Today, we walked out into the living room to find a puddle on the floor behind the couch, and water falling from the 2nd floor hallway ceiling. There hadn’t yet been rain in our neighborhood at the time, so we knew it had to be coming from an internal source, and Fuzzy quickly found the culprit. One of the a/c units has a hose that keeps coming unsealed.

He stuck the hose back in place, and we mopped up the leak, and then I fired up my computer, and opened Excel, which I use as much as a financial reporting software solution as just a convenient place to keep all the various account numbers and phone numbers and passwords that one acquires along with a house.

I did not sacrifice a goat, but I did thank my mother for hammering the necessity of a home warranty into every client we’ve ever had. Why? Because I listened, and we keep renewing ours, and so whether the a/c problem is a simple little pipe de-clogging and filter changing job, or whether they have to replace the whole unit, it won’t cost me more than $55.

I’m not as certain that our insurance will cover the damage to the ceiling, and even if it does, I don’t think the cost to cure will be remotely close to our deductable. It’s a ceiling that doesn’t have a weight-bearing floor above it, and isn’t the inside of a roof. It’s literally a piece of dry wall, some tape, paint and texturizing goop, and maybe two hours of work.

While I was on the phone with the home warranty company, I also asked for service to fix the broken drain in the master bath, because bubble bath weather is fast approaching. That’ll be another $55, and a bit more dry wall, and maybe some caulking, but totally worth not having to pay for an actual plumber’s actual billable hours or parts.