Mr. 114 to the Rescue

It is obvious that neither Flunky nor Marty are going to take care of the issue for the house in Fultondale. I am rather annoyed, but that is for another blog. The main issue is that the home is situated downhill and that happens to be the direction water flows when it rains.

Even in the South.

Because water flows downhill, it appears (according to the tenant who is squawking about this matter) it is somehow coming into the home. At one time I had the house sealed and drains put in to resolve this matter. The person who did it was Mr. 114, someone I know, trust and believe in. I don't trust or believe in Flunky the Maintenance Asshat who is in charge of finding someone to re-fix this issue.

Now before you suggest the obvious: why doesn't Mr. 114 go out there and fix the issue? After all, he did it once before and the problem has come back. There are two reasons. One, the scope of work he did last time did not include this area where water is coming in now. Think of it like this: if a roof has a leak, and it is patched it can still leak somewhere else at a later date. In this case, when Mr. 114 fixed the first water drainage issue, he shored up other potential areas of concern. But he didn't have a crystal ball on what would happen seven years in the future. If a tenant happens to plant or move earth or doesn't clean out the french drains on the property, water can be diverted and go somewhere else.

As I am not there and only hearing this second-hand, I don't know if the tenant has caused this or if there is an erosion issue. Right now, because Flunky is useless and won't tell me where the water is coming in ("I don't know but I will ask the contractor.") Mr. 114--who does this kind of thing for a living and is familiar with this house--is of the mind that the water may be coming in from under the porch, a place that was shored up at one time, but if the tenant moved things around it could be an issue now.

The other reason Mr. 114 doesn't want the job is because he lives 60 miles from this house. However, he has been a wealth of knowledge. And for that, I am grateful.

To speed things along, I recently asked Flunky for a new quote for this work. The first quote was more than I felt was reasonable. Instead of actually, you know, finding another quote, Flunky quickly told me "that is the best he can do."

As this issue was starting to get out of hand, I called Mr. 114. I asked him what he thought of my quote. And, Mr. 114 even called Flunky on my behalf to discuss this quote. When Mr. 114 called me, he didn't mince words. He said, "I don't' trust him and your quote is crap." That's what I was thinking too.

Apparently, Flunky's quote calls for only 8 feet of drain to be installed (for $2000????). The house is longer than 8 feet. So, installing culverts and drains for 8 feet will only divert the water so far before it pools up, causing more damage. There are other issues with the quote too. According to Mr. 114 the scope of the work I am being asked to pay for will do nothing to resolve the issue and only make things worse. And according to Mr. 114 he told Flunky to get another quote.

When I spoke with Mr. 114 yesterday, he told me not to proceed (no problem there, I don't have that kind of cash right now). He said wait for the new quote and immediately send it to him prior to agreeing to anything.

I am good with that.