
Serving Muskego, WI and surrounding areas
Approved
In business since 2015
Free estimates
Warranties offered
"My job was reconstruction of a large home chimney after a section of its field stone cladding crashed to the ground. The field stone cladding on the chimney is part of a 70 year old house that is field stone, plaster, and cypress wood paneling—a large “English cottage. This hard-working chimney vents not only the heating system but three large wood-burning fireplaces. It’s original construction, like the rest of the house, was to the highest standard as we learned when we finally got a look at the chimney’s interior tile which had been assumed in four work quotes to need replacing but was found to be in perfect condition (being twice as thick as tile generally used in construction today). While it was important to identify the underlying problem and repair it, I was a nervous wreck thinking about the importance of a superb cosmetic result if the integrity of a beautiful house were to be maintained. In addition to diagnostic error about the source of the moisture that was damaging the field stone, four contractors insisted that the only way to rebuild the chimney was to take it down and rebuild it from scratch. Only Tony was comfortable with the option of retaining the sturdy sections of the fieldstone (with new tuck pointing) and, using the old stones and re-grinding mortar to restore the rest. My idea was that preserving existing stone work would maximize the match of the chimney to the facade of the house. I can imagine, however, that contractors feared that a two-part chimney would not match to itself —which would be worse than a chimney that did not match to the house. That Tony was calm about technical challenges was part of what inspired my confidence in his expertise- and he happily delivered on it. T In contrast to Tony’s precise, pragmatic, (and frugal) approach, I felt other quotes were overly speculative, imprecise and cost-adding. I see two aspects to this: Pragmatic sequencing of work. We tackled the masonry repair first which had no drawbacks and had two advantages. It reduced the potential that further sections of the cladding might collapse —including potential harm of falling rocks (large and heavy). The rocks had already damaged shingles and the oak railings of a sun deck—and could endanger humans. Once Tony’s scaffolding was up and the condition of the chimney could be visually investigated, he worked collaboratively with a heating contractor (who does chimney linings) to diagnosis the problem— which was exterior not a problem with the lining. 2) Confidence in skill adequate to the cosmetic goal. I cynically suspect that doing everything (as in new construction) indicates either lack of confidence or, perhaps, motivation, to be parsimonious. Working with Tony was aa pleasure. He kept me apprised daily of progress. The work proceeded without any interruptions except for bad weather days. Each day I enjoyed close-up photos. I was particularly fascinated to see the reconstructed chimney before the last mortaring. In the end, I got the chimney I hoped for— the chimney is itself coherent (old and “new”) and blends well with the house. There is a new concrete cap on the chimney that overhangs slightly to protect against moisture. On Tony’s business letterhead *used for his quote and his invoice) is a logo that is hard to see except when enlarged on a monitor. I laughed because inset into the logo is a field stone chimney such as my job called for. Perfect. I’m wondering if buyers get their own customized stationary! I enthusiastically recommend this contractor for the easy jobs—and for the hard ones and to serve both high standards and value for money. P.S. (The expense of the service that I entered to this form does not included a reduction using an Angie's coupon"





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