Re: [gardeners] Re:Home Again
pennyx1@juno.com (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 28 Dec 2002 20:52:13 -0500
Marc, what you are describing is the same as insurance rules on
a leaking shower pan. They will pay to replace the pan and any rotted
timbers underneath, but they will not pay to re-tile the shower they
have just ripped apart!
The insurance thing is very confusing -- we had hurricane
damage a few years ago, and our insurance company was incredibly
generous. To start with, my attic was too warm. After 40 years on
the floor,the insulation had flattened itself and was not doing its job.
Therefore, when the ice (and snow) froze to the slate roof, the
underside of the ice melted down. The tar paper (or whatever that
barrier is) bled orange water down the outside of my white house.
What an unholy mess! Jim hooked up a garden hose to the kitchen
sink, and fastened some kind of 9 ft pole to the end of the hose,
and we ran hot water out and up to the roof line -- and holy toledo!
the dye washed off! We were very fortunate because in our anxiety
we neglected to photograph the bizarre scene, and the insurance
company (State Farm) allowed it anyway. We had bubbles coming thru
the dining room plaster ceiling, and water inside both kitchen windows
and frames. There was standing water in parts of the attic!
My regular house painters are European-trained and old fashioned
men proud of their trade. State Farm allowed them to repair and
repaint and rebuild every single request I wrote down. It was a
miracle...
We added fresh attic insulation just as soon as the area got dry, so
now that particular set of events cannot repeat itself.
Nevertheless, when my neighbor's 70 ft pine fractured in half and
came tunbling down onto my foundation planting, I had to pay the
$550 to have it removed. The law says if it lands in my yard, it's my
problem. Very ridiculous law! NOW Jimmie says that if the branch is
still attached to the tree but falls into my yard, the OWNER must
pay to remove it. We did not know that -- and it is too late to negotiate
a payment from the neighbors, because they have moved away ....
This week's Christmas snow storm has caused havoc in my area.
Gigantic trees have fallen into power and telephone lines -- and I
cannot believe how my tall shrubbery has been mashed to the ground!
If the local people have enough money at their disposal next spring,
the garden nurseries will have a boom year.
Penny, NY
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