chimney tricks

When we did our pre-closing inspection on this house a bit more than a week ago, there was a single piece of paper on the kitchen counter. It was a bill from a chimney cleaning company, which was good because our contract stated that the former owner was supposed to clean it out.


The real estate agent took it, saying she would fax a copy to our lawyers. Being a n00b at wood stoves though, I wanted to actually speak to a professional person about our stove and chimney before lighting any fires. The cap on the outside of the chimney was obviously in bad shape, and on top of that I just wanted to hear that it was safe. So I emailed the real estate agent and asked her for a copy of the bill, thinking that it would be logical to talk to the same people that had already been here. With a bit of prodding she eventually sent it to me and I gave the chimney guy a call.

It turns out that there was a second page attached to the bill when he left it here - it even says on the first page "see attached sweep report". I told him we only had one page and he was a bit surprised. Since he remembered our house, he was able to immediately tell me that our chimney liner needed to be replaced, and that he had written that on the second page, which I had never seen because some scumbag of a person took it so that we wouldn't know there were any problems before the house deal officially closed.

Also: he hasn't been paid for his services. Ahem. I can think of a few choice words to use to describe the the previous owner. What a horrible person. (The chimney guy is not trying to hit me up for money owed, so don't worry about that - he knows he has to chase that other harpy.)

We are fortunate enough that we can afford a new chimney liner and it's not a hardship, so I'm going to try not to dwell on the unfairness of this situation.

And now for something completely different.

We went off to the hospital yesterday and the conclusion is that Mark has muscle strain. He was told to get hopped up on Tylenol 3 and go to physiotherapy, so hopefully his back woes will ease up in the near future.

Also, we've repaired the broken window in the bathroom!


With real glass and everything!


We also installed a toilet paper holder. I thought it was funny at the hardware store that all the packaging for those things say "paper holder", as though the manufacturers did not wish to acknowledge the holder's relationship to toilets and bums. "Paper holder". How delicate.


Anyway, finished product:


Next step: mirror for over the sink. But that will require a trip to "the city" and will have to wait until at least this weekend.

Afternoon project: scrubbing grubby handprints and mystery splatters off the walls, ceilings and baseboards.