One of the most interesting bits to hear would be about all the different workers and contractors that have come through the house. we have moved onto to getting mason quotes, because several weeks ago we discovered this:

On our side wall by the stairs. it didn’t look like that initially. first we saw squiggly lines. then the paint started bubbling, and it came off quite easily to reveal this. so we opened up our reference guides, and started making calls.

First up was a general contractor. we are still searching for an elusive point person that we can work with taking on renovations bit by bit. so this was an excellent excuse to contact another one, found via bloomingdale blog.

He was awesome. came right away. prompt. went up on the roof, didn’t find anything. went into the crawl space/attic and didn’t find anything. went outside, took a swipe at our mortar which just came out. so, from 1897 to 2011 our house stood with the same brick and mortar. it stood the test of time, but alas, the mortar reached its date of expiry, as it now allows water to seep through. ok, he took a sample of our mortar and promised to get back with an estimate.

Next up: mold remediation person – angies list. i think mold is the scariest part of all this, i am not quite sure, but it just sounds very dangerous and very expensive. but thankfully no mold. just moisture. for now. he also confirmed that the mortar is the problem.

On to the, estimates…

*Btw, we have had the most success sourcing from a combination of PoP and Angies List. I definitely get better feel for what I am getting from PoP reviews. But, Angies is useful when you can’t find references elsewhere.