The Old Glass In The Fireplace Trick....

Here is yet another story of a fireplace......(Geez I must have built a ton of them!)

This is another experience of where I might have been burnt for my money, but I used a trick that I had learned from an old school mason that I had once worked for. His name was Joe, and he was a very patient man. I say he was patient because when I worked for him I didn't know a fraction of what I know today. He was so kind when he pointed out my mistakes and calmly go over what I had done wrong and showed me the proper way. This may seem normal to some, but my experience with my Dad was the polar opposite. My Dad was and is an inspiration to me, but man did he have a temper.

Crazy Dad!! comin at me!!

My Dad was the kind of man that if you made a mistake he would completely freak out! I remember this one time when we were putting an addition on a grocery store. I was in my early twenties and I was just out of the service. We were laying block on a scaffold that ran the entire interior of the building. It was a nice warm summer day, and I had my little radio playing, when all of a sudden I hear (and feel) the planks rumbling. I stopped what I was doing to see what the ruckus was and saw my Dad running around the corner of the
scaffold towards me. I believe I soiled my pants just at the sight of this. He came running up to where I was working, and started kicking down the entire corner that I had just built. I took a step back and just watched in amazement, and wondering what I had done. He was screaming some sort of profanities the whole time, and when he was finally finished I asked him why did he do that? Apparently I had ONE block facing the wrong way, and it could have been easily repaired......so I quit..(I believe I hold the record for quitting)

So, working with Joe was a lot less stressful and I learned so much more because of his teaching methods.

So fast forward to (somewhat) present day. I was working on a housing development and one day this guy, Jeff pulls up in his brand new Jeep Cherokee. He told me that he was building a few high end (McMansions) houses a few miles away, and that his current mason had screwed up one of the foundations so bad that when he realized it, he never came back. Since I had a pretty large crew at the time, I took on the extra work. I figured that if I personally couldn't do the work I had plenty of subcontractors that worked for me at the time, that I would have no problem taking on the extra work.

We started on that foundation that was so completely out of square that we almost had to take the entire thing down to repair it.We completed that one, and went on to build another four. Getting paid from Jeff turned out to be a challenge. Either he was never at his office or when I did get a check it was always short. I reminded Jeff that I had helped him out by taking on the work, and reminded him that when we were finished, the job was in fact perfect. Jeff swore that he would be more reliable on paying his bills. I was a  little uncomfortable about doing anymore work for him not just because of his inability to pay on time, but I also heard a few things about how he was not to be trusted.

As time went by and the houses were framed, Jeff called me back to start the brick work and the fireplaces. I made it a point to sit and talk with him to explain that I couldn't wait a month for a check. He again assured me that he would be more diligent. So, we started on the brick front for one of the houses. When Jeff received the bill, he gave me a check right then and there! I was impressed and ready to bring in another crew to start work on another large house.

As my other crew worked on the brick front, I worked on one of the two fireplaces on the same house.

 It was summer, and perfect weather for laying brick. We were moving at a pretty good pace, and we were about three quarters of the way done, and Jeff became unreliable with his payments again. I had heard rumors at the local coffee shop that he was over his head, and although this did worry me, I had to finish because if I didn't and it came down to it, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on (as I was told by my attorney).

As I was getting closer to the top, Jeff the builder started coming around the job more often. I asked him repeatedly for my payment that was now two weeks past due, and he claimed that he was having a bit of trouble with his bank, but should have that cleared up by the end of the week. That was a bit worrisome because I would be finished by the end of that week, and I was afraid that if I wasn't there and seeing Jeff once in a while, I would never get my money from him.

So, as I got to the top of the fireplace.......I had the most wonderful thought......from a guy named Joe, who

Me so smart!!

taught me this little trick. I stopped early one day, and went to a local glass shop. I purchased a 12" X 18" piece of glass for about $5.00. The next day I happily climbed up that scaffold......with my glass pane, and skillfully and carefully placed this piece of glass between the last two flues. What this will do is prevent the fireplace from drawing, and it will NOT work.

We finished the job, took down all of our scaffold, and headed to another part of town, another job.
I was really worried because I had a very heavy payroll, and Jeff owed me quite a bit of money. I was actually in a panic every day because it was like Jeff had fallen off the face of the earth! He never returned my calls, and although my messages were beginning to teeter on threats, that wasn't enough for him to do the right thing and at least call me back.

So now every chance I got, I would leave my current job, and head over to the houses that Jeff built. It took about three weeks but finally I found him there one day. It had been so long that there were people living in the house that I hadn't got paid on. He tried to ignore me at first, by talking to the excavator, as I waited for him in my truck. When he finished, he made a dash for his Jeep, got in, and began to perform a K turn. I was not going to let him get away!! I started my truck, and parked it diagonally across the street.....he wasn't going no where.

I got out and walked to his Jeep, and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't smiling, which was why (I guess) he rolled up his window! I gave him a look like REALLY??, and he opened the door and came out. He actually started the conversation with an apology of why he hasn't returned my calls.

"I'm sorry Dominick, but my wife has been very sick, and I've spent so much of my time in the hospital with her" I began to feel like a fool, and I shook his hand in a sincerely warming way. And that's when he tells me that there is a problem with the brick front that we did, and he felt that he wasn't going to pay me until it was repaired. I kinda wanted to punch him in the face at this point, but I just had to keep my cool.

We walked up to the house in question and he pointed to the top of the house..."See that brick there?...it's crooked! How are you going to repair that? And I'm not sure if I want you too because the cement will be a different color, and" That's when I cut him off....."Are you F*n kidding me? I don't see any crooked brick Jeff!  This is BS, and your just looking for a way not to pay me, and that's NOT gonna happen. There are 96 courses of brick on this house, and your telling me that ONE brick is crooked?? C'mon, you could have done better than that!"    

We went back and forth for about twenty minutes, and he finally agreed to have a check for me the following Monday. Monday came, and he did have a check, but it was for only half of what he owed me. I know for a fact that he knew I was not happy about this. He "promised" that he would have the balance in two weeks. I had no choice but to agree to his terms.

About three weeks went by, and again I'm doing "the hunt for Jeff" thing. Then one cool fall night I get a call

Smoke is supposed to go out, not in!!

from Jeff. "Hey Dominick, your fireplace that you built doesn't work! You better get your ass up there and fix it, I don't care if you have to tear the whole thing down, I want it done immediately!" I REMEMBERED..... THE GLASS!!!! Now the ball was back in my court! And I replied..

"Jeff, I know exactly whats wrong with the fireplace"

"You do"

"Yep...but I will only fix it if you bring a check with you...I can be there tomorrow, and don't forget my check, Um....IN FULL!"

He now agreed to my terms. 

The following day, was cold and windy. I brought a extension ladder with me to the house in question. Jeff was there when I pulled in and I could see him talking to the homeowner. I got out of my truck and Jeff introduced me to the homeowner, who praised my work, and told me how happy he was with everything.....except that darn fireplace that smokes up the house. He looked at me with desperate eyes..."Can you fix it?" I replied that yes, I have an idea of what the problem might be, but I needed to talk to Jeff in private.  I pulled Jeff to the side, he handed me an envelope and assured me that it was all there...

"So how are you going to fix it? I sure hope you can because I don't want these people suing me" I told him
not to worry, as I opened the envelope to glance in at the check. It was there and it was in full! So, I then put my ladder up against the house, and I called to the homeowner to make sure that no one was next to the fireplace inside. After he confirmed this, I dropped a brick into the chimney, and amazingly enough it made a much louder crash than even I expected!

Not me

I made sure that the glass was completely gone, climbed down the ladder and looked Jeff straight in the eye and said "Funny, isn't it? why did it take something like this for me to get paid?" He was still pretty stunned but he was able to mutter these words..

"That, Dominick was the most clever thing I have ever seen.....The Old Glass in The Fireplace Trick!!"  He slapped me on the back and we went inside to clean up the glass and start a fire. The draw on that chimney was so good that you could actually hear the suction from inside the room.

I never worked for Jeff again.

TIP OF THE DAY: (light)

Instincts......follow them, you're probably right!

See you next time......from beyond.........

Don't be a Patsy......finale`?

Okay....where was I.......

Oh yeah....The medicine thing.

Read Part 1 here:

We went back into the house, and my helper was just finishing up "paint trimming" all around the walls. Patsy came in and started nagging my helper about how she was seeing some imperfections around the patch in the ceiling. She demanded that he "hit" it again, because she was paying a lot of money ($85.00) to have a professional job. He told her in a firm but respectful voice that he wasn't finish with it yet.....she replied...."you better not be!"

I was just about finished in the bathroom, repairing the toilet and Patsy appeared at the doorway and exclaimed to me,

"I hope your man is going to do a good job on that ceiling because I'm seeing some spots that need to be touched up"

I looked up at her and said "Patsy, please don't worry so much. The job will be perfect and you will love everything, I promise." she replied "I hope so" And then she continued her assault "You know that ceiling in the basement is damaged and I know that you are going to paint the whole ceiling, because it wasn't like that before you came here" I stopped her and said kinda firmly "Again, I wasn't the one who closed the shut off valve, but I will go look at it. I will paint around the area of the stain, but I will not paint the whole ceiling" and with that she stammered away.

I was off to the Kitchen to install the new Kitchen faucet. Patsy followed in my footsteps which reminded me of my yellow Lab, Roxy who is not happy unless she is under my feet when I'm home. I showed Patsy the faucet that she agreed upon and she questioned if it was the same one, and that she wanted "the best" and not any cheap junk. I smiled at her and told her it was the one she picked and it was a good one.

While I was in the Kitchen, she went into the bathroom to check the newly repaired toilet, and she yelled out to me "I hope this toilet is really fixed now, I don't want to be up all night listening to it running" I was at the point now that Patsy's voice became "background noise" and as much as I was trying not to listen, I heard every word. I finished the Kitchen faucet and started my way upstairs to the second floor bathroom....the one with the clear shower handles that she hated so much.

Patsy was in my path in a flash...."Where are you going?" I explained to her that I was going to start the repairs in the other bathroom. "Well, your not going upstairs without "booties" on your feet are you? I don't want my carpet stained" I calmly explained that my shoes were clean, but I would go see if I had any in my truck. I ended up having to go buy box of "booties" so I could work upstairs.

When I got back, I checked on my helper who was still painting the Kitchen walls, all while Patsy was there watching him like a hawk and making sure to tell him if and when he might have missed a spot. He looked like he was going to cry. I was kind of happy that Patsy didn't follow me upstairs but worried that my helper might do or say something to Patsy that I would regret.

I put on my booties and quietly  headed up the steps to continue my work. 

The first thing I had to do was to replace the old faucet which Patsy told me was installed in the late 80's. I took off the door to the vanity cabinet, to give myself more room and to avoid any more unwanted  issues with Patsy. I was having a really hard time getting the nuts off from under the vanity top because they had rusted themselves to the bottom of the old marble. Then I heard a voice....

"Are you going to finish everything today?" I pulled myself out just enough to see Patsy in the doorway of the bathroom. I told her that I was having trouble getting the old faucet off, and I would be back tomorrow as planned anyway. "Oh really??, I was really looking forward to taking a shower, and I thought you would be finished today" I explained to her that the work on the bathtub was not a small job and I didn't want to start it late or she would not be able to shower for sure.

I started picking up my tools, and I figured that I would try some "small talk" to let her know that I was in fact on her side. I had noticed that there were a lot of pictures around the house of who I assumed was her husband. And in all of my dealings with Patsy, I never saw him......So in a low, concerned voice I asked her
"How long has it been since your husband passed?" She looked at me with a smile and said "Oh he's not dead, but I wish he was, the Bastard. You see I had to take my Dad here to care for him and he was so demanding of my time that my husband came to me and said it was either him or my Dad.....I of course chose my Dad, and the son of a bitch moved out....that was fifteen years ago. He lives with his crazy daughter, as a matter of fact all three of my daughters moved away and every one of them are just as crazy as their father." I apologized profusely for my mistaken assumption, and she laughed and said that it didn't bother her, and again wished him dead.

The next morning we arrived at Patsy's and although it had drizzled a little overnight, there was a warm wind blowing and everything was almost completely dry. Patsy met us at the side door and told us that we should wear our "booties" because it had rained and she didn't want to ruin her marble Kitchen floor. We obliged.
My helper got right to work on painting the kitchen ceiling, and I was going over a few things with Patsy who reminded me not to forget to "fix" her kitchen table, and don't forget to paint the basement ceiling, and then she took a piece of paper off of the Dining room table and she wanted me to sign it.

"Since I didn't get your insurance yet, I want you to sign this and get it notarized before I pay you. Because if your not insured, we are going to have a problem." I was really not in the mood for this kind of BS this early in the morning, so I just turned away, took off my "booties" and drove off to my office to get my copy of the insurance certificate, so to put an end to the question.

I returned right away, and handed my insurance certificate to Patsy 

and jokingly told her she should frame it and hang it on the wall. With that I went upstairs to finish up.....I just wanted to be out of there. I took my position under the sink (laying on my back) and started again on my mission to release the nuts from the bottom of the faucet. That's when Patsy walked in and started asking me questions about the shower faucet and she hoped that I got the best one for her and (again) not cheap junk. I explained to her that I actually upgraded the faucet for her and although it cost me more money, she wasn't going to pay another dime.
"Well you BETTER not charge me more, after all I didn't hit the lottery...(NOT AGAIN!!)

I had to use a metal cutting tool to cut off the rusted nut (not Patsy) and I was startled by a light kick to my leg.

Patsy's true form....

"Oh my God, Dominick, did you crack my vanity top??" without getting out of my extremely uncomfortable position, I replied " How would I do that? I came in here and went right under the vanity, I haven't even touched the top yet" But she insisted "Well I washed this vanity just last night and that crack wasn't there!" I now pulled myself out from under the cabinet to get a look at what she was talking about. She pointed to the supposedly new crack and said,

"You see here, here it is. That wasn't there before and I would know because I clean this vanity every day!" There was in fact a small hairline crack, almost invisible, but there. Upon closer inspection I noticed that inside the crack it was grimy.  I pointed this out to her and she scoffed at my observation and replied "Well I've never seen this before, but if you say that you didn't do it, then what can I say, I guess that I'm just gonna have to live with it." Then much to my relief she stormed out and went back downstairs. I was so offended that she would accuse me of something that was obviously there before. I though that maybe she had a bad night and was taking it out on me, and I didn't like it.

I finally got the old faucet removed and I was just finishing up installing the new faucet when my helper came upstairs to ask me to come down and get Patsy off of his back. I told him to go outside and take a break and when I finished I would go downstairs to see what the problem was now. I went downstairs and patsy was in the Kitchen and standing crossed armed asked me if I thought that my man did a good job painting. I looked at the job, and I must admit, he did a beautiful job. I told her that there was nothing wrong with the job. She started to raise her voice and insisted that we put another coat of paint on the ceiling.

Now I'm beginning to lose my cool. "Patsy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ceiling." 

and she replied "I want two coats of paint on the ceiling because that's what the man at home depot said should be done. See over here....there is a spot that your man missed!" I strained to see a spot, but I saw nothing and I told her "C'mon Patsy, now your taking advantage of me and I don't like it. The ceiling is perfect." "But I WANT a second coat, if your not gonna put a second coat on, I'm not gonna pay you!"

Okay, this is when I lost it..... I looked over at my helper and started yelling "PLEASE just put another coat on the damn ceiling!! no wait....Paint ALL of the (GD) ceilings, because I'm sure that's next!!" I turned my attention to Patsy, and yelled. "Geez Patsy, I could see if you paid $1,000.00....you would have every right to nit pick every little thing, but YOU PAID NOTHING!!....and still got a great job!!" I told my man to just paint the ceiling again as I took off my "booties" and stormed out of her house while saying..."Patsy, you are ridiculous! and DON'T call me ever again!!"

I got into my truck and drove away, because if I stayed any longer I was afraid of what else I might say. I called my plumber and begged him to go over and install the bathtub faucet and spout. I told him I didn't care what he charged me, I just wasn't going back in that house. He was happy to save me from further emotional scarring and he got there within five minutes. As I drove to order the material for the next job, I realized that what I did was just a bit unprofessional and I started to feel bad that I yelled at her.

Nice Patsy again...Oh wait I mean Joanna

I got back just as my plumber was packing up his tools. I asked him how everything went, and he told me that Patsy was there the whole time and she had asked him a number of times of my whereabouts. I went in to give Patsy my bill and when our eyes met, she started to tear up and she apologized for being a "crazy bitch"....her words. I also apologized for losing my temper. and assured her that I have never done this to a homeowner before, and she was my first. She reached over and with tears in her eyes, gave me a big hug and a kiss on my cheek.

So, this is what a "love in" is....

Patsy handed me the check and told me how happy she was with all of the work and that I was such a good contractor. As we were standing next to the repaired dining room table, she pointed to a picture on the wall and said to me...

"That's my husband. You see HIS name is PATSY....and actually my name is Joanna. I just like his name so much I tell people that MY name is Patsy".....I almost fell to the floor in disbelief.....

Looks like I was the PATSY all along!!

 

Because of the long post there will be NO tip of the day :

OMG...It's Patsy calling again!

 BUT.....there is an update......Patsy....oh wait, I mean Joanna called my office and left a kinda nasty message that she wanted the clear handles to the shower......(the kind she despised). The following morning 6:30 am. she called again. I answered, and she first asked me why I hadn't called her back. Then she started insisting that she wanted the clear handles that came with the new bathtub faucet....I told her that I had thrown them away, as I had no need for them....She insisted that I still had them and she wanted them......the saga continues.......

See you next time......from beyond.........

Respect your elders...please!

I was taught at a young age to respect my elders.

As a matter of fact my mother instilled (sometimes with a wooden Dr. Scholl's shoe) many of my manners that have stayed with me until today. She was Sicilian and really acted like one! When she walked by us, we would duck......just a natural instinct. We were taught things like: "children should be seen and not heard" and "say please and thank you" and we were taught to eat everything on our plate, and not complain while doing it, or we would forgo our cheerios in the morning and get our cold dinner from the night before for breakfast.

I realize that she was just a bit extreme, but  there was value in the things she would beat into us.

So this post goes back to the job in Lambertville, NJ. My youngest brother (by 12 years) was working for me at the time. He had a way to make our day interesting....to say the least. We had just started the job, and as a matter of fact we really didn't do anything yet. This was going to be the first real day of the demo part of the job.
Because of the access to the back yard (where the addition was going to be) and the fact that the back yard was barely big enough for a small machine to fit there, I had to pay the town for parking spaces in front of the house so we could put the dumpster in the street. I had "no parking" signs made up and they were posted the day before to give the neighbors a heads up as to what was going to happen. I had a talk with my men the night before about what to do when the dumpster arrived because I had a meeting with the county the next morning and I was going to be a little late. I told them that if the dumpster got there before I did and someone was parked in our paid-for space to go to the door, and kindly ask them to move their car.

This is the actual dumpster!

I arrived at the job around 9 am to see all of my men sitting on the front porch, and no dumpster.  

I got out of my truck, and my brother exclaims:

"Man, you shoulda been here! Oh my God, there's a crazy old lady up the street, she's like 80 years old and she IS nasty!! I went over to her house and told her to move her car, and she went ballistic on me, so I told her that we paid for her spot and she better move it or I was gonna call the police. She got really nasty then, and we were both yelling at each other.....so I told her to shut her mouth and I called the cops right in front of her!, and guess what....they gave her a ticket! that stupid Bi*#%!"

I was not happy at all to hear this. I feel that when I start a job, especially a larger job, that I become part of the neighborhood. I need to get along with everyone, as I'm going to be there for a while, and I think of how I would feel if some contractor didn't respect our property.
So I asked my brother..."where does she live?"..... "Oh she's right up the street....over there" I looked over and saw that she was two houses up,....we didn't pay for that space and somehow my "no parking" sign was in front of her house. Now my blood began to boil...I asked who moved that sign? My brother confessed that he did it because he thought that the truck that was going to deliver the dumpster may need more room. Now I was having a really hard time controlling my temper.
"First of all.....THERE IS NO DUMPSTER HERE YET!, and second of all you had no right to move that sign. And most of all you yelled at this old woman???!!! I can't believe that you would put me in this predicament!! You should be ashamed of yourself....." He got mad at me and walked off to the back of the property.
It wasn't an easy thing to do, but I went over and rang her doorbell. She answered and started going off on me about how disrespectful my men were to her, and that she had every right to park in front of her house...It took about ten minutes to calm her down, and I promised that not only would I pay for the ticket, but that would never happen again. Turned out she (Helen) was the nicest person in that neighborhood, and we became good friends. Sadly, my brother didn't last too long after this incident, and I'm sure some of the neighbors were happy about that.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Dumpsters....

We need to do some spring cleaning.....like the yard, and the Garage, and finally get those never used things out of the basement. But how do we get rid of these things?? 

Actually your township should take most of it. Call them to see what they will take and if they'll pick it up. In most cases, you can rid of the majority of garbage that way. 

Dumpster in a bag!

But if not there is a really cool thing at some major home improvement stores now. It's the "Bagster" the dumpster in a bag! You buy one of these fabric containers at your local home improvement store for about $30.  Then, take it home, fill it with up to 3,300 pounds of unwanted material and call the number that came with it for a scheduled pick up.  There is an additional pick up fee that varies by locale.  The service is available in many, but not, all areas. Happy Dumping!

See you next time......from beyond.........