There are no secrets in New Orleans

Met up with Lafitte the leveling guy today over at That Old House. He took a check from us, and said they'll start work on the chimney tomorrow and it'll be gone by the end of the week. The resulting hole in the roof will be temporarily patched until we have the roof extension put on. Gaping holes in roof during hurricane season make me a bit nervous, but at least the channel it will leave through the house is between two walls.

They start on the roof with a sledgehammer and work their way down to the roofline, then in the attic, then they'll go down to the basement and take out the bottom of the chimney. The last bit between the walls on the main floor will probably be knocked out from underneath, but if they have to go through the kitchen wall they can - it'll come out later anyway.

Why bother taking out the chimney? 16 crucial square feet in the kitchen, for one thing. The other is that the mortar is crumbling and it's not safe to use for its intended purpose, venting the furnace. Not to mention its unintended function of holding the center of the house higher than the rest of the house around it. At the current house, Chateau Danneel, we left a similar chimney stack in place when we redid the kitchen and I've always wished we just got rid of it when we could have.

Lafitte's family have been shoring up New Orleans houses for six generations - back to 1840. We were lucky to find him. When we were in the inspection period one week before closing on the house, I was madly trying to get quotes from contractors on what necessary repairs would cost. The leveling contractor recommended to us didn't show up for two appointments, and we needed a quote fast. Mr. Nola opened the phone book and called the first name on the list, which happened to be Lafitte.

When Lafitte came over, I walked him through the house, and asked if he wanted to see the basement. "That's okay," he told me, "I know the house."

He KNEW the house? It turns out that this was the very guy that the previous owners had called for an estimate. HA! This meant that I would have the same information as the sellers about what it would cost to fix. Aha! This, friends, is the nature of New Orleans. Everyone knows everyone else. Every contractor has either worked on every house, or bid on the job. There are no secrets.