The Discovery

Many frantic phone calls later, and the following facts emerged. This is not for the squeamish:

• The main sewer line was clogged somewhere. Whenever units 1, 2 and 3 flushed their master bathroom toilets, sewage backed up in unit 1's toilet and tub, flooded the bathroom, and dripped through the floor. What I was seeing had dripped through their floor and out my ceiling.
• Unit 1's handyman had tried to route out the system, breaking 1 or 2 router bits in the process. The pipe may be collapsed. The other units are told not to use that bathroom.
• The handyman recommends that we cut out the cement floor in my unit, break the pipe, check for damage, and replace the ceramic pipe with PVC. Cost: $2000.
• We find out that for awhile, the previous owners had been hiring people to route the sewage lines every 6 months. The last receipt that the new president can find is from 2005.
• None of this was disclosed when I bought the property.

An emergency meeting of the condo board is called. We moved it into my condo since I'm the only one that doesn't have renters. The guy from unit 1 wanders around not finding us, not calling us, and finally shows up an hour later annoyed that we've moved the meeting inside out of the rain. At this point, he's the only one who can vouch for the handyman, and the handyman has left without us being able to talk to him. We agree to go with this guy, but want to know if he has references from other jobs, and insurance. Something along the lines of "G did a great job of opening up a raw sewer line in our condo" would be fine.

The next day A, the condo president, calls the handyman to ask for references and insurance info. The handyman decides that he's not interested in the job after all. Now we're stuck finding a contractor at the last minute, the week before we leave town for a wedding.