Well, today was the first opportunity for me to see the work that the contractor has done. I arrived home at 2:00 A.M. this morning (ew!) and walked around to take a look. The old rotten wood is gone! And I met my contractor this morning...who I think was eager for payment!...by him waking me up at 8:34 A.M.! I had my alarm set for 10:30 A.M.
It's going to be a long day.
So a few things about the contractor work...
#1--I'm happy that all of the old floors are fixed. He did a great job lining everything up, and the floors are smooth. So the rot is gone along with the mold. I'm thrilled about that.
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| Before (under the fridge)... |
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| And After. |
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| Before (front door)... |
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| And After. |
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| Before (upstairs bedroom exterior door)... |
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| And After. |
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| Before (kitchen cabinet area)... |
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| And After. |
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| Before (laundry room)... |
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| And After. |
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| The large section of floor replaced in the Master Bathroom/Bedroom area. |
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| The large section of floor replaced in the living room. |
#2--I'm not so thrilled with the dust everywhere. And when I mean everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. Sawdust quite literally covers everything in my house. EVERY SINGLE THING. It's on the floors, it's on the couch, it's on the mantle, it's on every item in every box, every single book, everything. I don't even know how to go about cleaning it! But it's a mess.
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| The formal dining room table. |
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| In the living room. |
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| On the fireplace... |
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| In the Master Bathroom... |
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| In the kitchen... |
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| I'm telling you...it's on EVERYTHING. |
#3--I'm again at a standstill. I can't complete the flooring work (hardwood) until I get the patio doors fixed. He removed the doors only to find out that I was missing a large portion of support beam underneath my house. He also said that the entire deck acts as a water channel and just pours water against the house. He wants two days to fix the outside and inside...and another $1000. He didn't have to remove the front door so he took off $200 from his bid (respectable), and I knew that I wouldn't get the work done for $2250, but I just can't move forward until he gets the French doors replaced. And he needs warmer weather. So I'm probably looking at getting nothing done for another month or three. AGH!!! Oh, well, I have no money to move forward anyway until my house sells. So what's another delay.
#4--I have some frustrations about the work. He told me before he even started that he was likely to crack siding as he removed the doors, and, well, he proved to honor his word! The siding cracked in a couple of places around the French doors...frustrating. It's minor, but I hate when things break! Also, he spent an hour (a frustrating hour by his sounds and sighs) installing a new handle on my front door this morning. And it binds. I tested it out, and you have to push the door in to get the deadbolt to lock fully. I guess that means it's a tight weather barrier fit, but the old one wasn't like that. And part of the latch sticks out so it binds on the plate. I'll have to sand the jamb down to stop that, but I think that's his job!
#5--A lot of trim was left off of doors. He didn't know if I was replacing it or not. Well, I'm going to have to upstairs as water literally rotted the bottom. But around my garage entry door it should have gone right back up. Well, except no I have a huge gap where drywall was cut out! I will have to install a very think piece of drywall and then put trim back up. Again, I think this is HIS job, but I was told he doesn't necessarily do "finish" work. He is a rough work guy. Having saved several thousand dollars over the next bid makes me accept the work that he has done. The floors are prepped, smooth, and solid. So I can do the small stuff.
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| Too big of a gap exists between the new door and the drywall, so I'll have to replace the drywall and mud it. This is HIS job, right?! I guess I won't sweat the small stuff knowing I saved $8000 over the next guy... |
I just feel like every time I step forward, I step back! It doesn't feel like progress when the projects (like French doors) I wanted to have done are months away from being done!
Such is life of flipping, I guess. Little by little.
But the good news is I can hook up my washer and dryer and actually not use Mom for laundry (I had to last week). I can purchase a refrigerator and install in the kitchen. And I can set my cabinets back where I had removed them. That will open up the house a bit.
Again, little by little. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but this is slooooooooow progress. I've owned the house for almost five months now, and I am no closer to installing floors than when I bought it! I mean I am...but it sure doesn't feel like it!
I think my plan is to clean up the upstairs and install the rest of the carpet up there. I'm eager/nervous to see if the water leak is fixed (I hope it was the upstairs exterior door and not my roof), and if it is, I can 100% wrap up the upstairs. The downstairs flooring will wait for a long time. Again, I can't do much of anything until my current house sells (again), but that's the plan for now.
Oh, the joys of foreclosures! Always something!
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