Hope it isn’t poop water. 
That’s disappointing, but good to know. Does it appear to be coming from somewhere? Has it gathered in that spot because it’s the lowest point in the room, or just the closest to it’s point of ingress?
i could not see anything dripping… but the rain was this morning… soooooo
I think the description would be “torrential downpours with flooding in multiple areas”, in other words somewhat out of the norm.
Maybe you should send an email to Jim, and suggest that he put the additional rent into escrow until Garden St fixes the leak.
I thought we wanted to use the space?
Sure, which is why you pay the rent into escrow instead of holding onto it. At that point you’re legally paying the rent, but the release of the money is contingent on their actually making the space usable.
http://www.ohiolegalservices.org/public/legal_problem/housing/landlord-tenant-issues/escrow/qandact_view
So we need to follow proper steps for escrow:
Do I have to give written notice to my landlord that I intend to place my rent in escrow?
Yes. Before you can lawfully place rent into escrow, you must provide the landlord with a written “notice to repair” letter of the problems. The letter must be clear, specific, and detailed enough that the landlord and court will be able to understand exactly what needs to be fixed. Be sure to date your letter. After sending this letter to your landlord, you must give the landlord a chance to correct the problem before you take further action.
You should send the letter by certified mail and request a return receipt as proof that the letter was delivered to the landlord or the landlord’s representative. You should also keep a copy of the letter and the receipt for your records.
Do I have to give my landlord a reasonable time to make repairs?
Yes. After the landlord has received the “notice to repair” letter, you must give the landlord a reasonable amount of time to make the repairs. A reasonable time may be up to, but not more than, thirty days. A shorter time period is appropriate for more serious problems, such as lack of heat in the winter.
Also, didn't we know that there was a leak before we rented the space? I know someone mentioned that water would pool in there during heavy rains.
Hi folks.
Thanks for the initial notice and added advice.
Can GregA or someone in-the-know reply on this thread to confirm for me if our RFID lock is now active on the access door, or if we have any alternate Hive lock in place? Is the room currently unlocked?
I would like to know this and have a plan to enable landlord access to the space for inspection and/or maintenance when I contact them about this, hopefully still this morning.
Thanks, JimD
I can tell you as a previous land lord, an escrow thing would piss me right the hell off if the tenant did not first at least call me about said leak and give me a chance to fix it. Straight to fancypants lawyer stuff without trying to reach a compromise in person… oh boy. I know who’d be on the list to not renew, and last on the list for any more favors.
Look, I can’t tell you fellows what to do… but I sure as heck suggest instead offering to repair said roof, and take the repair off the rent in some fraction installments. I’d further suggest having a roofing party one weekend. Yes, voluntelling aside… I bet the Hive has a number of people with either professional or semi professional roof repair experience. Far better to fix it, and not tick off the landlord who is providing a space below market value… that is the key… below market value. If it were the Taj Mahal, and market value yes… jump up and down and bring the lawyers for a leak that is persistant and the landlord slow on. This situation? One person going over to the office in person to say “Hey, we’d like to repair a roof leak, would it be okay to use your ladders this weekend?” is gonna get a hell of a lot more cooperation than a letter about escrow and a missing check.
Roofing is not hard, you just have to be very thorough. If you know something will leak, fix it. If you think some thing might leak, double fix it. Not sure? cover it, change the slope, fix it three times what you think is needed. There is no such thing as too much care or overkill. This leak comes in heavy rain? Odds are it is in the flashing along a wall, or a slope has too little drop with old shingles, a low spot due to sag that pools up, or there is a small flaw that needs a dab of goo. Man the number of times I’ve patched flashing with nails uncovered would surprise you.
Bottom line is, if we really don’t want to move… say the cost for a quality repair by contractor is 20k… That’s 1700 bucks a month or so. For 3-4k in materials, a couple weekends, pizza, and maybe some beer afterwards… odds are the spot can be redone.
My guess is people don’t want to do that though. Fine… then price a contractor and raise the funds. But don’t for heaven’s sake piss off the landlord by going straight to lawyer stuff while your whole shenagle is in the building and there is no viable alternate location. The whole bannana could go south.
Next spot… what if we’ve got to do 100-200 bucks a month to cover rent? That is gonna ding the membership pretty hard.
This approach scares me in the potential to permanently alienate the landlord.
I can tell you as a previous land lord, an escrow thing would piss me right the hell off if the tenant did not first at least call me about said leak and give me a chance to fix it. Straight to fancypants lawyer stuff without trying to reach a compromise in person… oh boy. I know who’d be on the list to not renew, and last on the list for any more favors.
Mike, you seem like a very on the ball sort of person. From what I’ve seen our landlord is not. I’d go to you in a heartbeat, I’m thinking ahead with our current landlord, who has failed to fix a pretty obvious leak in the plumbing near the tool bench. It’s the one that has the bucket under it for the leaks that come down every time the upstairs tennant flushes or uses the shower, not sure which. If they can’t fix a obvious and blatant problem like that I don’t hold out much hope for this issue.
Further that leak isn’t anywhere as critical as this one. This one appears to make a large spot (looks like several feet in each direction) unusable, and opens up the question of what else might get ruined if it’s left in that room.
Look, I can’t tell you fellows what to do… but I sure as heck suggest instead offering to repair said roof, and take the repair off the rent in some fraction installments. I’d further suggest having a roofing party one weekend. Yes, voluntelling aside… I bet the Hive has a number of people with either professional or semi professional roof repair experience.
Honestly that’s a decent idea. I’ve installed asphalt and metal roofs at home, I’ll willing to pitch in at the Hive to get the roof fixed.
Thanks 
Big points might be getting safety eyelets for a rope up for fall protection, and or jack stands and railings at the edge. I’ve done a three story exposed roof with that horrid pitch you cannot walk, scary. (i’d prefer a rapelling harness and lines to the ground over the osha thingies that leave ya stranded held by your suspenders) Jack stands can be rented, not too much of a problem, odds are we’d need a decent amount of 2x for the platforms. And if its’ not shingle, dunno how to use those and not need lots of patches. And as always, odds are photographing the whole area for more eyes and opinions is a good first step.
Man, the crud bucket thing sounds like a pile of suck… but not to be too much of a pia, why not do the same thing with the big leak? Find the center, drill a hole, drop the water down to the next level where a sump pump kicks it out the building? If ya feel nice, you could get a discard garden hose and direct it kindly.
And if the space is empty… if you have a garden hose, you can walk the water top to bottom, and rule out areas of the roof to patch… sloppy yes, but hey if it saves ya getting all covered with patch. Oh, yeah… can’t work on the roof without getting sloppy
Cheapest easiest might be going over the whole area with ice dam guard, then gluing roll roofing over that to protect it from UV. Otherwise, the scrap yard has metal roofing I think… if that is cheap… it is once and done Once and done is good.
Cheapest easiest might be going over the whole area with ice dam guard, then gluing roll roofing over that to protect it from UV. Otherwise, the scrap yard has metal roofing I think… if that is cheap… it is once and done
Once and done is good.
Particularly since I’ve got a few cast off rolls of ice dam at home from when I did my front and back porches.
Yeah, it is nice stuff… My wife’s old house had a chronic leak that was only solved by covering a stubborn area in that stuff. I found installed torn shingles… ugh, the patching was a nightmare.
as far as being up on the roof, mike and jon neal have been up there before. not sure if anyone else has been.
Okay, finally made it to the hive and took a look at the dried out puddle. I am thinking it is that pipe up towards the ceiling, or something falling on that pipe. Here’s why. A tar roof usually has nasty gunky water and the tar stains like all heck when a leak develops. Even if the roof is metal, tar is likely on it somewhere between the outside and the leak. We’ve had a bit further rain, and no incidence of puddle? No visible staining on the roof which is painted a fairly modern white, yet water marks on the pipe.
It is an old building… with any old building I find repairs fall into “overdone,” “adequate.” "half arsed’, “ineffective.” and “what the heck were they thinking!”
Without knowing the timing of the fire sprinkler inspection… it is possible that that is a pipe that leaks when flushed, and is empty/on standby at all other times. Or it is a pipe to some forgotten process or drain that only intermittently fills. What is making me think that is the connectors. I do not think those are currently approved for fire systems, but I could be wrong. Our connectors are all crimped affairs with o rings, and the whole clamp is discarded when used. A female/female npt connector seems to be plumbing to me.
Quick fix? I’d get the rubber pad and stainless pipe clamp stuff out… and wrap the potential leaker. well past the suspicious part. If that gets it? Whew… problem solved.