A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
After the Christmas holidays, I was finally able to reach the contact person at the claims office. This time she said they still didn’t have all the necessary information, and would I please send the photos and the estimate again. I verified the email address and sent the information they requested again. I was beginning to wonder if this was a ploy to keep from having to pay me, or just how many times I was going to have to repeat this process before they finally received the email information, I was sending them.
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About two weeks later, with no other word from the contact person, I was surprised to receive a check in the mail for the estimated damage claim amount. Wow! I guess they finally did receive my information and someone actually followed thru with my claim. Will wonders never cease? I didn’t waste any time contacting the drywall contractor and setting up an appointment to have the damaged area repaired. That only took a couple of days to schedule, and the repair was completed without any additional problems.
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Upon completion of the repair, I mentioned that it didn’t look like the new portion of drywall was covered adequately, but was told that it would all look fine when the plaster dried. I really didn’t think it had enough plaster on it, but I didn’t say anymore because hey, who am I to question the guy that does this kind of work every day.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It’s a week later and really, does that look like there is enough plaster on the new piece of drywall to cover it adequately? I was originally told that the new plaster might not match the original plaster, and I was ready for that, but the plaster on the replacement drywall just isn’t thick enough to cover the new drywall. So now I have to get the drywall guy back out here to finish the job the way it was supposed to have been done the first time. Bummer!
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I called the drywall guy and it’s hard for me to believe what he told me. He said that it’s not that there isn’t enough paster, but that the new plaster and wallboard have to be painted in order to keep the paster from drying out and crumbling. Not knowing anything about smooth or skip trowel ceiling finishes, I was not aware that they had to be painted. Well, whatever; he is coming by to take a look at the repair and do whatever needs to be done to finish the job to my satisfaction. We’ll see how that goes.
Image Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/ceiling+repair
Well, as expected, the drywall guy never showed up, even after I called him several times. I had the same kind of problem with sub-contractors back in the 1980s when I was building houses with my father-in-law. The last 5% of any job is getting the “finish” contractor to do his part. I ended up many times doing most of that “finish” work myself, when possible, just to meet the scheduled closing date. So, I (not too happily) painted the repair area myself. OK, so I caved. I know I should have insisted on the drywall guy doing it, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of a tiny little bit of paint. Besides, I had already had enough trouble with this project and just wanted to see it done.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Well, finally the job is done, and we love the new system. However, this whole project has been what I call getting connected to a new high-speed fiber optic system THE HARD WAY! What do you think?
—–The End—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
What a crazy adventure! Glad it finally all worked out and you are enjoying the new connection.
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