Monday, December 04, 2006

If it's not one thing...

it's another. I'm soooo glad this house is only a rental for us. Here's the latest...

We've periodically noticed the smell of gas in our living room...mostly when the fireplace is turned on and has been on for awhile. Well, it was really bad last night when Steve was out there studying and it was still lingering this morning when I got up. And I was feeling a bit nauseous. SO, we emailed the landlord and received an "Out of Office" reply...then we promptly decided to take matters into our own hands and call San Diego Gas & Electric ourselves. Of course, mention the words "I smell gas" and they send someone over almost immediately...which is great. You won't get any complaints from me about that.

The guy got here and I said "We keep smelling gas. Mostly when the fireplace is on but we aren't used to gas so we didn't know if that was how it should be or not." He said "Not usually." As soon as he opened the fireplace doors, he said "Oh yeah, I smell it already. No, this isn't normal." He tested things in that area and outside and told me that there is a lot of gas in the wall (20% gas, 80% oxygen = not good) and that is why we smell it so often. In the end, he thinks it is the fireplace valve but a plumber will have to look for sure, etc etc, and he turned it off. In the middle of all of this he said "I think I've been here before, a few years ago, but an older woman lived here then. How long have you been here?" Of course, the older woman is Amy, who lived here just before we moved in. She sold this house to her family as part of a family "Estate" and this is now income for them. At any rate, he said he was here for the exact same reason and told her she needed to have it looked at before turning it back on. He reckons she didn't have it checked, just went back into the laundry room and opened up the valve again. Or, maybe my husband turned it on (he's not home at the moment but don't fret, I'll be sure to ask him when I see him), because NO ONE TOLD US we shouldn't use the fireplace!!!

How crazy is that? Can you see me lighting my Nag Champa (incense) and BOOM the whole f'ing house goes up like a bomb? The thought makes me sick to my stomach.

So, besides doing laundry, that is how my day is going.

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