Punta Gorda homeowners blame nearby demolition for damage

Garrett Kizer and this home go further back than when he bought it three years ago.

“I originally redid the house from the bottom up about 11 or 12 years ago,” said Kizer. “I literally sit on this front porch eating ham sandwiches. Like, wow. How cool would it be to have a house like this one day?”

He bought it, added an extension, and re-vamped the place.

Across the street, the Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel did the same.

“We were happy that the eyesore is going away,” he said. “When damage to the home starts, that’s when I have a problem.”

The noise was one thing, but then the cracks started to show, literally.

“We just finished this early this year. None of these cracks running up this wall or there. There are cracks up in the corner there, cracks up in the corner all the way to the top there,” explained Kizer.

Kizer told WINK the areas with the worst damage are the two closest to the demo site.

It’s inside and outside. The bathroom was just redone, and now there are cracks.

Most of the place was re-done after Hurricane Ian.

Kizer said, “So this type of stuff here, we know for a fact was not in place prior to the demo work starting.”

The demo company told Kizer, “No way that’s on us.”

Its owner Steve Pece told WINK on the phone that they ran tests; put out devices to measure vibration, took their excavators as high as they go and dropped cement.

“Even then, the vibrations weren’t, weren’t anywhere close to exceeding that threshold of being able to cause damage to a building,” said Pece.

We asked if that threshold accounts for the age of these historic homes, and Pece said he’s been told it’s still not possible.

No one from Pece of Mind has come out to see the homes in person, Pece said he does not plan to.

“I just want it to stop. I want it made right? And we all want to get on with life,” Kizer said.

While the excavators leave in two weeks Kizer said too bad the cracks won’t go with them.