More about the radiators

I figured since I am less pissed, I would tell the whole story of the radiators.

Way back when we were in class, the topic of old house came up. My house was built in 1900 (ish) and so I would call that old. Topics such as unique floor plans, lead paint, short basements, etc came up. I was kind of concerned about our radiators, not because I thought they would be an issue, but because I could think of nothing else in my house that would be an issue.

I asked our trainer (who works a lot in my county) if the old cast iron radiators would be an issue. He flat out said that he has NEVER heard of anyone failing inspection becasue of raditors. Cool, I thought I was in the clear.

To be safe, I posted this topic on a NJ fost/adopt message board. I got several replies about it and all of them said it was not an issue. There were a few people that also had that concern and they were still waiting for their final inspection (from the state).

I thought nothing of it. Our worker comes to our house to do the "couple" interview at which time she quickly looks through the house for the MAJOR violations. Nothing said about the radiators. She comes back a week later to do my indiv interview and sees the radiator. At this point she tells me that it might be an issue. I told her that I spoke to the trainer about this and advised her of the answer. She said she was going to talk to a supervisor.

Fast forward to this past monday. She comes to do her final inspection - it is required before the state can do theirs. She advised me that the radiators WILL be an issue. By this point, the people on that message board have had their inspections and advised me that the inspector did not even give the raditors a second glance. I tell her this and tell her that they will cost hundreds of dollars each for covers. i know I was getting upset, and I was trying to explain to her that they are not a fire hazard or anything - if that was the case, I would not be able to get home owners insurance.

I went back to the message board and someone was able to send me a copy of the inspection manual.

Well, here is the thing - there is NOTHING written in the inspection manual (69 pages) that says anything about the radiators. The only thing close is "all electric portable heaters or fireplaces must have a guard or cover"

I can attest that these radiators are NOT portable and not electric.

So, my social worker was contacting the actual inspector to see if 1) it is actaully a violation or 2) could we get a waiver.

My worker told us that DYFS may pay for them - yup MAY. It would have to go through an approval process and it could really delay things. My worker wanted us to go through the whole thing first before even finding out it is was needed. Hello, backwards!

I suggested that she call the inspector - totally playing it up as "why should dyfs spend thousands of $$ to fix a problem that might not be a problem at all" I guess she aggreed and now we are just waiting to hear back.

Yes, I am sure we could kind of make them ourselves, but each one is a different size, so it would be a lot of work.

The worker basically told the inspector that we don't have the $$ to get covers (not really a lie) and that if dyfs wants to keep us as a family, that if they are needed, then they would have to pay for them.

We have been told by a few people that they can not wait for us to be licensed because we are one of the best families on the books (good job, nice house, renovated, near park, raised a child, nothing bad in the referece or background checks, etc)

So, I know that if we need them, there is a BIG possibility that we won't have to pay for them.

It is just very frustrating at this point. Oh, and we are STILL waiting for our local police check to come back. There is only about 6000 in my town, so the police dept is pretty small. I am sure they only have one person that does the checks. So, if that person is on vacation, well, then I am screwed.

So, we are still waiting. UGH