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.