Random Home Disaster #312

We live in an old house. Okay, that is an understatement. It's a pre-revolutionary war house. What does this mean to you and me? No central air. Today was a *really* hot day, a really *humid* day. Such that, after the whole "tornado" in Brooklyn thing, Mayor Bloomberg had said the next weather event for NY to deal with would be the heat. Now, back to the house. Not only do we not have central air, but our bedrooms are in what is essentially the attic of our house. Heat rises. In order to abate this situation we have window air conditioner units. We have 5 of them-- two in each room on the second and third levels of the house and then one big one which is permanently attached to the wall in the family room on the lower level. The exterior our of house is stone. In between the stone is mortar. What happens when your attic bedroom gets really humid? According to the Frigidaire website, window air conditioner units (when attempting to cool very humid rooms) will leak water (aka condensation created water) out of the unit.

This afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen next to the window that, two floors above, contains one of our window units. I had noticed a drip. At first I thought it was outside the window and just assumed it was coming from the a/c unit. A little while later I looked closer. (To be fair, last night I had noticed that the ceiling above this window in the kitchen looked a little funny. I told myself, oh, it's probably nothing, it's probably just shadows on the paint. Note to self: In a house from 1760, it's never just "shadows on the paint"). Upon closer inspection I noticed that the ceiling had bubbled-- water was dripping from it. I took a piece of paper towel, touched the ceiling and a big section of plaster became stuck to the paper towel and thus no longer stuck to the ceiling. I went outside, looked on the side of the house and there was a giant line of wetness coming right from the air conditioner. Yes, the a/c unit was condensing so much water (and presumably has been condensing so much water) that it was wicked in to the mortar between the stones and was now leaking out of the lowest point-- the ceiling above the kitchen window.

I scraped off as much of the wet plaster as I could and this revealed-- more mortar. I had always wondered what the ceiling above the windows in the kitchen was made out of. I hadn't really been that interested to find out, but now I know. Turn off the a/c unit and an hour or so later the drip stopped. Turn it back on? Drip resumes. Yes, water from the third floor window is making its way out on the bottom floor's ceiling. Once the Husband came home he managed to install a plastic sheet (aka a tray from IKEA) under the a/c unit to divert the water for now. The leak has stopped. I guess there will be some replastering in our future.