Once again the fire alarm went off, this time wresting me from the shower as I was getting ready for work. And once again a false alarm. This time it was painters in the lobby setting off the particle sensor while sanding. Even the only marginally compitent contractors doing the restorations after fire had the sense to cover the particle sensors when sanding and painting (unlike the plumbers who set the alarms off repeatedly while cutting, welding and soldering pipe).

Given that prior to my morning shower and my second cup of coffee civility requires a little extra effort, I didn't do a whole lot to hide my displeasure. I did, at least, avoid the use of explitives.

I've had the building I live in burn substantially three times now. That's not counting incidents like when a car caught fire in the underground parkade of a concrete building I used to live in, dumpster fires, minor kitchen accidents (inuding my own stove going up in flames à la "The Sims" once - that was fun - the previous tenant had spilled a great deal of grease into the space under the burners). In all three of the significant fires I somehow managed to come out with my things unscathed.

The first one was when I was still in high-school, living with my mother. In that one the fire was on the other side of the firewall from us in a different wing of the building. My mother, who has lived through things like V-bombs falling on her neighbourhood and tanks battles in the streets, was not ready to abandon the apartment unless the fire jumped the firewall. She sealed the door from the inside to keep the smoke out and we had esacpe ladders ready (we were only three stories up). When it was all over ours was the only apartment without smoke damage. The hallway had changed from white to black and it was quite odd walking through that every day to go to school. For several weeks we were the only people living in the building. That fire was caused by an old man smoking in bed and falling asleep. He died in the fire.

The second fire was in the artists' live-work warehouse conversion I lived in Gastown. Someone on the second floor forgot about a pot on the stove and went out. The contents of the pot caught fire, it somehow spread to the counters and cupboards, and the apartment was gutted. The buidling was concrete and had sprinklers so the fire did not get far, but the vile black smoke from the burning particle-board and plasic in the modern "fire retardant" cupboards filled the second floor and all the upper floors. And of course the water from the sprinkers, when they finally kicked in, flooded the apartment below. Only my apartment and the apartment beside mine on the first floor were spared both smoke and water damage because the building, prior to its conversion, had been a cold storage warehouse and the floors were ever so slightly sloped for the sake of melt-water drainage. We were at the high end of the first floor in the area that once housed the administration offices.

The third fire was just over three years ago in the building I'm still living in. The fire itself did not spread much beyond source apartment and the hall beyond, but like the previous one, smoke and water damaged almost every apartment in the building. The entire fourth floor and all the apartments immediately below the one that burned were rendedered completely unlivable. kitsune_13 and langsuir were the only ones on the fourth floor to get their pets out alive, all the others died either directly from the fire or from the smoke. It was weeks before anyone was allowed back in at all. And like the previous one, I was spared damage by a quirk of architecture causing the water to flow around my apartment rather than into it. I don't really know how I was spared smoke damage when, even though the fire was on the fourth and uppermost floor, even the basement suites were smoke-damaged. Only my apartment and the one immediately below it were suitable for immediate reoccupation once power was restored to the building, and even at that the one below me did have some very minor water damage in the bathroom. Like the first fire, for quite some I and the old lady downstairs were the only people living in the building.

When the fire alarm goes off, I take it seriously. Even though this is the 6th or 7th false alarm within the last two months, every one gets taken seriously. The cats get put in the carrier and taken outside every time (which is getting more difficult now because they now bolt for hiding places as soon as the bell goes off). My patience is at an end for these things. I love our old apartment, but if these false alarms don't stop, it's time to move.

I'm shaking at the moment.

A few weeks ago the superintendent warned us that they going to be sealing up all the bay window openings except one. I told her in no uncertain terms that I was not going to cooperate. A couple days ago we got the notice that they were coming to do the work, so I have been working at home today waiting to defend my apartment. The workmen just came by. I told them, "No." They protested that I legally had to let them in. I told them that I've read the Residential Tenancy Act and no, I wasn't going to let them in. Tempers started to rise. They said that it was a liability problem and that if someone fell out of my window it would be my problem. Well no shit. If someone slips in my bathroom and cracks their head open, that's my fault too. Will the landlord be sealing my bathroom door, too? I'm not going to be sealed into a glass and brick bubble for the sake of hypothetical clumsy guests. If it is my liability I accept it. What's next? Am I going to have to bind the hands and feet of all my guests, have them wrapped in bubble wrap and rolled in on a dolly lest they stub their toes, catch their fingers in a door or bump into a wall? No. Enough. This isn't the straw that broke the camels back, this is a whole damn bale of hay. No more "improvements". No more "renovations".

Maybe if I had received acknowledgement for the letter I sent three months ago about the inconveniences and loss of use of areas of the apartment I might have been a bit more cooperative. If I had received the refund I requested for the inconveniences to date I'd have been a lot more cooperative.

I told the workmen that they can make the changes after I move. I told them it wasn't their fault, they don't know what all has gone on since the fire, but, sorry, they were not coming in. Eventually they got tired of arguing with me and moved on to ruin one the apartments upstairs instead.

If Elaine and I get evicted for this, then so be it. I don't want to live in an apartment where the windows don't open.

Apparently they are not directly responsible for the crap job, so says the the guy who just called me. The shitty job was done by their guys, but working directly under the direction and payroll of the building owner. So just because the guy who did the crap painting job on my balcony was wearing a Barclay uniform doesn't mean he was working for Barclay at the time. So, basically the guys from Barclay are being contracted by the owner, are blatantly not giving a shit about the quality of work they are doing, ripping off the owner and making their regular employer look bad in the process. OK, kids, say it with me: "boondoggle."

I am fed up. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the idea of painting something to make it look better? I just went out on the balcony to have a look at the paint job the guy did Monday on the door and window trim. It looks like utter crap. In fact it looks worse than it did before they painted. None of the holes are filled, none of the nails sticking out were pulled. I couldn't see any of this until now because they also put another coat of deck paint on the balcony and it wasn't dry enough to walk on until now. Fuck. I knew I should have sanded the wood and filled the holes myself. Then I wouldn't have ended up with ( this )

I had a long talk with the super about the crappy work being done. Nonetheless, I do believe I will forward these pictures to Barclay "Restorations".


Addendum 0402162318:
I mailed the same pictures, complete with sarcastic comments to the owner of Barclay Restorations.

They are removing the rest of the fire-escape today, as you can see here:





Which means that they will be starting to attach the new one soon. I was speaking to the super about it this morning and I am not at all enthusastic about this. They are going to have to rip holes in the plaster of the wall of the room where my computers live. This is going to mean a lot of dust, probably some power outages, and may necessitate moving my desk. If you have seen how my desk and how it is set up you'll know what a pain in the ass this will be. It's a large, old desk that I inherited from my father to which I have added a hutch. It sits on 10 cm high blocks to raise it to a level that is comfortable for me to work at so it isn't just a matter of sliding it over. Also making sliding it over an impossibility are all the cables for my gear, many of which don't have enough slack in them to move that far. Moving my desk a metre will mean several hours of disassembly, recabling, and reassembly - all to be repeated when I move it back. When I was freelancing I would have charged $90/hr for this kind of work. I should bill the people at fault for this.

And of course the fault here lies with the crappy "restoration" company (Barclay Restorations) and their apparent inability to plan, well, anything. They've known for a year that this needed to be done, and it could have been done a year ago before all the apartments on the north wall were plastered and painted. The apartment the fire was in and all the apartments below it, the apartment across the hall from the fire (above ours) and the ones below ours all had to have all the plaster removed because of smoke and water damage. Now that this has all been done they will be ripping holes in the plaster they just finished putting up and painting. Our apartment and the one above us were vacant for months after the fire (ours was vacant for four months, the one above for nearly a year) so holes could have been made and fixed a year ago without inconveniencing anyone other than the guy in the apartment across the hall from Nat's old place (who has since moved out and someone else has moved in). Now all of the 8 apartments affected are "finished" and occupied.

After 16 months of this I'm getting a little fed up. Looking at their website they claims their "project managers are very organized and efficient" yet I see no evidence of this. They have claimed ignorance in working on a building as old as this one yet the website brags about having restored Hy's Mansion after a fire and having restored that brilliant old building at Nicola and Beach. To me it appears they are milking the insurance money as they do almost everything twice and cut corners where-ever they feel they can get away with it.

Watch my cam right now. They are cutting the fire escape off today and you can see the sparks flying past.

(Update 12:03 p.m.)
And if you missed it, here's what it looked like:

Sparks!

(Update 12:22 p.m.)
And now they are doing my floor:

Sparks!

The fire fallout continues. Starting next week they will be replacing the fire escape. Unfortunately the room I use for my office/den/computer-room is the one against the fire escape. Today I'm going to have to try and move things around today to clear the wall they will need access to.

I'm really not enthused about this at all.

Yesterday I got a call from the super asking if the "restoration" people could work on the balcony some more today. In addition to all the resurfacing done in the fall they are now resurfacing the balcony walls. I was assured that it would only take a couple of hours and not be a problem. The guys doing the work came by just before I left for work (which is a good thing, because rather than leaving a note as I planned, I was able to speak with them and ensure that they are not to be careful of the plexiglass since last time someone "looked" at the balcony $60 worth of plexi was broken). Looking at the cam I can see that they are sill working. It's close to seven hours now since they started. This concerns me. I expect they have probably fouled something up.

They've been installing the new carpets in the hall, a week later than they said, but whatever. As of yesterday all the floors exept ours had been done and the stairwell remains to be done. I'm hoping to go home to a freshly carpeted hall today. The colour they chose for the halls is a deep grey-brown; it's quite nice with the white trim and antique white walls. It will be nice to have the halls and stairs finished so that the interior will look nice and we can be done with the post-apocalyptic-chic.

Once the carpets are in the remaining restoration work on the building will be largely out of sight. The suite that burned and the one across the hall from it are still missing windows, but that's only noticable from the alley side of the building. Everything else remaining to be done is inside those two suites and the row of suites immediately below the burnt one (including Natalie's old apartment). But even those are nearly done.

Following that, perhaps overlapping a bit, there will be an upgrade (not a restoration) to the lobby. The long-ago closing of the oval light well, the addition of the elevator, the addition of a fire door, and an expansion of suite #1 (where the previous owner lived) left the lobby a little odd. The remaining pillar is going to be reuinited with its mate that was removed for the expansion of suite #1. That second pillar floated around the building for several years as people used it for decoration in their apartments. It's amazing that it was never thrown out and it was on the 4th floor during the fire and was saved when most everything else was thrown away. The now redundant fire-door on the first floor will be removed and the two pillars will flank a restored archway that was filled in for the fire door.

The fire was October 18th last year. For the first time since then people will be living on the 4th floor again come this October. Nick and Sandi's old place, the one beside it and the south-east corner suite have been rented. The people who are moving into the southeast corner suite on the 4th floor originally put their deposit down to move in last November, just before the fire. They have waited this long to take the apartment. That, I think, really says something about how special this building is.

Water damage on Natalie's ceiling shortly after the fire.

The same ceiling as of August 16th (all the pictures from Natalie's old apartment were taken August 16th)

Natalie's bedroom shortly after the fire.

The same room August 16th

( Five more from Natalie's old apartment taken August 16th )

And then there is the fourth floor, where the fire actually took place. Looking around this afternoon I was surprised by how much actually has been salvaged, considering how badly damaged everything was.

The dome, just after the fire.

The dome today - completely replaced.

The living room wall and ceiling in Nick and Sandi's old place just after the fire.

The same area as above, today.

( Eight more of Nick and Sandi's old apartment, which will have a new tenant come October and the anniversary of the fire )

I have more from some of the other apartments on the fourth floor to post later. And, yes, I still have a ton of pictures to post from New York.

I was just chatting with one of the bosses from the "restoration" company and he answered a lot of my questions about the terrible work without even meaning to. He was coming out of my old apartment and we talked briefly about what was being done in there. I mentioned how much better the bathroom looked and he said, "it's still terrible. Upstairs I got to do a complete makeover but down here I have to work around the old stuff like this tub [referring to the 100-year old, 7' long, clawfoot tub] - I'd rip it out if I could. And up there I could cover up these old windows [referring to the windows to the light-wells]." This is a restoration company? I asked him why he would want to rip out the tubs and he said it was because of the shower assemblies, that the old tubs weren't designed for shower curtains. I presume by that comment that the tubs on the fourth floor have been replaced with modern fiberglass pieces of crap, probably with sliding plastic doors or some such. Certainly not "restored".

I want to go up an see now and take some pictures. If I run into Janice I'll ask her.

I'm so glad we took this apartment when we did rather than waiting for one of the "restored" apartments on fourth floor like I had orginally planned on doing.

A few things that seem to have been forgotten in the 20th century:
Minimalism is not the only style, nor the best style.
Cheaper ≠ Better
Newer ≠ Improved
Popular ≠ Tasteful
Almost as good ≠ Good enough

I came across a couple of articles about the fire today and saved them as PDFs.

This one (34 KB) is meeting minutes from the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services Citizen's Advisory Committy. It doesn't say much other than a mention "that 51 people received assistance from the Disaster Assistance Team after the fire on Bute/Georgia."

This one (84 KB) is much more interesting. It's from the Vancouver Courier and it's about the guy on the 4th floor, Brandon, that kept the fire from spreading before the firemen arrived.

Tomorrow will be exactly nine months since the fire, things are still a long way from normal in the building.

The hall in on our floor. The ceilings are finally done and they have begun to paint. The walls were primed today.

( Third Floor Hall )

I got onto the roof! This is the burnt corner of the building. You can still see the scorching on the brick above the window of the room where the fire started. The black raised square to the right is the new cap on the old light-well. It's done quite differently than the older caps

( More of the Roof )

A touch of the building's former glory. This is the banister for the stairs between the fourth floor and the roof. Having seen old pictures of the building where there is clearly a railing around the roof and looking at the quality of this banister it's pretty clear that at some point, decades ago, there must have been a roof-top deck. Back when the building was a hotel it was the highest thing around for some distance and would have had a spectacular view.

( More of the Roof Access Room and Elevator Machine Room )

( And some pictures of the apartment across the hall )

And this last one is to give an idea of how much more there is to go. This is the stairwell. It has only just been drywalled. Come the 1st Anniversary of the fire they might be done.

And just wait until tomorrow when I get a chance to post the pictures I just took from the roof just after sunset!

This is the apartment across the hall from us, directly above Natalie's old apartment at the time of the fire. All the plaster and slats have been removed from the walls to repair the water damage (the fire was two floors directly above). It looks pretty cool, I think. It's almost a shame to cover the brick up again.

This is the kitchen in the apartment above Nat's old place. Clearly this isn't as far along as the living room, but look at the old ice-box! This one has never been painted. The one in my old apartment had been painted over, and the one in our current apartment is missing the door. I hate to see brilliant old bits of the building like this disappearing, but at least Janice and Jason are being tasteful with what things are replaced with. The sink and toilet they chose for our apartment, for example: they spent the extra money to get Edwardian-styled ones that are entirely in keeping with the building. You'd never know they weren't 100 years old.

I tried to take a peek at the fourth floor yesterday to see how things are progressing up there. Unfortunately it is locked off. I did get to go up there with Janice and saw all the apartments before the restoration started, including the one that burned. I wish I had gotten pictures of it all.