else.