The Cursed Condo strikes again. We hired a chimney sweep to clear another item on our inspection resolution punch list. We arrived this morning, Saoirse in tow, and had a chance to get inside and look around before they arrived. The Mr needed to run to the hardware store for a tiny part to fix the garage door once and for all, leaving me and the puppy to wait for the chimney sweep. There has been the same pile of wood stacked in the fireplace for ages, I think since the tenant before the last one. I started pulling it out, shaking off some black soot crumbs as I did.
The guys arrived, and laid down a blanket to protect the floor. They set up a light, and immediately said oh, this fireplace is damaged. Probably not usable again. Did I still want to go ahead with the cleaning? I said yes, I'd rather they did the job, as I was required to have it by contract. They explained the damage to me. Someone built too big of a fire, I assume more than once, and it warped out the steel reflector sides and cracked the masonry back and base. Once I could see it with light, it was clear as day how bad it was.
I had no idea it was like this. I'm not sure I would have known what I was looking at without a professional explanation. I think I know which tenant did this. My daughter had to have it cleaned while she was living there and we were out of state, when the HOA sent notices around to get it done. No one told her of damage. The tenants who followed were younger, three kids economizing by sharing sharing place. They seemed like the type who would try to save money on utilities by heating the whole house with the fireplace.
So now that I know about this problem, it has become a material fact. Before I even left the condo I wrote the buyer's realtor, letting them know what we discovered. If they demand another concession, even though we are past inspection objection and resolution, we aren't even going to fight it. We just want this to end.
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