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.........

Baby.....It's Cold Outside....

Sometimes being in the construction field can be inconvenient...

 Especially when we have to deal with and be slaves of the weather. The weather in New Jersey fluctuates from day to day and is about as inconsistent as a teenagers moods . Although we do have four beautiful seasons that we can always count on.  The summers are MY favorite, as I really don't mind the heat. Although, there were plenty of times that it was just way too hot to keep working. Most of the time our NJ. heat is coupled with humidity and that double punch is enough to make some of the toughest men fall out. And this kind of heat is not only bad for working outside in it, but it can also spell disaster for certain materials. For example, if we pour concrete on a hot day, it will dry way too fast. This is bad for a few reasons, first it makes it hard to finish it because it starts to harden and I've seen plenty of concrete that had to be ripped out due to this. The second and really important reason is that the concrete needs to cure slowly. It takes 27 days for it to completely cure. So if it's really hot outside, and it drys too fast from the heat, you can pretty much bet that you will get cracks in it. If I have no choice but to pour on a hot day, I instruct the homeowner to keep a hose handy and keep spraying the concrete, and ideally, keep it covered. That hasn't failed me yet.

The Spring and Fall are ideal to work outside, everything is in harmony (weather & materials). But this is the time when it's usually  windy here. That can also be a problem for concrete, because I personally have battled the attack of the leaves, or the mulch.

But it's the Winter that makes working in construction really unattractive........

 The good thing for me now is that I do pretty much all kinds of construction. I do additions, kitchens and baths, so if I'm lucky I can usually schedule these kinds of jobs for the winter months. But it wasn't always this convenient. Years ago I worked with my Dad, and it was all mason work period, and the work was hard but he was harder. If it was hot, we worked....if it was cold we worked (most of the time), if it rained we were soaked when we got home. He didn't worry about the weather, he just wanted the work completed. Which brings this one story to mind..........

It was a blustery snowy winter day in January.......

My alarm woke me from a really good nights sleep, I wrapped my blanket around myself and looked out my

I want to stay in bed!!

bedroom window to see that it was really nasty outside. This made me pretty happy because I figured that it being so nasty this early in the morning, that my Dad would let us stay in our warm homes. I wasn't going to call him because I really didn't want to hear the words "Well let's try and see what happens". But then I thought that hearing him say to stay home would somehow be rewarding. So, I called him.

"Hey Dad, have you seen the weather outside? it looks really bad" And as he replied, I cringed " I'm already waiting at the Diner, it's cold but let's try and see what happens" Just the words that I feared I would hear, and I thought myself an idiot for calling him.

So, I reluctantly got dressed in four layers of clothes and started up my little reluctant yellow Fiat, and headed off to meet my Dad at the Diner. I arrived and the wind was so strong I had a hard time opening up my car door. I got in the Diner to see my Dad talking to one of the waitresses. I tried my dramatic approach, and I sat next to him and while blowing my warm breath into my hands.

"Oh my God, it's horrible out there! That wind is crazy and it feels like fifteen below!" 

My Dad looked at me and said "Well so far your the only one who showed up, so maybe we'll just take the day off" I was ecstatic and I was about to get up and say goodbye to him when he offered to buy breakfast. Now, as far as I'm concerned there is nothing better than a breakfast at a Diner. To this day I sometimes stop at a Diner to have lunch and I love to order eggs over easy with sausage, and home fries!

This turned out to be a mistake. It wasn't that the eggs were bad or the sausage was burnt, nope....it was because as my plate of happiness arrived in front of me.....Uncle Paul came waltzing in! He sat down on the opposite side next to my Dad, and he tried the same dramatic intro that I had. My Dad offered him breakfast also, and it seemed his spirits had picked up a few notches.

The Best Breakfast!!

As we were eating he asked the two of us if we would go to this one job and work on the fireplace. He justified this suggestion because on this housing development the fireplaces were built inside the garage.

"You could bring the material inside and mix it in the garage. At least you won't be in the cold" My happy level went from a ten to about a one and a half. I should have left when I had a chance! My Dad took notice that both of us weren't too keen on this idea, so he offered that if we went in and got the fireplace above the ceiling rafters we could go home early, and he would pay us for the whole day. I was still not happy, but Uncle Paul accepted and he trumped me.

We were off in the snow and wind to the freezing wasteland of this housing development. We broke into the frozen top of the sand pile, and wheelbarrow-ed the needed materials into the two car garage. I got my tools and Uncle Paul mixed the cement. Even though we were inside, the new home was unheated and it was still COLD! 

We worked for about four hours in this freezing cold garage, and I had the block work up past the ceiling rafters. I asked my Uncle that since we had a full batch of cement, why don't we just stay another hour or two and get it to the roof. He reluctantly agreed, but he told me to hurry because he was loosing feeling in his toes and fingers. So I put myself into high gear and looked straight ahead and went to work.

I could hear my Uncle Paul moving things around below me. If I stopped and looked between the joists, I could see him, but I didn't want to waste any time, so I forged ahead. Then I noticed that he was gone, because I didn't hear any movement or his complaints of him having to get his toes cut off. I continued on, because I too was freezing, and I wanted to go home.

I smelled gasoline............

"Uncle Paul, do you smell gas too?" He said something, but I couldn't make it out because I was trying to move myself around to see what he was up to. As I looked down, I saw he had a metal cement tub on the garage floor, filled with scrap wood from the jobsite. He lit a match and threw it in the tub. WHOOSH!!... the flames almost hit the ceiling rafters! I shook my head in disbelief of how crazy my Uncle was....chuckeled to myself, and turned around to go back to work.

I wasn't going to complain or give him a hard time for this because I was now swimming in warmth! and it felt GOOD! The fire was going for about fifteen minutes, and now Uncle Paul came up into the attic area of the garage where I was because that's where it was the warmest. He was pushing me to finish up and I kind of agreed because the weather outside was starting to get even worse, and the snow was accumulating pretty fast. I don't know how I did it, but I was now going even faster, must have been the heat.

We were talking about his new Buick that he had just purchased when all of a sudden there was an

Okay, it wasn't this big....but almost!

explosion...KA BOOM!!!!! We were being hit with flying debris from every direction!!! Again, when things like this happen, somehow they happen in slow motion. It seemed we were being battered by this debris forever! I was shocked and had no idea of what happened. Then all was quiet. We scrambled to the ladder to see what had happened and what we saw was a hole in the middle of the concrete garage floor! It was where my Uncle had put the metal cement tub. This hole was massive.....it was about five feet wide, and about a foot deep. We looked at each other and we laughed, I guess because we were relieved that we weren't killed or we didn't burn the house down. We examined the hole and figured that because the concrete was cold and the air below it was cold, the heat from the fire expanded the air below the floor to a point that it had nowhere to go but through the concrete!

I again uttered those now famous words.......

"Oh my God Uncle Paul, my fathers gonna kill you!"

My Dad took the news surprisingly well, and we learned our lesson about building a fire on top of concrete.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Lets Build A Simple Fire Pit....that doesn't explode!

• Choose a location for your fire pit that isn’t close to trees, buildings or anything that could catch fire from a spark. A level location is best, but the design can accommodate a slight slope as well. Be sure there aren’t any underground wires, cable or pipes in your chosen location. Call 811 before you dig!!! Also, check with your city hall about fire pit ordinances in your community you may be prohibited by law from having an in-ground pit.

• Drive a stake into the ground where you want to put the fire pit. Tie a piece of string to the stake and cut it at half the distance of the diameter (radius) of your intended pit size away from the stake.

• Scribe a circle all around the stake and mark the line with spray paint. Remove the grass inside the circle and dig out the hole to a depth of about 1 foot (keep the sides as straight as possible).

• Pour in about 4 inches of pea gravel. If your fire pit is on a slope you can level the bottom out by adding more pea gravel to one side. The pea gravel will help the fire pit drain. Use the level to help you.

• Add about 3 inches of sand on top of the pea gravel – the sand will help prevent any fire from spreading to roots under your pit.

• Place your first row of bricks inside the pit on top of the sand. They will be anywhere from 0-2 inches higher than grass level. Stack the next row of bricks on top.

• Dry stack the pavers to make it easy to replace any that might break. Don’t use adhesive to hold the pavers together; it can melt and give off fumes that could be toxic.

• Fill it with some nice wood, and enjoy.......

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

Part 2: The Court Case And The Jeweler

If you missed it ....The Dishonest Jeweler..... Part 1 HERE:

So to recap a bit....

I was hired by a Dishonorable, Dishonest, Despicable, and Deranged jeweler to work on his 4 million dollar home in Flemington, NJ. After I refused to do work that was out of the scope of my contract and knowing that I wouldn't be paid for it, the jeweler asked me to leave. Weeks went by and I had not received the "promised" check, so I went to see him.............He told me that he was NOT going to pay me, and he turned to pick up the phone behind the counter...."I'm calling the police"   I don't know how I stayed calm at this point, but I went almost nose to nose with him and said, "Go ahead, call the police, they'll arrest you, because you're the thief! And just to give you a heads up, I'll see you in court"

So the following day I went to see an attorney friend of mine. 

We went over all of the paper work, and lucky for me I had pictures. He explained to me that I had a good case indeed and I should pursue it wholeheartedly. He told me that I could sue him for all of the extra work, and I could even sue him for unnecessary stress, and I should also sue him for having to replace my transmission because he neglected to plow the driveway. My friend was looking for blood. I said to him that I didn't want to sue him for everything under the sun, and since there was nothing in writing about the extras, I would just look like a fool. He somewhat agreed, and then encouraged me to represent myself in court.

So it was to be....I was going to be my own lawyer!

Luckily for me, my wife is very smart and helped file the suit against the jeweler, and we both looked into the legality of our claims. I was very confident that I was going to get my money from this crook. 

Two weeks went by and I received a certified letter from the jewelers attorney. I actually thought that the jeweler somehow came to his senses and decided to pay the money that he owed me. I opened the letter with an internal grin, and much to my surprise there was a court document saying that the jeweler was COUNTER SUING ME!! I was floored by the arrogance of this man, and it just gave me a heightened sense of determination to teach this man a lesson. 

The court room!

The day came for our court date and I was ready! The weatherman called for a very rainy day, but that morning it was just a light rain, and it felt good on my face as I walked to the courthouse. My wife and I went up to the second floor of the huge marble-laden court house, and found the room in which we had to wait for the first case to be over with before we could enter. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the jeweler with his attorney.....

The attorney was a small middle aged man, who was smartly dressed. It was obvious that the jeweler had pointed me out because right after I saw the jeweler whisper something to the attorney, the attorney grabbed the jewelers arm and they made a u turn and sat on the other side of the building. That just gave me a bit more confidence, not that I needed anymore because I was fired up and I couldn't wait to get in and make a fool of this guy.

We were called in around 10 am. The Judge asked "Mr. DiTaranto, where is your attorney?" I replied "Your honor, I will be representing myself, and I'm ready to go" This got a small chuckle from someone behind me. "Are you sure Mr. DiTaranto? because this case may be complicated enough to warrant an attorney" I explained to the judge that I had all the necessary evidence and paper work to proceed with the case. He smiled at me and said "Well then, let's begin! Mr. DiTaranto....state your case"

I was on fire and didn't miss a beat. I presented most of my evidence to the court. I explained that he kept making changes to the plans without confirming any compensation for these changes, and that the required space for the fireplace was in question, and it turned out to be wrong as per the architects letter that I presented......in which I repaired, again without any written confirmation of compensation. I told the court that he insisted that I do the work of his Architect, and his Framer, and his Roofer. I submitted pictures of the roof rafters, and the window that was too close. I also submitted pictures of the fireplace before I changed it to a herringbone design, and then another picture of the fireplace with the herringbone firebox. 

Not me.....

The Judge was impressed with the work, and made a statement "Nice work Mr. DiTaranto, maybe I'll give you a call sometime" He laughed, the bailiff laughed, I laughed, and most of the people sitting behind us laughed...the jeweler didn't laugh. I was finished and sat next to my wife with my chest out and my head held high, because I knew that I killed this thing. I felt like Perry Mason! I was totally confident that no matter what they came back with, they couldn't take anything away from my testimony.

That's when the lies and the drama began!

The attorney gets up and walks in front of me with a picture of the fireplace that I had built. "So, Mr. DiTaranto,.....so this is what you call GOOD work?! If you had done this for me I would have fired you also!" He ran over to the judge and handed the picture to him. 

"Your Honor, I'm sure that Mr. DiTaranto didn't or wouldn't show you THIS picture of his work! Look how sloppy the work is, there are cement stains all over the brick! My client, the jeweler has had nightmares about how he was going to live with this mans sloppy work!" He slowly walked back in front of where I was sitting and asked me 

"Didn't you realize that you were working on a multimillion dollar home, and your work was far less than acceptable?! I'm sure you understand that the jeweler just couldn't have you finish up there with THAT kind of sloppy work...WELL??!!" 

I looked him straight in the eyes, as he didn't intimidate me like he believed he would, and replied.

"Well Mr. Attorney (not his real name) I wasn't given the chance to finish the job, and that is not a finished product. You see, when the fireplace is completed, we wash it down with a light acid wash, which washes off any cement that may have fallen on the brick, and the finished product, which that isn't, would be beautiful!" 

He shook his head in disgust, and walked back to his table to pick up a piece of paper. " Your Honor, this man, Mr. DiTaranto, failed EVERY single inspection, and when he finally did pass the ONE inspection, it was party time for Mr. DiTaranto,. it was apparently such a accomplishment for this man, that he called my client to tell him that he finally passed, and demanded a check from him!...Isn't that true Mr. DiTaranto??!!" 

"No, Mr Attorney, that is 100% false! You see, I went to the township and got a printout of all the inspections that were performed on the jewelers house, and if you look under the heading of "Fireplaces" there were three inspections that were performed on said fireplace, and EVERY ONE of them passed!! And the only time that I asked him for a check was when we both agreed that I would leave his job."

Crazy attorney, drama queen!

The attorney slammed both of his hands on the table in front of me and yelled, "Mr. DiTaranto, isn't it a FACT that you built this said fireplace wrong, and you were forced, by the township to tear most of it down, and when you started again, you overbuilt it and had to take the exterior wall of the house down, therefore weakening this wall forcing my client Mr. jeweler to seek out an engineer to make sure that this wall was structurally sound??, WELL, Isn't that true Mr. DiTaranto??!!"

"No, again, Mr. Attorney, I'm not sure where your getting your "facts" from, but they're all wrong. I have the original blueprints here, and a letter from the architect stating that this space was NOT for a masonry fireplace, but a gas fireplace which requires much less room. Before I started the job I brought this to the attention of Mr. Jeweler and he told me that he was an engineer in Russia, and not to question his requests"

"Oh really?, Mr.DiTaranto, you claim to be such a great and wise contractor, and yet you rely on my clients interpretation of the codes??? I find this ridiculous!" He went back to his table, bent over and whispered something into the jewelers ear. The jeweler looked over at me and said "Why do you lie? I just wanted nice fireplace on my home. You make nightmare, and I can't even look at you!"

The attorney pulled a piece of paper out of his briefcase and claimed "Your honor, we have here a bill for the re-building of the fireplace. Mr.Jeweler just couldn't live with what this man had done, so he hired this other contractor to knock Mr. DiTaranto's horrible work and rebuild it the right way" As he went to hand the judge the paper, I broke in and said, "Your Honor, I find that very suspicious, because I was at the jobsite two days ago to pick up some of my equipment that I couldn't get to because of the snow, and my fireplace was still there and has not been touched!"

The judge asked Mr. Jeweler if that was true, and the jeweler stuttered, "Ahhh, well, I hired him to do this work. He has not started yet, but he will be there today" The Judge said that the bill was inadmissible, as was all of the pictures that they handed in. I was flying!! Then the judge looked over and said "Okay, let's break for lunch. When we come back at 1:00 we will hear closing arguments"

As we left the room, I got a few thumbs up from the people sitting behind us. My wife and I went for lunch at a local restaurant. We sat there and as I talked, she wrote down every word of the closing statement. We were so happy that our case was so strong, and we were totally confident of our success, that we hardly ate anything. As we headed back to the court house it started raining so heavy that we were completely soaked as we ran from our car to the courthouse. When we walked in the bailiff form our case was in the lobby, and offered us a towel. We gladly took it and thanked him, and he replied "you're doing a GREAT job up there!" I was so happy to hear this and asked him if he thought I would win the case.

"Without a doubt! But remember one thing...this judge never gives the whole amount, but you'll get most of your money, you can bet on that!"

We both gave our closing statements. Mine was sincere and heartfelt, his was dramatic, and pretty much all lies.

The Judge looked right at me and said "I want to tell you that I think you did a stand up job stating your case Mr. DiTaranto" And then he turned to the court clerk and said. "I have come to a decision. Mr. DiTaranto, your testimony was very good and I believe that what you said here today was the truth" I WAS GLEAMING! "The court finds in favor of you" My insides were cheering, and I looked over at my wife and we both smiled at each other in triumph.

Then the judge turned to the jeweler...."Mr. Jeweler, Your case was also strong, and I believe your testimony, so the court also finds in favor of you"...?????WTF????????? I heard gasps coming from behind me. I looked over at the bailiff, and he was also in shock, and looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in disbelief.

I was stunned and about to collapse on the floor, and the judge asked me "Do you understand, Mr. DiTaranto?" I'm sure that I resembled a deer in the night road staring at oncoming headlights, and I uttered, "Yes, I think I do..." 

The judge then explained what was going on, " you sued Mr. Jeweler for $6,500, and he won the counter suit which is $9,800.00, so you owe Mr. Jeweler $3,300.00. Do you understand?" In shock even more, I replied, "Well not really, but if you think that's fair then what can I say about that?" The judge hit his gavel on his bench "Case closed....bring in the next case"

As we walked out, the people behind us were saying things like "somethings wrong here" and "no way that liar won"....I agreed. The jeweler and his attorney were right behind me and the jeweler leaned over and whispered in my ear.."I told you, not to sue me....now you owe me money" he laughed. I turned around, and stopped him and said "Try to collect it, there was some really funny shit going on here, and you can bet that this isn't over". 

It took six appellate lawyers before I finally got one who was honest or brave enough to take the case, as he saw that there was definitely something fishy going on. We were thinking that the Jeweler must have had lunch with the Judge and maybe gave him a watch for his wife, or told him to come into the store anytime and pick something out. But there is NO WAY that two people can "win". 

Nice Roman coins found on  the Shores of Italy!
nudge nudge..wink wink (hint)

We won the appeal, but I paid for the lawyer and I never got a dime from that Crook, as "his company" had gone bankrupt again, but he is living comfortably in his mansion on the hill.....with MY brickwork looking him in the eyes when he comes down his winding stairs. 

Any time I get a chance I tell people to avoid doing business with him, because he's a thief! There is a hint in this picture....if you really want to know who this crook is! 

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

  

The Dishonest Jeweler..... Part 1

There will always be dishonest people....I'm sure of that!

Nice Roman coins found on  the Shores of Italy!
nudge nudge..wink wink (hint)

Over the years not only have I run into them on a personal basis, but I've also had my encounters with them in my business. Luckily, there were only a few and in my business I only got burnt by one. This individual which I would LOVE to name, but I don't want any legal troubles, was by far one of the most Dishonorable, Dishonest, Despicable, and Deranged persons I ever met, who I will call "The Jeweler". This man owns a jewelry store at the local mall, and a couple other stores in the area. He used to run a commercial on the local cable channel and his daughter says (even though it's obviously a sales pitch)......... 

"I will never forget the day he sat me on his lap and asked me if I knew the three most important things about being a jeweler.  Well, I was guessing all kinds of things, but all my answers were wrong.  He said, “I will tell you what my father taught me at your age: To be a jeweler, you need to know three things; be honest, honest, and more honest."

Now if that isn't a bunch of malarkey, I don't know what is! This is a man who proudly told me (after I started working on his house) that he went bankrupt seven times! Now if that's honest, then BERNIE MADOFF is a good businessman. 

So the story begins..........

The Jeweler!

It was several years ago I got a call from an architect that I had become friends with after doing several jobs together with him. He asked me if I wanted to do work on a 4 million dollar home in Flemington NJ. This was a good thing for me, as it was winter and here in New Jersey the winter can be harsh, therefore work can be hard to come by. I went to meet with the man who was a jeweler, but somehow now he was a builder.

He was a slightly overweight man with a heavy Russian accent...

He was on his cell phone when I arrived, and signaled for me to go ahead of him up the steep winding driveway to the house, which I did.  The massive building had already been started, and it seemed to be deserted. I parked my truck and walked around the house. I was so impressed at the size of this mansion. The front entryway was actually bigger than MY house!, maybe even double the size! I guess you kind of gain respect for a man who can afford such a Grand undertaking, and I began to wonder what must a man do to afford such a luxury.

I took notice that there was no one working on this house, even tough it was a weekday. The home had been framed, sheathed, the windows were in and roof was on.....but that seemed to be all. I went inside and took notice that there was very little plumbing work done and the electric had just been started. I started to fantasize that I could live in the attic, and no one would ever notice that I was there! I went back outside to look around, and the Jeweler drove up.

Not the house, but shown here for size!

We discussed pricing for me to do the massive amount of brickwork and the multilevel fireplace. He tried to tell me that he could get a "Mexican" crew to do the job for almost half of what I was asking, but I stood my ground and he agreed to my price, and we got started there the following week.

We started on the fireplace in the basement building the base. A fireplace is built in stages, and requires multiple inspections. That first day I noticed that the area that the fireplace was to be built in seemed very small and I told him of my concerns.

His reply was "Dominick...I'm engineer in Russia, don't tell me this...it is plenty big for you to build this fireplace!" I explained to him that he was now in the US of A and we probably do things much different here. I emphasized that I didn't think there was enough room required by the township. "Dominick....just go ahead and build fireplace...I will worry about how big space is."

I prepped for and got my first inspection.

 The first inspection was for the hearth and once we got our passing sticker we went onto the next stage. The next stage was to build the firebox which is where you build the fire. I personally made sure that the measurements were exact. I had the firebox about half way built, when the jeweler came in and asked me if I would move the fireplace over about three inches.

Firebox being built....A second time!

"Dominick, I'm not happy with the way the fireplace does not line up with the stairs across the room, could you move it over?" I wasn't happy because this part of the fireplace took a whole day, and I replied "It's exactly where it should be according to the blueprint, but if you want me to take it down and rebuild it, no problem but you have to pay me for that" He became a bit indignant and replied "Is everything about money? The fireplace is not center to the stairs, and you should have realized that!" I reiterated that it was an exact measurement as shown on the prints. I took out my tape measure and began to show that the fireplace was measured properly and the jeweler said,


"I don't care what the print says.....just move it and we will discuss payment later" He walked away and left the building. I went ahead and as per the jewelers wishes, took the firebox down and cleaned up all of the cement off of the firebrick. By now it was 4:00 pm. and it was starting to get dark, so we called it a day and cleaned up to go home.

That night it had snowed and we got about 14" of snow. 

 

We arrived at the property a little late due to the traffic, and we found that the very long and winding driveway had not been plowed. I parked my truck at the bottom of the hill and we carried our tools and a huge kerosene heater up that driveway, in the snow, which took us about an hour.


I got started on the new (moved two inches) firebox right away. I called the jeweler and asked him when the driveway was going to be plowed, and he assured me that he would have someone there by mid afternoon. Unfortunately no one ever came to plow the driveway. I worked hard all morning to try to make up the time lost because of the jewelers request. It was around 2:00 in the afternoon and the jeweler shows up. I greeted him in my usual upbeat way, and he complimented me in how nice the work was coming along.

Firebox with Herringbone Design.

He sat across the room just watching for a while. He tilted his head like a confused puppy would and in a matter of fact way he asked "Dominick, do you know how to do a herringbone design?" I replied that yes, in fact I did. "Is there any way that you would make the firebox in a herringbone design?" I became a bit frustrated by his comment and I reminded him that the firebox was almost completed AGAIN. "But it would look so nice to have the herringbone here." I told him he would have to pay for me to rebuild it yet again...."Always about money, you Americans are so spoiled!! Just do it...we will discuss later"

Needless to say I took it down a second time, and rebuilt it in the herringbone design.

There was too many things that went on with this job to put here, so I will try to condense the events.

• Because he never plowed the driveway, I ended up blowing my transmission on my truck while attempting to deliver my equipment to his job.  
• The third framer that worked on this house, and never got paid, came by and attempted to burn the house down.......he was talked out of it.
• I found out that almost every trade got ripped off after they worked on this house because when it was time to get paid, the jeweler would fire them for one reason or another.
• I found out that the area for the fireplace was not for a masonry fireplace but a gas fireplace, so, I had to take apart the exterior wall (behind the fireplace) and move (never got paid for this) it so it would pass inspection.
• During my third inspection, the inspector noticed that there would be no room for the fireplace to pass through the attic, and there was no hole cut into the roof.  

I phoned the jeweler and told him that the roof rafters needed to be moved, and that the attic window was too close to the fireplace, and needed to be moved and lastly the hole needed to be cut into the roof for the fireplace chimney to pass through. He started yelling, and said that I should do all of this work. I explained to him that I was not going to be responsible for cutting out the roof rafters, and he needed to get the architect or engineer involved. And also that I was absolutely not going to cut the hole in the roof, because one square foot of the roofing material was worth more than my truck. We argued back and forth about this, and I stood firm on my decision.


He tells me if I won't do what he asks, then I should pack up my equipment and leave his job. I tried to reason with him by telling him that I was hired as a mason, not a framer, or roofer, or engineer. He insisted that if I didn't do his bidding that I should leave. I was really upset at this because I had completed about seven eighths of the fireplace which took me almost two weeks, but at the same time I was relieved, and because of all the ridiculous requests and situations, I was almost happy to be out of there. I told him that would be fine, but he owed me 3/4 of the total price, and I would like to be paid asap. He told me that he would mail me a check, and that was all that I needed to hear. We left that job in a hurry, and myself and all of my men were happy to be leaving.


Four weeks went by, and yet no check arrived from the jeweler. I called him several times but he was never around. I finally decided to stop by his place of business, and when he walked into the store the look on his face was priceless, and he had the nerve to ask me what I was doing there! I told him that I wanted to be paid that day, and I wasn't going to leave without a check in my hand. He told me that he was NOT going to pay me, and he turned to pick up the phone behind the counter...."I'm calling the police"


I don't know how I stayed calm at this point, but I went almost nose to nose with him and said, "Go ahead, call the police, they'll arrest you, because you're the thief! And just to give you a heads up, I'll see you in court"

Come back tomorrow for Part 2: The Court Case And The Jeweler

 

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

Put out that damn fire!

As I said on my last post, there are plenty of stories from my own business.

I could keep writing for a couple of years just on the fun and exciting things that I have experienced owning my own business. Just to give you a heads up, not all of them are funny, some will be a lesson on morals, and some are just so hard to believe that I have to tell them. Obviously, since I've been in business for 25 years, it wasn't all bad.
With my mason background, I am well versed in just about all that is masonry. I started my business right after I got married, mostly because I had other people in my family that worked the trade, and I figured that I would never have to worry about not having any work. That didn't always work out. But I must admit I stayed very busy.....that is until the housing market crashed, which changed the face of construction.

This story goes back quite a few years.

 I was doing some work for a builder in Hillsborough NJ. He wasn't really the most honest person, but he did build a nice house. This one day in particular I was building a fireplace. Not many people know this but a fireplace is built in "sections" kinda.... First we build the base, this is the part that starts from below grade, and basically comes up to the first floor. Then you stop, get an inspection. Next is the hearth. This has to be formed, partially in the basement, and into the base of the fireplace, then you stop again for another inspection. You then pour concrete to make the base for the hearth, and the floor for your firebox. Now......well, I'm not gonna bore you with the details, but this was the part of the fireplace I was working on when this story begins.

The fireplace being built from inside the house

I was working inside the house building the firebox.....with firebrick. The outside of the fireplace was still low enough that I could see everything on the outside. I had two of my men working on the outside building up the brick, and one of my laborers was out there also. Oh, did I mention that the laborer was "Hank"? The kid who couldn't read a ruler? Well, it was him, he was still working for me (I'm going to heaven....just for this!)
Hank was responsible for making cement in my cement mixer, and making sure that the masons always had plenty of cement. A few words about the mixer we were using first. It was old machine....but with the proper care she was faithful. There were certain rules to follow when operating this machine. The one that applies here is when you were finished mixing a batch of cement you were NOT to close the cover on the motor, because it ran really rich and would backfire (like an M-80) when shut off.
So, I'm working in the house on this beautiful sunny summers day. I would look out every once in a while....just to look. I happened to notice that Hank was looking uncomfortable. He had kind of a confused look on his face. He would look over towards where the cement mixer was, and then look back at me as if to say something.....but he didn't. This went on for a few minutes and it struck up my curiosity so I leaned over to look outside in the direction he was occasionally glancing to. But I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He continued to look uneasy, and I finally asked him what was the matter?

"Ummm Dominick......I think the mixer's on fire" he stated in a shaky but low voice....."WHAT??!!! I went over to the nearest window in the house, and sure enough there was smoke bellowing out of the sides of the machine! I yelled to Hank, "Well don't just stand there......go put it out!!"

He was off in a flash, like he was running the 200 meter dash. He flipped open the cover and flames were all over the motor. He looked at me in desperation.....and I yelled from the window..."PUT OUT THAT DAMN FIRE!!" He says to me ....."With what??" "You have fifty gallons of water in that drum! get a bucket of water and throw it on the motor!!" In a mad rush, he grabbed a bucket, haphazardly dunked it into the barrel of water and threw it in the direction of the machine.....HE COMPLETELY MISSED!!!!!

For illustration purposes only, this is not Hank

I was worried that the gas tank might blow, so I was getting desperate. The house was far away enough that  if I ran out it might be too late, so Hank was my only hope (I know, lucky me). I yelled to him "Please Hank do SOMETHING........Throw some sand on it!!" I expected him to grab the nearby shovel, but he proceeds to bend over like.......like a dog that was digging a hole, and started to (I'm not sure how to describe this) well, he just bent over and was throwing sand at the machine through his legs!!!??
Luckily one of my other men heard the commotion, and ran over to the mixer, and put out the fire with a bucket of sand. It turns out that it was probably just in a nick of time, because on inspection of the damage, the fuel line was burned off......Hank was not allowed to use that mixer anymore, I gave him a hoe.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Fireplaces....

Over half of all U.S. homes (55 percent) have at least one fireplace, and they're ranked as the third most desirable feature that people look for when buying a new home, says the National Association of Home Builders.

But there are some things to keep in mind when owning a fireplace:

After a cold winter and heavy use,  you should have your flues checked for a buildup of creosote. If your flue or chimney are blocked by debris or contain cracks or leaks, inadequate venting can occur, and toxic fumes may seep into your home. Further, creosote, a byproduct of burning wood, can build up on the chimney flue and lead to a chimney fire. You can call a professional like D & J Construction to inspect and clean your fireplace. It's a small price to pay for keeping safe.

Another common problem is forgetting to open the damper, or closing it too soon after a fire. The fireplace damper should be opened before lighting the fire, and kept open until all ashes are cool. Closing a damper too soon, even if just the ashes are warm, can allow poisonous gasses like carbon monoxide to build up in your home.

But having a fireplace in your home is a welcoming centerpiece for family and friends and with common sense will bring many long lasting memories!

 

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