On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:30:22 -0700, aspasia wrote:


I don't know why you haven't found someone interested in the job.
It should be quick and straight forward - unless there is some
condition you haven't mentioned.

No, my message was totally upfront.

Even upfront messages often leave things out. In fact, hardly anyone
gives all the relevant fact the first time they post, and it's pretty
frustrating sometimes.

Maybe the area where
I live is too "affluent" for a small job? Wish I shared in the
"affluence"!

Maybe. I live in the suburbs and it's not even a rich suburb by any
means. Yet when I wanted my car's catalytic converter repaired
instead of replaced, no one wanted to do it. (well I only asked
two).**

So I drove 5 miles away, closer to downtown, and the first shop I
tried was happy to do it. **** They did complete exhaust systems too,
but they didn't shirk from repair work. They took me right away too,
and did a good job.

Anyhow, repairmen have trucks and will travel. Maybe go to a hardware
store in your or a less ritzy n'hood and look on the bulletin board.

But look at the other things he has done. My ex-girlfriend has a
series of guys who work for her, cleaning out and/or painting the
units at the ministorage she runs, repairing the roof, even repairing
the walls when a car hits it (although maybe she hires a pro for
that.) So I needed my roof repaired and she gave me a name, I bought
a full 4x8 sheet of plywood but he just cut out a piece a third that
size that eventually I found was a bit smaller than the hole. I bought
tar paper and plenty of shingles, too. Instead of starting the
shingles from the edge of the roof and working in, he must have
started from the last good shingle and worked out, so there were 2
inches of shingle hanging over the edge of the roof***, and it leaked
just as bad after he was done as before. He chose the price, and he
could have chosen a higher price if time was the issue, but I guess he
just didn't know how to do better. I didn't know it was still leaking
when I paid him, and because it was a roof, I didn't watch as he did
it. In fact if it weren't a roof, I would have done it myself.

At my request he went up and trimmed the extra shingle off but still
left a ragged inch or half inch. Would have been so easy to start
from the edge and work in. I"m not disappointed in her, and I should
have gone to see other things he did. But I was in a bad mood, or I
would have had my whole roof done by a pro at that time.

***The shingles coming over the edgelooked just like the roofs on
homemade sheds and old run down houses. Is this a tradition?





****The pipe was cracking, an inch or two from the converter iirc.

So I drove 5 miles away and the first shop I tried was happy to do
it. One bead sealed it but he put on two beads all the way around,
and charged 75 dollars for a half hours work (still making plenty of
money) and I tipped him 10 dollars. Better than paying 400+. It
lasted 2 or 3 years until I junked the car.

BTW, is it legal to repair the converter? When it is only the pipe
that is broken?