HUM - HOW FIRM IS THE FOUNDATION?!

Good question! One way to discover the answer is to see what happens when the water pipes under the builing burst filling the basement with knee-deep water. Having just arrived home from a trip after and overnight train ride, how I was looking forward to a shower! With our water schedule the water is usually turned on again around noon. Noon came - but no water. I saw commotion going on outside with some of my neighbors which prompted me to go across the hall to my neighbor, Nina's to ask what was happening. To my dismay, I learned that we would be without water for several days as the old pipes under our section of the building had given way. Unfortunately,
this is not an uncommon occurance here. The good news was that we have people in our building who immediately took responsibility for seeing that the problem was resolved as quickly as possible - which, sadly, in many cases doesn't happen. However, though the water was shut off within a few hours after the flooding was discovered, it was long enough for the building to settle causing some damage, directly under where my apartment is located. I confess, initially I was a bit nervous about what might happen and wondering how much more the building might settle.This is the first floor apartment, two floors below me.



My apartment - the second balcony above the ground floor apartment, hidden by the trees. My kitchen window us just to the right of my balcony.