Hole in the Wall Saga Continues

A spot of previously-unknown background: the previous owner of the duplex we live in apparently drilled through the drain pipe from the upstairs washing machine. Instead of having the hole in the pipe fixed, like a sane person, he just mudded and painted the hole in the wall to hide it. This was at least seven years ago, before our landlords bought the place.

Now our landlords are selling and moving out of state. When the buyers and their building inspector came through, the inspector noticed a puddle on the dirt under the house, below where our washing machine sits. He made a note that our washing machine was leaking, and moved on. Plumbers came and went over the next week or so trying to figure out where the leak was coming from, because our washing machine is fine; by the end of last week, they'd finally discovered and properly repaired the hole in the drain pipe in the wall between our washing machine and bathroom.

But water's been leaking between the walls for 7+ years. The Sheetrock is damaged, part of the bathroom floor is damaged, one of the major beams under the house is rotten... A general contractor came in to look at the mess yesterday, and he's going to have to open up the wall and the floor and replace things. Our poor landlords! They just want to sell and get out of town, and the house just keeps throwing problems at them. 

So tomorrow will be exciting: the contractor and his crew are showing up at 7 am, so we all have to be up and out of the house early. I have to pack up everything Little Bear and I will need all day, and pray that he is willing to take a nap at my family's house... We can't stick around because there's going to be a big hole through the wall and down into the crawl space under the house, and there's a chance they'll find bad mold after so many years of the wood being damp. The contractor believes that they can have the bulk of the work done by the end of the day, though, so hopefully it will only be a minor disruption of Little Bear's schedule. It'll depend on exactly what he finds when they open everything up.