South Carolina is flooded. OK, not New Orleans flooded but we're up to our figurative knee caps in water here. It has rained seemingly non-stop since.....well, as long as I can remember! June was a record month for rain here. Part of the Augusta Riverwalk is currently underwater.
This isn't actually a river. It's a full to overflowing retention pond.
That's a peach orchard there on the left and a wooded area on the right...and that's water flowing freely in front of my F150.
Needless to say, with all the rain, our chimney repairmen have not been able to get back out to finish up the chimney we've been having issues with. They did pull out what some idiot had fashioned as a chimney cap....
This piece of board, covered with a tiny bit of cement....
and a few of these does NOT a chimney cap make!!!
It was unbelievable. That piece of board was not much thicker than the cardboard backing that Wal-Mart supplies with their bookcases. This is why the floor is rotted out in the parlor. Either some former homeowner was just too cheap to pay someone to properly cap the chimney, thereby compromising the original hardwood floors in the house, they paid someone to do it and got taken, or they were just too ignorant to know that this was not right. I don't know. Now, this....
...is a properly capped chimney. This is the third chimney that goes into the wall in the library....that apparently used to be the kitchen in the house. We look forward to pulling that wall down and either repairing an old fireplace or installing a new stove!
The entire time we've been in the house and dealing with the chimney leak, our parlor hearth has looked like this...
We are coming in to the deal too late to save the floor unfortunately. It was leaking long before we purchased the house. If you look in the lower left hand corner beside the red towel, you can see the wet moldy carpet. As soon as the leak is stopped, this carpet and padding will be removed and replaced. The flooring underneath will need to be removed and a new sub floor installed. "The cheap becomes expensive." Yes, I'm angry. Angry that someone did not take care of the problem correctly the first time and then did not do a proper repair when the original fix failed which allowed the damage to get this far. We have ordered a proper cap for this chimney and another cap for the other chimney will follow.
Yes, that's Vince on the roof with a storm coming. He's attempting to place a tarp over the open chimney to try to stop further water intrusion. It worked.
Another day...and a much safer way! Tarping an area of the chimney the workers have not yet repointed. The pointing was very weak here and this area may have been allowing water in also.
As soon as the cap arrives, I'll post some photos of it close up and the installation! I am happy to know that the repairs that this home has needed for years are finally getting done. I know my neighbors think I'm crazy! Have a great weekend!
Tiger says, "YAY! It's Friday!!!"
