If there was a less than 1, I would mark it. The Owner or one of them came to our home about a…read moreremodel job and said, "he would be back that evening with his supervisor to decide where they needed to start." I waited and waited and finally told my husband I was going to get a shower and if they showed up to let them know I would be right out. Well, I was and we waited and since he said, "he was having dinner down the road at his parents that evening," figured well maybe he was coming after dinner. So we waited until about 10PM and I tried calling him. No Answer-Went to voice mail. Now mind you, he had quoted $27. hour and I had been told that was a fair amount for the work needed. so I told him we would like them to let us know when they could get started and which area they would be able to start on 1st, because we had a lot of work to do and was desperate for the help because my husband had been diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and i had 4 major surgeries in 2019 and after the flood waters in Pope County, we realized our floors were beginning to sag! Oh, it was really bad! 15 floor joist had to be replaced- however, we had to gut the whole front part of the house ourselves and saved every little thing we could to re-use because Insurance was NOT going to pay for anything but the roof because of hail damage and insulation, some paint and sheet rock for the ceilings where the rain had gotten in and gotten the blown insulation wet. This caused BLACK MOLD IN OUR ATTIC! Thank GOD we were able to hire a couple of young men who weren't quite ready to be in construction business, but did try to do a good job and their Aunt helped out too. from the subfloor to the attic. had to be stripped. The subflooring had been burnt and covered with tile, and then tongue & groove flooring, the old kind like from back in the day! Thank God once again! That was the only thing holding us up all that time!!! OMG! They had told my husband there had been a small fire when he bought the house, but said it was just a small fire in the kitchen and didn't do much damage. Well, everything was covered, and he couldn't see or tell anything, so with the price low enough, he bought it.
Apparently the groundwater had been an ongoing problem, and again he didn't know it but every time it rained the yard would get pretty wet and have to dry out but he had no idea that it was damaging the underside of the house! It was awful! While the subfloor was up and they were putting in the new floor joist-15 of them had to be replaced and they sprayed all under the house for any further mold, spores, fungus, etc. and then they put up insulation and plastic to protect it from further damage. They did the same thing in the attic as far as spraying it. They did help remove some of the blown insulation before they stopped showing up, and we had paid them in advance because they were always broke, and I guess they figured since they had their money, they were done. But, they had worked hard so it wasn't so terrible I guess. But, while it was raining and they were standing there in between the floor joist putting up new ones, water started coming up around their boots!
My husband borrowed a friends backhoe and dug a trench and we put a French drain around the house leading the pipe out to the drainage ditch that water runs into from everywhere else too. We worked hard to get that done and get it all filled back in with gravel below and above the vented sleeved pipe but it sure made a huge difference. Well, in 2020 I nearly died after finishing pulling down that insulation and all, and I can only guess it was the black mold. I don't know for sure, and they never knew for sure at the hospital. It was during COVID, and I had symptoms as if I had had a mini-stroke and so many things that it didn't make much sense.
However, after this, I was so very weak and couldn't do much! And when I did, I would end up injured. Then he was diagnosed with Cancer and got so weak that he couldn't do anything, so we have been living between our shop and the master bedroom and bath. When we called to get some quotes and H.U.D. was going to help us at one point, but he was unable to work much. But, finally, he retired, and we took out a small Equity Mortgage Loan to get it done.
But we were going to do some of it and hire Griffin's to do the biggest part a couple of years prior to that, and after he came and gave the estimate, we agreed it was a fair price. We couldn't get him to call us back, and we couldn't get him to answer the phone no matter what. And we never understood WHY??? If he couldn't do it, didn't want to do it, whatever the reason, he could have told us. We are all adults. However, we ended up hiring a different Construction Company and are THRILLED to death that we did!!! They are WONDERFUL and yes, we have recommended them to everyone! So, Several people in the neighborhood have actually hired others as well. So not just us.
