Monday, September 10, 2007
A Thousand Words - And Then Some #12
I know, this picture does bring up memories... But no, The JohnnyB has not set the house on fire yet again. No. Y'all really do jump to conclusions very quickly, don't ya?
After the baseboards fascinating saga was over, the floorers arrived this morning, around 9:30 am. That is the first thing I liked about them: they do not show up at ungodly hours like 7am or such.
Three they were: BossyC, VinyB and LamiS.
Without too much ado, VinyB and LamiS launched at our floors. LamiS (who's in charge of the laminate) went for the living room, while VinyB (yup; Da Man Of Da Vinyl) busied himself peeling the carpet off my studio floor and proceeded to tear out the tiles in the bathroom, not before taking out the toilet. So now we have a hole in the floor to aim at. An indoor outhouse. Or, I guess we could take our business to the master bathroom.
Surprises of the day:
First, underneath the ugly carpet, old tiles and older linoleum, there resides a beautiful hardwood floor!! Or, at least it used to be. A gorgeous light color, with a nice honey tone. It looks OK in my studio (just with a lot of smears of paint, wall texture and a touch of water stains). However, in the living room, alas, it's also garnished with a hideous blackish carpet padding that was mercilessly glued right on top on it. Add to that a terrible-looking patch in the middle of the room, dead center... Ah, if these floors could talk... (even if they did, I suspect I wouldn't have been able to put it in this PG-13 blog!). What a desecration! And so, that is what this apocalyptic photo depicts: our living room floor, sans carpet and before LamiS has scraped it. Lovely, Eh?Second: the guest bathroom vanity had to be taken out, as the tiles were oh-so-cleverly tucked underneath it... I do not recall a sadder expression than the one VinyB had on his face when he discovered this fact and came to share it with us. On the other hand, he did not have to scrape off the ewwwww old Jiffa(*) off the living room floor. Now we hope that the vanity will go back in OK, as we don't have the time to get a nice enough one this week (and yes, we looked around this evening, following this new development!).
After hours of noise and dust and tile ricochets flying in the air, huge chunks of old ugly carpet (did I mention I hate carpets?) taken outside, followed by many trash bags, the living room was neatly scraped, and my studio floor covered with large sheets of plywood.
VinyB and LamiS left around 4pm, exhausted and black in the face, looking as if they just finished fighting a terrible fire. Especially VinyB. Man, I felt sorry for these guys!
That is the end of day 1, the worst and messiest part of this adventure, as I understand.
And we survived it.
So far, I am impressed with the professionality and diligence of the floorers themselves, and the fact they left the house in such an incredibly clean condition after they disappeared to the horizon in a cloud of dust.
Oh, but wait. Just in case you are getting all warm and fuzzy about S&G: the floorers did not bring the extra baseboard to replace the chipped one.
Why?
Apparently, S&G guys 1, 2 and 3 didn't even bother to communicate it to them. Too busy having lunch, I presume.
(*) Jiffa is a Hebrew slang word (from Arabic), that comes very handy when you need to describe something that is dirty, slimy, loathsome - you get the picture.
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Labels: This Old House, WTF?
# posted by Nava @ 4:35 PM 
Comments:
Nava complained the other day that I almost set the house on fire because I wouldn't call an electrician. And then almost burned it down once the fire started, yet I didn't want to call the fire department.
Well - the problem all started by having an electritian come in, and do stuff w/o me watching. He undid some of my stuff, and when I put it back, I happened to nail through a wire. Not one of his new ones, but one of the old ones that he moved.
Moral of the story:
(a) I'm going to watch the flooring guys much closer
(b) If / when something goes wrong, since we are using professionals, the question isn't "is it my fault?", but "how is it my fault?"
:)
Ain't that always the question, John? ;-)
But hey, at least that whole Vanity deal isn't your fault. Least not according to the current Thousand Words. (Or have I just said too much..?)
Good luck getting that last baseboard!
Wow. They only sent three guys and let the job unfinished after the first day? When I got my house in San Schmose, they store I used promised the whole house in one day, and they sent about 8 guys.
Didn't quite finish, though. The didn't get the linoleum in the master toilet done (about 20 sq ft). I think it was on back order, cuz someone came to do it a few weeks later. The other ~2400 sq ft was removed and replaced in one day.
"(a) I'm going to watch the flooring guys much closer"
Interesting statement there, The JohnnyB, considering the fact you did not even notice when they took the TV from the living room and brilliantly places it in the bedroom, right in front of your closet...
Michael, worry not. BossyC went himself to get the last baseboard, so that came to a happy ending.
You are so very close to qualify to be a stereotypical Israeli, CherkyB!
A whole house in one day - as someone would say, 'Wow'. (which, I suppose is better than saying 'Like, awesome!'). So, tell me now, what part of 'laminate' was unclear? Plus, we kinda went for quality, rather than who finishes first.
I can't wait to see some pic's of the finished product!
Also, I hate carpet too.
# posted by 
: 9/11/2007 11:43 AM
Trust, me - I can't wait, either. Actually, the vinyl is currently being laid in the studio and bathroom, and the laminate is starting to take form in the living room. Both looking soooooooooooo good!!
Wanna come over and see it happen? :-)
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Well - the problem all started by having an electritian come in, and do stuff w/o me watching. He undid some of my stuff, and when I put it back, I happened to nail through a wire. Not one of his new ones, but one of the old ones that he moved.
Moral of the story:
(a) I'm going to watch the flooring guys much closer
(b) If / when something goes wrong, since we are using professionals, the question isn't "is it my fault?", but "how is it my fault?"
:)
But hey, at least that whole Vanity deal isn't your fault. Least not according to the current Thousand Words. (Or have I just said too much..?)
Good luck getting that last baseboard!
Didn't quite finish, though. The didn't get the linoleum in the master toilet done (about 20 sq ft). I think it was on back order, cuz someone came to do it a few weeks later. The other ~2400 sq ft was removed and replaced in one day.
Interesting statement there, The JohnnyB, considering the fact you did not even notice when they took the TV from the living room and brilliantly places it in the bedroom, right in front of your closet...
Michael, worry not. BossyC went himself to get the last baseboard, so that came to a happy ending.
You are so very close to qualify to be a stereotypical Israeli, CherkyB!
A whole house in one day - as someone would say, 'Wow'. (which, I suppose is better than saying 'Like, awesome!'). So, tell me now, what part of 'laminate' was unclear? Plus, we kinda went for quality, rather than who finishes first.
Also, I hate carpet too.
# posted by : 9/11/2007 11:43 AM
: 9/11/2007 11:43 AM Wanna come over and see it happen? :-)
