Weekly Wrap-Up

Do you remember a time or situation when things got so heavy that you just couldn’t think about it – or even talk about it one more time? That is how I have been looking at this renovation this week – especially with all of the errors, time issues and drama.

First there have been the issues with the schedule and as of today we are a week overdue and counting. The original contract stated 3 weeks plus touch-up and today makes the end of week four and as it stands now it is unlikely that this will be done by NEXT Friday. It may take even longer than that. It is really frustrating.

Then the columns and pony walls were wrong and had to be fixed. Last Friday, John came into the house and immediately noticed a major issue with the columns not being centered either at the top or bottom. Carmen, Eli and John came up with a plan of attack after Eli complained bitterly that the problem stemmed from an error in dry walling. Their solution was to add drywall to make the wall wider in order to center the column – WHAT?????

So Wayne comes home – you have heard about Wayne, right? The completely anal engineer who believes there is ONE way to do something…the right way? Anyway he comes home and I tell him about the issue as if he hadn’t noticed and he tells me that he saw it Thursday night and was just waiting to see if the contractors did anything about it without him saying anything first. He pulls out the six-foot level, multiple tape measures, laser level and proceeds to take multiple photos to email to John to support his position that the framing was wrong, that the measurements that were right weren’t even followed and adding almost an inch of drywall was NOT an actual option. It is good to know that I wasn’t the only one who thought that was a really stupid idea.

Nothing lined up

Nothing was even the same width

While he was in this mood, Wayne decided to climb the scaffolding and clean the ceiling fan since it was painted on and not cleaned well.

John came over the following Mon day morning, pretty early, and he and Wayne conference called before Wayne’s first meeting and Wayne, John and Carmen agreed that Eli would have to take the columns out, center them as they should have been AFTER taking out the pony wall closest to the back door and making sure that they are both the same width and on the same plane. Notice I said they all agreed…seems that Eli didn’t agree. He didn’t show up until Tuesday afternoon and he did only part of the job. The columns are now centered on the existing wall but since he never actually took down the pony wall that part didn’t get done correctly. I have told both Wayne and John that it didn’t get done but apparently it falls under the “it looks ok so file it in the done column even though it isn’t”. So Eli “finishes” the trim and calls the job done – AGAIN.

Of course on Wednesday morning we realize that he didn’t listen AGAIN and there is another screw up. Carmen and I talk every morning, even just for a few minutes, so that he and I are on the same page with painting or whatever is being done that day and he informs me that the top of the trim at the arch is paint-grade instead of stain-grade wood and he was told by Eli that he is supposed to paint it white. He is pretty sure that is wrong since Eli, Carmen and I were all talking together and I was saying that I wanted all of the drywall painted and all of the wood stained. Really, I stay at home during this entire thing and it would have killed Eli to check with me if he wasn’t sure??? So Carmen stains the top piece which really is just plywood in pretty rough condition so that I can see what it looks like and he could always prime it and paint it if required. Well, it looks like crap. There is a wood patch at one end that stands up and just looks horrible. John came in and Carmen warned him that I wasn’t happy even before he talked to me so he was ready for my comments right away. Now neither of us is happy with the work and Eli is going to have to come back and fix it again. Notice the recurring theme?

Oh, and during all of this drama someone taped the plastic in the kitchen to the ceiling with masking tape which peeled off the paint which is now added to the list of things to do before they can leave my house. Since I no longer have the paint from the builder they can’t just spot paint the ceiling so they have to do the whole thing in white. Add at least another few hours for that to happen, plus all of the covering of cabinets, appliances and seating. GRRRR. Needless to say, when John left he looked really mad. Mad to the point that I thought I had done something particularly stupid so I called Wayne to ask him to call John and make sure he was ok. Since it was late, they didn’t talk until Thursday (way-to-early) morning but they had a good conversation. According to John we are actually one of his most reasonable customers (ARE YOU SERIOUS) and he is just upset with Eli and the amount of time the job is taking.

While all of this was happening, Carmen was also busy. He has stained the fireplace which looks awesome by the way, stained the newly fixed columns, textured all of the wall surfaces and painted a lot of trim.

Today the tile guy is supposed to be here to get the fireplace surround done but I have no idea what else is on the schedule.

In other news, last Friday my parents came over around 4pm so that we could head to George Bush Park for mudbugs, BBQ, and beer. YUMMY!! Our church held their second annual crawfish boil and we had three times the number of people this year as last. The Women’s Ministry provided the desserts and I had to do double duty as a floater and an eater. I excelled at one more than another though. Our music ministry leaders each put on a mini-concert and we really all had a lot of fun.

On Saturday, Wayne and I decided to spend MORE money on our laminate floors, which was not in the original plans for this month. We went to Tile Zone where we picked up our last order and we went with a specific laminate chosen and a $3.47 sq ft price that I wanted to do better for. We found a slightly different product for $2.79 and a promise of them to be delivered by today for hubby’s 4-day weekend. Of course, after we paid, he called on Monday to let us know that it wouldn’t actually get here until the second week of June. Like I expected anything else at this point.

The only other thing I wanted to mention before you guys can go (if you are actually still reading) is that I just inherited another cat. A kitten actually and dang they are hard work. Josh brought it from Richmond on Sunday night but I didn’t realize that he left the kitten until Monday morning when he was up in Austin. Of course, I have never been serious about not really wanting another cat before so he didn’t realize I was serious this time. Now Shi Fu is adorable but is only about 6 – 8 weeks old and is teething and climbing everything. The other cats are looking on with tolerant aunt-like attitude but they definitely have no problem smacking him around when he crosses the line.