Yeah. People are really caught in the middle between individual homeowners coverage and the condo association coverage. All the allegations that are flying means the condo association insurance company has multiple excuses to drag their feet.
I’m just glad that it’s really not my concern (and really glad that I talked Serv Pro into leaving my kitchen sink). Other than some bare stud walls and half my kitchen cupboards gone, my place is fully liveable.
The immediate issue is the roof damage. The home owers are bypassing the property management company and hiring a roofer to inspect all 50 units, document the pick axe damage and do temporary repairs with tar to seal the holes. Many units are still leaking. Fortunately, mine appears to be dry, knock on wood.
Good grief, idad I’d be going crazy. Have they at least tarped your roof? If they haven’t tried to mitigate the damage in some way, their insurance problems will be exacerbated, I predict.
The ice is just about all gone on the hill finally, just in time for the dreaded Easter-weekend-chocoholic-slide McSon and his new gf seem to be looking forward to my legendary Easter bunny hiding skills, as they mentioned it at dinner Sunday. So I have a pretty god idea that they’re expecting a high-chocolatee-quotient weekend
The problem is, I’m great at hiding it but not so great at remembering where I put it, so there are chocolate surprises found months later, which has been a running joke with mcson and pals. The other problem is my willpower…if I find it, I’m also quite likely to eat it.
The whole thing will be a good deal more interesting this year as we’re hosting a tequila tasting dinner Saturday night with friends to share our 12-year barrel aged find in Mexico. So the hunt Sunday morning will either be a bust or particularly challenging, depending on how much tequila I “test”.
IDad, having been a condo owner who has dealt with water damage issues (and as a lawyer ), if you haven’t done so, you may want to get your own roofer to take pictures of the roof damage over your unit and an estimate for repairs. You should also get a contractor to give you an estimate for the interior repairs of your unit and put your carrier on notice. While I don’t know what your condo docs say, typically they provide that owners are responsible for repairs from the interior walls in while the association is responsible for the exterior structure. From what you describe, it sounds like there is going to be a battle over who has responsibility for what and that you will need to demonstrate negligence by the management company to shift the responsibility to the association’s carrier for your interior damage. You may want to join with the other homeowners in their collective efforts. What a mess you have to deal with!
iDad, hope everything works out in your favor and soon. What a disaster all the way around.
ohio, good luck with the diet!
kmc, I’d be happy to come help you out with both the tequila tasting and the chocolate bunny hunt. Our Easter will be low-key as D isn’t coming home and my mother has gone out of town so I can dispense with the “traditional” overload of food. We’re either grilling salmon or chicken.
Cardio + weights this morning. It’s supposed to get up to 48 degrees today, which is practically flip-flop weather in comparison to the past couple of months.
idad – sounds dreadful. And pickaxes on the roof? Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant move.
OK, I vote for the bus taking us all to visit kmc in time for the tequila tasting dinner + chocolate bunny hunt! As far as finding “surprises” in the spring after the snow melts – I’d much rather find chocolate bunnies than what we’ll be finding and disposing of for quite some time. (If you all remember, we have a dog. Enough said.)
I just rent the place, so it’s not really my battle. I have been in touch with my landlord on a near daily basis. Super nice guy. He lived in this unit for 13 years (it was originally owned by his girlfriend/second wife). They were at last night’s meeting (in fact, trying to steer it towards a simplified “action plan”. I went more out of curiosity than anything else.
He’s got his insurance sending an adjuster to do a separate estimate.The problem insurance-wise came up when the master condo insurance (that paid Serv Pro) sent their first adjuster to deal with individual unit repairs. The cost quickly kicked it out of the standard residential coverage (where homeowners insurance and condo owners insurance residntial adjusters can work with each other to get things moving) to a major disaster loss that is, apparently, treated differently. They can’t cut checks unit by unit, it has to be one master settlement which means a complete estimate of damages before anything can happen. And, the condo owners, as you suggest, need a basis for determining whether the master settlement is acceptable. The master adjuster’s first step is to prepare an overall estimate from Serv Pro’s detailed reports. That’s fine for a base-line condo unit, but does not account for units where upgraded kitchen cabinets (instead of standard cabinets) have been destroyed. The requested a list of units with upgrades a week ago, but the property management guy never passed along the request to the home owners board.
The fact that the property management company screwed up roof installation and ice dam removal means that the insurance company is going to go after them.
The home owners association is forced to hire a roofing contractor and a lawyer to operate outside the agreement with the property management company. And, initiate the process in the by-laws to replace the property management company.
I’m hopeful that the property management company (it’s a national outfit) will resolve the situation by getting rid of the current guy and putting in a “firefighter” to sooth some angry hoards and get things rolling.
Long term (i.e. this summer) the homeowners are going to have to do an assessment and replace the roofs on all 50 units with proper ice/waters shields and so forth. My unit has a new roof, but it was substandard work (no ice/water shield).
This is playing out times a million across New England. Most of the states have declared "emergencies’ because of the amount of ice dam water damage after this winter.
Right now, I just want it to warm up enough to use my basement gym! The dreaded airdyne is going to kill me!
Did an 8.5 mile run this evening after work, also a 3 mile walk with the dog (yes, I took a shower in between!).
ohiopublic-it’s great that you are being supportive of your brother and doing the diet recommended for him. How is his recovery going? Is he as fit as you are or was he carrying extra weight? It must be tough to deal with.
iDad-wow, what a terrible situation to deal with. As you say, they are dealing with this everywhere in New England. What an awful winter this has been!
MOWC - flowering trees - signs of spring, signs of hope! My son sent me a picture this morning of his campus (Washington University in St. Louis) with all the trees in bloom - it was gorgeous. I had almost forgotten what spring looks like!
What a mess, idad. That will be a snake’s nest of trouble to sort out blame and resolution. Did the people using the ice axes not think they’d puncture the roof? Hope your place stays dry. Relatives of mine in cold and snowy Wisconsin use electric heat tape on their roofs because of ice dams. Is that a possibility for you?
Finally, after building up the run/walk distances, I’m able to run some continuous miles again. I did my second 4 plus mile run of the week today. Yay! Low 80’s, lots of sun, and the heat’s supposed to build back up to near 90 in a couple of days.
I guess the residents should be thanking their lucky stars they have not used dynamite for ice dam removal! Eeek.
Ran 3.6 miles, but that does NOT count towards walking. Tomorrow will be a tough day - there might be some mid-week vino involved. On the upside, we will probably have a very low cal Easter - the 2 220V outlets and the water/drain lines are in, but Mr. decided to build bomb-proof shelves for the ovens. So no baked goodies for Easter - yay.
Yep, for those that don’t know today is National Walking Day. There are having a campus walk here where I work sometime around noon but I think I’m heading to spin class then…but I’ll get more walking in too!
Nope, didn’t know about National Walking Day. I guess I’m covered, though-- I did 4.9 miles of my run/walk. Plus H is off with the car now for the rest of the day, so I’ll be doing some urban walking to the Post Office, store, etc.
The Brooks sponsorship program I was in has ended for everyone, so no more big discount for me. I ordered bright pink Launches and bright tourquise Glycerins to have in reserve. I have 6 models of Hokas in rotation, too. I might have a shoe problem.
I did my National Walking Day. Up to Franconia Notch again for another one of my usual winter hikes. Up and down a little mountain, Mt. Pemi (Indian Head). Pretty warm and sunny (mid 30s), but the wind was cold near the top, so I hiked for a bit in a down jacket. Left the snow shoes in the car and went with trail crampons (that were essential). People in bare hiking boots were really sliding around! Still good snow hiking conditions.
McSon and his new gf seem to be looking forward to my legendary Easter bunny hiding skills, as they mentioned it at dinner Sunday. So I have a pretty god idea that they’re expecting a high-chocolatee-quotient weekend 
Tomorrow will be a tough day - there might be some mid-week vino involved. On the upside, we will probably have a very low cal Easter - the 2 220V outlets and the water/drain lines are in, but Mr. decided to build bomb-proof shelves for the ovens. 
So no baked goodies for Easter - yay.