The neighbor downstairs is on the HOA board, and he had the HOA board tear out my rear door and rear deck (ok, they’re not mine in the form of ownership, but there is something called a renter’s bundle of rights and as long as I pay my rent, the rear door and deck are mine.

The demolition, removal and replacement of the rear door took a week.

Demolition, removal and replacement of the rear deck took a month.

Again, never pay your contractors by the hour.

Also, during this time, I was (and still am) unemployed and had nothing better to do, so I checked the status of the contractor the HOA board used and has used for years.

Hm, that’s weird; HIS CONTRACTOR’S LICENSE IS SUSPENDED.

Now, I’m not an attorney, but I know that if my appraiser’s license was suspended, I couldn’t complete appraisal assignments, and I could be fined and lose my license (not that it matters much when there’s no work).

The pictures to the right (got it right 🙂 this time) show the condition of the subfloor and related framing under the stucco when the rear door and decking were taken out.

Again, I’m not a licensed contractor, let alone a contractor with a suspended license, but the pictures suggest the interior flooring at the door threshold, the subfloor underneath the interior floor and related elements seem to be pretty dry.

When I upload the photographs of the deck demolition, it will also a pretty dry area.

Actually, in my professional opinion as a Certified General Appraiser with 39 years experience, I’m pretty confident saying the wood underneath the interior floor and beneath the deck haven’t tasted a drop of water since the tree was chopped down and used for lumber.