So it's not finished after all. . .

Sunday before last, we were asked to host our small group with short notice. Good thing too, because we spent to afternoon tidying up. While we were cleaning the half bath, we noticed that the new baseboard behind the toilet was wet. The new toilet was leaking, and probably had been leaking since it had been installed. . .so about 12 days. James was able to stop the leak. I called the foreman the next morning.

He sent someone new to us over here that evening. There were 5 other things that needed to be fixed. Ralph was supposed to fix these things, but he had already put me off for 4 days . . .telling me each day that he would be here. Ralph never showed, he has been fired by the foreman.

Here's what needed to be done. . .we found more things as late as this morning.

• the grout on the wall in the guest bath did not dry to a uniform color, and it should have
• the grout on the floor in out the master bath and the laundry room was chipping up in a few places. This meant that two tiles in the master bath had to be removed and replaced.
• the closet door in the guest bath needs to be trimmed because it scrapes the floor.
• the access panel that installed for the tub is coming loose from the ceiling in the kitchen.
• the grout around the new tub is cracked
• the base of the toilets need to be caulked

Here is a picture of the grout that should be the same color, but it is not uniform. The blue arrow indicates one of the worst places.

So far today, the grout has been removed from this part of the wall, the rotten wet baseboard has been replaced, the tiles in the master bath that needed to be replaced have been, & the cracked grout around the tub has been removed.

Finished Project

Here are some pictures of the finished project.

Half Bath

Guest bath

Wall tile in guest bath. . .so much better than the shoddy wainscoting.

Master Bath

Our new tub

Shower in master bath

We also put tile in the laundry room, but that's not that interesting to see.

Renovation Pics

Well, the renovation project was finally finished on Friday afternoon. We will NOT be using this contractor again, and we learned a few lessons about how to choose a contractor in the future. First of all, find out if the if person who comes to give you a bid is the person who will actually be doing the work. This was not the case for us this time, and I think we might have gotten a more realistic picture of how long it would take if the man who had come to do the bid had actually known how to lay tile, install a toilet, disconnect a faucet, and install a bathtub. Also, is it important to be home while the work is being done, and be observant about what is taking place throughout the day. I was a bit naive to think that a just because they said something was done that it was actually done. They told me that our smaller upstairs bathroom was ready to use again, but they knew that the faucet was broken, and didn't think it was important to tell me that. After that, we made sure that everything they had installed was in working order before they left our home for the day - - -like making sure the new toilets could flush without leaking and that the doors had been cut enough so that you could open and close the door with out is getting stuck on the rug.

Here are a few pics of the work along the way.

Half bath, sink and toilet removed

Bathroom upstairs, used to have wainscoting on the wall. I think the person who put the wainscoting in barely knew how to use a saw and a hammer. . .didn't look good.

Master bath, demo of old tub begun. I was little concerned about this hole in that wall that was left because they removed a step that used it be there, but it got patched up nicely.

Home Remodeling

This past week I have learned that home remodeling is not for the faint of heart.

Here's what we're having done:

• New ceramic tile and new baseboards in the laundry room, half bath, guest bath and master bath
• New jet tub in master bath

The work was supposed to be finished on Tuesday. There have been 2 guys coming, one of which is a very diligent, attentive worker - I'll call him Ralph here. The second guy - I'll call him Gus - is very unreliable. I have called the foreman everyday this week, except for yesterday, to complain about Gus' tardiness. Both guys are supposed to be here at 9 am to work. Monday, it was 10:45 before Gus showed up, and I think he was either drunk or suffering from a hang over. He did not apologize for being late. He broke one of my NEW faucets, and he could not hook my dryer up properly. He tried twice, and it still was not hooked up right when he left for the day - at 2 in the afternoon -after the foreman told me that he'd be here all day to work.

Yesterday, Ralph stayed here until 7:30 trying to get things caught up. This morning, Ralph shows up at 9 am with a young guy, 18ish? - I'll call him Austin - and tells me that Gus is coming too. At 9:30, I call the foreman to tell him that Gus is late - I have to leave a message though. Still no Gus at 10 am, so I call the foreman again. He answers the phone this time, and he tells me that Ralph is the best man he's got and that he and Austin should be able to get most everything done today. . ."Worst case scenario - they will have to come back on Friday to do come touch-up work." I say OK, even tough I have my doubts, because of everything that I knew had to be done today:

• finish laying tile around tub deck in master bath and grout tub deck
• grout the rest of the tile on wall in guest bath
• paint baseboard for master bath
• install baseboards in master bath
  
• install toilet in master bath
• dispose of old toilet in master bath
• fix broken faucet in guest bath
• properly hook-up dryer
• install jet tub in master bath
• work on "punch list" - a list we've been keeping of little things we see that need to be addressed - so far it is 11 items long

So here's where we are tonight. The only things on the list above that got done where: "finish laying tile around tub deck and grout tub deck", "fix broken faucet in guest bath," "properly install dryer," & "paint baseboards for master bath." The delay is due to Ralph having to re-route the plumbing in the master bath to accommodate the new tub. And Ralph accidentally punched an 8 inch hole in my ceiling while he was trying to grout the tile on the tub deck. Gus never showed up today, and has been fired from this job site. Ralph and Austin have a LOT more than touch-up work to do tomorrow.

Proof Rednecks aren't only in the South

This makes me laugh.

Motorized Bar Stool Crash