Feeling Happy
Posted on May 16, 2008
Filed Under Family Room, Decorating Ideas, contractor, 2008 renovation, painting | 3 Comments
Today, four rooms are ready for paint. That’s right. The living room, family room, dining room and kitchen are all ready! My plan is to buy a 5 gallon bucket of primer tonight along with some rollers and an extension handle and get busy at 5:30AM tomorrow morning. In fact, I had a nice extension handle but I haven’t seen it since these people came into the house. Hmmmm, could it be Satan? 
Not good. I’d like to have all four rooms painted by Monday. It really isn’t hard work, you feel like you have a broken back and arms that feel as though they should fall from your body. I think I can handle that. Especially if I make tomorrow worthwhile.
I’m so excited! I think the TV room will have paprika or tomato colored walls. I think this will work well with the kitsch-y way I’m planning on decorating that room. Hey, my lamps will be made from huge ceramic Metaxa and Ouzo bottles, how cool is that?
I am planning on ordering the shades from Moon Shine Lamp & Shade. I think out of all of the old fiberglass/lace-up shade stores they offer the best selection and they will customize them for you for almost nothing. They will even print images onto the fiberglass shades. I’d like to put a picture of the Parthenon on one and some other ancient Greek ruin on the other.
Weeeeee!
The plumber showed up today and all he did was install the kitchen sink. it’s not hooked up, it’s not caulked, the inspector came through and was completely flummoxed.
And to change the subject, has anyone out there ever done a floor using the Varathane ezV sander?
I saw a couple at Menard’s and bought the $4 DVD. It looks great and it sounds great but is it any good? I read a review that says it did a good job. What really got my attention was not having a huge griding drum to deal with and the fact that dust is reduced by 95%. That is huge. On the Varathane sander there is a vacuum bag that has to be emptied often but so what? My floors have zero finish left on them so I’m already going to be on bare wood. It also looks like it will be easier to deal with. I will probably give it a shot and then write a review on it to pass along the information to others.
I’ll get some pictures in a little while to post. There is nothing earth-shattering to tell except that I can actually slap some paint onto the walls. That is great news!
My Headache
Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under Repairing the House, Double-Hung Windows, contractor, 2008 renovation | 2 Comments
It never seems to end. It is definitely caused by tension and the hope that in two weeks things will be done to the point that I am happy and I’m willing to pay these people off and get them the hell out of here.
I don’t like the doors that are in the house. I think they look really cheap and what’s worse, had they gotten the solid pine doors, they would have cost only $12/door more. It’s hard to believe. I am planning on replacing them over the next year with the pre-hung pine. I can see these doors getting nasty in a couple years and they aren’t the type of door that can be easily repaired. If something happens to one, you have to go buy a slab and replace it. I am really surprised that these cost so much for what they are. I figured they were $40 doors, if that so I never bothered to make a comparison to the pine. The plan is to buy a couple a month and when I get about four purchased, install the four and then start again. The good news is I only need a total of 16. I realize that sounds like alot but if you buy a couple a month it’s not too bad. I can then donate the ones I remove to a resale store. Someone might find a use for them.
The very first two to be replaced will be the two in the entry. There are slab doors there now and they need to be French doors. The pine French doors are $144 each, they look nice, and they are wood.
They’ve gotten most of the doors framed, there are just a couple of items I have with regards to them. The first is how they are finished on the backside in the closets, there is no finishing at all. Then, in BR#2, the original doorways and trim were wider. They put up their cheap plast-o trim and left it completely unfinished. I asked the guy doing the install about this and he was like “I don’t know”. Duh. So I showed another guy who seems to have more authority and he said their “finisher” will take care of it. We’ll see. Look at what was left.
Another peeve is the screens. I got full window screens for the house. This is because the windows are double-hung and this way I can open the top and bottom and not have bugs. They have repeatedly removed the screens in a couple of windwos so that they can use their air compressor to do finish nailing all over the house and outside too. The screens are not nylon, they are aluminum mesh. Aluminum can be dented and creased of you are not careful and you can end up with an ugly looking screen. The idea is they stay in and are not removed. Period. I have noticed a couple small dents on them and I’m already mad. They are driving me nuts. It’s like, hey! let’s fix this up and put this stuff in so nice and then over the next couple of weeks let’s make it look like used, damaged crap.
They had their “vinyl man” come out and repair the damage to my kitchen floor and then took me to show me. I then asked about the 2nd hole and he said “what?”. I’m like yeah, there is another hole. I then asked him why people aren’t being more careful knowing there is a brand new floor, brand new baseboard radiators, brand new whatever. Nobody is careful. Should I accept a brand new baseboard that has been bent or scratched? No.
Okay. I’m done. It’s nice we have doors and hardware but let’s get some more done guys so that I can see the last of you soon.
Cracker Jack, the Plumber
Posted on May 13, 2008
Filed Under doors, contractor, 2008 renovation, dry wall, plumbing | 2 Comments
Cracker Jack showed up today and he has been here for hours, down the basement most of that time. I notice I now have a water spigot on the east side of the house. Can you scream hip hip hooray with me? That in itself has made me smile in a huge way. He has put in the following:
- hot water supply and waste pipe for the lower bathroom sink, the cold is still MIA
- hot/cold supplies and waste pipe for the upper bathroom tub
- hot/cold supplies for the washing machine
Cracker Jack still needs to do the following:
- Hook up 2nd floor tub with proper connections and looking neat
- Secure properly the vanity top and vanity
- Replace funky cold water supply line (chrome) in the 1st floor tub
- Install 1st floor bathroom pedestal sink
- Fix small leak in pipe in basement
- Install cold water supply line to 1st floor bathroom pedestal sink
- Install the kitchen sink and its connections
That is about all I can think of.
The other workers installed:
- Three doors (2 entry, 1 closet) in bedroom #2, this is the bedroom that Rachel and I are currently holded-up in.
- They installed the closet door to Bedroom #1.
- Upstairs they still need to install the door to the attic room.
- They installed the entry door to the downstairs bathroom
- They installed the entry door to the rear stairway
- Downstairs they still need to install the two doors in the entry (east and south)
So there are only three doors left to install! Plus tons of trim….
I’m still not sure what the finishers are doing and what they have left. It’s all very confusing and like I said before, measuring their progress is almost impossible because it’s happening at such a slow pace.
