Curbed's Horror Stories are firsthand reader reports about terrible design, decor, and real estate experiences past and present. Got a ghoulish tale of your own? Send it to national@curbed.com.
"One summer, a pipe burst and put my entire 1800-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment under six inches of water. As if that weren't bad enough, every plumber in the phone book was too busy to respond and the shutoff valve was stuck. (This was in Huntington Beach, Calif.—hardly the middle of nowhere.) Water continued to flood my apartment until my roommate's friend dropped in—fortunately, he was much stronger than I am and he was able to shut off the water. I then had to wait several hours for a plumber while fielding snotty complaints from the our one problem tenant who took multiple showers a day. Several pieces of furniture were wrecked, I was soaked, and the plumber left so many fans in the apartment (to dry everything out) that it shorted out our electricity, as well. Those fans were so noisy that even wearing earplugs to bed didn't help us sleep. Amazingly, a few days later I managed to nail an interview for a job—even in my drowsy state."