Week ending 3/25/11

This week we decided on our next project which we're calling "checkpoint." This is the FIRST time in the entire 5 1/2 years of remodeling we've had any discretion in what we work on. When you do construction, there is a very specific order things have to go in. Until the flooring was in, we were bound by that order. We sat down and mapped out our next few projects, and pretty much we have 4 things to do and at that point we have to make a big decision about whether to move or do a big addition. The 4 projects between now and then are not impacted by a decision to move or add on, but once those are done we'll have to get clear so we have some guidance on what to do. If we're staying, I'll make decisions based on what we want which may not be the best decisions for selling the house.

When we first bought this place, our plan was to stay forever. But now, we're no longer sure. There's a few things we hate that can't really be changed by remodeling. Some of them are:

• our driveway is only 8 1/2 feet wide, which means if both our cars are parked there we can't get trashcans or bikes out.
• we have an apartment building next door which is filled with terrible tenants. They have loud fights outside in the middle of the night, the cops have been there a few times and they regularly throw trash in our yard.
• our yard isn't very private, and isn't great for dogs since the main entrance to both our neighbors' properties runs along our fence with them.
• C doesn't have a proper theater room
• since our lot is so narrow, we don't really spend time in the yard. If we're sitting on our patio, we're about 10 feet from the neighbors' living room windows. Our office, where I spend a lot of time, is 11 1/2 feet from the opposite neighbors bathroom window.
• The house was built as basic worker housing in 1952, so it was not luxurious even by 1950's standards, but it really doesn't fit the way people live in 2011

So, for now, we're at least open to the idea of moving. I go back and forth, so I'm in no position to make a major life decision. The main feature we love is the location - we're 5 blocks, or less than 10 minutes brisk walk to the beach. We go with the dogs almost every day. We're also walking distance to almost everything we need, and only drive on weekends if we have a specific destination like a visit with friends or family.

Our next project, what we're calling "checkpoint'" is a state of being unpacked and organized. When we moved in, we had a terrible move due to situations beyond our control. I had several inspections that day, various contractor problems and I was putting in 15 hour days which meant I couldn't pack very well. We had just on 9x10 room to live in, so we packed for a weekend and EVERYTHING else went into the garage except one computer.

As the house became more and more done, we had more space and moved things in. But along the way, I think we've done the equivalent of moving at least half a dozen times. I've personally emptied the garage and put everything back in twice. We've had to shuffle things around numerous times for projects. Just in the last 6 months, we've basically moved out of the house twice, once for painting and once for flooring. Each time, we boxed everything that wasn't furniture up and moved it all from room to room as the crew worked.

Needless to say, things are very chaotic. We have furniture and artwork in the garage and power tools in the house. Checkpoint won't mean we're done, but what we've decided is that every room but the den (which has the door to the backyard in it) has to be completely unpacked and moved into. No boxes or piles. The den is going to be our temporary staging place for things to go into the garage for when we get ready to tackle that last phase.

Off we go!

This week C did some unpacking along with me, so we are definitely making progress. It feels really good to have some discretion.

Week ending 3/18/11

I ended up getting sicker than I was last week, so much so that I missed my planned getaway this past week. Hopefully I'll be able to do it soon, I'm super burned out

On Friday, the subcontractor for the electric company came and removed the stumps from the two trees they took out of the median strip. They weren't going to do it, but when I called the company the owner realized he should have done it since it's on city property and they came back out. So glad we got those two trees gone!

Week ending 3/11/11

C and I were both sick this week and both were recovering from flooring so not much happened this week. The contractors came back not Monday but Tuesday to finish everything up. I'm so glad the flooring is done!

Fri 3/4/11

The job was almost done by Friday.

Here is the last section of the entire house:


Another shot of the last section. I had them undercut this panel on the side of the fridge so the flooring could go under it and it would look like the flooring was in first and it would hide any gaps.




This is one place where they did a crappy job! I'm so glad I write contracts with such detail. They put the quarter round in and as you can see it sticks out far into the room which means the raw or unfinished edge shows. It looks like crap! I made them tear it out and redo it because it was in my contract that no raw edges would show and we specifically talked about this when he was here before the job started. They ended up cutting the end at a 45 degree angle and making an end cap on it.

Thur 3/3

Thursday was more of the same crap - do the minimum until I call you on it, screw up the same things over and over and hope I don't notice, etc.

Here's what everyone really loves to see, pictures!

Here is the living room right as they were starting it:


Here's the opposite wall in the living room as they were prepping:

Bleh! It's actually June as I'm posting this, and I can't stand how horrible this looks! I'm so glad we got floors in!

Here's the first section of the living room done:


Living room is done, they're starting the dining area/kitchen. They lined the seams in the planks up across the thresholds so that things looked more pleasing.

Here you can see how they aligned the seams up so that when they install the threshold across the opening the planks will look continuous. They had to start with a small section of the dining area, line the seams up and then fill in around that section.

Dining area is done, they're working toward the kitchen.

Into the kitchen. I can't believe how much better it looks even at this point. That old plywood floor looked GROSS!

Wed 3/2

So, yesterday at the end of the day I asked the guys to put the pieces of 2x4 in between the bed and the wall as a spacer to make sure the bed doesn't get pushed against the wall and block the outlet. At bedtime, the bed felt strangely high, and this is the reason:



Yes, they actually propped the head of the bed up on 2x4's. And they did this after seeing how it was properly set up just 6 hours earlier. I asked them to fix it first thing, and this is what I got:



Um, yes, seriously this really happened. Morons!

They crew started today in the den which they had started yesterday. C and I spent the time before he went to work getting the office ready. During the day, they finished den and got working on office, looks good, but they left one really jagged edge in a prominent place near the door, had to have him recut. Honestly, these guys just do the barest minimum until I ask them to actually do their job.

The other things was that puttying the baseboards. It's in my contract that the baseboards need to be puttied wherever there is a nail hole or seam between two pieces. Yesterday, after they said they finished the bedroom I noticed there was no putty. I asked them to do it, and they said "oh, you want that puttied?" Uh, yeah, that's why it's in the contract that the entire house baseboards need to be puttied. Today, they "finished" the office with no putty on the baseboards. When I asked them to do it, they said "oh, you want this room puttied too?" Um, yes, that's what whole house means.

Here's the office before:

Bleh, I've lived with these nasty paint footprints for almost 5 years!

Here's the office after:


After they finished, they put the office furniture back wrong. This isn't the biggest deal, but a) they saw it in place just a few hours before and b) why wouldn't you ask before you start moving stuff? I was there the entire time, and I made them move it all a second time when I saw it was wrong. When moving and replacing the furniture is in the contract, I'm sure as heck not moving it myself because these morons couldn't be bothered to do it right the first time.

On to the hall..... first off, it's in my contract that all the underlayment seams should be taped with tape that I provide (duct tape). When they started, I showed them the 4 rolls of tape I had and put the tape exactly where they said to so they would know where it was. One on of my inspect-the-entire-job-every-10-minutes walkabouts, I found them taping the seams in the hall with painter's blue tape! This is no way, shape or form could be even remotely considered to do the job. It's meant to be temporary and not to bear stress like people walking on it. When I asked them about it, they said the ran out of tape. Uh, duh, how about the remaining 3 rolls that were right where you told me to put them yesterday?

They also filled the hallway with small scraps of underlayment which they were not supposed to do because it creates unnecessary seams. We purchased more than enough underlayment, so there was no risk of running out. Again with the poor work ethic!

Here's a shot of the hall with that lovely blue tape and scrap pieces of underlayment. I did make them retape with duct tape.


In the afternoon, a neighbor complained about noise which really pissed me off! That sucks. We're obeying law, working within noise hours and can't set the saw up inside because the sawdust will damage the floor. I get that noise is not fun, but it seems crazy to complain about it especially when you know your neighbors have a fixer upper house that was under construction when you moved in. She didn't confront me, only the workers and I told them to ignore her since we weren't doing anything wrong.

One of the guys touched C's big tv screen and left nasty handprint. I sincerely hope it comes out.

About 8 pm, I heard rain and went out to look at pile they had left outside. I told them yesterday and today it might rain but they of course paid no attention. There was a big pile of trash getting soaked, which was fine since they have to dispose of it. Their boom and dustpan were also outside, which isn't great since they have to use that broom in my house. A bucket of concrete-like leveling compound was sitting out there with no lid, which is not great since it will harden into a bucket of cement but again, not my problem. Finally, the coup-de-gras: my indoor rug from the den! Lovely. Soaking wet, now filthy and sitting out in the rain.

As if the rug wasn't bad enough, they left part of the kitchen cabinetry outside as well. That was fun, hauling in a 3' x 8' piece of my kitchen in the rain.

These numbskulls - people think i make this stuff up but I could never come up with this many screwups in one day.

Tue 3/1

Today was the first day of the flooring job. The guys showed up at 8:50 for an 8:00 start time. Sounds bad, but if that was the worst of it, I'd be happy. The floor guy was flummoxed and surprised when we wanted to follow the plan we set on Saturday and was looking around for options. Since we had a plan we all agreed on, I focused on doing what I needed to do for the plan, not anything else. Needless to say, I had no other space available for the bed so they had to stay with the plan that 4 people agreed to less than 72 hours prior.

They got to work and I happened to peek my head in and found them laying underlayment and board in the wrong direction! Yes, they were off and running with the material in the wrong direction! It's not like each room is different - the entire house has the same instructions and the screwed it up! Thank goodness I was there to see it and catch it.

The floor guy also started the floor without checking level and dismissed my concerns. The contractor (with whom I have the contract) showed up and I asked him and he too said it wasn't a problem, they usually just do areas they see. Uh, why do you think I specifically put it into your contract that you have to level the floor to within 3 mm per meter?

I couldn't make this crap up! It's only 10:00 and already there is this much screwing up!

The rest of the day was more of the same - loads of screwups. I cannot imagine how the house would have looked if I wasn't there looking in every 10 minutes. You'd think when you go to the trouble of creating a specific contract that it would be enough to make sure things get done but it's not. You have to walk the entire job with a magnifying glass and supervise since the guy with whom I have the contract clearly doesn't talk to the guys doing the work.

The guys got bedroom done, and got about half the planks in the den down. I'm pleased with how fast the work is going, but their screwups are nervewracking!

Tuesday night, we noticed the head of the bed was up on top of 2x4 pieces! Who sleeps at an angle?

Here is an early shot of the bedroom. You can see that the seams in the underlayment go in the same direction as the flooring planks which is not supposed to be the case! As I mentioned, they screwed up and put in about a quarter of the planks in the wrong direction. I didn't make them redo the underlayment.


Buh-bye nasty floor! Even just the underlayment was an improvement.

Mostly done

The baseboard really made it look great. This is our closet which has no doors at this time. None of the closets had doors when we bought the place, although there were upwards or 30 closet doors scattered throughout the house and yard.

You may not be able to see it in this shot, but the head of the bed is up on pieces of 2x4. We used to keep them on the floor to keep the bed from being pushed all the way against the wall. I could not believe it when we went to bed and felt the head of the bed raised. A) Who would sleep like that? and B) You just saw how it was supposed to be 6 hours ago, how did you forget so fast?

The den is started.