Case Study – The Hoarder
In this particular case pictures tell the story best. The individual who lived here obviously had mental problems and was a hoarder. (the discovery of this situation was a blessing, the individual who lived here began to receive professional mental health treatment immediately after being discovered).
The contamination in this condominium was so bad that each day all the debris removed from the condominium had to immediately be taken to a refuse site. We removed 18,000 pounds of debris from this jobsite. After decontamination reconstruction began and the result was a beautiful condominium that sold within hours of being put on the market. It even sold for more than the asking price.
A few contractors had been brought in to give their opinion on the rebuild, all of the numbers exceeded the worth of the property. We were able to restore the property far below the costs from other contractors because of our knowledge based on restoration. Virtually all other contractors were going to remove the walls and floors down to the studs as well as the removal of HVAC etc. in the end this did not have to take place based on restoration techniques we have learned over a 30 year period.
The sale of this property in excess of the asking price, the same day that it was listed, is the evidence of how successful this restoration was.
Case Study -The Chimney #1
I got a call from a friend of mine, a wonderful custom builder, wondering if I had any suggestions on the restoration of an old fieldstone chimney. My contractor friend was rebuilding a cottage on Lake Ontario. This was a quaint, cozy,75-year-old cottage being turned into a charming retirement home for a newly retired couple. The field stone fireplace was being incorporated into the living area in the new design. Eventually, when the building was complete this outside field stone fireplace would be on the inside, a centerpiece, for the entire project.
Various attempts were made to clean the fieldstone, including muriatic acid, wire brushing, etc. Every attempt was disappointing and not satisfactory. We removed 75 years of creosote build-up, employing a high-pressure sand and water mixture technique making sure to not alter the patina of the fieldstone. The result was in a word, fantastic. This cozy retirement home now surrounds the fieldstone fireplace which adds a beautiful charm to the entire project.
Case Study - Chimney #2
One day, while painting the ceiling, a homeowner inadvertently dropped a gallon of white paint off his ladder. The paint splashed all over the side of his chimney as it hit the ground. The result was a very ugly chimney. The homeowner’s wife was an accomplished artist, a painter, and her artistic sensibilities made this accident a real disaster.Both she and her husband felt the only way to satisfactorily make the chimney look good again would be to tear it down and rebuild it! We were asked by the insurance company if anything could be done, no one really wanted to tear down the chimney. Actually, the chimney continued down into the basement area to form an additional fireplace in the basement family room. Consequently this small disaster was spinning out of control.
Property restoration often takes on unexpected challenges, especially when the homeowners are extremely fussy and very skeptical. However, as the pictures show we were able to provide an excellent result, completely satisfactory to the skeptical homeowners.
This job took a full five days to complete. The patina of the fireplace was a combination of mortar dust, rust, old paint and brick. The paint which had splashed on the chimney had to be removed then the process of re-finishing each brick individually could be started.
The end result was excellent and this project continues to be one of our proudest moments.
