Category: LIFE IN REMODEL

It’s amazing how things work.  I’ve always lived by the adage, “Man plans, God laughs, WE adjust” which is so very true for the situation we are now in.  As you know we have been rehabbing my grandparent’s house.  We came here on a Leap of Faith believing it was mainly sweat labor that was needed.  Unfortunately that was a pipe dream and for 80 days now we have literally been rebuilding from the inside out with more sweat than we knew we had and lots and lots of pennies .

The foundation work that needed to be done brought on plumbing repairs.  While the foundation contractors that my uncle hired were horrible, the plumbing contractors are far worse.  They have been working here for 27 days and are no where done.  They are at least done on the inside and the remaining work is on the outside closing the tunnels.  Unfortunately the foundation people then have to come back out and re-level a portion where the plumbers removed the piers. I swear they are complete idiots.  They stood there with the piers lying all about their feet and lied to our faces saying they didn’t remove them.  Fortunately for us I take lots of pictures and had the pictures to prove otherwise. ALL of this has slowed the inside progress.

The kitchen is by far the biggest project as the appliances were all trashed and the cabinets were literally falling off the hinges.  I’m still working on the stain to get them all even, but they are coming along nicely.  The new range will be here on Monday and the “working” side of the kitchen will be great!  Having a counter full of dirty dishes has been a long time coming but I now have running water, a sink and working dishwasher! I think I’ll miss doing the dishes in the bathtub said no woman ever!

The floors will be what we do last since we still need to do the”left” side of the kitchen.  The hot water heater has scorched the ceiling and the original piping for the discharge, washer and dryer are a mess.  So our next project along with the master bath is the laundry area.  I’m anxious to get the new floor down, but will wait until all that mess of removing drywall and such is over.

I’m hoping to get the back splash areas done this next week.  I’ve been mineral oiling my butcher block to restore it.  Eventually I will refinish the table top to match the cabinets, paint the legs and chairs  a distressed white and recover the chairs in a coordinating fabric.

The light for over the sink should be here tomorrow and we are still deciding on the vent hood for the range which will be here Monday.

It is just nice to be able to sit at the table to eat again! I had been just stuffing things behind doors as I unpacked.  Today I use the table to empty out several cabinets while I lined the shelves and started running load after load through the dishwasher to begin organizing cabinets.  I was in heaven.  Glasses, silverware, utensils and dishes.  What more could I ask for?

I have to be honest I’m exhausted and as much as I want to keep things updated here, I run out of steam each day before I get around to it.

It took 3 trips, but we finally got all the cabinets home. They don’t look like much now, but wait a few weeks and they will look fantastic.

It also took a couple days more, but they are almost all installed.

I got the tile laid in the entry hall. My mistake was asking hubby to change the light fixture before I did the grouting.  We’re now waiting on the electrician to deal with the rusted wires and shorted fixture before I do the grout.

We have at least made final decisions on the flooring and backsplash.

We are not sure where this guy came from, maybe came in on the cabinets?, but we also weren’t sure what he was so just gently escorted him outside.

The laundry area needs to be completely redone to contend with the walls that were opened to deal with the foundation and plumbing problems so we are going to take this opportunity to update and bring to code the water heater too.

We’re not sure what all the stains are from, but we’re just going to remove the ceiling and repipe to the vent while also updating to code the platform and pan for the water heater before putting up the new ceiling and walls.

On another note we are livid with the current situation surrounding the plumbing issues.  I do have to say I finally blew my top tonight regarding the picture below.  I have profusely apologized to the plumber who did the work (he was only doing what he was told to do) and WILL be taking up the issues with EDDY who is supposedly the one who is in charge.  Honestly I wouldn’t put this idiot in charge of walking my dog!  This has been a complete clusterf**k since day one.

21 days ago EDDY stood in our kitchen promising to have the sink up and running the next day.  The next day came and they called saying it would be the following day before they began due to scheduling conflicts, but it would be done by the following Tuesday (3 days before Christmas).  The day they began the one in “charge”, EDDY announced he’d be gone the following week, but his next in line would keep things running smoothly.  Tuesday comes and  I STILL HAVE NO SINK!  The new man in charge, Armando says he needs to go to his truck for a part to hook up the sink.  He gets in his truck and promptly leaves.  A few minutes later the other workers close up shop for the holiday and leave. WTH? I still have NO sink, have an open gaping hole under the house that is filling with rainwater and 2 tons of wet clay type mud 4 feet tall up against the garage (it was supposed to ALL be in a pile outside the fence but apparently they changed their minds with no consideration for us, our animals or ANY other worker we have scheduled).  The mud pile is blocking the electrical fuse box, the gas meter, and has left us sleeping under that horribly broken window as we could not install the new one which we had to find a temporary home for in the garage.

They also included in their quote having to remove a tree to do this work.  They did not remove the tree, but went in right next to it, leaving the roots cut and exposed ALL this time and now the tree is dying and we HAVE to remove it!

So EDDY comes back from his week away for Christmas and doesn’t understand why I’m upset.  He claims I wasn’t specific enough that I wanted a kitchen sink before Christmas and is now claiming that it wasn’t part of the deal.  He agrees to move the mud the next day so we can get the electrician and gas guy in to do the pipe for the range.  Needless to say it was 6 days later when the mud was finally moved which also left us with a mess on the back of the garage wall and it has ruined the paint.  They also pumped the water out of the hole through our fence instead out the gate and have left the fence stained.

Their inability to act like professionals has created a HUGE domino effect in our life.  We cannot completely unpack, we WILL be missing the sale on carpeting that we signed up for and since completing this project so we have a home is completely contingent on them finishing their job we WILL be filing a complaint with the better business bureau who they claim to have an A+ rating with.  They have cost us money and lots of precious time as well as ruining our holidays.

I was able to get the gas guy here yesterday finally, but can’t get the electrician to start until tomorrow, a full 21 days after he should have been able to get here.

As I sit here this morning writing this. it’s 9:45 and no one has shown up or called.  I guess this is just PAR for the course with this company who like I said I wouldn’t hire to walk my dog let alone work with EVER again!

On a happy note all the cabinets have had at least one coat of stain. It is an oil based stain so I too will be wearing the color for about 10 days. I’m hoping to get better pictures of these 2 views of the new farmhouse kitchen soon.

We have REALLY been trying hard to move forward in spite of ALL the obstacles we have been jumping over the past 49 days.  We are so close to having at least a bedroom and feeling like it is somewhat livable and then WHAM! 10 steps backwards we go.  I did get the pantry (short of the floor) finished though. The overall theme (eventually) will be farmhouse chic. Hubby and I both love this shelf paper – eventually when the floor and door molding are in the cohesiveness of our ideas will show through. Imagine a Tuscan green old fashioned screen door on the pantry and it will be done LOL.

We received a call yesterday telling us that our carpet was in and they can install it Friday – SCORE.  All we have to do is finish painting the bedroom, no problem. Hubby finished framing the window yesterday and we only need to paint now.  What a difference a brighter color makes. I can’t wait until we can change that window!  Foundation people said we have to wait 3 months to allow settling so I finally put a sheet over it!

I also called the plumber yesterday to come fix the the leak caused by the foundation guys.  We now know why the foundation guys were in such a big hurry to get out of here.  Raul lied AGAIN! Raul told hubby the leak was in the wall above the foundation and asked if hubby would mind fixing it after he tore the wall off because they were late to their next job because of the rain delay day they had to take during our job.  We tore out the wall and found that the leak is in and under the foundation and should have been repaired at the same time they repaired the other leak they cause when the jack hammered into the washer drain.  Now they have closed the holes and in order for the plumber to fix it new tunneling from a different direction is required taking out a tree in the back yard so hubby and I spent an hour moving all the pavers and things that will be in the way of the digging.

The bottoms of the cabinets were rotted, but today we learned just how badly.  Good thing we’d already decided that they needed to be changed because we couldn’t get them clean enough to paint. The electricians were also scheduled to be here today to fix a splice area and some funny wiring.  Hubby and I intended to have the sink and the rest of the cabinetry out of the way, but ran into a stumbling block when the leaky 40 year old garbage disposal was hard wired in behind everything.  So everyone decided to get in on the job.  My question is how many men does it take to move a sink?

Garage disposal bottom

No wonder the garbage disposal was leaking. Don’t you just love the dumbing down of the wood industry that they have to paint construction grade 2×4’s flourescent pink?

Hubby also found good and bad news yesterday when he finished tearing out the bathroom drywall.    The good news is that the mold was only on the front of the wallboard and the vanity.  The bad news is that he had to rip out the wall board out of precaution to realize it wasn’t on the back.

Every day seems to be over before I get my list accomplished!  Today’s to do list started with:

• haul out as much trash as humanly possible
• master bedroom closet molding
• hang clothes
• meet with electrician
• paint entry
• paint pantry
• fix laundry leak from the foundation people
• make stew
• quit early

LOL hubby and I spent over an hour looking for the miter box to do the molding and never did find it so we moved onto the next project until we get to Lowes tomorrow.

We love the new electrician!  He was able to fix what the last electrician broke and then some.  Our biggest concern was an outlet in the office area that shorted out when I plugged in the shop vac a few weeks ago.  Hubby was going to change out the outlet, but the insulation started cracking off on ALL the wires so we decided it was time to call in an expert. He found that someone (probably my grandfather) had made an outlet where there wasn’t one before by using the outlet in the next room and a length of cut up extension cord. He’ll be back next week for the next go round fixing the kitchen issues!

The water had been seeping under the linoleum for the past couple weeks and making a HUGE mess!  This place was already a fixer and didn’t need any help at being a project!

LOVE how they ran the pipes from the hot water tank above AND below the gas line hook up for the dryer.

It’s NOT pretty, in fact it’s REALLY UGLY, but at least it is somewhat clean now.

When the foundation people were here they broke 3 things concerning the plumbing.  The first was the main into the house and we got that fixed.  The second was the drain line for the washing machine under the slab and they fixed that while they had the hole open.  The third was (according to them) and elbow for the washer drain in the wall.  Today we found were going to fix that leak except it is not what they said.  The leak is in a piece of pipe that goes through the slab.  So, once again we are deferring to the professionals (if they ever call us back).  Bad news is that we are not going to b able to laundry here for awhile!

BEFORE

AFTER

Getting the pantry clean and then painted has been a real issue with both of us.  It also seems to have taken forever! There’s only coat of paint so far and it will get 3, but it feels beautiful already!

 A couple weeks ago hubby and I started the entryway by removing the 2 layers of old cat pee soaked tiles as well as some carpeting and tack strips.  We’ve been treating the area and FINALLY the smell is gone and the area is sanitized. I started the first coat of paint and can’t wait until we can get the new front door.  We definitely need one with some light for this dark hallway.  We also bought a new light fixture with a higher voltage to add to the lighting issue here.

Remember when hubby found the garage issues?

Well we found a temporary fix with pressure treated 2×4’s and Liquid nails.

I woke up feeling a bit more optimistic, even a little excited about how well things have been going.

 I was able to get the first layer of grout down fairly easily on the master bedroom closet floor.  The carpet installer came and measured the bedroom and said we might even be able to have carpet by next week! I also got my desk chair put together – it’s been in the box for 5 years! I also got 5 loads of laundry done, folded and put away.  I was able to put together a “rag” tote for hubby in the garage and today was trash day so spent some time hauling things out for our awesome trash guys.  They would take it all anyway, but with the beer/soda incentive they do it with smiles on their faces.

We were able to narrow down the paint color choice – FINALLY! We started with BEHR “Bakery Box”, but hated it after it was on the walls – too institutional.  Good thing each rooms needs at least 2 coats and 3 in some areas LOL.  Next we chose SHERWIN WILLIAMS “Greek Villa” but found it too plain despite what we saw in the store so it has now become the “primer” for the master bedroom and kitchen.  We finally decided on OLYMPIC “Arctic Cotton”. It will not only match the gray tone carpet, but also the whitewashed birch tone tile for the farmhouse kitchen and bathrooms.

I helped hubby move a few heavy things in the garage and that’s where our day started taking a turn for the not so great.  You’ll notice behind hubby what appears to be daylight near the floor.

Well, it not only appears to be daylight, but IS daylight.  The siding is rotting away and in about 40% of the areas not even attached to the studs so we’re looking at some serious reinforcing and rebuild in these areas.

After helping hubby and feeling so good about so much trash being gone, I decided it was time to tackle the master bath vanity in preparation of getting the new vanity.  The water was turned off due to a leak in this bathroom quite some time ago.  What I was afraid of is what came to light – mold.  We will need to tear out every wall, find the leak, change out the plumbing and build from the ground up so to speak.

I have NO idea how long the water leaked before it was turned off.  I also have NO idea why or even where it leaked so this should be loads of fun!

DAMN I was really hoping NOT to find that BIG black spot!

As it always is with water it will take the path of least resistance.  In this case it was a crack in the floor under the linoleum.

Like water, mold will follow that same path.  In this case it also traveled up the back side of the wall paper so ALL these walls will be torn out and replaced after the leak is found and repaired.

So we decided we needed a quite “special” meal and since we still don’t have a kitchen we broke out the BBQ! We added a baked potato and salad and it was perfect!