Asbury Park Press, N.J., Press on Your Side column
By David P. Willis, Asbury Park Press, N.J. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"The house just shook and shook every day for four months," Iacobone said.
It would start at
Route 35 road work to stop for summer
One day, Iacobone, who has restored the inside and outside of his home and raised it after Sandy inundated his home, noticed what he thought was a water leak on his wall. After a closer look, he realized it was a crack.
In all, he discovered two four- to five-foot cracks the east side wall and a one- to two-foot crack on a west wall, according to a police report filed to document the damage.
Iacobone thinks he knows what caused the cracks. "It was the pounding. I know it was the pounding," Iacabone said. Every day, glasses in the cabinets went "bling-da-bling."
Filed a claim
He contacted the state
The repair work will cost
"I am not looking to beat the system," Iacobone said. "I'm not one of these guys that tries to take and take and take. I got
The claim went to
The letter he got back was not good news. The cracks were not related to the contractor's work, the insurer said.
"We wish to make a fair and prompt adjustment on the merits of all our claims, but in this instance, we do not feel that our insured is responsible for your damages," said the letter from a Zurich customer service representative. "We have conducted a thorough investigation of this claim, and we have not developed any information or evidence that our insured's operation or equipment caused sufficient vibrations to result in the damage which you claim."
Iacobone filed an appeal with the state
"Nobody wants to help the little guy down here," Iacobone said.
Why won't they review?
Press on Your Side reached out to Zurich American. Maybe officials can review the claim and give Iacobone a call about it? A Zurich American spokesman said the insurer does not comment on active claims.
Iacobone said no one from Zurich has spoken to him to investigate his claim or see the damage. His is waiting until the road construction project is complete before he gets it fixed.
And he's upset about it. "Yeah, I want the
So far, four homeowners, including Iacobone, have filed claims over the
In areas where construction may generate vibrations, such as driving steel piles into the ground, the contractor has installed vibration monitors on nearby structures, such as building foundations, said
"If the intensity of the vibration were above a certain threshold, construction would be resumed only after taking corrective action," Shapiro said in a statement to Press on Your Side. "Thus far there has been no need to take corrective action."
Not alone
Iacobone is not the only one who has felt the vibrations. Construction is everywhere along the Jersey Shore, whether it's the roadwork or people restoring and raising their homes by driving pilings into the ground.
"It's annoying but due to the fact that we all suffered in some way equally with Sandy, it's a necessary aggravation," Kohles said of the vibrations. "The house shakes. My dishes or whatever I have on the wall, shake. Nothing's fallen. Nothing's broken."
She's sad that it happened to her house after it was repaired. "Nobody's doing it on purpose," Kohles said.
She and her husband, Gary, are going to pay for repairs themselves. Their home's insurance has a
But there is an ongoing effort to find out the extent of the damage in
Resident
Workers have not yet started to rip up the lane of
He sent out a request to the community asking how the work is affecting their homes.
"As is normal in cases of this type, individuals seeking restitution have little success, however, if there are sufficient dwellings being damaged, a coordinated effort by those owners could be much more successful," Langdon wrote in a newsletter last month.
Do you have a consumer problem that needs solving? Contact business writer
MAKING A CLAIM
Contractors on the
Here's how to file a claim with a contractor's insurance carrier:
--Contact the
--Don't make any repairs until an investigator can come out and assess what happened.
--Claims are between the resident and insurance carrier as the
Source:
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