Changing viewpoints

[muck_a_luck]

It's funny, how this ceiling thing has changed things. Or shifted them. Or something.

As a mommy, I feel like I'm a mix of laid back and cautious. Maybe every parent is.

But certain things that I used to be laid back about, now I'm kinda freaked about. I'm trying to keep an intellectual grip on this. The reasons I didn't worry too much about those things was because they were so incredibly unlikely to happen.

For instance, during last school year, if The Barbarian woke up incredibly early, I did not hesitate to run her out to day care and come back to the house while AG33 was still asleep. I was only gone 30 minutes, maybe less. We live in a safe neighborhood. I wouldn't leave the dryer or dishwasher or anything running while I was gone. I would leave AG33 a note about when I left and when I expected to be back and wrote down my cell phone number there, in case he needed to call me while I was gone. But on these outings he almost never even woke up while I was out.

You can see where I'm going with this.

Ceilings do not fall in. In my entire life, I have never known anyone to have the experience we had, nor has anyone who heard my story said, Oh, that happened to me/someone I know!

The odds are still incredibly low that I need to worry about something bad happening to AG33 if he is alone in the house for a brief time.

And yet.

Also, I have become incredibly suspicious of this place. The masterbedroom floor slopes down in the back. The master bathroom is lower on the tub side than on the sink side. There are flaws in the ceilings on the middle and lower levels, too. I now half expect the outer wall to pull away and collapse in the back, or the bathtub to fall through on the person at the computer, or pieces of drywall to fall down anywhere.

Comments

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

I totally get this. Do you know yet exactly why the ceilings collapsed?

Maybe it's time for a building inspector/structural engineer guy....

When we had to sell a 90-year-old house we hired a guy to inspect the foundation and the building materials and we had the report there to show worried buyers. The floor was lumpy and so forth but nothing was actually about to give way.

but in your case, clearly something DID give way....How old is your house?

*HUGS*

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

I believe the house is about 30 years old. We do have a pretty good idea why it collapsed, and the news is not reassuring me. Instead of 18 inches between ceiling joists, the were 24 inches. That got reinforced when they hung the new ceilings. But I have to assume similar shoddy work throughout. Not enough glue was applied to the ceiling drywall, and it also appears it may have been the wrong type of glue and never properly adhered. Also, per the old building code, the ceilings were nailed up, rather than screwed in. Also, there was far too much filler insulation, making a fair amount of weight on the ceiling. Add to that the condition of the roof that was just replaced which apparently had been allowing minor leakage - because some of the insulation showed evidence of having been wet, then dried - and the fact that there has been a lot of traffic in the attic in the last several months - first when the old owner moved out and got all her crap out of the attic, then when the roof was replaced. Well, it was just more than the crappy construction appears to have been able to withstand.

But knowing the ceiling was that poorly constructed just makes me suspcious of everything, especially with the other, clearly visible, anomolies.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

wow, that is so good to know. this means that it's very unlikely that the floors would collapse. the roof may actually be the weakest link; that is, the worst is over.

(my husband is in construction, and we built the house we live in now, so I'm obsessed with stuff like this)

you might consider getting a recommendation for a structural engineer who could really inspect the rest of the house, looking for water damage or leaks. Where we live such an inspection costs about $300, but it might do wonders for your peace of mind.

So sorry you have to go through this. *pets*

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Floor, roof or ceiling joists -- rafters -- at 24" centers aren't particularly uncommon and aren't necessarily a bad thing. 24 inch centers insure that 4'x 8' sheets of plywood always break on a joist. Provided they're big enough to support the distance they span, it isn't a problem at all.

Relax. Repeat this aphorism aloud to your fears: "Now begone, before somebody drops a house on you!"

Uh... maybe you should choose a different relaxation technique.

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

I will consider this strategy, substituting "before some geese peck you."

:)

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, when I was younger our ceiling collapsed too. On Christmas Day. First on the tree, then on the dinner. It hit the table, too. We ate cereal instead of turkey and ate it on the back porch. I sympathize with you, really I do. And it will be all right. Honest.

[seleneheart]

I think your changed attitude is a rather healthy reaction to the trauma and I would be surprised if you didn't feel something like this.

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Yeah. You're probably right. But it also makes me feel kind of neurotic.