Back the end of July/beginning of August, the complex was refurbishing the apartment above ours, and caused a water leak in the kitchen, which came down into our kitchen ceiling. Water in the light fixture, you could see the lines darkening etc.
They replaced the light fixture with a new one. The new one has had water leak into it. The ceiling in one section of the kitchen was clearly more damaged than the rest, and has started to sag, etc. I also suspected mold, when about late August I started getting symptoms I'd had when a previous apartment had black mold. (Migraines getting worse, more intense allergy symptoms, etc)
The apt management had CLOSED the ticket about the damage in our ceiling, and did nothing. So, after 3 months, I called Code Enforcement - as had a friend in the next building over, for the SAME ISSUE - Water damage in the kitchen ceiling, and they weren't fixing it, and other issues that he had and we do not.
Code enforcement let it slip they had a LOT of calls for this complex as of late. I am not hating on immigrants, here, I want that to be clearly stated. But the guys they send around to replace flooring, and do the refurbishment - they speak pretty much no English, and my Spanish is not good enough to keep up. I also know no Portuguese, and a couple of them speak that. But they do not have the knowledge to do this work, do it correctly and in a decent time frame. The vinyl flooring they installed in the hallways, is not flat and even. It has little rises and falls, like waves on water. They all seem to be nice, pleasant guys. But they're clearly super cheap labor, and that's why they're here.
So after Code came, they sent a couple of the crew leads to look at the ceiling. And after I explained the sagging happening over the stove, where there is heat and steam, etc, was concerning, and that I suspected mold - they said they would cut out that part of the ceiling, check the beams for mold, and replace it. Great. That was all I could have asked for.
Then they turned around and said Code only said they had to paint, since the leak was 'long ago fixed'. (then why has there been water in our NEW light fixture? they don't seem to care that there was/may still be leaking along the electrical. like.. wtf?) I called Code, the guy laughed, told me they have until Monday to fix the issue, and he'll be here on Monday.
They sent 3 guys to put primer over the water damage. this is a job I could have done in 10 minutes, with an extendable roller and paint pan. Took them like an hour plus, all told. Told me they'd be back Monday to paint it. Well, while looking over their work.. we found mold growing through the ceiling, near where they had been painting over the stove. So, we took pictures. I sent an email, and BCC'd code guy, showing we've found mold growing through where I said we would, and repeating my request to cut out and replace the drywall after checking/treating the beams. We'll see how it goes.
