Trials and tribulations of owning a house

[Jarhead0331]

I may have been scammed today and I'm really upset and angry with myself over it. Last week my landline rang. I never pick this phone up because I rarely give the number out and it's usually junk or robocalls. Anyway, something compelled me to answer this call and it was a chimney company offering cheap cleanings and inspections. I told the very nice lady I never take these calls, but my chimney has been on my mind and so it must be fate.

Anyway, the crew comes today to do a $30 cleaning and look at this issue I've been having. The owner of the company was a real character right out of a mobster movie. Tiny little Italian guy from Brooklyn with a fast talking big mouth. Anyway, he looks at the main chimney, I show him the streaking and bubbling and he immediately thinks water is getting in to the chimney from the top. He goes to open the damper and the fucking thing comes right off. The whole thing was shot and rotted and the flap at the top apparently collapsed and fell a long time ago. So it looked like he solved this mystery pretty quickly and I'm pissed that none of the other chimney guys I had come look at the issue even bothered to take a look at the damper.

Then, the guy goes to inspect my boiler chimney, and here is where it gets shady. To make a long story short, he tells me the terra-cotta sleeve inside has totally collapsed and deteriorated and I need a new sleeve. He shows me how the pipes leading from the boilers and water heater are pretty loose and that this can be a ventilation and CO2 issue. Before I know it, they're installing a new steel sleeve and replacing all the pipes...what was supposed to be a $30 cleaning turned into a $3000 repair job. I can't help feeling that the sleeve and new piping wasn't really necessary for a chimney used for gas burning boilers. The quality of the work looks good, I just feel like I got taken for a ride, which is very rare. I guess I'll be happy though if he really figured out the main problem that's been eating me. Water getting inside the chimney from the top and all that water getting absorbed into the concrete like a sponge. Also pissed that I did all this work on the exterior of the chimney and none of those bozos looked inside.

Just frustrated...I work my ass off to get a little ahead and then all these little unexpected expenses chip away holding me back and dragging me down.

[Gusington]

Lesson learned: never trust short guys from Brooklyn.

[Sir Slash]

I've been there myself. Houses sometimes seem like they're out to get us, like they've got an evil intelligence about just when to hit you with something big when you think can kick back and cruise a little, maybe put a little away for vacation or X-Mas. Then, WHAM! Right in the nuts. And there are con artists everywhere, damned good ones. Still, JH, give yourself some time to get over the anger and then look again at whether you think the job's been done right and the price fair. Then you'll know more about whether to look these guys up for a refund. And maybe take a few of those guns you have with you if you do, it couldn't hurt.  <:-)

[Jarhead0331]

^Funny you mention taking time to look at the work.

I've been looking at it for half the night and it does look good neat and clean. It also looks more efficient than what I had. For instance, the vent pipes from two boilers and the water heater ran into one line that was just kind of shoved into a hole in the concrete chimney. It wasn't secured or sealed. Now, they redid the vent pipes, sealed it into the new chimney sleeve and put in concrete around the new pipe. Prior to them doing this, the boiler room, and even my office located next door would get pretty warm when the boiler was running. I'm thinking because a lot of the heat from the boiler was escaping and not being vented out through the chimney...who knows...maybe I did really need it? 

[Toonces]

I've been there, JH, and nothing sucks as bad as feeling you may have been scammed.

From what it sounds like, the guys did a good job at whatever it is they did.  Did you need it?  Who knows? 

While 3k is a lot of money, it's not like you're going to starve.  IMO, even though this is much easier said than done, I'd say the money has already been spent, and your chimney sounds like it is well and truly fixed.  Therefore, I'd let it go.  The problem is fixed and maybe you overpaid, maybe you didn't, but at least now you have one less thing to worry about.

[GDS_Starfury]

$3k is nothing for home repairs.  sounds like you got good work on the cheap.

[JasonPratt]

$3k is nothing for home repairs.  sounds like you got good work on the cheap.

I was going to say, based on what I recall earlier 3K sounds about right for fixing the problem ultimately. The repairs sound kosher to me: the explanation explains a lot, including why our various theories didn't seem to fit the facts properly.

[Sir Slash]

Yeah, if you had paid half the price and had half the job done, the worries alone wouldn't probably wouldn't be worth it. It took me a long time to learn to check out the license of people doing work on-line at the state's Dept. of Professional Regulation for any complaints or revocations and that sort of thing before hiring somebody. But that was only after getting screwed a couple of times.

[Jarhead0331]

Yeah, if you had paid half the price and had half the job done, the worries alone wouldn't probably wouldn't be worth it. It took me a long time to learn to check out the license of people doing work on-line at the state's Dept. of Professional Regulation for any complaints or revocations and that sort of thing before hiring somebody. But that was only after getting screwed a couple of times.

80-90% of my law practice is construction based. About 50-50 transactions and litigation. I know the business in and out and advise my owner clients to cross all the T's and dot all the I's before retaining a contractor do do anything. For some reason, when it comes to my own home, I frequently do not have the energy or patience to advocate as thoroughly on my own behalf. Twisted.

[Gusington]

I'm going to assume the contractors had no idea they were working for a lawyer in construction.

[GDS_Starfury]

we can make a show for hgtv where Toonces and his wife can be the property flippers, I renovate and Jarhead complains about the cost and wants to litigate the shit out of someone.  YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH ABOUT TERRACOTTA TILE!
Gus can guest star as the diy guy thats always hurting himself.

[Gusington]

^I know this role well.

[Sir Slash]

I want to be the creepy next-door neighbor who only appears from eye level up behind the wooden fence.

[Gusington]

^Done. Again not much of a stretch!

[Sir Slash]

I will see you out by the fence.