Post by textiger on Oct 7, 2005 12:16:42 GMT -5
I know that in the great scheme of things, this is not all that important. Particularly in the wake of Katrina and Rita. In fact, that is what has kept me from blowing up sooner. The hurricanes reminded me once again of how many folks are far less fortunate than I.
That said, I am ready to go on a three-state killing spree over the interminable kitchen project.
After months of planning, design, decision-making and big fat check-writing, we gutted our kitchen in July to make way for new cabinets and appliances. Plumbers come in and extend a gas line for the new stove and electrician comes in to rewire kitchen. Cabinet installers are supposed to come at the end of the month to put in the ridiculously expensive boxes with doors. But first the drywall guy comes out to patch up where we tore out the soffits above the old cabinets.
Drywall guy gets here and says, hey, where is the pony wall that's supposed to be here? Huh? We call the installers and they take a look at the plans and say, um, you were supposed to build a pony wall. Now, had I known that, perhaps I would not have taken out the existing pony wall behind the old cabinets separating the kitchen from the den. Installers agree to do it, but will charge is $450. Fine, whatever. Well, whatever consists of maybe four or five two-by-fours that the drywall guy now covers with sheetrock.
A week into the installation, we're already a week behind. But things start to look up once the installers come back to put in the cabinets. For two days, they measure and cut, hammer and hang. At the end of the second day, they notice a few things are chipped or cracked. We also needed some more moulding. Stuff is ordered and they promise to come back when it's here.
Except it doesn't all get here. Cabinet manufacturer sends only one door instead of the three needed. I go to Home Depot, which has been our portal to this unfolding nightmare and talk to the kitchen guy who ordered the doors. Except he didn't order the doors, he ordered a door because he misread the installers' specs. So, he reorders. At the same time, I have to shell out another $500 for the mouldings and installation of said mouldings.
Two weeks later, the doors arrive at our house and Home Depot calls to say the mouldings are in. I get to the store and out of the five pieces, three are damaged. The cabinet company does nothing to pad and protect these things. So I take the two and reorder three. A week later, I go to pick it up and they are all damaged. Again!. Reorder. Home Depot woman calls a week later to say that they have arrived but are stained with something she cannot get off. I get on the phone with the cabinet maker (American Woodmark for those wondering who not to use), explain the situation and the woman sets to rectifying it. In the process, she tells me that Home Depot should have ordered it differently the previous two times so they could get them out quicker. Perhaps they should tell Home Depot that.
Mouldings arrive. Home Depot calls to say the installers are refusing to come back out unless we pay another $150 for an install visit. I tell the woman to remind them that we already paid for the installation and that the workers were going to have to return because they hadn't even put the knobs and pulls on the cabinets anyway. Further, if their employee had done a proper inspection when the cabinets were first delivered, perhaps they would have noticed the damaged goods and gotten that straightened out earlier. That apparently did the trick and the installers dropped their demand.
Now, during all this time, we have been without running water, a sink or stove in our kitchen. Since late July. By this point, it's mid-September. Meanwhile, the folks from whom we have purchased our granite countertops keep calling, asking when they can come out and install them. I explain that we are waiting on a single piece of cabinet that butts up against where the small countertop will go. I try several times to convince them to come out and put in the larger countertop, so we can get our sink in and have running water. No go.
Finally, the needed pieces arrive and the cabinet folks come back out to install. I call the counterop guy and schedule his people for two days. Everything's cool. Then the cabinet installers notice that the one piece holding up the countertop job is wrong. The manufacturer sent a 3/4 inch facing instead of a 3/16 in facing. It has to be reordered. You can imagine how excited I am by the prospect of waiting on the cabinet company again.
I call the granite folks back and relay the news. The owner takes pity (finally!) and agrees to come out and install all but the short countertop while we wait for the new facing.
Two man crew comes out the next day (last Friday) and gets to work. Granite looks great. It's something called Key West Gold and is really pretty against the maple cabinets. They finish up and leave. I call a plumber to come install the sink so we can have running water in the kitchen again.
Plumber comes to do an estimate and looks at the sink, which is rocking in the countertop cutout. This won't work, he says. It won't sit flat. He pulls it out and pronounces it defective, pointing to a spot underneath. Get a new sink and I'll come back out and hook it up for you.
I return the sink to Home Depot and go to a plumbing supply house to order a new one--they said it will take 2-3 days rather than the 2-3 weeks Home Depot takes. Sure enough, two days later, on Wednesday, the sink is in and I go to pick it up. I bring the sink home, unwrap it and put in the cutout and voila---it rocks just like the last one. What the hell? I get out the level again -- the plumber and I used it to make sure the granite was level before he decided the previous sink was defective. Everything looks good until I put the level right on the seam in front of the sink where they have joined two pieces of granite. It wobbles. There is a 1/8 inch gap. We didn't see it before because we apparently placed the level on either side of the seam. But when it bisected the seam, there was a bulge.
I call the granite folks and tell them the problem. They agree to send someone out the next day. Guy never arrives. They call and reschedule. For this morning at 9:30 a.m. It is now noon and he isn't here. That hissing sound is steam coming out of my ears.
I work nights and get about 3 hours of sleep before I get up to get the kids fed, dressed and ready for school. Then I go back to bed for another few hours. Except I can't this morning because the granite guy is supposed to be here at 9:30 p.m. I'm exhausted and boiling mad. I'm about to call the granite folks and tell them to come tomorrow because I've got to go to sleep before I go to work.
So, here we are nine weeks without running water or a sink or a dishwasher or a stove in our kitchen. Is it any wonder I run out of the room when my wife starts talking about getting hardwood floors?
If you've gotten this far, thanks for your patience. Mine is just about gone.
matt
That said, I am ready to go on a three-state killing spree over the interminable kitchen project.
After months of planning, design, decision-making and big fat check-writing, we gutted our kitchen in July to make way for new cabinets and appliances. Plumbers come in and extend a gas line for the new stove and electrician comes in to rewire kitchen. Cabinet installers are supposed to come at the end of the month to put in the ridiculously expensive boxes with doors. But first the drywall guy comes out to patch up where we tore out the soffits above the old cabinets.
Drywall guy gets here and says, hey, where is the pony wall that's supposed to be here? Huh? We call the installers and they take a look at the plans and say, um, you were supposed to build a pony wall. Now, had I known that, perhaps I would not have taken out the existing pony wall behind the old cabinets separating the kitchen from the den. Installers agree to do it, but will charge is $450. Fine, whatever. Well, whatever consists of maybe four or five two-by-fours that the drywall guy now covers with sheetrock.
A week into the installation, we're already a week behind. But things start to look up once the installers come back to put in the cabinets. For two days, they measure and cut, hammer and hang. At the end of the second day, they notice a few things are chipped or cracked. We also needed some more moulding. Stuff is ordered and they promise to come back when it's here.
Except it doesn't all get here. Cabinet manufacturer sends only one door instead of the three needed. I go to Home Depot, which has been our portal to this unfolding nightmare and talk to the kitchen guy who ordered the doors. Except he didn't order the doors, he ordered a door because he misread the installers' specs. So, he reorders. At the same time, I have to shell out another $500 for the mouldings and installation of said mouldings.
Two weeks later, the doors arrive at our house and Home Depot calls to say the mouldings are in. I get to the store and out of the five pieces, three are damaged. The cabinet company does nothing to pad and protect these things. So I take the two and reorder three. A week later, I go to pick it up and they are all damaged. Again!. Reorder. Home Depot woman calls a week later to say that they have arrived but are stained with something she cannot get off. I get on the phone with the cabinet maker (American Woodmark for those wondering who not to use), explain the situation and the woman sets to rectifying it. In the process, she tells me that Home Depot should have ordered it differently the previous two times so they could get them out quicker. Perhaps they should tell Home Depot that.
Mouldings arrive. Home Depot calls to say the installers are refusing to come back out unless we pay another $150 for an install visit. I tell the woman to remind them that we already paid for the installation and that the workers were going to have to return because they hadn't even put the knobs and pulls on the cabinets anyway. Further, if their employee had done a proper inspection when the cabinets were first delivered, perhaps they would have noticed the damaged goods and gotten that straightened out earlier. That apparently did the trick and the installers dropped their demand.
Now, during all this time, we have been without running water, a sink or stove in our kitchen. Since late July. By this point, it's mid-September. Meanwhile, the folks from whom we have purchased our granite countertops keep calling, asking when they can come out and install them. I explain that we are waiting on a single piece of cabinet that butts up against where the small countertop will go. I try several times to convince them to come out and put in the larger countertop, so we can get our sink in and have running water. No go.
Finally, the needed pieces arrive and the cabinet folks come back out to install. I call the counterop guy and schedule his people for two days. Everything's cool. Then the cabinet installers notice that the one piece holding up the countertop job is wrong. The manufacturer sent a 3/4 inch facing instead of a 3/16 in facing. It has to be reordered. You can imagine how excited I am by the prospect of waiting on the cabinet company again.
I call the granite folks back and relay the news. The owner takes pity (finally!) and agrees to come out and install all but the short countertop while we wait for the new facing.
Two man crew comes out the next day (last Friday) and gets to work. Granite looks great. It's something called Key West Gold and is really pretty against the maple cabinets. They finish up and leave. I call a plumber to come install the sink so we can have running water in the kitchen again.
Plumber comes to do an estimate and looks at the sink, which is rocking in the countertop cutout. This won't work, he says. It won't sit flat. He pulls it out and pronounces it defective, pointing to a spot underneath. Get a new sink and I'll come back out and hook it up for you.
I return the sink to Home Depot and go to a plumbing supply house to order a new one--they said it will take 2-3 days rather than the 2-3 weeks Home Depot takes. Sure enough, two days later, on Wednesday, the sink is in and I go to pick it up. I bring the sink home, unwrap it and put in the cutout and voila---it rocks just like the last one. What the hell? I get out the level again -- the plumber and I used it to make sure the granite was level before he decided the previous sink was defective. Everything looks good until I put the level right on the seam in front of the sink where they have joined two pieces of granite. It wobbles. There is a 1/8 inch gap. We didn't see it before because we apparently placed the level on either side of the seam. But when it bisected the seam, there was a bulge.
I call the granite folks and tell them the problem. They agree to send someone out the next day. Guy never arrives. They call and reschedule. For this morning at 9:30 a.m. It is now noon and he isn't here. That hissing sound is steam coming out of my ears.
I work nights and get about 3 hours of sleep before I get up to get the kids fed, dressed and ready for school. Then I go back to bed for another few hours. Except I can't this morning because the granite guy is supposed to be here at 9:30 p.m. I'm exhausted and boiling mad. I'm about to call the granite folks and tell them to come tomorrow because I've got to go to sleep before I go to work.
So, here we are nine weeks without running water or a sink or a dishwasher or a stove in our kitchen. Is it any wonder I run out of the room when my wife starts talking about getting hardwood floors?
If you've gotten this far, thanks for your patience. Mine is just about gone.
matt
