Game of Inches

This shelf on the wall between tub and toilet was a long time in the making. Relieved that one more thing, however minor, is  done.

A New Sheriff -- Bad Ass

Liane has had most of the contact with the project manager. From time to time I have stepped in here or there as there have been bigger discussions, or to try to resolve some issue. They've been out of contact for a while now. I'm not totally clear on what the promise for contact has been -- Liane is sometimes slightly vague or unsure on these issues herself -- but I know we need to get it moving again. Heck, she's just been trying to get our sinks back so she can give them to the bathroom counter people to make the cuts needed. So I called and left a fairly stern and somewhat unspecific message to call me back. It took a day, but he did. Liane speculates that when I get involved they tend to jump a little more, like they are afraid of me. Not sure whether I buy that, but on the chance that she's right it can be a good tool. So allow me to introduce myself -- That's Mr. Bad Ass to you, sir.

As usual there was a good sounding excuse for the lack of contact. Whatever. Forward motion has now resumed.

Merry Christmas

Couched

Things do progress. We bought a couch for the Hearth Room months ago, but didn't want to pay the outrageous price to have it delivered from Indianapolis. Several times we were near making plans to borrow a vehicle that could carry it, or even have someone pick it up on the way from Louisville up here...none of that worked out. So, Liane finally just rented a van to go get it.

DIY = $80, plus gas. Still cheaper than the delivery fee.

I've been trying to get her to dispose of the old love seat -- a hand-me-down from my mother dating back 30 or 40 years. Originally we were going to refinish it, but that was going to cost as much or more than a new one, so we finally just punted. Anyway, it turns out my nephew is going to take it. Great! Glad someone can use it -- it's made really well. But...now they have to figure out how to come get it and take it to Louisville. And when they do, whatever that mechanism is could have easily served to pick up our new one without us having to incur the $80 van rental and (more expensive) lost day of time.

Pitiful planning and coordination. You'd think we are one of our contractors.... ;-)

Do I have to be the expert?

We didn't end up speaking to the owner of the remodeling company (yet). Two reasons: 1) We ran out of time to chase him down and do it. 2) The Project Manager came back with a semi-decent plan for proceeding. Turns out he had been sick last week, which was the explanation for not communicating. (Always something -- one never knows whether these things are real, but in as much as this is the first time that excuse has been used I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt.) So, the timetable still isn't what we want, but he's in a tough spot trying to find a new tile guy to finish the job.

Glass is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but Liane may have postponed it. We're unsure about putting that in with the tile work unfinished. This decision, strangely, seems to have been put in our (my) court to make. I don't get it. Why would I make a decision about shower glass as it relates to the tile work? I don't know anything about it. Am I supposed to be the expert here? My decision is to do what is best to get the work done in the best way. I don't know what that is. If you have an audio question, I am your man. Construction? Not my domain. Figure it out. Jeez...

Come And Listen To a Story...

The story of the porch carpet effectively illustrates how this whole project has unfolded.

1. The choosing stage: the sales person supplied us with a very limited set of choices. We told them we didn't like any of them, and we knew we could pick out what we wanted (of course), but they didn't offer to help much with the process. So Liane had to run around town and get her own samples, bring them back, and then compare with paint colors, siding, etc. We picked out a carpet.
2. Weeks went by without seeing it. We kept asking the sales person about it (this is way back in late September, a mere month after the project was supposed to be finished. (All through this thing numerous problems and delays have been the result of not ordering materials until the last minute. It's as if the company doesn't have the cash flow or something. We can't figure it out. Stupid.)  
3. It was around this time that we got our new project manager. Many promises were made. Few were kept. Still no carpet.
4. Finally the carpet arrived. It looked very ugly to us. Is this what we ordered? No. They had ordered and received the wrong thing. They took it away, and allegedly ordered the correct stuff. We are told it will take a couple of weeks. This was back in early October.
5. Again weeks go by waiting for the correct carpet to arrive. At one point we are told it is in and they will be out to install it soon. Another couple of weeks go by. We have now made multiple calls with gradually increasing urgency trying to move this off center. Finally Liane is told "the carpet has gone missing."
6. More weeks go by. Eventually the correct carpet gets installed somewhere around the end of November. Somewhat surprisingly it looks good. The installers did a nice job. One issue finally checked off the list.

Smokin'

We've put the smoker into action.

A Two Tripper

I judge any home project in terms of how many trips to the hardware store it takes to accomplish it.

We haven't started remodeling the bar in the basement yet.

WHAT?!!

Yes, after all the other stuff wraps up we have one more fairly sizable project left to tackle. To say I am dreading it would be a colossal understatement.

We did go ahead and buy the fridge for that space.

The delivery guys weren't amused when they learned they had to get that thing down the steps.

And like everything else in this epic journey it eventually found a way to turn into a hassle. Weeks ago we had our friend Jim run a water line for the ice maker over from the nearby bathroom sink. (The bar sink is closer, but it's not really feasible to get a water line from there to where the fridge goes.) Since there was nothing to hook it up to he went ahead and mounted it, but didn't take the step of puncturing the water pipe and finishing it off.

This was further complicated by the fact that the delivery guys didn't even have the fitting required to connect the fridge to the water line Jim ran.

First trip to hardware store: Find this fitting, and hopefully avoid buying the entire $30 kit to get a $2 fitting. They didn't really have one, but a very helpful store employee helped me cobble one together out of miscellaneous stuff they did have. Cool!

However, upon clamping down the valve at the sink water line we ran into a complication...

This was mostly our fault...I recently broke a couple of ribs playing basketball so it's extremely painful for me to get down into small spaces to do things like this, so Liane did it. We punctured through the pipe as planned (though we weren't exactly sure when), but then in the course of expecting water to flow  she kept cranking the valve, which eventually broke. It was just after this I realized that the clockwise rotation, while being correct for initially breaking through the pipe, was also shutting the valve off for water flow. Jim hadn't left all that detail in his instructions because I'm sure he thought it was obvious. And once I thought about it for more than two seconds it pretty much was. Too late. I have zero plumbing skills so I was apprehensive about this going in. And I was right.

Second trip to hardware store: Try to find a new valve, again without having to buy the whole $30 kit. (It's not the $30, you know....it's the principle -- it's a contest of sorts.)

The new valve had a larger clamp, so it wouldn't fit into the space correctly. When it was lined up with the hole already made by the first valve the bracket on the backside that holds it to the pipe wouldn't fit -- it was hitting the wall. So...we'll use the bracket from the old valve. Not ideal, but doable.

Upon turning the water back on and opening the valve we discovered the fitting at the fridge was leaking pretty bad, and no water was coming out of the fridge. Sigh...

Turn water off, take that joint apart. Not exactly sure why it's leaking, but several similar looking parts had come with the new valve so I thought I'd try a few of those. It turns out the helpful hardware store guy hadn't sold me exactly the right stuff. In fact, upon sorting through the leftover parts from the valve (second trip) I actually had everything I needed for the fitting (first trip) right there.

Oh well, we got it working, even if I do have some leftover, redundant stuff.

Tsunami

All week with no progress and almost no communication.

The one time Liane did get to speak to the project manager he explained that he was trying to arrange a tile guy to get back over here, but they were on other jobs. Wow. My question is....what job could you possibly be more behind on than this one? Shouldn't THIS be the priority?

Reading between the lines, however, it sounds like Hugh (our tile guy) is done with this job. Too frustrated I'm sure.

Well, he doesn't know it yet, but we're going to see the owner of the company Monday.

First Punch List

Just the fact that we are down to the punch list stage is quite encouraging. This is draft 1. I'm sure there are a number of things we've forgotten. We gave the project manager this list over a week ago. A few items on here have already been done.

Punch List (draft 1)

Bathroom:

Quarter round laid and painted by linen closet

Register under sinks dented

Trim outside long shower wall (close to closet) needs to be beveled and painted

Glass tile left of niche crooked and dented in (not flush)

Glass tile behind tub - weird spacing

Drywall at shower angle not straight

Drywall around toilet area not straight in places

Top of half wall not straight/level - may be okay when shelf is placed

Shelf needs to be added at top of half wall

Several light fixtures don't work and/or haven't been installed

Heated floor doesn't work (no power)

Install outlet and cover plate above closet door

Touch up paint around trim on long shower wall

Some grout areas Need to be repaired: see post it notes for some of the highlights, but PLEASE check it all

Some grout is cracking in shower (already?! Yikes!!!)

Grout needs to be sealed

Caulk around door jam joints and then repaint

Marks on wall outside north facing shower wall - short angled wall

Repair ceiling around top of shower (grout line)

Clean grout off tile and cabinet on left side of tub

Closet:

Caulk trim around door and repaint

Fix carpet at doorway to mate properly with tile

Check outside dome for light tube - it's getting very milky colored

Bedroom:

Caulk trim and repaint

We need the documentation for the French Doors

Porch & Deck:

Short rail closest to house (garage) is crooked

3rd post from edge of screened porch is split

Electrical needs to be finished & fixtures installed

Carpet needs to be installed

All caulking for all beam areas needs to be redone

Trim needs to be sanded and painted

Outside door does not close (catch) easily enough (worse in hot weather)

Outside door bottom seal most sealing

Need brand and model for outside siding

Bottom board of under porch siding (on side) has come loose and needs to be reattached

Trim inside porch needs to have corners rounded and the repainted

Misc:

Grass around water needs to be replenished

Driveway stains need to be cleared (there are some on the sidewalk too)

Good Message

This is the stuff I like to hear. We communicate; they communicate in a timely and responsive way. Seems simple, but it's been rare. Nobody expects everything to be perfect. It's how things get addressed that's important. 

Of course, the ultimate test awaits the final results.

I wish Liane could/would contribute to this blog. She has the best stories as she tends to have the most contact with the workers. I've tried to convey some of them here, but it's all pretty watered down.

Landscaping

It's nearly done. There are a few problems to resolve, but just the idea that they came when they said they would, got in and basically knocked it out in a couple of days has been great. Of course, I haven't been able to actually see it in the daylight yet...

Wrapping Up the Porch

Really getting close to complete on the screened porch. Electrical is nearly done.

Post it Note communication in effect here as well. It's weird how some workers seem totally oblivious to things like wall and switch plate color matching...while others are so aware that I find they line the screws up with all the screwdriver slots oriented vertically.

We still need the infamous missing rug, and there are a few minor problems yet to be corrected. Almost there...

Pavers Getting Installed

White stuff is still snow. I feel bad making these guys work in these conditions. They've been really responsive...like they appreciate the work, or at least the company does. Probably not a lot of landscaping work in northeastern Indiana in December.

A New Project

We must be totally insane to take on more, but this has been in the works for a while. The landscaping work has officially begun.

The big pavers remain on the street until they are needed. White stuff is indeed snow.

Communication Methods

More Post It notes.

Maybe we should try a tape recording next, so they can hear the inflection (and frustration) in our voices.

Walls

Seems like it should be simple enough for professional dry-wallers to get right, but we're having them redo some of the walls because the finish was rough, or otherwise not aesthetically pleasing.

Ice, Ice Baby

Didn't take long for the water to start freezing.

FIRE!

First use of our fireplace.



It's nice, but....we miss the real one. Instead of the warmth and sound of logs cracking and popping we just get a visual and the hissing of a gas line. Ahh well, at least we don't have to clean out the ashes.

Kitchen Lighting

Who Hoo! Jim has put the kitchen lighting in. We've replaced the lamps over part of the counter, and added lights above and below the cabinets. Just need to get the latter on dimmers. I love it when stuff moves forward, and is done well. What a relief!

Day of Rekoning

In order to finally try to wrangle all this stuff down Liane took a day off work and arranged to meet with the various contractors and a subcontractors. We've added another to the mix: landscapers to take care of the area around the new deck (more details to come on this). Most of this went pretty predictably. In general it was moderately positive. Some more commitments were made -- we'll see whether they come through.

We had a pretty long list of "issues" for the main contractor doing the bigger projects. Some of it is just finishing stuff and therefore fairly obvious. Some of it relates to problems with work that had been deemed complete. So we're going to have to take a step back on some of these to end up two steps forward. Nevertheless, for the moment at least we feel like we're zeroing in on getting a lot of it wrapped up. I'm pretty giddy about that....but in a very guarded way.

Move #3

We're finally moving back in to our bedroom. There is still more work to be done, but (hopefully) none of it is so invasive as to create a lot more dust and dirt. I guess we'll see. The shower hasn't been fully tested yet.

Another "Deadline" Missed

A month ago Liane had a conversation with the Project Manager in which they discussed completion time. He suggested it would be in a week or two. She wanted to make sure it would be done by Thanksgiving. He laughingly said that would be no problem.

At that time we thought we might have guests for Thanksgiving. I told her she was nuts for giving him the actual deadline -- they'd never hit it. I suggested one two weeks prior (never mind the commentary that goes with having to make up deadlines one knows will be missed).

It's Thanksgiving now. The easy to hit deadline has been missed. Here are a few things that aren't complete:

1. Grout still not sealed in shower
2. Some trim still not painted
3. Glass not installed for shower
4. Some lights in bathroom still don't work (not connected?)
5. Heated floor system has no power yet (I verified this hasn't been connected at the breaker box)
6. No carpet for screened porch
7. Electrical outlets not installed in screened porch

And this doesn't even begin to address all the things that are wrong and will have to be redone.

What a joke (a not very funny one).

Painting AGAIN

Ding...here goes the next round. We have a new color. We'll see if we like it once it's on all the surfaces. It's a bit of a drab color, but we can't find anything else that will work for us.

Fortunately we have found a conscientious painter/worker who seems to actually appreciate the work. He responds to inquiries, is prompt, communicative, etc. We're not really sure what to make of this. When we deal with him I halfway expect a bearded Spock to appear (obscure geek reference for a few friends who will get it) as though we have entered some other space-time continuum where things people promise to do actually get done, etc. My cynicism runneth over...sorry...

Color Matching?

So...we're finding that the paint swatches don't match the actual color of the paint. What's the point?

We're really struggling with the wall color in the kitchen. We've waffled back and forth so many times. There are a complex set of issues. The color we pick has to work with the trim (and be darker than the trim), the cabinets, the countertop, the adjacent rooms (one of which is blue), etc.  We got 2/3 of it painted the other day and then, after seeing the color in action, decided we didn't like it. So....another do-over, only this one is our fault...I guess...I mean, not really though...

Start the process over with the paint swatches... I've been concerned because the color we just decided we don't like really doesn't look like its swatch did. This time we selected six swatches and bought paint in each of those colors. Several of them just don't match. How in the heck are you supposed to decide on this stuff? Back at the paint store they were clueless -- just guessing at possible reasons. No help at all.

The bottom on looks close in the photo, but it isn't.

Painting

We're finally getting the kitchen and hearth room painted. We've really agonized about the color. Very hard to select one that works with everything. And now that we see this one going on we're just not sure...

...ugh

As if there was ever any point in asking

Ceiling in the porch has been painted blue. Not sure why I bothered asking the question or debating it. I knew we were headed this way regardless of my or anyone else's opinion. No worries. It will be nice. I liked the natural wood better, but this is fine.

Of course...like everything else in this project they're going to have to go back and redo parts of it they botched.

Shower Fixtures

Installed and (minimally) tested. There's another head on the opposite wall, and also a hand wand and rain head (not shown). Looks good. I really think we are starting to get near the end of this thing.

Also controls a nearby nuclear power plant

Shitter

Installed. It's a duel flush model, so we can conserve some water...not that there's any shortage of water in Fort Rain.

Anybody want a sink?

It's been sitting in our garage since it was pulled out of the kitchen. Haven't noticed it because there has been so much other rubble out there from the remodeling. We cleaned a little bit of it up over the weekend and "found" this. It's actually a pretty nice looking sink, when clean. We have all the stuff for it. All the plumbing is fully functional, etc.

Halloween

In a surprising development our neighborhood was very active for Halloween. It's not a large neighborhood so I didn't expect much, and (as usual) wasn't exited about it. But when I turned into the addition from work at 6:40 there were cars everywhere, lining the streets, and parked in common areas.

Huh? I mean, where did all these cars come from? Is there some tradition here that people get their cars out of their garages for the night?

When I arrived home Liane confirmed that it had been very busy, and even though the trick-or-treating was to last another 90 minutes she was already concerned whether we had enough candy to last. And she bought more than usual.

A near constant stream coming and going.

Note the makeshift parking lot at the corner.
Cars were parked lining the streets near the front of the addition.

Ultimately we think we figured it out. We live in a rural area. Columbia City is nearby, but if you live west of us ours is the first real neighborhood you come upon when driving towards town. It never occurred to me before, but the house-to-house routine of the event isn't really feasible if you live out in the corn somewhere. So I think everyone drives their kids into a nearby neighborhood and lets them have at it. Fascinating.

And, I don't know really, but given that our neighborhood is relatively nice we may get more than normal. Parents may perceive it as more safe, or possibly they or their kids reckon they'll milk the "rich folks" and get better stuff. I have no idea really, but there sure were a lot of kids. It was fun, though I felt bad for how lame our decorations were. We even realized half way in that only one or our total of four lights on the front of the house was working. That's how distracted we've been with everything else.

Next year, I will be ready. This inspired me to do a little extra in the future.

Still More Decisions

Rethinking our selection for the bathroom sink counter. Which one do you like?

Grout

Grout is in the bathroom. This would be great, but there were still several issues to resolve with how the tile was installed. It's so funny (NOT) how we raise these questions by contacting the project manager, and then workers keep moving forward as if there is no communication at all. Then they end up having to undo more stuff.

More Beat Down

Continuing on the theme of three steps forward and two back...tile around the tub is going in, but as usual we aren't satisfied with the work. Some lines aren't straight, and the glass tile is again (just like the first time) not at an equal depth. It's not even at a consistent depth.

So, we fire up the bitching again.

TV Addict

There are a few spots in the remodeled areas that look like this. That open panel is for power and video to a TV. Liane is such a TV addict that she wants them everywhere. This spot is the entryway from the master bathroom to the master closet. If it seems a bit extreme (and it is) it's probably worth knowing that this TV would be visible from the tub.

New Heights

After several failed attempts it looks like the tile installation is getting on track. This is the highest we've been up the wall so far. It's far from perfect, but like so many things we're just worn down and ready to get it done. Still have the tub to redo, and quite a few other elements to finish off. I don't have a good ETA for us to move back into our bedroom yet, but I'm starting to see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Wall - Pros and Cons

Well, in the grand scheme of things I'll chalk this on up as a relative win. The good news is the wall under the porch/deck is complete (the amazing news is SOMETHING is complete). The other bit of good news is that I got a storage area underneath. I had requested this from the very beginning, but they were always a bit hesitant about it until they could dig in to better understand how the foundation was working with the dirt under there.

So I got it and it's done. Great!

The buts... (in no particular order)

1. All the dirt they removed still hasn't been properly dealt with. They finally came out and graded it recently, but it's still too sitting up too high on the yard. Meanwhile the landscaper we want to use has informed us the grass under it is pretty much gone, and can't be replanted until spring. Great.
2. While I did get a very nice door to the storage space it's kind of in an odd spot. The story goes back to the fact that they dug the dirt out in both directions from where the door is. I never cared about storage under the deck. I mean, it will rain right in there. The part I'm interested in is under the porch. Well, they put the door near the center of what they dug out, but it's really at one end of the space I want to use....so when I get things in there I'll have to always be pulling stuff out to get stuff further in. This also meant they had to put a more sophisticated drainage system in. Evidently there is some kind of "tile" buried under there, with a drain to the pond. Whatever. Probably a good thing overall.
3. The area they dug out is not very deep (front to back). It's okay. They told me it might have to be this way. It's just really going to limit how useful it is. It's not deep enough for anything long (lawn mower, wheelbarrow, kayak, etc.) to be able to make the turn to get in there. 

This is one of those times where I am just choosing not to pick the battle on any of these issues. It's good enough. The dirt screwing up the yard is a big problem, but I assume we'll get around to dealing with that. The damage is pretty much done. They kept saying they couldn't move it sooner because of all the rain, but as I recall there were several (brief) periods of nice weather in there. I'll bet they just had to spend that time on other jobs.

Carpet Crawling

So they finally delivered the carpet for the porch. Liane became really concerned because...well...it's pretty ugly. Is this really the rug we picked out?

No.

As it turns out they got even this wrong. Now they have to reorder it, and of course it will take time for it to come in.

Meanwhile progress continues slowly on the other fronts. More to come (been super busy lately).

Lose the Battle, Win the War

At some point you just have to give up...

We had them completely redo the heating coil in the bathroom floor. They had specific instructions that we were to approve the placement before proceeding. We approved it with one caveat -- that it needed to be moved closer to the corner where the sink meets the tub. That's right where someone will stand so we need to make sure the slab stays warm there in the winter.

Well, we came home from a long weekend away and found that the coil had not been moved, and that it all had been mortered over.

Unbelievable.

They had some lame reason why it wasn't feasible to get it closer (a point we've been generally battling with them all along) so we finally just gave up. To tear it all out again and start over would be a big undertaking and delay the project even more.

So we just gave up on it. It's close enough, and much better than it was before. We just want to get the project moving so we can move back into our bedroom sometime in the near future.

And this is how they beat you down. At some point you tire of the battle and are willing to accept less than the ideal.

Photos below show the tile being placed, with part of the coil still visible in the top one.