New Floors - Day 9

I suppose life is a mixed bag.  Today was a mixed bag.

On the one hand, nothing bad happened today.  In fact, everything that happened today was good, even if it was a reminder and a resolution of bad things or a revelation of bad things.  (I will explain.)

But first things first.

SPF had to work in Riverside, so I got up early, got the kids up early, and was back at the house by 8:00.  I finished the last little bit of prep just as I heard a light knock at the door.  The carpet guys were prompt, professional, nice, and remarkably efficient.  They were on time, and done by 12:48.

They were so efficient, in fact, that I didn't get any images of the demo except for this discarded piece of old carpet that was sitting outside the master bedroom while they diligently worked inside.  Super awesome.  And it had this sort of "reveal" charm to it when I next saw the bedroom.

This is the new, installed carpet next to that remnant once the doors opened up.  Eeeeeee!  So pretty, and clean, and thick!  SPF and I both thought that the bedroom carpets were in okay shape until we felt the new carpet.  Night and day.

And here it is by the sliding glass door.  It's closer to color in the first shot (shame on me) but I like the cleanness of it.  So amazing.  No issues in the master bedroom.

The kids bedroom, however, had some issues.

 At first, there were no issues, just ripped out the carpet no problem.

And then there was this.  The cracked foundation in the closet of the boys room.  This isn't exactly unexpected as the whole complex shifted down the hill during the landslide, and the building itself has been shored up and solidified with an I-beam, but this was disconcerting none the less.  It's about a foot deep.  This is in a closet so it doesn't bear walking weight, and I'm not worried about the house itself falling down, but this is a potential ingress for water, moisture, bugs, etc.  No fun.  Along with this, though I don't have an image, we found that the wood portion of the floor had separated from the concrete all along the length of the room.  Again, not a safety issue, but a problem anyway.

The good news is that Travis and Mike had come back to look at our flooring fiasco and were on hand to guide us into buying a 2-part concrete epoxy to fill and seal the gaps.  It won't hold the house together, which we don't need (I promise you, the house is solid, there are just remnants left from before it was solid) but it will also keep out the moisture and bugs.  We bought 5 tubes of the stuff.  Travis, the angel that he is, installed it for us.

Once it was completed (about half an hour after discovery) the flooring in the boys room continued.  This is the carpet pad.  Yay!  (I'll get finished pictures to you later.)

And now back to the wood.  After looking at it and trying to hash out why the original installer had shimmed the nosing into place when the apron and the sub floor had both been perfectly level, the guys decided that the only way to fix it was to start fresh.  The took out the baseboard (which was toast anyway) and the nosing along the half wall and the entryway, all the way back to the top of the stairs.

Out of curiousity, Travis checked the level of the floor after he did this.  The level demonstrated that the reasoning we had been told for the shimming was false.  We had been told that the floor "plummeted" towards the front door.  Turns out, it's level.  Not just level enough for government work, but way more level than a floor built in 1975 that has undergone a landslide and been propped up an I-beam has any right to be.  LEVEL level.  So why he shimmed it?  Nobody knows.  I bet poor Travis is still trying to figure this out.

And yet another conundrum.  When the installer put the nosing against the top of the stairs, he didn't make sure the nosing was flush.  At all.  So when the nosing is pushed up against the apron that Travis and Mike put in, which is flush and level, it doesn't match up with the cut the installer made.  This is a big problem.  At this point, we've already lost the nosing along the half wall and the hall edge.  If we had to pull this up as well, we'd be in a situation where we would start a domino effect of ripping out the floor.  The new floor.  Way more of it than we want to be messing with.  So Travis and Mike thought about this and thought about this and Mike said the only thing he could think to do was make a custom stair nosing that would be a bit thicker, fit this awkward hole, and fill the entire length of where the nosing needed to go without the horrible tiny strip of wood I mentioned before.  SOLD!

So here's what I learned today.
1. When you are laying a hardwood floor with a staircase in the middle of it, you lay the stair nosing along the longest edge of the staircase first (after checking for a level floor, duh) and then align your full planks in that direction.  THAT becomes your starting point that is the straight line you use to lay the rest of the floor.  This does two things.  First, it makes sure you have a full plank next to your stair nosing, and second, it makes all of your cuts along the walls, which can be hidden by baseboard.
2.  Good quality craftsmen are not a dime a dozen.
3.  When in doubt, make a new piece of stair nosing that can bridge the gap of the poorly installed wood and get rid of the sliver of wood that accentuates the loss of 1" of straight line over an 8' span so that, perceptually, it appears as though the floor was installed correctly even though this is a repair job.
4.  Travis and Mike are superheroes.  With mild-mannered alter egos.  Seriously.  Nicest guys.

And just to pour lemon juice on the wound, if the other installed had just not shimmed the nosing, everything would have fit together perfectly.  That is a board simply lying across the top of the apron (that Travis and Mike installed correctly) and fitting with no additional effort onto the tongue of the remaining wood.

Yep.  This guy created his own problems, and now we are fixing them.  (And recording them.  For all the paperwork we are going to need to get refunded a portion of our expenses here.)

But, I do have carpet in both bedrooms!  You saw the carpet, right?  Pretty, pretty carpet?

New Floors - Day 8 - Part 2

The Install.

Wow.  I apologize in advance if I misspell things.  Fury has a way of making my hands shake.  Admittedly, a lot of the anger is in the stuff I wrote about in the last blog.  But not all. 

No, not all by a long shot.

I am not a flooring expert or installer.  I know this.  I don't claim to be.  But I have learned, over the years of installing our own tile and watching a lot of Scott McGillivray, that you start your flooring on an actual straight line (not a wall, which can be wonky) and you plan to have as large a plank as possible on the edges of both sides, meaning that it would be better to have 4/10ths of a board on two sides than 7/10ths on one side and 1/10th on another.  Or, for that matter, a 1/4" gap between your stair nosing and the next full plank.

That's right, folks.  Preplanning and awesomeness intact, there is what can only be described as a sliver of wood between the full planks and the stair nosing.  The biggest problem with this is that any discrepancies are magnified.

In this case, the width changes between the sliver and the end of the nosing where the shelf wall is because our old house is not square.  We know it isn't square.  That's the way of old houses.  Especially houses that partially slumped during a landslide and were since shored up with an I-beam into the bedrock.  Yep, not square.  But do you have to emphasize it?

And then there's this.  Turns out not only did he not really plan to be sure the FLOOR WOULD BE LEVEL AT THE STAIR NOSING!  LEVEL!!!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's something that FLOORS SHOULD BE!  Again, the problem of complete incompetence is compounded by not having a larger section of wood to bridge the gap.  Even though it would have still probably been evident, it wouldn't have that horrible little jog in the baseboard and a 1/4 inch ramp up to the stair nosing.  And then, to top it all off, the installer BLAMED SPF!  SPF DID NOT LAY THE STAIR NOSING!  And the plywood that he did lay was LEVEL TO THE PREVIOUS FLOORING THAT THE INSTALLER LAID! 

Deep breath in two three, out two three.  In two three, out two three.

Sorry for that outburst.  I didn't mean to start screaming.  Which I am, by the way.  Pretty much always right now.  And SPF, who is a significantly better craftsman, gentleman, and human being that the installer corrected him nicely, with the logic I just provided, and said "Make it the best you can."  At which point he, nicely, excused himself from the situation before his head exploded.

That night, I wrote an email to the AMAZING STAIR GUYS (to the rescue, again) and told them the situation.  The next day, they agreed to help us rip out this monstrosity (to which Travis, upon seeing an image, replied "That's just sad.") 

And it is.  But, truthfully, it isn't the saddest part.

This is.  This is the blue tape that the lead installer put down to mark the area where the floor had to be built up with shimming and glue.  That's not the sad part.  I get it, not a square or level house.  Over large areas, I understand there are going to be issues.  No, the sad part is that the tape isn't for us.  Or for our one- and three-year-olds.  No, the tape is for his co-worker, who kept stepping on it just after it was laid.  The head guy initially said, "Dude, be careful over here."  To which his counterpart said, "Oh, yeah."  But he kept stepping on it anyway.  Over and over and over again.  Even after the tape was laid down.  And when, at the height of his own frustration (and clearly seeing SPF's face turning red from fury (he's working literally right next to this area, BTW) the head guy snapped at him, "Dude, stay away from there!"  At which point his counterpart dangled his foot over the marked off area and made wobbly gestures and noises like he was going to fall.  Like a child would do.  Not a teenager or even a boy, but a toddler.  Someone who thinks games are fun when you say "Don't do that, please" and take it as an invitation to do it more.

I honestly don't know how SPF didn't stand up, punch the guy in the face, and say, "This is my home, you get that, right?  My house, where I will be living that you're trying to screw up."  And then demand that he leave.  I don't advocate violence of any kind, but I would really, really, really have liked to punch that guy right in the face.

So I'm angry.  I'm angry because ignorant, sexist, foolish people were sent to my house and they did a mediocre job.  I'm angry that our budget is shot because we are having to order more stair nosing and baseboards on our own dime and hire better people to fix the mistakes of worse people.  I'm angry because this change is transformative.  The space looks amazing and we can't enjoy it because we are slogging up remodel hell mountain.  Where all they had to do was stomp on some wood planks and shove them into place with the tongue and groove system, the house looks great.  (That is what they did, by the way.  Honestly, just dropped a piece of flooring down, and slammed it into place with a shoe, sometimes going back with a hammer and one of those metal wedges that helps encourage the pieces to lock together more tightly.)

But this looks great.  The tile accent is amazing, the baseboards, where installed correctly or at all, look so finished and nice.  Why couldn't they take pride in the more difficult areas of the job and stand behind their work?

Oh, yeah, and in a side conversation SPF mentioned that the stair guys were coming on Friday (this would be last Friday at this point) which is when the carpet people were supposed to come.   We were given strict instructions that no two disciplines should be there at the same time, so we called to move the stair install back to Monday (two days ago).  The floor installer took it upon himself to reschedule the carpet install.  So, unbeknownst to or approved by us, the carpet was delayed a solid week.  They don't even come until tomorrow morning.  No one ever thought to call us and be sure that the flooring installer was correct in his assessment.  Come to think of it, since I paid the down payment, no one has bothered to contact me about anything, or return my calls or emails, and I have to call and call and call and talk to whoever I can get to stay on the line with me. 

So, despite the wishes of the flooring company in regards to multiple disciplines working simultaneously, the carpet is starting tomorrow and Travis and Mike are coming to fix the bad flooring and, hopefully, start the stair install at the same time.  Travis already knows that we won't have all of the stair nosing, but they agreed to come anyway.  I think at this point they feel badly for us. 

I am a bit nervous about the carpet installers, because I was given the impression that the hardwood floor installers were the best of the best that this company had to offer, where the carpet guys were a bit more harsh.  So wish me lots and lots and lots of patience and luck.

New Floors - Day 8 - Part 1

Okay, I spoke to soon. 

Clearly.

I know I haven't checked in for a while, and there's a reason for that.  I haven't been able to stop the stream of obscenities that started on Day 8, which was a week ago tomorrow.  I haven't really gotten a good night's sleep since then, either.  And I have written and rewritten this blog post in my brain about a thousand times so that I can get ready for the Yelp review, the Angie's List post, the BBB complaint.

So.  Many.  Things.  Have.  Gone.  Wrong.

Let's start this shindig off with the beginning of the process.  Consider this whole line of blogs, all seven other, as an in medias res storyline.  Meaning I started somewhere in the middle and am now going to go back to the very beginning.  Back to the day we stepped into the first flooring shop with wide eyes and big ideas.

That day we met a very perky, very friendly sales woman who eagerly showed us around the sales floor and we fell in love with dark, distressed wood and warm, multi-tonality carpet.  We scheduled the in-home flooring measurement right then and there.

A couple of days later, she showed up, measured all the rooms where there was to be hardwood or carpet, chatted away with me as she took notes, counted the stairs, asked if we wanted the carpet to go into the closets, if we wanted the wood in the upstairs closet, if we wanted the flooring to be floating or nailed or glued, if we wanted the tile removed everywhere, or just in front of the fireplace.  I answered all of her questions, we smiled and got more and more excited, she promised a quote soon.

The answers were yes to the carpet in the closets, yes to the wood in the coat closet, glued flooring over cork for noise control (that's what we do for a living.  We are noise consultants!  Noise abatement matters to us and we understand it!)  Yes to the tile removal. 

She informed me right away that the wood could not, by code, go up to the fireplace, that would need to be tile.  No problem!  I assured her.  That actually sounded fun, a nice accent for the space.

A few days later, the first quote came in.  I would paste it here to show you how very vague it was, but I'm not using this blog to make enemies.  Anyway, my opinion of that might be with hind sight.  At the time, it seemed like all the I's were dotted and T's were crossed.

Then, we had our quote with the Stair Guys.  The glorious, wonderful, thank you God for having them in our project, Stair Guys.  Kevin suggested we notch out the stringers, wrap the stairs, and use white MDF instead of wood on wood to get a nice, clean look.  (You can see this part of the story in New Floors - Day 6 - Part 1.) 

After some further discussion with the flooring company, it turns out that the same saleswoman didn't order enough stair nosing.  Or base boards (you read that right, BASEBOARDS.) And ordered bonkers amounts of too much wood.  It seems as though she took part of the first measure (wood stairs with wood facing between the stringers - hence the too much wood) and part of the second measure (some more stair nosings, but not enough stair nosings) and flew off into fairyland (you want baseboards on all your floors?)  Um, freaking yes I do!  She said, "Ok, that's another $400."  Um, no, it isn't.  Because we told you exactly what we wanted and you didn't order it.  After talking with her boss, the owner, I assume, she relayed to me that they would "absorb the cost." 

So, at this point, we have to specialty order new stair nosings, order (and find somewhere to paint?) new baseboards, and find someone to install the new baseboards because the original quote from the subcontractor was only for carpet demo, disposal, and install.  Not for baseboards.

And I haven't even gotten to the actual install yet.  I'm going to need a good editor for my Yelp review.

New Floors - Day 7

If you're a mother, you know that after hours of labor and struggle and pain, everything fades away the second you see that beautiful little face for the first time.

I'm not going to say today was as powerful as that, but I think I probably will remember it for a long time.  I could forgive a lot of the trauma we've been through to see what I saw when I got home from work today.  (I taught a morning class, so I got to see the evolution a bit and I just got happier and happier.)

It's actually starting!  This is the landing at the bottom of the stairs.  Look how beautiful!

After a bit more work, this is what it started to look like.  It is done now, and sitting under some heavy boxes (of more wood) to help the glue set properly.

Upstairs things are going smoothly as well.  Despite our extraordinarily not square house, everything is being installed with nice straight lines.  There will be strange little gaps that will need to be worked on with small little pieces of wood, but so far that work has proven successful.

They laid the straight line first (the third board out) and then fixed in the other boards to follow the crazy wall.  They did a really nice job.

This is a good portion of the living room with a swath of glue for the next portion.  

And the first of the stair nosings!  These are wrapping around the upstairs overlook.  It's starting to look so very polished and finished. 

Here's where we're at right now.  Even our old, saggy couch looks better!  (It is going to get a face lift, after the new door and a little more savings . . . )

Tomorrow, they will come back and install the rest of the flooring and the baseboards.  On Friday, the stair guy comes in to lay the wood on the stairs.  Then I have the awkward conversation with the flooring company about when they are going to come out and do the carpet.  After that is all done, I will call the stair guys back for the new banister.  Eeeeeeeeee!!!  We will then be able to officially record that our one week floor remodel project took three weeks.  (Here's hoping.)

New Floors - Day 6 - Part 3

Well, if there is one silver lining to finding the termite damage and delaying the project, it's that I had the opportunity to paint all of our new baseboards.  It was in the fine print of the contract that they will install the baseboards, but not paint them.  So when the demo guys were done for the day, they ran to Home Depot and picked up the baseboards and brought them back to us.

So, now I had this wide open space, a bucket of paint, some new paint brushes, and 12 baseboards to paint semi-gloss white.

So I laid them out on the new cork (which I was assured wouldn't hurt the cork or the final wood install) and I painted them one at a time, pulling the next one in and shoving it as far over as I could.  I did this in the early afternoon so that they would be dry by the time the kids got home.

New painting supplies.

Unpainted boards.

Painted boards!  Because it was clearly that fast a process.  Yep.  One, two, three, done!

Honestly, it only took me an hour and forty five minutes.  My knees and ankles are sore, but they were coated with the first coat of paint.  The real pain was having to do it again after the kids went to sleep.  It was another hour and forty five for the second coat, as well.  But they are done and ready to be installed!  (And they look really pretty.)  :)

New Floors - Day 6 - Part 2

Okay, so that last post was about conversations and the icky parts of doing business.  But now let's get to the part where we end up fixing some things ourselves.

The sort of accent wall in our stairwell had horrible white tile on it that we ripped out.  What we found underneath was a piece of drywall.  The demo guys didn't pull this out.  The logic was "since no one is going to walk on it, it doesn't really matter if it is plywood or not."  We've been getting stuff like that a lot with these guys.  The "don't worry about it, I'm a professional," answer.  But we do worry.  And we are paying a lot.  And we are smart.  And SPF continued to think this wasn't the best solution to this area.

When Chris the handyman was here fixing the first of what I'm sure will be many projects for us (we have already slated him to replace the front door once it goes through the HOA process) SPF asked him if that was okay.

Chris looked sideways at him and said, "What are they going to glue the wood to?  Drywall paper?"

Huh.  Yeah, that doesn't sound good.  Actually, that sounds bad.  Like, the cat will jump up on it and it will come crashing down ruining our stairs, the stair nosing, maybe the cat . . . so we ripped it out.

Okay, so this is the wall with the old piece of drywall still mostly intact.

When SPF pulled the drywall off, unfortunately the new apron came off as well.  It was glued to the corner bead of the drywall, which really did need to come out, so we will have to put it back later.  I think it's okay, though, because it will be easier to fix the other part without have to work around the apron.  After he ripped it out, SPF measured and cut new plywood strips (that Chris just happened to have in his truck, so he gave it to us) and then put down liquid nails to secure it in place.

In went the new plywood.  Because he already had out the saw, extra plywood, and liquid nails, SPF proceeded to install plywood in all of the places that had been left untouched by the first day crew.  We have exceptional confidence in those areas now.  It isn't that we don't have some confidence in the other areas, but the attitude of "eh, it's good enough" isn't really how we work.  And we would rather that the people we work with don't have that attitude either.

New Floors - Day 6 - Part 1

Day 6 of the new floor project is mostly frustration mixed with fighting mixed with changing installers mixed with doing things right ourselves.

It's a long story, but I will try and narrow it. 

You all know what happened on demo day, but what I didn't mention were the conversations about the stair install and the accent wall "shelf" that follows the entry way. 

First, the stair install.  When we originally spoke with the flooring people, we had asked for wood stairs with wood risers between our stringers.  Then we met Kevin, the guy who quoted us the stair alteration, and he had such amazing ideas about notching out the stringers and wrapping the stair nosing around the walls so that they would be visually interesting.  He also had some beautiful images of dark wood stairs with white risers, which is what SPF had always wanted, and I immediately conceded that it was a gorgeous look. 

So, like good consumers, we called the flooring company and asked for them to come out, remeasure, and re-quote based on the new criteria.  Which they did.  We thought.

When the installer was talking to us about the problems he was going to have wrapping the stairs, we couldn't understand what he meant.  We had Googled "stair nose returns" and made sure we were speaking in the same language.  We sent pictures to the flooring company explaining what we wanted.  We were told they couldn't do it.  (This isn't a specialized install, by the way, this is the standard way that things are done with stairs in this fashion!)

I felt an ulcer growing and went to bed.  I can handle some things like a champion, but for some reason this sent me over the edge.  SPF, thankfully, assured me that he could take care of it the next day and that all would be well.

I was in a professional development training all morning, panicking constantly that he would get in a fist fight over the install.  The night before he had told me, "This is our house.  We have to live here and I will do what it takes to get it done right."

That involved, it seems, a rather snarky conversation with the woman who sold us our stairs, her argument was "There were miscommunications on both sides," to which SPF replied, "Google 'stair nose returns'.  This is what people expect."  Apparently the conversation wasn't terribly cordial and he ended the conversation asking for a credit for the stair install.  This he did before he had confirmed that the stair guys (who you know we love) would be able to do the wood install as well.  If I had known this, I would have been escorted out of my 300 person professional development meeting by men in white coats.  Luckily, before I was aware of the full situation, he had contacted Kevin, who, albeit reluctantly, agreed to send one of his guys to do the wood install on the stairs. 

SPF said Kevin sympathized with our position once explained.  "That's floor guys, for you!" he laughed.

So now the stairs are being pushed back so that the original installers can finish the standard wood laying and the stair guy can be on his own on Friday to do the stair install.

The sad thing is, when we spoke to the actual installer today, he said he could have easily done what we were asking for, but what had been explained to him was that wood risers would still be used, and he would have to rough cut those edges.  We didn't understand what he was trying to tell us.  What I'm wondering now is if we ordered boatloads too much wood.  Because each of those stair fronts is actually going to be a white, MDF riser.  Hmmmmmm.

Entryway Closet New Floor and Wall - Day 2

Although they were a tiny bit late, Handyman Chris and his brother, Mike, arrived and started working on the tiny closet with the huge problem.

They started by removing more of the wood and wall so that they could really see what was going on and where the damage started and ended. 

That driftwood looking piece of material in the middle there is supposed to be supporting the whole frame.  It has been decimated by water and termites.  It isn't even wood anymore.  I don't think we could even call it splinters.  It was just . . . gone.

After they cleared out the bad stuff, they sprayed everything down with a product intended to stop any further water damage and seal off the stuff that is no good.  It might even protect against termites?  Maybe I dreamed that.

They sistered the joists with heavy, pressure treated wood and replaced the formerly driftwood section of the frame.  SPF then put some new plywood down so that the flooring guys could return and work on their cork in the closet.

Here is a better image of the new treated wood, which I am very comfortable with.  Luckily, the damage seemed to stop before it went under our wall and into the neighbor's unit.  I really don't know what would have happened then, but I'm pretty sure the project would have been delayed by a few days to seven years.

That light sneaking through from the left is our new project.  Pretty much as soon as we can muster paying off the stairs (come on shareholder distribution!) we have to replace this puppy.  Not only can you see through it when closed, it was the original problem.  When it was built, in order to raise the door's threshold a little, the builders used particle board.  I'm sorry, did I say particle board?  I meant SPONGE BOARD.  So every little bit of water that kicked up was sucked straight into the board and distributed, plentifully, for the thriving termites.

So now, new door.

Entryway Closet New Floor and Wall - Day 1

Yeah, so once we found the termite damage and the workers stopped for the day, we called the number provided to us from the flooring company of a "handyman" that they frequently use.  He should, they told us, be able to figure out what to do next.

 So, this is the telltale starting point.  The damaged wood with the termite trails.

This is the floor beneath that wood.  It appears water damaged, as well, though it doesn't extend far, and the wood itself is fairly solid towards the door, but less so as you press on it moving into the closet. 

Really less so.  It's basically gone.  The handyman, a hilarious, stocky guy who crumbled a bit of the wood in his hand, told us it was basically "returned to dust."  Poetic, true, but not what I ever wanted to hear about my subfloor!

He decided to call his grandfather, an A and B class contractor (apparently that means he can build a doghouse all the way up through a skyscraper.)  So after some brief discussion, Chris, the handyman, asked if he could cut open the wall to see what was happening.  We, of course, agreed, and he took out a good chunk of floor and wall.

 At which point it became painstakingly clear that framing was compromised.  On the outer wall. 

This is him pushing his hand through the wall and shredding the "wood" there to splinters. 

The good news?  The termite damage is from a long departed/deceased colony, so we don't have to get anything treated or tented.  We just need to repair the framing on the outer wall.

"Sure.  No big deal," I think, seriously losing blood to my apendages.

"Nope."  He says. 

"Nope?  Nope it's not a big deal, or nope, it can't be fixed and we're screwed?"

"Nope, it's not a big deal."  He assures SPF and I he will be back in the morning with the appropriate tools and materials and he'll be able to fix it in half a day.  The blood started to return to my limbs, I think, but I'll know more in a week or two when the project is done.

This does, of course, push the flooring back at least one more day. 

New Floors - Day 5

So, okay, I shouldn't leave you hanging, right?

There is just so much . . .

First off, you have to respect a little bit how we are living right now.

We have no real seating.  And although SPF hooked up our entertainment center again, we can only spend so much time on the ground before our bones begin to groan.  Yes, it's a first world problem, I give you that, but it doesn't make it any easier.  Okay, maybe a little easier.  I'm not made of stone.

What surfaces we have available are covered to capacity.  This is not only a visual clutter that I am not fond of (though live with more often than I'd like to admit) but it makes things difficult to find.  And things that are breakable are, well, breaking.  But we have adopted a relatively ruthless approach.  It's broken?  It's trash.  Even the kids pitch in.  When we ask them to take something to the trash, they do.

We also have no dining space right now.  Or really a functional kitchen.  So even though this isn't a kitchen remodel, we are having to eat out.  Now we have been trying to be good about this - eating picnic lunches from the grocery store comprised of a deli sandwich, a bag of chips, a fruit bowl, and something sweet to eat) but that actually still costs more than buying individual ingredients for those things and then making them yourself.

And this is the only toy in the house.  Short-sighted, perhaps, but we needed the floor space for the demo.  The only reason this thing is in the house is because it was stuck somehow in the couch.  (Most toys fall through and we find them under the couch.)  When the demo guy moved the couch, this little guy popped out.

It is now the favorite toy of the children.  They fight over "the car" constantly.  They do have about a thousand of these in the garage, but we can't easily get to them.  There are materials and tools and saws and blades in the way now.  Not a great environment to go hotwheels hunting.

Keep in mind that the project was supposed to be done in one week.  We are pushing day 9 of the project when this even starts.  So, nerves are probably thin.  But I don't think we are overreacting to what I am about to tell and show you.  We are just, reacting.  Calmly and rationally.  Like adults.  I have not pounded my fists, pouted, pulled my hair out, screamed, cursed, or flat out punched anyone in this story.  Just FYI.

The demo guys were, as the head guy called them, "rhinos."  Okay.  No worries.  They're demo guys.  I don't expect the Moscow ballet.  They asked me if I would mind if they played some music while they worked.  The other workmen had done the same thing, so I thought it wouldn't be an issue.  Of course I said, go ahead.  They warned me that they like hard core gangster rap, and I said that nothing really offended me, so whatever they wanted.

I guess I should have added the qualified that I would like it to not be so loud that I couldn't think straight while trying to work in my home office.  Or that I would feel more comfortable if they didn't sing along at the top of their lungs to each of the more vulgar stanzas.  Or that it would maybe endear them to me more if they avoided the songs where "we be killing them b@#%$es."  Um, okay.  It was weird to me how oppressed I started to feel.  How very unwelcome and even unwanted I was in my own home.  In my own work space.  And, truth be told, the songs I think are stupid, but they don't really offend me.  It's the clear idolization and karaoke of them that became more . . . threatening.

To be fair, in their direct dealings with me, all four of the workers were very respectful.  It's just that they seemed unaware that their actions would affect someone out of their visual range.

At any rate, I felt so oppressed, I only got a few images of the progress.  For the first time in this project, I didn't ask them if I could photograph them working (albeit anonymously represented) and just grabbed images when I didn't think they were nearby.

I grabbed this from my office.  The carpet came up pretty quickly, as expected, and this is the very worn and tired carpet pad.

I didn't get any other images of the bare floor as I stayed mostly to myself and then actually left the condo to go and get lunch anywhere but in my home.  This is some of the cork that was laid down for sound control.  I haven't the slightest idea why they would cut out the cork around the old newel.  If we wanted the floor to go around it, wouldn't we have left it in?  We caught this on one of the rare occasions when we poked our heads out and SPF told them that wasn't necessary.  They didn't fix this one, but they also didn't cut out the other, so I guess that's a half win?

They didn't really finish things that would take a tiny bit more work.  (This, by the way, after they arrived almost an hour late (and their original start time was already an hour after what everyone else started at . . .) and decided that they didn't want to do any more work for the day.  It was 1:41 pm.  I looked.)  This section was where some of that old brown tile was, so it needs to be built up to be level with the other areas of the floor.

The bulk of the floor actually looks okay and the cork is down, but they pretty much said, well, we've done what we can do for today and vacuumed very little and then put a few of our things back in the house (like the couch) but didn't really put things in a way that would make them livable.  And while doing this, one of them started screaming out our balcony window at a woman across the street.  Apparently she had left either her house door or car door slightly ajar and he believed he was trying to help.  When the head guy (I really don't know if he was the boss or not) asked him what the hell he was doing in a loud, hoarse, panicked whisper, he replied "I'm helping b@#$#es."  And then he laughed a sort of pinched, nasal, weasel laugh.  I could feel my cheeks growing red from the fury that was raising my blood pressure.  Honestly, I don't know what kept me from marching out to him and just telling him to get out of my house and not return.  But they left shortly after.  I didn't really sleep that night.

This floor is prepped for the next stage, I believe, because it is concrete and doesn't need the cork.  (It's the ground floor.)  It's just hard to celebrate progress with such an ugly day.

And once they left, we found all the debris all over the house.

These are perhaps the two worst examples, but I am more concerned with the nails, sharp pieces of broken mortar and tile, and old carpet pad that a two year old would step on/eat/pick up/jam in his ear.  It was just a shoddy job.  And our expectations had been set so high by Mike and Travis, who left the house cleaner than when they found it, despite the demo.

Oh, and that top piece has another story, as well.  That top image is their main excuse for not finishing any more work.  It shows the trails and eating habits of the termites.

The termites.

You do realize we are planning on installing hardwood, right?

It is also going to be our next installment - Entryway Closet New Floor and Wall - Day 1.