Wildscapes

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When we were strolling through the remodeling exhibits we saw a booth that had Centurian Stone. I still had an axe to grind so went up and started to try to pleasantly explain our rock problem. This was the FIRST person that acted interested in helping to make things right. He listened to our pitiful story and said that should have never happened and said he'd talk to his boss and would get back in touch with us. We walked away hopeful, but past experience had us thinking this was another day of p*****' in the wind. But lo and behold, we were contacted soon after the show. The owner Jeff came out to our house, looked at the mess of the front of our house, shook his head and said it was a shame and he'd get it done and make it right. They'd stopped manufacturing our stone color combination but at Jeff's urging, Centurian went out of their way to try to match our old colors and sent us samples. When we finally settled on one that was close. We gave it a go-ahead. <p> We knew we'd have to pay for this, but Jeff , the owner, was able to get a break on the price of new stone from the manufacturer, sort of a customer appreciation nod. Jeff set up everything, we did nothing, other than taking a call for the "day of deliverance". <p> Those guys were here at the crack of morning on the appointed day. To make this right, they had to tear off all the old stone, metal mesh, skim coat, tar paper and back to the OSB board. They had to cut out a lot of rotten OBS, replace that, took out soaked and moldy insulation, pried off trim that was supposed to be rough cut cedar but found out the original trim carpenter substituted CCA in places. <p> Wildscapes had qualified, knowledgeable craftsmen show up, on time, one right after the other. Some of the guys were here from 7am to 7pm to make sure they got this done without having to walk off the site and leave it all sitting in a big mess. The owner himself was in and out checking with us that it was satisfactory and at times, even helping out. Flashing guy spent a long day detailing and hand-fitting flashing around the windows and garage doors, repair guy did his job replacing OSB board, rock replacing team started right away and did nice beautiful skim coat that looks nice enough to leave plain. The sides of every rock was ground to fit the rocks before it. As they were working Jeff showed us that in some places we now had five layers of protection between the elements and my house. They didn't bust up my landscaping, they cleaned up very well. In four full, no-nonsense days, it was like the fairy-godmother had come, waved her wand, and beautiful stone work appeared where there had been very shabby workmanship and probably 20% of the original rock was either off the house or just laying up against the skim coat as it had popped off. <p> . They came in very close to the cost estimate. I know my house will be dry, and hopefully, over time, our coughing and athsma symptoms diminish. We still have some inside repairs to do. Now our task will be fighting with Nationwide to see if they will cover any of this. They originally said no, but we're going to press forward with all the bills and pray a lot. <p> Angels work in the background and I think things were in place for us to stumble into the booth at Wildscapes so the wheels could be set in motion to save our house and our health. Thank you Jeff Marr at Wildscapes, Sean, Mike Meiron at Aristocrat, and the dedicated stone guys. When you all left Friday night, my husband and I walked out to the street to look back at our home and for the first time in four years, it was complete. No rocks missing, no rocks laying around broken, no holes....it looked like a home instead of a science project. I stood there and cried. It's been a long lousy journey, but someone finally stepped in and gave us a helping hand and made it all right.