The Horror In The Basement
I don’t do laundry nearly enough. If it gets really bad, I can usually find some long-neglected, ill-fitting t-shirt to wear for the day until I can get home to do laundry (or ask Daniel to take care of it). Today, though, he threw in a load and then later asked me to go downstairs and switch it over. Cool, I said, and off I went.
Upon reaching the basement, I noticed a rather… pungent smell. Sort of like cat pee. But there are not any cats in the building. I looked around, thinking maybe it was my imagination or maybe a cat zoomed in the building and peed in the basement? And died there? I did notice a bunch of cardboard boxes all over the floor in front of the haphazardly built storage units, but didn’t think much of it.
I finished switching over the laundry and decided to investigate. The closer I got, the worse it smelled, and there were multiple chewed up boxes with furry hairballs and mold spots and piles of what looked like dirt clumps but I think are actually poo. I stood there for a minute, staring at this godawful mess on the floor in front of the storage units, and came to the startling conclusion that A VERITABLE HORDE OF MICE must have been living there for YEARS and have only now been discovered. ACK.
ACK ACK ACK
I can only assume (based on our scheduled apartment inspection today) that the maintenance people have discovered this alarming situation and have dealt with the offending storage unit (the cardboard boxes used to live in there, not on the floor) by spreading it all over one end of the basement. The now empty unit looks like a chicken coop. It is SO. GROSS. Layers and layers of poo and cardboard and hairy tufts of grossness and OH MY GOD I DO LAUNDRY DOWN THERE. I have no idea when they are actually going to do something that gets rid of the offending mess, but jeeze I hope they do it soon.
Pictures should be forthcoming, as there is really no way to describe it that will do it justice. I only wish monitors had scratch-n-sniff so you could experience the horror in its entirety.
EDITED TO ADD: Okay, photos!
First, the chewed boxes I came across first:
Then, the floor in front of the storage unit:
Theeeeennnn… inside the unit:
And the other wall:
ACK GROSS FOUL
14 Comments
Oh gosh that’s foul! It makes me wonder how many mice had been there.
I’m going to shiver, now.
ewwwwwwwwwww.
I’ve seen some hideous things in my life, but I think this wins – that is so disgusting! I take it you’ll be going to your local launderette from now on, no?
That is bad. Who in the world lived there before you. Pigs? I think I would be going to the launderette till it gets cleaned at least. That is just gross. Didn’t you just recently move in there?
Yuck yuck yuck. *shudder*
V xx
Hev: Yes, ish. We moved in at the end of June, so about 6 months? There was some drama with the guy that lived under us, and I’m assuming this storage unit was his. He was a really old man though, so it’s hard to fault him for it, but GAG.
Claire: Well, the washer and dryer are on the other side of the room, and kind of around a bit of a corner. I sort of wish I would have taken a shot of the whole basement from the stairs, because it’s totally possible to do laundry without ever going near this mess.
Seriously though, I am so glad I am not overreacting in thinking this is really foul. It is bad. I will go and check on it after I get home from work later tonight and see if there’s any progress in cleaning, and if not I think I will call the management and complain.
oh wow. :o That’s a lot of grossness right there.
If I were you I would be on the management ASAP. I mean, if you have to do your laundry there, that’s part of your rental agreement, and that’s unfit.. It’s a health hazard by the looks of it. *hugs* I just hope you don’t have to end up cleaning that yourself.! :x
That’s really very gross… And I don’t get grossed out easily! On the bright side, if there’s someone you detest, give them a present with some of that… stuff… inside it.
Wow. That is the most disgusting thing I’ve seen today. I’d be taking my laundry to a laundry mat until they got that all cleaned up. :faint:
Oh that’s gross. A few months a go, my Mum was sat on the toilet with the door open (as you do) and she saw a mouse run into my brothers room. He refused to beleive her and said she was just saying it to make him tidy up, and 3 months later he found it dead, in the bottom of his wardrobe crawling in maggots.
*SHUDDERS*
Carly: Oh gross. I can’t even imagine. EW EW EW.
Turns out the mess was still there last night, but with an attractively arranged chalkboard easel this time. The easel had a crude drawing of a bespectacled man and said something funny like, “Charles has recently purchased new glasses.”
*sigh* Sometimes apartment living drives me up the wall.
Oh, god GG! That is a health hazard! That’s icky! You really should talk to someone about that, because that is a health hazard, and someone really is very responsible for keeping it clean.
Simply put: EWWWWWWWWWWWW!
That’s so gross…
Wow that is incredibly disgusting. Yuck. Who wants to find that when they do laundry (or at any time)?