Feb: Phil Rea while tearing down the front porch roof and
deck, backed their dump truck up to the side wall many days and threw debris
over and on top of the wall, causing it to break and seriously lean
towards the sidewalk. They refused any responsibility. Our lawyer
said suing them would not be productive and we should continue our
contract. After many days of acrimonious discussions, mediated by
the "good cop" Kathy, they did pass the situation on to their
insurance company. (Nationwide). See the Porch page for wall
damage photos.
Phil Rea's estimate for the porch repair was over $12,000. They
said their insurance would cover about $3000. No thanks. We
would use Sidney Pearce for the wall rebuild helped by a check directly
from Nationwide for $5000.
June 1: Sidney's crew came out with a fork lift and removed the
cast concrete wall caps and stacked them in our driveway. Many
pallet loads of bricks were delivered on site a couple of days
later.
June 3: The "claw" machine showed up to knock down
the wall. As they were positioning the claw next to the wall, a 20
foot section came tumbling down. There were lots of bricks to be
hauled away. The wall's foundation was leaning somewhat, but
the city would not let Sidney replace it. That would make the wall
"new" and not allowed by current code. Only
"repairs" would be acceptable. Sidney could work with
that.
During the knock down, a brick with the date 1966 was found. It
is likely the year the wall was originally built.
June 13: A crew of 8 guys put up the new wall in one long, somewhat
rain spitting day. Remaining work is a pressure wash and a section
of footing to be poured under the gate.
