Plumber finds more damage from roof replacement

June 1, 2021

Tammie Arend's hot water heater quit working a month ago. It had a warranty, but it took a while for the manufacturer to get a replacement to Lansing. A plumber installed it last week, but in doing so found that it was not properly ventilated. To find out why, he had to disconnect the ventilation pipes for the water heater and furnace that run up the chimney liner to the roof. The chimney extends 10 feet above the roof and goes all the way to the basement on the inside. It has the type of cap on it that prevents anything from entering it.

December 2019

May 2021

According to Tammie, what he found was that the chimney was completely plugged. He started pulling things out of it: shingles, sawdust, nails, short branches and leaves. He had to go up on the roof because the blockage was far up inside the chimney liner. He took off the cap and ran a garden hose down it to see if he could free the blockage. This didn't work, so he used a long pipe to to break it free. Then he went back to using the hose, which forced it to the bottom of the pipe in the basement where it could be removed. He is not sure he got it all.

He thinks the trash was put in there deliberately. There is no other way it could have happened.

A plugged chimney means that carbon monoxide from the furnace and water heater was coming back into the house. It could have killed Tammie if she had not kept her windows open for the last two and a half years because of the excess moisture in the house resulting from the improper roof ventilation and damaged and missing rain gutters left by the the contractor who replaced her roof in May 2018. She has been suffering numerous health problems from the mold, moisture and mildew, but never could have imagined carbon monoxide could also have contributed.

Chimney trash

Tammie says there are too many instances of damage done by the roofing contractor and his "so-called crew" to be coincidence or mistakes:

the flooded interior because they did not flash and caulk the chimney
the bricks tossed down the fireplace chimney that damaged the flapper and flue
they way they left the yard and drive full of nails etc that ruined 3 tires
the plumbing that was inoperable after they dumped drywall and concrete mixture down the sink
the damages to the interior
the hole punched in the attic walls that causes insulation to be sucked through the HVAC system
cutting the wire to her thermostat

I have written two previous stories on Tammie's situation:

Botched roof replacement ruins Lansing home, October 5, 2020

The persecution of Tammie Arend, February 28, 2021

She has initiated a lawsuit against the contractor, Frederickson Construction of Bath, MI, but so far he has not responded. She has asked the City of Lansing, which administers the HUD program through which the roof replacement was financed, to help her find temporary housing, but they will do nothing. They seem to be deliberately blocking any agency from helping her. This apparently is the way Mayor Andy Schor wants it.

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