Fritzy 22's Journal, 29 November 2021

That sounds SO stressful Fritzy! We all cope with stress the best we can and, unfortunately, for many of us it is through food. Keep venting to us if it helps - we can listen and commiserate along with you. Stay strong! 

I'm sorry Fritzy all this has happened to you, I will say a prayer for you.  

I am sorry your going through all of this sending you lots of prayers 🙏 God bless 🙏 🙏 

Fritzy, make sure they know you know about sending mail to your state representative, any elder abuse organizations in your area and consumer fraud in general. also let them know that you will be happy to write a letter to the state attorney general if you feel you're getting ripped off and that this was a bait and switch job.  

I'm sorry to hear about your problems with your house. I have found getting work done under the house is frustrating. The contractors and workers depend on the fact their work can not be easily observed. You have my prayers also. Hang in there...  

you should also look into concorbian mold control spray which is what my plumber had me use when I had my water leak. you can rent a mister and treat the site for 24 hours. it's about $40 gallon and the rental is about $50 day. 

Fritzy, so sorry you are dealing with a company that is doing this to you! I'm sure it's frustrating, to say the least. Keeping your wits about you is the smart thing to do. Kat offered some excellent tips and advice. I hope it all works out. 💕 

Is it Black mould???? ---- just spray it with 100% white vinegar --- the vinegar is absorbed by wood -- and it kills black mould ---- so it will NOT remove the black mould BUT the mould will be dead --- white vinegar is the only thing that works - it is absorbed by wood and kills black mould --- and white vinegar is dirt cheap. 

That is a ridiculous charge for that job --- that is nothing but outrageous and ridiculous. 

Never insulate under floors .... vapour barrier heavy gauge plastic all of the ground and vapour barrier (tar paper works) the exterior crawl space walls and then plastic ---- never insulate a floor - only insulate exterior walls ..... and vapour barrier (plastic the ground) and never run any vapours of any kind - cooking stove or dryer into any crawl space or attic ......never vent fumes into any crawl space. iF YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH YOU LEARN EVERYTHING BY YOUR OWN ERROR --- YOU HAVE TO LEARN FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S ERRORS SINCE YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME IN LIFE TO MAKE ALL OF THE ERRORS YOURSELF. 

You have to "tell them what to do" --- they do not come to your place and tell you what they are going to do to your place. That is an outrageous amount of money to charge for that. 

The "new age" states - do not use "tar paper" - Bulls*t - that stuff works forever and is bug repellant and no breeze passes through it either way --- you just staple onto wood crawl space walls - and put up your fibreglass insulation and then plastic over top of it ---- make sure you cover all of the earth with plastic --- and include some vents for air passage to resist humidity buildup under the house --- and if you have to - you can put a small electric heater under there.... leave the crawl space ceiling/bottom of your floor --- bare --- do not put anything on it. ---- Get someone in there to spray all of the wood with vinegar - undiluted --- it will smell for a while but it kills all moulds and it dissipates in short time --- then dry it out really well before you vapour barrier --- even spray the dirt with vinegar - if you have dirt. 

That is right .... I was once a contractor for ... anything --- that was once me - crawling in the dirt - like a snake on my belly - dragging stuff behind me --- BUT I was younger then. 

I hope that makes sense to you ... what a situation that is. 

I agree with Jergens123. Sounds like the company is taking advantage of you since it's being covered by insurance. They think they can charge whatever they want to! And vinegar will kill the mold. I've used it before on black mold and vinegar stopped it in its tracks. 

Make sure they don’t put a contractor’s lien on the house either. You’re going to have to be very firm with them from here on. 

That totally sucks!! What a bunch of crooks!! If all they can do is raise the price they need to be reported!! Shame on them!! 

Thanks everyone for your comments and support. My "crawl" space under the house is huge, you can walk around most of it. The house is on a hill. My guest bedroom windows from the outside look like I have a 2nd floor - I don't, it's the crawl space under the house. From what I've been able to tell mold remediation isn't that big of an industry. In my area there is really no one to call. I did call a company who has a really good reputation and asked my insurance company about them. They came out about a month ago. The guy, who owned this particular office (I think it's a franchise) and several others in the area came out from Chico - which is about an hour and a half away. He looked at the area and said all the insulation was contaminated and had to be removed and there was mold everywhere. He mentioned sanding and power or steam washing and all kinds of things I didn't understand. He said he was booked out for at least a month and the work would take about 2 weeks. There is lots of drying and de humidifying that has to be done. He gave me a "ballpark" figure of $15k which I thought seemed crazy. Insurance doesn't pay even half of that. But from what I could tell, they are one of the best companies that does this kind of work. But I needed another bid at least. So someone gave me the name of the company I hired. I checked them out online and they also had very good reviews and seemed credible. Because of the holiday weekend I haven't had much luck in talking to anyone. I did talk to someone at the corporate office about the situation and was told they would have a supervisor call me this week. I also want to talk to the lady handling my insurance claim. She has told me they would pay for insulation (didn't say how much) and the max for mold was $5000. Apparently up until this year they didn't cover mold removal at all. I want to see if they cover water damage. Apparently the insulation had to be removed because of water damage. When the water pipe leaked, it was hot or warm water so there was condensation all over everything within 8-10 feet of the water pipe. The insulation was wet. I'm working on it. I'm using the figure from the first company as probably realistic and if I can get this 2nd company to that figure I'll go with that. 

I think my next home either needs to be brand new or a condo. Too much to deal with, especially with an older home.  

Oh man Fritzy, I hope the construction company straightens things out or maybe it will be time to call your local Fair Trading Office, hang in there, wishing you well🙏🏽💗🙏🏽.