Windows and Doors Revisited

In a previous blog, I talked about some problems we were having with the windows and doors we ordered from Hayward Lumber, or, more specifically, problems we were having with Hayward Lumber. I said that, "Our salesman was not returning phone calls from Nick (or Mike), and when he finally did, he never showed up when he said he would. In the end, Mike took a trip to Hayward Lumber to sort things out, and I must say, everything has since been handled satisfactorily." Well, I have decided to rescind the latter portion of that statement.

One thing that I did not mention in my previous blog was that our back door had not been delivered at all. No big deal, per a conversation with our salesman, we expected that it would take a little longer to arrive. Well, it has still not been delivered. After multiple calls to the salesman regarding the status of the order and delivery, we have been given (at least) three different delivery dates - yesterday was the most recent. Apparently, our door has actually been in for a month, but they "have not had any other deliveries to make in Morro Bay," and for some reason would not make a trip out to deliver our door by itself. (By the way, Hayward Lumber is in San Luis Obispo, and for those of you not familiar with the Central Coast, it is only 12 miles from Morro Bay). If this door cost us $50, I'd probably think that was a valid claim - it would cost them more to pay a driver for an hour of his time, wear and tear on the delivery truck, gas, etc., than the door was actually worth. However, this door, combined with the cost of our front door, was about 25% of our total bill.

At this point, to say that I'm frustrated would be the understatement of the year. The worst part? In any other instance, I'd just call them up, and speak with our salesman's supervisor; unfortunately, our salesman is the supervisor of the window and door department. And, to top it all off, we have to re-schedule our painter to stain and seal the door... again. *sigh* Their slogan is, "So You Can Build." I think they should change it to, "So You Can Build... Someday... Well, Maybe."

On the bright side, a representative from Milgard came out and adjusted all our windows, so they work beautifully now; the crew from Drywall Dynamics completed taping and texturing; our painter is rockin' and rollin' on the interior paint; and our cabinets were delivered today!

Pictures coming soon... I promise!

Another Quick Update

OK, unlike the last "Quick Update," this one really will be quick! Since the last blog, our walls have all been insulated by the crew from Broken Drum Insulation. Gotta' love their tagline, "Broken Drum Insulation - We're hard to beat." Not only did the crew show up an hour early to get started (big points!!), but they also finished the whole house in less than a day.

After insulation went in, the crew from Drywall Dynamics took over. They finished installing drywall throughout the house and DensShield in areas where water would damage regular drywall if we ever spring a leak (such as bathrooms, laundry area, behind the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and fridge). Installation took about a day and half, and after inspection on Monday, they came back on Tuesday to tape joints and cover nail and screw heads.

Pictures will be posted soon, so check back!

Next up... Texture, paint, and then kitchen cabinets!

A Quick Update

Wow, it's been a while since I've given y'all an update! Well, not too many photo-worthy things (except exterior paint) have been going on in the past couple weeks, but quite a bit of work has gotten done! Our electrical work is complete and will *hopefully* pass inspection today. Plumbing is complete, and our bathtub has been set in the master and shower pan has been set in the guest bath/laundry room.

Oh! I don't think I have mentioned that we picked out the granite for our kitchen countertops. We went down and saw Steffanie at Valley Tile and Stone in Paso Robles, and she walked us through the yard to pick out our slabs. It was so cool! They have some amazing material out there. We decided to go with one called "Juparana Columbo Gold." It has a medium gold tone with black and green flecks, and some really cool movement. We also picked out the slate for our kitchen floor and travertine for our master bath at Valley Tile and Stone. They had an amazing selection and were extremely knowledgeable when it came to helping us pick the right products for our application.

This past weekend, we went to the Ferguson Showroom in San Luis Obispo to pick out plumbing fixtures for the kitchen and bathrooms. We had done our rounds at the big box home improvement stores, and we were not too happy with the selection, or the quality of products we found there. Ferguson, however, was awesome. The showroom was awesome, and we got a ton of personal attention from our sales associate, Carol Jean. They had a huge selection of products on display for any budget, and shelves full of product binders just in case you were looking for something they didn't have on display.

After our trip to Ferguson, we went to Stollmeyers Main Lightingin Morro Bay to pick out our indoor and outdoor light fixtures. Again, tons of personal service, and tons of catalogues to look through. We managed to pick out our pendant lights for the kitchen and chandelier for our dining area, but we'll be back this Saturday to finish up.

Anywho... here are the latest exterior pictures of the house, enjoy!

Next up... Insulation, drywall, and kitchen cabinets!!!

Where Were We...

Alright! Time for the promised "problems, solutions, and things we've learned so far" blog!

Thankfully, we haven't run into too many problems so far. I'd like to think we've had more "challenges" to deal with than problems. These challenges have been related mostly to aesthetics, and luckily nothing integral to structure of the house... well, except the drain issues! Since the drains have been re-plumbed, we've discovered that we will indeed have to dig up the asphalt in the front of the house to tie in the new sewer line, and possibly the city street. The biggest problem with this: The house is so old, the city really doesn't know where the tie in is. Cha ching!!

We have had really good luck so far with almost all of our subs and vendors, but we did have an issue with Hayward Lumber when it came to windows and doors. After the windows and doors were delivered, we found that three of the doors we had ordered were mounted in their frames incorrectly (or the order was placed incorrectly), and they swung the wrong way. During this same time frame, the windows were installed, and we discovered that the windows we got weren't exactly what we'd expected (this was pretty much our fault - beginner's mistake, we didn't do enough research) and some of them weren't latching properly - unless you slammed them. Consequently, the windows needed to be adjusted (Milgard windows have a lifetime warranty, so we weren't too worried about those), and the doors needed to be fixed/replaced before we could move forward with their installation. No biggie, right? Wrong. Our salesman was not returning phone calls from Nick (or Mike), and when he finally did, he never showed up when he said he would. In the end, Mike took a trip to Hayward Lumber to sort things out, and I must say, everything has since been handled satisfactorily. Needless to say though, we won't be going back to Hayward any time soon.

So, what have we learned from all this?

A) Research, research, research. When it comes to building products, all are not created equally. Sounds like a no brainer, but just because a certain brand has a good reputation doesn't mean all of their products are top of the line.

B) There are a lot of choices out there! Make sure you have a pretty good idea of the style of home you want to end up with and keep things consistent from the exterior to the interior.

C) When choosing the aesthetic style of your home, make sure it is consistent with the structural style of your home. There's a fine line when it comes to blending styles - it can end up looking very deliberate and elegant, or horribly out of synch.

D) Keep padding in your budget for those "What ifs." Had we not done that, we'd be up a creek as far as the issue with the sewer goes.

E) Finally - but certainly most important - choose a general contractor that you are comfortable working with and check references. Since the moment we started talking to Nick about our remodel, we were confident that we would be happy with his work. Best of all, he has managed to exceed our expectations.

Up next... We're coming into the home stretch!

One Month Recap

It's officially been one month since we started our remodel. The house has come a long way, especially in the past week. Not only has framing started on interior walls, but all of our windows have been installed, the interior plumbing is finished, the line for the French drain has been installed on the side of the house (no more flooded hallway during the winter!), a new awning has been built over the front door (this one matches up with the roof line of the main body of the house now!), Nick and his crew have started installing fiber-cement siding, and Greg from Parsons Heating and Air has started our ventilation. We've run into a few snags this past week... but I'll talk about those next time! Here are the latest shots of the house:

Plumbing and Vetilation:

The New Awning:

The Trenches for the French Drain:

Looking Like a House Again:

Up next... Problems, solutions, and what we've learned so far.

Shelter from the Rain

It's the beginning of week four. The latest developments at the house are the installation of new Milgard Montecito windows, and tar paper to prepare the roof for shingles.

Windows and Papering:

The Armstrong cabinets we ordered from The Cabinet Corner in Paso Robles are in, and we should be ready to install them in three weeks. We also took a trip out to Valley Tile and Stone to pick out the granite for our kitchen. It was a tough choice, but we've got it narrowed down to four options.

Up next... Siding and a first month's recap.

Holy Sheet!

We've reached the tail end of week three of our remodel, and the weather has finally cooperated long enough for Nick to finish sheeting our roof!

New Sheeting:

On Thursday, the crew from Bean's Roofing came back and papered the roof, so when the rain returns, Nick and his subs will have a dry place to work.

Up next... Framing new interior walls and installing windows.