(no subject)
This is going to get ugly. REAL ugly.
Ten years ago, when we bought our home (new construction), the builder screwed up MASSIVELY on the floor. We have about 1/3 of our liveable space in a basement, and, as we were one of the first homes in the neighborhood to be completed with a basement, the builders didn't quite know how to do the flooring on the section over the basement (it's Phoenix - basements aren't common here). The basement ceiling is wood. Over the wood, the builder is supposed to flow a layer of (I dunno how its spelled) gypcrete. The builder is SUPPOSED to build into the specs about an inch for this. Our builder did not. And didn't even know, apparently, that that layer was supposed to exist until the inspection that happened...I don't remember when. Maybe two weeks before we were supposed to move in, because none of the flooring could be laid till it happened. We couldn't get a Certificate of Occupancy until the flooring went down, meaning we could not move in. We had no choice that would not be hugely expensive. Unfortunately, the choice we made - just to let it go - probably is going to wind up being the most expensive one we could have made.
When the inspection report came back, telling the builder that they had to add the layer of gypcrete, they'd already installed the baseboard moulding. After this, they made two major, major mistakes, that we, in a huge time crunch to get out of our existing house before it closed (which, tragically, it didn't do until over a week late, at which point all of this might have been fixed) did not demand to have fixed. First, they didn't bother to take off the baseboards when they poured the gypcrete, effectively burying them in an inch of concrete and making it impossible to re-floor without requiring massive floor repairs around the perimeter of the rooms. Second, they flowed it at too steep a grade, making the kitchen tile, when they laid it, really uneven. They fixed the second point simply by cutting a 3/4" drop between the entry hallway and the family room/kitchen (I've called it our "slightly sunken family room" for years).
The upshot of it is this: we started the repair process last week, when we (by we, I mean, mostly Joe) put down wood flooring in the living/dining room. When he did it, he pried out the moulding, and is installing it at its proper level, which is about an inch higher than any moulding around it, making them both look stupid. So we're going to have to do it everywhere. The worst is going to be the kitchen. Basically, we're going to have to reinstall the WHOLE THING. It is going to be so expensive to do, and I'm not even going to get a new kitchen out of it, I'll still have to make do with the same stupid one I have now, that I've hated for ten years.
We should have sued from the get-go, dammit.
Ten years ago, when we bought our home (new construction), the builder screwed up MASSIVELY on the floor. We have about 1/3 of our liveable space in a basement, and, as we were one of the first homes in the neighborhood to be completed with a basement, the builders didn't quite know how to do the flooring on the section over the basement (it's Phoenix - basements aren't common here). The basement ceiling is wood. Over the wood, the builder is supposed to flow a layer of (I dunno how its spelled) gypcrete. The builder is SUPPOSED to build into the specs about an inch for this. Our builder did not. And didn't even know, apparently, that that layer was supposed to exist until the inspection that happened...I don't remember when. Maybe two weeks before we were supposed to move in, because none of the flooring could be laid till it happened. We couldn't get a Certificate of Occupancy until the flooring went down, meaning we could not move in. We had no choice that would not be hugely expensive. Unfortunately, the choice we made - just to let it go - probably is going to wind up being the most expensive one we could have made.
When the inspection report came back, telling the builder that they had to add the layer of gypcrete, they'd already installed the baseboard moulding. After this, they made two major, major mistakes, that we, in a huge time crunch to get out of our existing house before it closed (which, tragically, it didn't do until over a week late, at which point all of this might have been fixed) did not demand to have fixed. First, they didn't bother to take off the baseboards when they poured the gypcrete, effectively burying them in an inch of concrete and making it impossible to re-floor without requiring massive floor repairs around the perimeter of the rooms. Second, they flowed it at too steep a grade, making the kitchen tile, when they laid it, really uneven. They fixed the second point simply by cutting a 3/4" drop between the entry hallway and the family room/kitchen (I've called it our "slightly sunken family room" for years).
The upshot of it is this: we started the repair process last week, when we (by we, I mean, mostly Joe) put down wood flooring in the living/dining room. When he did it, he pried out the moulding, and is installing it at its proper level, which is about an inch higher than any moulding around it, making them both look stupid. So we're going to have to do it everywhere. The worst is going to be the kitchen. Basically, we're going to have to reinstall the WHOLE THING. It is going to be so expensive to do, and I'm not even going to get a new kitchen out of it, I'll still have to make do with the same stupid one I have now, that I've hated for ten years.
We should have sued from the get-go, dammit.