[PA318Guy]

The last few years limbs were starting to break and get caught on branches on the pine. This will solve that issue!

 

[PA318Guy]

That was more of a thud than a bang hitting the ground.
Quite the busy road, I had assumed you lived on a quieter street.

The state highway is pretty active as it is a shortcut for trucks going over to a highway that heads towards Buffalo NY or towards Central PA.

 

[APinNY]

Now you need some fill to replace the stump so you can level it off, but you may have to put that off until spring.

 

[PA318Guy]

Yes, I used the little topsoil I had left today to fill in the divots from the tree falling.

 

[My craftsman 917.27308]

I had 14 stumps ground up last spring. I ended up digging all that crap up and putting it around my evergreens. The tree guy had a Dingo with a cradle that he released and hooked up a loader bucket and used it to move the grind up stump material.

 

[PA318Guy]

Well, got the roof under contract, wasn't as much as I expected and I'm having them pull the two layers of shingles off as well and removed. Still waiting on the masonry quote and hoping that I'll be happy with it. Last contractor was at almost $30K for the concrete and brickwork I had him quote, so hoping that this one will come in at much less.

 

[PA318Guy]

Well almost $8K less for this brick/concrete contractor and he actually quoted two additional items one of which was pretty major.

 

[My craftsman 917.27308]

Sounds like something major. How much of the chimney they replacing? Also. HomeAdvisor.com maybe able to giver you an average price.

 

[Newsman]

I have found that places like Home Advisor, Angie's List and the (whatever) Pro "help" sites are either 1) interested in promoting their franchises or 2) have many bogus/untrustworthy reviews. Case in point a multi five star tile contractor my daughter hire to redo a bathroom made a mess of entire job. The sheet rock portion had joint tape peeling within two months and tiles popping in three. But the worse was when she came home and found the guy mixing grout in her special order dark red Kohler farm house style kitchen sink. And the sand and crap on bottom of the bucket ground circles into the paint. A thousand dollars literally down the drain. His response, "we always mix in the kitchen sinks You must have gotten a bad one."
And this guy was selected after many searches, an in house consultation and many promises. Needless to say they was a parting of the ways as the job was already a week and a half past completion date. There was a settling of accounts with monies returned for sink replacement and someone to come finish up the work. All in all, a bad experience. Like I told my daughter nothing better that asking for reference from local suppliers, others in the trades and actually calling references.
They just had some folks in to do work on their "new to them" home and I was talking to the contractor and he asked me who taught her how to hire? He said he felt like she was ready hook him up to a lie detector.
Guess it was a case of lesson learned.
MikeC

 

[PA318Guy]

Sounds like something major. How much of the chimney they replacing? Also. HomeAdvisor.com maybe able to giver you an average price.

They are re-pointing it top to bottom and a new top cap probably as well as I sealed some cracks in it a few years ago.

 

[My craftsman 917.27308]

Angie Lists and Home Advisor are just guides. Although I did found the cheapest tree man on those sites.

 

[PA318Guy]

Don, both have been approved and will be starting. I have looked at those online services and I can always beat those with a call to a local contractor, well except the first one!

 

[Newsman]

Angie Lists and Home Advisor are just guides. Although I did found the cheapest tree man on those sites.

Agreed, but many of the folks that use them don't realize that. In today's marketplace the target demographic for sites like those is the new homeowner, probably stepping up from a rental where the answer to their problems was "to call the super." They have little to no experience in home repairs or the how-to knowledge to find someone that does. So like everything else these days they think all the solutions to their problem is "online."
MikeC

 

[PA318Guy]

Brick work on my chimney is starting today!! Soon as they get below roofline then metal roofing company will begin, all the materials for the roof have been delivered already.

 

[PA318Guy]

Looks like they are taking the cap off:

 

[PA318Guy]

Apparently whomever did the original brickwork didn't have ties between the rows of stacked bricks on the chimney. So when they took the cap off the bricks started to spread as the only thing holding the bricks was the cap! Guy told me he's never seen one done this way and he's been doing chimneys a long time, to say he wasn't happy would be a huge understatement.

Well they got the cap poured and the covers back over the flues:

They expect to be below the roofline by tomorrow so that will allow the roofers to start either later this week or next!

 

[PA318Guy]

Woke up this morning to the roofers dancing around over my head!! They are planning on having one side of the upper roof done today, they are tearing off the shingles right now. I had two layers of shingles up there and wanted them off to see what the condition of the wood was going to be like.

 

[tiretrx]

Exciting stuff, Tim. New roof...........peace of mind. Not to mention how nice it's going to look. They doing the front or the back first?

 

[APinNY]

Do they have a machine to transport the shingles up or do they do it the old fashioned way, which is back-breaking?
Edit: Never mind. I see you are getting metal roofing.

 

[Newsman]

Do they have a machine to transport the shingles up or do they do it the old fashioned way, which is back-breaking?

Al, you must of missed the posts Tim did about building an extendable bucket for his 322.
MikeC