The Wall

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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.  

 

 

 

 

Last updated: June 15, 2009.