The problems of Linda Magaguhu began with a problem with which many owners in Toronto are familiar: an flood of the minor basement.
Now, a little more than three weeks later, he had to move from his home of Scarborough, his front courtyard is a construction zone, and neither his contractor nor the city have still discovered the water source that is leaking home.
In addition to its problems: the city considered that the structure of the insecure house, thanks to the entire excavation in the front courtyard.
His invoice so far is $ 30,000 and could rise more than $ 50,000, his contractor has told him, not including additional costs to repair the structure of the house.
“Financially, emotionally, I am stressed,” says Mangalathu, who lived in the house of the Morningsis Highway 401 area for 26 years. “I can’t sleep; it’s heartbreaking.”
Mangalathu’s problems began on April 29, when his son Shane noticed that the water rose through the drainage of the shower.
That inconvenience led to a visit of $ 300 of a plumber, a visit that meant would end the problem.
It was just the beginning.
The plumber told him that the sewerage lines of the house were blocked somewhere between the house and the street, and that a contractor with experience in discovering buried pipes would have to be brought to dig in his entrance path. That, they said, would be another $ 3,900.
Meanwhile, the water also began to appear in its basement through a floor drain in the oven room.
For May 1, the entire basement was until the knee in water, some of whom were entering the Foundation, the fontanería contractor told him later, and was forced to move with her husband and two children, Shalia, 25, and Shane, 23, to his brother’s house in the collection house.
Then, the contractor brought pumps to drain the basement and keep it relatively dry.
Also on May 1, the contractor cavó in his front courtyard to the storm and sewerage pipes, and determined that they had collapsed under the weight of wet soil, a problem that could not be solved.
Mangalathu tried more than a dozen leading contractors, none of whom felt sure that they could address a job of that magnitude, she says. They recommended that a heavy equipment operator be brought to dig the entire front courtyard and replace broken pipes, he says, although no one knew with certainty if that was the source of floods.
That was when Mangalathu contacted the excavator Benjamin Sarault of Henry’s Bobcat service. By then, I knew that the reach of his work was going to cost more money than he had saved.
“I don’t know how much I will borrow,” said Mangalathu.
Sarault, who has been at work for approximately two weeks, says that he has established that the house of weeping tiles of the house, a perforated pipe that surrounds a house to collect any groundwater, is intact and delivers any water that catches into the storm pipe, as it should.
But that damaged storm pipe could be spilling the water back to the earth around the house, he says. From there, the water could be returning through the base towards the basement, but recognizes that this is just an assumption.
Sarault has now created a deep well of two and a half meters in the front courtyard of Mangalathu to discover broken pipes.
But he said in an interview on Tuesday that he cannot fix the damaged section until the city appears to fix its end, where the storm pipe connects to the city’s sewerage system.
The city staff told CBC Toronto in an email on Thursday that they are investigating the situation and are now working in the place to repair the city’s sewerage pipe.
Until now, says the email of the city, its crews have determined that the leak does not come from the city’s water supply pipe to the house.
Structural damage
But on Wednesday, an inspector of the city who examines the excavation delivered more bad news to Mangalathu. He told him that all construction work has damaged the base of his home. The inspector gave him a written warning that he had to hire an engineer and present a report on the damage to the city within 24 hours, an order that has added more stress to the situation of Mangalathu, she says.
“Where would you find an engineer?” She said. “What will that cost?”
Until now, he says, he has accumulated $ 30,000 in invoices. That will rise, she knows, as the final repairs to the pipes, and now, possibly the structure of the house, is ready and the front courtyard of her home is repaired.
Sarault estimated that he will face an invoice for $ 50,000 for the time everything is said and done, not including any work ordered by the structural engineer.
Until Thursday morning, he was revashing his contractors in search of an engineer, without success.
Closer to $ 70,000, the owner predicts
Mangalathu itself covers the figure closer to $ 70,000, of which only $ 15,000 will be covered by its insurance company, she says.
She says she will also have to compensate for her neighbors, who have seen her front courtyards covered with asphalt, land and pumping equipment.
Dilvir Kalsi, who has lived next to Mangalathu for a decade, says he feels for her.
“There is so much sympathy in our hearts for our neighbors,” she says. “We feel so bad.”
As for the water source, the city staff says they are investigating, but there are no hidden underground currents in the area.
‘Abandoned and desperate’
Mangalathu has contacted the office of Mayor Olivia Chow. A personnel staff replied that he told him that the problem is being investigated by Toronto Water.
“We feel abandoned and desperate,” Mangalathu told CBC Toronto. So desperate, he said earlier this week, he is considering moving, if he can find a buyer.
“Maybe someone else can solve it,” she says. “Come buy my house.”
Daughter Shalia, a primary school teacher, says she has also been feeling the tension.
“The home is supposed to be its safe space,” he said. “That has been removed. So where do I seek to feel safe?”
