From: Jan Flood
Hi Sandaidh, how is your house coming along? Think it was last fall you
posted pictures and was slowing down for the winter. Did you get a lot done
over the summer?
-----------------------------
There have been a few "setbacks" and delays, but it should be going again
here pretty soon. I'd begun work on the partition wall to separate the
bathroom from the kitchen, then fell on my stairs and sprained my ankle bad
enough that it meant a trip to the ER. Both the ER and my doctor said that
I'd have been better off breaking it as it would have healed better and
faster. That took over two months to heal up enough to be able to get up
and down off the floor without pain. Then I picked up a virus that was
going around the area and was sick for another month. Both of those meant
work on the house came to a halt. While I was still sick, I ended up in a
legal battle with my brother over a piece of property we inherited, and of
which we were co-owners. Note the word 'were.' The end result, other than
a bunch of lawyer fees, is that I sold him my half interest in the property.
And then came the problem with a "troublesome" neighbor. "Troublesome" is
being complimentary, believe me. He claimed he owns halfway across my
driveway. Actually, he still claims that even though I had a survey done
which showed otherwise. Between our houses, I asked the survey crew to put
some stakes on the property line so that I could put up a fence. They did,
and I ran some pink flagging tape between the stakes, making an flimsy
"fence" marking the property line quite effectively. About a week later,
the neighbor pulled out the stakes. I called the sheriff's department. I'd
already filed a report for harassment when he came yelling at me and the
surveyors (first day of the survey), and then came across both of my
properties to yell and scream at me, threatening to take me to court (I said
okay, as the survey company I hired would back me in court if necessary) and
so on. But...pulling up survey stakes is illegal (violation of Education
Law 3702 (9)(9)). He got slapped with a citation for simple trespass and
violating that Education Law. The survey crew replaced the stakes, and
now...my fence is up. And *that's* why I wrote asking about vinyl fences.
Back to the house - I've signed the contract, and made the deposit, with my
contractor to have a bunch of exterior work done (new roof, soffit and
fascia on the main house; bring the chimney down inside the attic and cap it
off; siding on the side of the back extension where the old garage used to
be; and fix back porch). This has to be done while the weather is good.
Then come winter, we can get to the interior work, like removing all the old
plaster and putting up drywall. There's just too much damaged plaster
really to try and save it.
So, now that the other 'dramatics' are done with (hopefully), the house can
move forward.
Sandaidh
sandaidh@localnet.com
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