construction malfunction
I have been stoked to be out of school for the past week and a half. It seems like I've been out for much longer than that considering all I've accomplished, as well as how much time I've found myself staring into space wishing I had more to do around here.
So far I have accomplished about half of what I set out to do: I took out the old wallpaper in the bathroom and most of the old cabinet; I did some cleaning; I cleaned up the back yard of debris and sticks and old junk after our privacy fence was finished; I built a small flower bed around our mailbox out of pavers; and I planted flowers and cleaned up out front; I got some much-needed clothing for summer. The other half of what I set out to do was FINISH the bathroom remodel, and FINISH the floors that I started last year on my short-lived spring "break."
Here's a little backtracking: I did the floors in the front room in Pergo laminate. It was the room that we used the least, but we wanted a "base room" for the cats and all of our cookbooks and bookshelves, so that was the best choice at the time for a remodel to get all that stuff out of our way. As it was discovered, the front room had to have some new sections of subfloor before flooring could be put down, so my friend Bill drove down last spring and spent the day doing that for us. Moving one step at a time (which I believe is logical, but the one I love begs to differ on occasion), I finished out that room with baseboards and quarter-round. I then moved on to the connecting foyer, taking up some of the old linoleum. Seeing as how it was glued to the sub-floor, I gave up. Josh tried to help but didn't have much luck. Also, we noticed water damage around the front door, like the subfloor is chipping away and their appears to be holes in the seal. We decided we needed to replace a door, but it'd have to be the back door since that's the one we use most and the one we could afford at the time. That, and I was moving on to the living room with the Pergo.
So, I moved on to the living room, spending just a couple of afternoons ripping up disgusting-ass carpet and nails and old baseboards. Then we discovered mold by our back door, on the drywall and subfloor. The drywall basically fell out when I tapped it. Seeing as how we didn't know a contractor at the time, we drove to Lowe's, ordered a back door and a Lowe's contractor to come and install it, as well as replace a section of subfloor, before I could finish the living room. It was about a week and that was all taken care of, and I was on my way to finishing the floors in that room. Or so I thought.
I made it halfway down the hall by last June, then stopped. Our hall was mostly bare subfloor until Christmas break, when I had time to add laminate most of the way down. I never had put baseboards or quarter-round in the living room, much less did I continue into the foyer like I needed to. In fact, I'd not even taken out the old baseboards from the hall yet. I just didn't have time, and neither did Josh.
So why we decided to do the bathroom during my short summer break, I have no clue. I guess it was because we knew it'd be easy, quick to finish, and would be the next least-expensive step to getting this house in more acceptable shape. We got a new vanity cabinet with sink, a mirror, a light fixture, some stick-on floor tile, and fixtures for the shower/tub and sink. I went to strip the wallpaper and found primer underneath, but something told me, from experience, that that was just *too* easy. As I reached the tub area, I noticed buckling wallpaper... then buckling drywall.. then CRUMBLING drywall. I was disheartened, but soldiered on with removing the crappy cabinet to put in our new one. The cabinet had severe water damage in it, and I've yet to see underneath it since it's attached to the studs or joists or something crazy. I lost my patience and deserted the project. We decided that fixing water damage around the shower was beyond our level of expertise and that we need a new tub in there anyway, so we called in Re-Bath and Bath Fitter to get some cost ideas. They wanted $5200 and $3600, respectively, to replace just the shower and tub stall. with Re-Bath it'd be another 8-10 weeks since they custom make their stuff. We really can't afford that cost or that time. So we opted to wait until today to talk to a contractor who I'd called specifically to get a quote on completely finishing my unfinished floor job.
THe contractor, the only one who called me back out of FIVE, actually, showed up on time and was very friendly and courteous. When I asked if he could install a tub or new fixtures and stuff if we bought the materials, he said he could. Josh asked about installing a cabinet in our laundry room; he said he could. In fact, he went to his truck and got a picture book of what he can do... HUGE decks on 8000 square ft. houses, even BUILD houses... I mean, anything. This guy can do it all. So I was dreading talking price with him since our stuff is such small beans by comparison to his usual jobs. He spent another hour after Josh left talking with me about the outside of our house and things he could do to fix those issues. We came back inside and I made a list: tub, laundry room, new front door installation and subfloor replacement, finish floors, fix rain diverter on roof. He then revealed his cost: $200/a day. I almost fell off the couch.
Even for three days, what he can do will cost us less, including getting our own materials for him to install, than what Re-Bath wanted for one bathroom. I was shocked. after seeing examples of his work, him staying at our house just to get an estimate for 2.5 hours, and how he even took the time to call me initially, I am very confident that he'll do awesome stuff for us. I realize all contractors are the same... they work on "contractor time," a parallel universe to "Normal people" time. So it'll be a week or so before he has a day or two to come do our stuff, but he will call back. And I cannot WAIT, because not only will I be able to finish out the bathroom, but I'll also then be calling people to come over for a cookout because our house won't look so unfinished.
And the best part: I won't feel so defeated every day when I wake up and walk around, lamenting the fact I started things I am unqualified to finish.
So far I have accomplished about half of what I set out to do: I took out the old wallpaper in the bathroom and most of the old cabinet; I did some cleaning; I cleaned up the back yard of debris and sticks and old junk after our privacy fence was finished; I built a small flower bed around our mailbox out of pavers; and I planted flowers and cleaned up out front; I got some much-needed clothing for summer. The other half of what I set out to do was FINISH the bathroom remodel, and FINISH the floors that I started last year on my short-lived spring "break."
Here's a little backtracking: I did the floors in the front room in Pergo laminate. It was the room that we used the least, but we wanted a "base room" for the cats and all of our cookbooks and bookshelves, so that was the best choice at the time for a remodel to get all that stuff out of our way. As it was discovered, the front room had to have some new sections of subfloor before flooring could be put down, so my friend Bill drove down last spring and spent the day doing that for us. Moving one step at a time (which I believe is logical, but the one I love begs to differ on occasion), I finished out that room with baseboards and quarter-round. I then moved on to the connecting foyer, taking up some of the old linoleum. Seeing as how it was glued to the sub-floor, I gave up. Josh tried to help but didn't have much luck. Also, we noticed water damage around the front door, like the subfloor is chipping away and their appears to be holes in the seal. We decided we needed to replace a door, but it'd have to be the back door since that's the one we use most and the one we could afford at the time. That, and I was moving on to the living room with the Pergo.
So, I moved on to the living room, spending just a couple of afternoons ripping up disgusting-ass carpet and nails and old baseboards. Then we discovered mold by our back door, on the drywall and subfloor. The drywall basically fell out when I tapped it. Seeing as how we didn't know a contractor at the time, we drove to Lowe's, ordered a back door and a Lowe's contractor to come and install it, as well as replace a section of subfloor, before I could finish the living room. It was about a week and that was all taken care of, and I was on my way to finishing the floors in that room. Or so I thought.
I made it halfway down the hall by last June, then stopped. Our hall was mostly bare subfloor until Christmas break, when I had time to add laminate most of the way down. I never had put baseboards or quarter-round in the living room, much less did I continue into the foyer like I needed to. In fact, I'd not even taken out the old baseboards from the hall yet. I just didn't have time, and neither did Josh.
So why we decided to do the bathroom during my short summer break, I have no clue. I guess it was because we knew it'd be easy, quick to finish, and would be the next least-expensive step to getting this house in more acceptable shape. We got a new vanity cabinet with sink, a mirror, a light fixture, some stick-on floor tile, and fixtures for the shower/tub and sink. I went to strip the wallpaper and found primer underneath, but something told me, from experience, that that was just *too* easy. As I reached the tub area, I noticed buckling wallpaper... then buckling drywall.. then CRUMBLING drywall. I was disheartened, but soldiered on with removing the crappy cabinet to put in our new one. The cabinet had severe water damage in it, and I've yet to see underneath it since it's attached to the studs or joists or something crazy. I lost my patience and deserted the project. We decided that fixing water damage around the shower was beyond our level of expertise and that we need a new tub in there anyway, so we called in Re-Bath and Bath Fitter to get some cost ideas. They wanted $5200 and $3600, respectively, to replace just the shower and tub stall. with Re-Bath it'd be another 8-10 weeks since they custom make their stuff. We really can't afford that cost or that time. So we opted to wait until today to talk to a contractor who I'd called specifically to get a quote on completely finishing my unfinished floor job.
THe contractor, the only one who called me back out of FIVE, actually, showed up on time and was very friendly and courteous. When I asked if he could install a tub or new fixtures and stuff if we bought the materials, he said he could. Josh asked about installing a cabinet in our laundry room; he said he could. In fact, he went to his truck and got a picture book of what he can do... HUGE decks on 8000 square ft. houses, even BUILD houses... I mean, anything. This guy can do it all. So I was dreading talking price with him since our stuff is such small beans by comparison to his usual jobs. He spent another hour after Josh left talking with me about the outside of our house and things he could do to fix those issues. We came back inside and I made a list: tub, laundry room, new front door installation and subfloor replacement, finish floors, fix rain diverter on roof. He then revealed his cost: $200/a day. I almost fell off the couch.
Even for three days, what he can do will cost us less, including getting our own materials for him to install, than what Re-Bath wanted for one bathroom. I was shocked. after seeing examples of his work, him staying at our house just to get an estimate for 2.5 hours, and how he even took the time to call me initially, I am very confident that he'll do awesome stuff for us. I realize all contractors are the same... they work on "contractor time," a parallel universe to "Normal people" time. So it'll be a week or so before he has a day or two to come do our stuff, but he will call back. And I cannot WAIT, because not only will I be able to finish out the bathroom, but I'll also then be calling people to come over for a cookout because our house won't look so unfinished.
And the best part: I won't feel so defeated every day when I wake up and walk around, lamenting the fact I started things I am unqualified to finish.