Downtime

Sorry about the extended down-time over here.

My wife and I bought a house, and this has brought a deluge of work and crazy upon us all:

First up, moving all of our stuff out of the apartment and into the new house. We have so much crap, I had no idea o_O

Second, finding out that all our gas lines were improperly installed. This moves swiftly along into a prolonged argument with the warranty company. We have gas leaks, and the gas company insists we get a plumber to fix it before they turn the gas on. I inform the warranty company, as undisclosed defects of this nature fall under their coverage. They politely send out a plumber to inspect the problem. He reports that the cost of repair is over $3,000. Suddenly, the warranty company is not so polite (the premium for coverage was only $400, and we've quickly become very un-profitable). They tell me that our claim is denied because the gas was already turned off (and thus must have been a pre-existing problem). I inform them the gas was turned off for termite fumigation. They insist on seeing proof. I fax them the fumigation report. I get a very confusing and short message from the warranty company telling me that the fumigation doesn't count because the gas company doesn't shut off the gas for fumigations (are they serious?!?). I have the warranty representative call the gas company with me on the line to confirm that yes they do. She tells me that they made a mistake and that if the problem is pre-existing, standard operation is for the gas company to fully remove the gas meter... therefore, they are denying my claim, since the problem was pre-existing and this is proven by the fact that I have no gas meter. I tell them that the gas meter was never removed. They request proof. I have them send a tech over to see the gas meter himself. They tell me the claim is denied anyways ("well, it's pre-existing and we don't cover that."). So I asked for a written denial of the claim so I can have it sent to an attorney, and hired my own plumber to fix the problem.

I finally have hot water and a working stove now, and the subtle threat of a lawsuit has inspired the warranty company to look into possibly re-imbursing my plumbing costs as a show of "good-faith."

So things have been insane over on my end, but hopefully I'll be up and getting my hobby on mid-August. I'll have to post pics of the new workspace inside the house, not in the garage anymore!! :)

Please pardon the dust and cob-webs for a bit longer until I get back in the groove of things