BaltimoreAnalog.com

Things are kinda crazy around here and I’m really busy but I do want to post that everything was completed.
I will be posting pictures soon and describing how it all went down.

In other news I got a Equitech 2RQ. This thing is serious!

I was almost going to write the ecstatic post but alas shit has gone afoul. I’ll get to the details soon but first I gotta get my hands dirty.

The contracts have been signed and after an extremely long time I can happily say the work is finally going to happen. Here’s what went down. After being frustrated by not being able to find somebody to do the work or at least do the work in a way that I thought would be lasting, I made one last attempt. I posted a very detailed description of my problems complete with pictures on a forum with many knowledgeable people. I didn’t know what to expect but I hoped that it would be something that I hadn’t thought of. It was. I was basically told 2 solutions. 1 solution was to use a product that was a liquid but when it dried it turned into bendable concrete. Even though this sounded good only 1 guy really suggested it but he also made it seem like it involved a lot of hard preparation. The resounding conclusion was to do “flashing” all the way around the house. Everybody seemed to agree that this was the way to go. Previous to this I had no clue what flashing was but I did some searches and read up on it. Basically it is when you cut a groove and insert a piece of sheet metal in it. You angle the sheet metal so it covers up the vulnerable point. This is most commonly seen around chimneys. So this IS my solution and it makes sense. They are going to cut a groove in between the brick all the way around the house and insert the sheet metal into it. The sheet metal will be bent down to cover up the cracks and when the rain hits it, it will just pour down the sheet metal surface to the ground. The groove will then be filled in with caulking. This may not look the best, to have a metal ring around the house, but I know it is THE best solution for the job. Sometimes you have to push aesthetics to the back so that the important things can be taken care of. After all is said and done my plan is to plant some bushes around the house and in a few years they will grow tall enough to cover the flashing.

After I got the news of what to do the next thing to do was to find somebody that would actually perform the job. I was told that I should try some waterproofing companies. I for one have always thought that these companies were scams but I’ve now learned otherwise. If they are good companies they will do foundation work, fixing cracked and bowing walls, installing french drains, and even leveling houses that are sinking. You obviously have to know your stuff to be able to do this otherwise you are just a company painting drylok in a basement. I kind of assumed that was what all of these companies did. I looked in the phonebook for waterproofers and there were over 8 pages of companies. The last thing that I wanted to start doing was basically the same process of calling, explaining, scheduling, meeting, explaining again and waiting for a price – for 8 pages of companies. I decided to find any company that had a website and email them a link to my forum post and see what they thought and if they could perform the task. I email 11 companies and got 3 responses. This seems like an accurate ratio. 1 company said to call his friend, he’s not sure if he’s licensed but he does good work and this job lo simple enough, but he would never recommend somebody that isn’t licensed!?!? I won’t even get into that one so needless to say I never called him. Then I received responses from 2 other companies. One came to the house and agreed to flashing being the best solution but said he doesn’t do that kind of work.. I actually talked to this guy for a while and even though he wouldn’t do the job he was very knowledgeable and helped me out a lot. The other guy who responded, read the post over and discussed it with some of his colleagues and then came to the house for a closer look. He agreed that flashing was the right thing to do as well. We discussed it and also talked about redoing all the concrete work around the house as well. They are going to wrap the wire mesh around the house and then reconcrete it. After that is done they will install the flashing. They were supposed to come today but it’s raining so maybe tomoroow or maybe this week depending on the weather.

Till soon…

Hopefully some news soon…

Ok, that was absolutely absurd. I don’t know what it is about these concrete people but they all absolutely refuse to believe that the water is coming in from where it actually is – above grade. No matter how carefully I explain this to them, they all ignore it and state the foundation wall is cracked.

I just had another company come by to give me an estimate. I explained to them the whole situation. They had another solution. They would run a wire mesh around the whole house and then reparge it all. I have heard about this before. You lay the mesh so the concrete settles a new way and doesn’t crack in the same spots that it has before. I still like the idea of using the epoxy to fill in the cracks. I mentioned that to them and they really didn’t know what to say except we’ll bring the boss (our father) back to take a look at the job. Fine, let the guy with the real knowledge come by and let me know what’s up. But it didn’t end there. They went on to explain ,”we’re going to have to waterproof your basement.” But I have a finished basement so does that mean your going to tear the walls down? No, we are going to break the entire concrete foundation 15″ out and then install a french drain, you’ll also need a sump pump installed. Also, I think you should remove all the grading around the entire house and we’ll pour concrete where the lawn is, you don’t really need plants growing in the ground, you can put potted plants on the concrete. Also, get some bigger gutters and another downspout on the opposite side, we’ll set it all up to drain directly into the ground and out the street. Whew! I’ve read about or heard all of these as options before from various people, but never all from the same person as everything that needs to be done.

Now the interesting thing was there were 2 of them. Probably brothers. One of the was the one who was talking the most saying all that had to be done. Every time he finished and I basically said, “that’s a lot of work”, the other would realize that maybe all of that wasn’t needed and say, “but we try to exhaust all of our options first.” Meaning, just do what I say is wrong and see what happens.

When will this end?

How many more contractors do I have to call?

This was contractor number 6.
I just want somebody to come buy who listens to what I say and has a good solution to my problem. Not what they think my problem is or what they think future problems will be. These guys kept saying that even if they fix what I say is wrong eventually the foundation is going to crack below grade and once water finds it’s way in it can’t be stopped. Very optimistic and a great way to scare people into buying the whole package.

I know it’s been a while. None of the contractors called back with an estimate and I got frustrated and took a pause. It’s funny that the economy is in such bad shape, people are out of work and yet I can’t get anybody to do this job.
I’m starting to call around again (this concrete grind) so hopefully things will get sorted out.

I’m getting frustrated with the concrete situation. One of the guys that came never called me back with a quote so I’m going to assume that he can’t or doesn’t want to do the job. The last thing that I want to do is chase after somebody, especially in such an important situation as this. The other guy who came that day game me a prrice which I really didn’t even think about. I figured that once I got a few bids in the appropriate price would become apparent by comparing and finding the middle ground. The guy called me the next day and left a message saying that he can do the job cheaper and that I should call him back. It seems like he (and a lot of other guys) just make up prices in their head. They act like they are making calculations for materials, length, width, time but they don’t hand me an itemized bill, just a piece of paper with a price. I think he probably quoted me high and started thinking about the other guy charging me less and got worried that he wouldn’t get the job. So as it stands I only have one bid. Another company was supposed to come and they never did. Today another one stopped by and I am waiting on an estimate from them.. They were talking about the possibiblity of a skirt around the house, which I have read about, but they want to talk to some people and figure out what would be best “so they won’t have to come back for 10 years” Hopefully I will hear from them. But still only one bid presently. The worst thing is the tape is starting to fall off the house. I know I sung its praises in the last post but it seems that it only stuck before because there was paint on the house and that was something for it to stick to. Now that is bare concrete it won’t stick…. it’s raining as I speak

In other news I took a long trip with my friends to New Jersey and purchased the most sought after Hip-Hop sampler/ drum machine…. more on that later.

Today I had 2 guys come by to give me estimates on the repair. They both arrived at the same time which was awkward. They were polite about it, one guy waited in the truck while the other guy talked to me.
I must admit that I really don’t know who to hire or what to do. I just want the job done right, so in this situation cost is not the priority. With that being said both of them seemed to know what they are doing and both had valid but slightly different approaches. I think that I need to hit up some forums and do some research for myself. It seems to me this situation can be attacked many different ways and with many different chemicals. A lot of construction people stick with the old familiar and because technology is advancing there are new and better ways to fix problems today. So I’m going to do some more research on my own, before I buy into somebody’s sales pitch.

It was funny, because they both warned me about the other guy…

Pain(t) removal is finally done! It took Bill 2 and 1/2 hours to remove it all. I’m a very picky person and I must say he did a good job.

Next up is getting it newly concreted. It’ll probably be a little while before I post again, so savour the pictures of success.