So the chimney repair thing is slightly out of control. We had the drywall guy come in to put some holes in the walls and look for signs of damage or mildew or mold or dead bodies buried within said walls. As there were no major issues to be found, he started patching the holes that he created and threw some primer up over the creosote that had seeped through the bricks and caused some issues with the portion of the chimney that runs through the corner of our closet. The stuff just came right back through the primer, so the drywall guy has suggested that the only way to guarantee that it doesn't eat back through our paint is to frame the corner and put up real walls. This tripled the price of an already too expensive job. We were more than willing to pay for someone who knew what to look for to come in and make sure we weren't slowly poisoning ourselves with mildew. The new issue is another story. Seriously. We're talking about a major chunk of change, and lest you've forgotten, we've got a new car to buy in the immediate future.
Anyway, it turns out that we need to let the whole thing dry out for awhile before we do anything to the brick, so we're just sitting on it for a bit. It's the interior corner of the closet, and other than the inconvenience of having a lot of my closet stuff hanging out in the corners of the bedroom, it's not a big deal.
Now to freak M out. As Paul-with-Drywall (I like how I just made him a rhyming nickname) was leaving today, I told him about my conversation with the chimney expert about needing to let the bricks dry out thoroughly. He responded that as long as we could live with the mess, it was worth seeing if it would solve all of our problems. And then he added, "but you need to watch out. If any of you have persistent flu symptoms but don't have the flu, it could be caused by chimney gases leaking into the house."
Dang.
I've been sick for awhile, and even after a full course of antibiotics, some crazy illness has reared its ugly head again. I'm hacking up a lung over here. Now, I am confident that there are no gases leaking into the house. I am certain that there were leaky gases, but I am also certain that we've fixed the issue. So, I am attributing my illness to the fact that everyone is sick with one thing or another around here. I sincerely don't know anyone who lives within fifty miles of us and hasn't been sick in the last month, so really I'm not worried. It's just food for thought. Plus, I am curious to see if M totally flips his lid and starts making us all sleep in bubbles ala Bubble Boy.
Seinfeld image courtesy of Film Stew.
2 comments:
Oh, wow, yeah, that's a hard one. First, I'm SO SORRY this whole thing has turned into such an ordeal! I know from house ordeals. Second, oy. My husband would freak out, too, but I gotta tell you, I agree with you...EVERYONE is sick, and I know so many people who have been sick for WEEKS. Ugh. Just be careful. We're attached to you.
I'm pretty sure if you're concerned about "chimney gases" there are tests you can do that will tell whether this is actually happening BEFORE you agree to let them do more work on the chimney. Things like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide can be measured pretty easily to see if they are at unsafe levels when you're using the chimney. Don't freak out, M! Feel better, Ouiser fam.
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