Upheaval
These past two weeks have been pretty tumultuous for us. Last week we had Doster's birthday, his party, his ingrown toenail surgery on both big toenails, and we moved out of our house!
Yes, you read right...we had to move out of the house for a week. We have been watching our Sheetrock seams and noticing them cracking and bulging. When you walk down the stairs you can see the waves in the wall or the vaulted ceiling in the living room looks like it have 4 large strips down the ceiling. The dining room ceiling, kitchen ceiling, Caroline's bedroom ceiling, and numerous walls are included in this huge project. It has been a frustrating process trying to convince the contractors to uphold their warranty, trying to actually get in touch with contractors as they just won't return phone calls, and then just processing the idea of moving everything out of the house.
We've also been in an uphill battle with the carpet people since we moved in about 2 seams that are really visible in the master bedroom and the middle of the living room. This Friday, finally, they are coming out to rip those seams, re-stretch the carpet and hopefully lay it correctly. At the same time another contractor is coming to fix the sub-floor in front of the fireplace as it squeaks and sags a bit.
I struggled a bit with feeling like they had violated our home. They didn't do a thorough or good job to begin with and it feels personal - like they have done something to hurt something/someone close to me. This house has been such a personal journey for us and something we've worked so hard for. To then know that someone didn't take their time and do it right the first time really infuriated me. It has been a good opportunity to talk to Caroline about the importance of doing your best job in all you do.
So Saturday, after Doster's party, Charlie, Chris, Daddy, and Jason moved all the heavy stuff out into the garage and on Sunday I stayed home from church and packed all of the things we needed for a week away and took down pictures, packed lamps, and emptied the last things from the house. Sunday evening we moved into my parent's and it has been the perfect place to be as it is "home" to all of us and it is so close to our house that Jason can easily keep a very close eye on the progress at our house.
Right now, we have no closure as we don't know when they will be finished, we're still fighting with them over the need to have a cleaning crew come through the house, and then the process of moving everything back in. At this point the owner of the company will not return any calls and will not respond to us, even though the work is in progress so we can't get an idea of what is going on as far as time frame and they still haven't asked for paint colors but painting is supposedly happening today...I think it will be tomorrow. I just want to go shake this guys neck. It's all so much for me to wrap my head around.
Jason has definitely been my protector this week making sure that he is taking care of everything and I don't have to be involved in the "battle" at all...just from the sidelines. Today he met the builder at the house and I told him I wanted to come over and he said he really didn't want me to as it is really a big mess and it would just be too much for me. As much as I want to see it all, I appreciate his protection of me.
My main concern is the Sheetrock dust that will be everywhere. It is such a residual mess, that keeps coming up even after the first, second and third cleanings. Jason said there is Sheetrock mud on the wood floors, which will come up, and everything has a layer of white over it.
What appalls me is that the owner if the company came through one day to look at the seams before they started the work and he kept trying to down play it to me (Jason had to be at school that day and I had to deal with him alone). He told me we didn't need to move anything and that they could just work around us. Jason said that it is a complete work zone and that there is no way we could have had all this done with us living there and all our belongings in the house. Jason even plastic wrapped all the cabinets in an attempt to protect them and keep down the huge job of cleaning them all out and we are now so thankful he did. They are using a "dustless" system but he said the house is still covered.
Below are some pictures of the empty house to give you an idea and then next week, when this is all over and I have the gumption to look at the in-process pictures, I'll post those.
Yes, you read right...we had to move out of the house for a week. We have been watching our Sheetrock seams and noticing them cracking and bulging. When you walk down the stairs you can see the waves in the wall or the vaulted ceiling in the living room looks like it have 4 large strips down the ceiling. The dining room ceiling, kitchen ceiling, Caroline's bedroom ceiling, and numerous walls are included in this huge project. It has been a frustrating process trying to convince the contractors to uphold their warranty, trying to actually get in touch with contractors as they just won't return phone calls, and then just processing the idea of moving everything out of the house.
We've also been in an uphill battle with the carpet people since we moved in about 2 seams that are really visible in the master bedroom and the middle of the living room. This Friday, finally, they are coming out to rip those seams, re-stretch the carpet and hopefully lay it correctly. At the same time another contractor is coming to fix the sub-floor in front of the fireplace as it squeaks and sags a bit.
I struggled a bit with feeling like they had violated our home. They didn't do a thorough or good job to begin with and it feels personal - like they have done something to hurt something/someone close to me. This house has been such a personal journey for us and something we've worked so hard for. To then know that someone didn't take their time and do it right the first time really infuriated me. It has been a good opportunity to talk to Caroline about the importance of doing your best job in all you do.
So Saturday, after Doster's party, Charlie, Chris, Daddy, and Jason moved all the heavy stuff out into the garage and on Sunday I stayed home from church and packed all of the things we needed for a week away and took down pictures, packed lamps, and emptied the last things from the house. Sunday evening we moved into my parent's and it has been the perfect place to be as it is "home" to all of us and it is so close to our house that Jason can easily keep a very close eye on the progress at our house.
Right now, we have no closure as we don't know when they will be finished, we're still fighting with them over the need to have a cleaning crew come through the house, and then the process of moving everything back in. At this point the owner of the company will not return any calls and will not respond to us, even though the work is in progress so we can't get an idea of what is going on as far as time frame and they still haven't asked for paint colors but painting is supposedly happening today...I think it will be tomorrow. I just want to go shake this guys neck. It's all so much for me to wrap my head around.
Jason has definitely been my protector this week making sure that he is taking care of everything and I don't have to be involved in the "battle" at all...just from the sidelines. Today he met the builder at the house and I told him I wanted to come over and he said he really didn't want me to as it is really a big mess and it would just be too much for me. As much as I want to see it all, I appreciate his protection of me.
My main concern is the Sheetrock dust that will be everywhere. It is such a residual mess, that keeps coming up even after the first, second and third cleanings. Jason said there is Sheetrock mud on the wood floors, which will come up, and everything has a layer of white over it.
What appalls me is that the owner if the company came through one day to look at the seams before they started the work and he kept trying to down play it to me (Jason had to be at school that day and I had to deal with him alone). He told me we didn't need to move anything and that they could just work around us. Jason said that it is a complete work zone and that there is no way we could have had all this done with us living there and all our belongings in the house. Jason even plastic wrapped all the cabinets in an attempt to protect them and keep down the huge job of cleaning them all out and we are now so thankful he did. They are using a "dustless" system but he said the house is still covered.
Below are some pictures of the empty house to give you an idea and then next week, when this is all over and I have the gumption to look at the in-process pictures, I'll post those.
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