It’s My Imagination

Home Repairs

May 16, 2008 on 11:11 am | In Some of This Some of That | No Comments

Our previous home in Illinois had a few minor issues during the 7 years we lived in it. I would have to think that the biggest issue was the tiled shower in our master bathroom.

The problem started when we first purchased the house. The home inspection noted that there was grout missing around some of the tiles in the shower. After moving in, I regrouted the tile myself, but it didn’t seem to want to hold. One morning, after taking a nice long hot shower, my husband, who had been sitting in the home office directly below the master bathroom, came in to inform me that water was coming through the home office ceiling. Great! I had just repainted that ceiling and now it was incurring water damage.

After regrouting the tiles several more times, we finally decided to have a professional come in and rebuild the shower.

I hired a contractor, signed a contract and purchased the replacement tiles. The water damage had gotten into the drywall and mold was growing so the drywall had to be replaced in one wall. A carpenter ant nest was also discovered (early thank goodness) and so an exterminator had to be called. It seemed like it was going from bad to worse until finally, I was informed that the work was done.

I went up to inspect and found that yes, the new drywall was installed and the tile was all completed, but, there was still a large hole above the shower, in the wall, and the glass door and side were still leaning against the far wall. I asked when that would be replaced and was told that wasn’t part of the job. EXCUSE ME? I said the contract was for a tear down and RE-BUILD. Re-build to me meant to put it back together so that it could be used. I couldn’t use a shower with no door!

After several frustrating phone calls, I thought I would have to send a preliminary notice to the contractor. This would have given me the right to file a mechanics lien if the work was not completed as agreed upon in the contract. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. The contractor did come back and re-install the glass panel and door. I wound up repairing the hole myself which was fine, I had to repaint the bathroom anyway before we put the house on the market. Everything worked out in the end, but it sure did give me an idea of how frustrating a home remodel would be!

Tags: preliminary notice

Things That Make Me Crazy

May 16, 2008 on 9:01 am | In Family, Some of This Some of That | No Comments

I mentioned the other day that I’d been missing my Dad. He passed away just over 2 years ago and I have to tell you, there are so many things that can occur on a daily basis that bring him to mind. One thing that drives me absolutely insane is that I still, yes still, receive mail for my dad. I have place stop mail orders through the post office for both 1st class mail and for junk mail and yet, I still receive it.

When he passed away, my sisters and I hired an attorney to handle the court paperwork for the estate. Our dad didn’t own much, but to keep from having to deal with estate probate we had papers filed that allowed creditors 90 days to make any claim, after that time, the estate was considered legally closed and no claims could be filed. Yesterday I received a bill addressed to my dad for around $500! Are they kidding me? The man died, how do they think he’s going to pay it? I wrote deceased on it and “return to sender” on the envelope and sent it back. I can guarantee you that I’ve never heard anything about this bill before and I truthfully don’t know what it was for, it was difficult to tell from the letter. I almost threw it away because I seriously thought it was junk mail.

Trust me, we didn’t inherit anything from my dad. We sold what we could in order to cover funeral and attorney costs. Don’t bother sending me a bill two years later, there is no money and it is extremely annoying.

Tags: estate probate