Home insurance.... [View all]

I think this may be the first time I've started a thread. I need to vent.
Background: I'm a widower and live alone in Tucson, kids are in Seattle and Phoenix. Seventy-one years old on a miserly SS plan. (That's what comes from living in a Right To Work state!) House is paid for. No debts. Mild physical disabilities...can't walk for long distances or stand for any great lengths of time.
I've had a homeowner's policy with one insurance company for over thirty years. Last year, they sent me a mildly threatening letter that informed me that my home was not up to their standards, and that it needed to be painted. They specified that the paint was peeling, and that the soffits were sun-damaged and peeling. Typical for Tucson. If I did not deal with these, my policy would be canceled.
Boom.
Never knew that insurance companies had arrogated themselves to the level of Home Owner's Associations!
To paint said soffits, I'd first have to replace them and repair the roof that was royally messed up by a fly by night contractor. Remember my comment about a pittance from Social Security? I was going to have to raise the money to pay for all of this, and do the work myself. While staying isolated.
By dint of some theatrical gig work, I scraped together the funds in October, helping a friend with the Halloween festivities in Atchison, Kansas. (Still managing to keep social distancing.) Back in Tucson, I turned on my old set-designer skills. Single-handedly cleaning all the old paint off my home and repainting the entire house in a truly spectacular manner. This took the latter half of November and all of December, because clambering on ladders is difficult and perilous for me. Not having the stamina that I had in my twenties and thirties, I had to work short hours then recover for a day or two.
To think: I used to do this regularly at theaters in my salad days. Not having a crew working with me makes for slow progress.
All this while, my Allstate agent would call to remind me that 1 February was the deadline, and the main office would motivate me with more ominously-worded letters.
As of today, 24 January, the painting is done. Somehow, in the next six days, I have to rebuild the soffits on one side of the house and get them painted. To that end, I've recruited an old friend from Burning Man. We may just be able to pull it off. Unfortunately, it's raining today, and will be tomorrow....so this might interfere.

I am not happy about having to do this. Especially aggravating was Allstate's policy of secretly sending photographers around to photograph client's houses without permission. Their arrogance in refusing even to discuss the matter with me has convinced me to find a new company, but I still need to get this huge task done before any other place would even talk to me.
Rant over.
Thank you for your patience.