A lease contract was signed around end of May. Our tenant are moving in this weekend. So, this is the last week we can still enjoy the house, do some final touch up and clean up. Daddy still spent a lot of time there doing this and that. Sometimes, he'd just go there, do some reading, and enjoy a little quiet time. I guess after you devoted all your energy on something for a few months, it must be hard to let go. And there are always last minute things that surface from nowhere. For instance, with the summer coming, daddy found that backyard lawn was turning yellow. So he added a new line of sprinkler heads. The sight of the lawn dug up for a good 50-60 feet, with the PVC pipes laid down in the trenches, seemed to tell the world that this lovely project is still going pretty strong :-). Then last night, we noticed that the cabinet under the kitchen sink showed some dark wet pattern on the inside edge which might be the symptom of a leaky pipe somewhere inside the wall. The plumber was called in to attend to the problem next day. Two weeks ago, daddy did what was promised on his to-do list as the A/C Testing and learned that the central A/C unit was only blowing hot air, so there went another $850. In the past weekend, we were doing serious clean up in the garage. Piles of wood, boards, tiles, paint cans, tools, and extra material were loaded into our 12 year old minivan, then unloaded in our garage. Cleaning up our own garage will be something we will worry about later.
We decided early on that we were not going to sell this house, the first house we bought when both of us were still doing our graduate studies (3 years after Daddy started working full time). This is also the house where both our beloved children were born. I still remember the first day we moved in, when our neighbor Sonia from across the street knocked on our door and gave us a home-baked cake. It was the first time we experienced the American hospitality and we were so touched. The neighbors who lived there when we moved in 24 years ago are still there now. In the past several months they'd come by and chat a bit when they see us there. So, we will temporarily say goodbye to our old house. But we'll be back, when we are too old to climb the stairs in our 2-story house, where both our children grew up from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Method or Madness?
Is there a method in doing this little remodeling project? or it's sheer madness? We are really not sure.
Doing some of the work ourselves helped, in reducing labor cost, especially when it's hard to contract relatively small jobs out. If there is such a thing as a method in doing manual labor under time and cost pressure, it is this old mental exercise called relentlessness :-). With new method and material made available by the building material industry, it's a bit more feasible to do some of the work ourselves. As we learned along the way, some jobs are better left to the professionals. So it comes down to how to work with the contractors effectively.
A good friend of ours once said that one should get 10 estimates for each job contracted out. There is certain wisdom in that practice. What seems to be important for a job are the specification (material, method, design, and expected results, down to the detailed level), the timeline, and the cost. It's always useful to know the details about the job. The knowledge can be acquired online, from Home Depot, or any hardware store, or by talking to the contractors about the job spec. The time required to interview all the contractors might be a challenge in many ways. Getting quotes over the phone or via fax after allowing the contractor to take a look at the job site without the owner's presence might work in some cases.
Then it's time to collect the estimates and to negotiate a contract. It might be useful to know the basis of the cost, like hourly rate, or unit labor cost (e.g., $4/sq-ft for wall tiling, $3/sq-ft for floor tiling, $1/ft for baseboard moulding install), or cost breakdown into parts of the job. The more understanding about the job, the better, to allow comparison among quotes initially and to enable assessment of the results later. Finalize the job spec before the contract is signed. Any change afterwards might be costly. And then? How about the quality of the job? Reference? Previous or current job site visit? Contract out a small job first? ...
Doing some of the work ourselves helped, in reducing labor cost, especially when it's hard to contract relatively small jobs out. If there is such a thing as a method in doing manual labor under time and cost pressure, it is this old mental exercise called relentlessness :-). With new method and material made available by the building material industry, it's a bit more feasible to do some of the work ourselves. As we learned along the way, some jobs are better left to the professionals. So it comes down to how to work with the contractors effectively.
A good friend of ours once said that one should get 10 estimates for each job contracted out. There is certain wisdom in that practice. What seems to be important for a job are the specification (material, method, design, and expected results, down to the detailed level), the timeline, and the cost. It's always useful to know the details about the job. The knowledge can be acquired online, from Home Depot, or any hardware store, or by talking to the contractors about the job spec. The time required to interview all the contractors might be a challenge in many ways. Getting quotes over the phone or via fax after allowing the contractor to take a look at the job site without the owner's presence might work in some cases.
Then it's time to collect the estimates and to negotiate a contract. It might be useful to know the basis of the cost, like hourly rate, or unit labor cost (e.g., $4/sq-ft for wall tiling, $3/sq-ft for floor tiling, $1/ft for baseboard moulding install), or cost breakdown into parts of the job. The more understanding about the job, the better, to allow comparison among quotes initially and to enable assessment of the results later. Finalize the job spec before the contract is signed. Any change afterwards might be costly. And then? How about the quality of the job? Reference? Previous or current job site visit? Contract out a small job first? ...
Sequence of Things
The sequence of remodeling activities seems to be intuitive mostly. But some of them deserve a bit more attention:
- Paint wall and ceiling in kitchen before cabinet install (Also make sure subloor is clean and flat before cabinets install. Cabinets, just like furniture, go in last!)
- Nail down drywall inside before putting up stucco wall outside (nailing will crack the stucco).
- Install wall and floor tiles before plumbing fixtures (such as toilet, shower head) in bathrooms, and dishwasher in kitchen (need enough vertical space for dishwasher to go in and come out for maintenance).
- Paint inside wall before carpet or wood floor install.
- Install carpet or wood floor before baseboard moulding install.
- Paint wall and ceiling in kitchen before cabinet install (Also make sure subloor is clean and flat before cabinets install. Cabinets, just like furniture, go in last!)
- Nail down drywall inside before putting up stucco wall outside (nailing will crack the stucco).
- Install wall and floor tiles before plumbing fixtures (such as toilet, shower head) in bathrooms, and dishwasher in kitchen (need enough vertical space for dishwasher to go in and come out for maintenance).
- Paint inside wall before carpet or wood floor install.
- Install carpet or wood floor before baseboard moulding install.
Landscape?
We really didn't do much in the yard. The newly added French door needs a step to go down into the backyard. 12 pieces of concrete blocks (8-in x 8-in x 16-in) were lined up side by side (with the 8-in x 8-in side facing out, 8-in x 16-in side facing side) on top of weed-blocking fabric and sand, the same way we fixed the patio brick floor. And then, 4 rows of new bricks were laid down in front of the row of concrete blocks, surrounded by an area of river pebbles. It turned out to be a nice little patio area in its own right, outside the master bedroom. (Note: The concrete blocks are hollow. Daddy put some wood blocks in the hole; see the rightmost block in the picture. Guess daddy was afraid that some day a rodent or raccoon family might make the holes their little home :-)
We planted a row of Wax Leaf Privet behind the garage and the 2 bedrooms on that same side, as privacy screen when they grow to reasonable height. Lily on the Nile were also planted in the back and the front, along with some annual flowers in front of the house. The Bamboo bushes were cleaned out as they were really growing too fast and too wildly.
Window Covering
Almost all our window covering were purchased or ordered at JC Penny. The ready made drapes are not wide enough for our big windows and we have to put multiple pieces together. In the family room above, we put 8 pieces all together. The khakei color drapes were used through out the house (see the master bedroom picture in the flooring entry), it looks simple and elegant. The tie-backs were purchased at Ross. Their prices are super good if you can find what you want.The old style drapes or mini-blinds seemed to be replaced by some new material, as we looked into window coverings. We ended up getting drapes (not pinch-pleated, back-tabbed now) for the large windows in living room (12-ft x 4.5-ft), family room (12-ft x 6.5-ft and 8-ft x 6.5-ft, sliding doors), and master bedroom (6-ft x 6.5-ft, French door). For the other 5 windows (3 6-ft x 4-ft and 2 6-ft x 3-ft), we went with the cordless cellular shades. Two 35-in wide cellular shades go into the inside frame of a 6-ft window nicely. After some quite extensive search, we learned that super-long (anything wider than 7-ft) curtain rods could only be found from Home Depot. The place we usually go first, for building material, but in this case, the last place we looked, after JC Penny, Burlington Coat Factory, Ross, Wal-mart, and Target.
What about floor?
The traditional way of putting in carpet around the house seemed to have gone out of fashion by the time we looked at floor covering. Having decided and completed the jobs on ceramic tiles for kitchen, baths, and entry, it's time to worry about the floor for the rest of the house.
Believe or not we still had the Gray-Green carpet from who-knows-when in the 2 front bedrooms. And the carpet in living room, dining area, and family room was from 1983, when we first moved in. Only the master bedroom had new carpet from 1990. Daddy took all of them out in some late nights, all by himself, and came home dusty all over and worn out completely.
The family room and the master bedroom each had a small area of concrete floor, that came from additions in the 70's, we believe. That fact alone ruled out (solid 3/4-in) hardwood floor for those 2 rooms, because hardwood floor can only be nailed to plywood, which will make the floor in that area 3/4-in higher than the rest of the room. We ended up choosing laminate-wood floor mainly for its scratch resistant and moisture resistant characteristics, against engineered-wood (hardwood layer on top with plywood layers below). The fact that it's low cost, esp. the below $1/sq-ft ones, and it's easy to install (just floating on top of a layer of foam) didn't make the decision any harder.
Daddy did the family room install (about 300 sq-ft) and left the rest of the house (about 950 sq-ft, and 350-ft of new baseboard mouldings) to our tile man. Now we have wood floor throughout the house. Oh, BTW, he did try to clean the carpet glue from the old hardwood floor in Living Room, Family Room, and Hallway, but failed rather miserably, for the wood was permanently stained by the glue and the old floor was only 3/8-in thick.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Small Jobs
In addition to the small glitches, there were also some small jobs:
- Connect oven and cooktop to power.
- Took the cooktop ventilation fan down and re-install, after the granite back splash board is installed. The granite board goes all the way up to the fan, which will block 2 screws that need to be loosened for maintenance purpose. The fan has to go in after the granite board.
- Changed switch setting for bathroom light/vent (1 switch for light, 1 for fan, heater is not connected; installed as 1 switch for light and fan, and 1 switch for heater).
- Replace 2-prong electric plugs with the 3-prong ones around the house (Living Room, Dining Area, Family Room, and Bedrooms, each has at least 1 modern plug now, most with 2 or more. Plugs in kitchen and baths are all new, with GFCIs. Both plugs in laundry area are 3-pronged.)
- Tore out all subfloor board in master bath to ensure even surface for cabinet and tub install (ordered from Home Depot long spout for the large tub in master bath, 72in x 36in).
- Transported around 60 boxes of laminate floor boards, and a good number boxes of ceramic tiles (some endurance tests for both Windstar and Jag).
- The fire screen for the living room fireplace came loose (needed an anchor), and the hole in the floor by the living room fireplace was for the gas switch. It needed a grommet (got it from Office Depot).
- Sprinklers around the house needed repairs. New sprinklers were added to the side yard behind the garage for the Wax Leaf Privet and in front of the Master Bedroom French Door (Station 5). A row of sprinklers were added to the back of the main rear lawn (Station 4). The sprinklers in the left front lawn were fixed up for they sustained heavy damage from the dumpsters and all the truck traffic (Station 3). The 2 sprinkler heads to the left of the front entrance were revived after all these years. The flex rubber pipe used to connect them to the right front of the house going through on top of the garage door were bent and straightened up this time (Station 2). It's worth noting that Station 1, the main front lawn, and the control valves along with their connection pipes for all 5 stations, were professionally done 3-4 years ago. That job was rock solid, a perfect example of a job better left to the pro. BTW, the sprinkler controller (timer) was also relocated from the entry closet (demolished) inside to the newly built laundry area in the garage.
- The new back door needed a new screen door. The small bath door was not put back after the tile install, as it turned out to be a bit too long to fit on top of the tiles (a problem left behind by the tile/floor man). The master bath door turned out to be a bit long too after the wood floor install. Our tile/floor man shortened it, but damaged the paint somewhat noticeably. The door needed to be repainted.
- The family room sliding screen doors needed new screens.
- And, another old problem, rain water used to get into the garage in the winter from underneath the back entrance door. It was because the walk path behind the garage had higher grade. The walk path was redone. The culprit, higher grade concrete pavement, were taken out with an 8-pound sledge hammer. Concrete paving stones were put back in. Rain gutter was installed to redirect rain water to the front of the house. Threshold was added to the back door, to reflect direct downpour to the door surface.
Oh, well, we had a small job here, and a small job there. Pretty soon we got what seemed like some never-ending large jobs :-). Some small jobs were already accounted for in other postings (replaced kitchen window sill, worked on exterior window trims, took old carpet out, installed laminate wood floor in family room, fished a 220-volt wire out, put in curtain rods, curtains, and shade, etc.).
- Connect oven and cooktop to power.
- Took the cooktop ventilation fan down and re-install, after the granite back splash board is installed. The granite board goes all the way up to the fan, which will block 2 screws that need to be loosened for maintenance purpose. The fan has to go in after the granite board.
- Changed switch setting for bathroom light/vent (1 switch for light, 1 for fan, heater is not connected; installed as 1 switch for light and fan, and 1 switch for heater).
- Replace 2-prong electric plugs with the 3-prong ones around the house (Living Room, Dining Area, Family Room, and Bedrooms, each has at least 1 modern plug now, most with 2 or more. Plugs in kitchen and baths are all new, with GFCIs. Both plugs in laundry area are 3-pronged.)
- Tore out all subfloor board in master bath to ensure even surface for cabinet and tub install (ordered from Home Depot long spout for the large tub in master bath, 72in x 36in).
- Transported around 60 boxes of laminate floor boards, and a good number boxes of ceramic tiles (some endurance tests for both Windstar and Jag).
- The fire screen for the living room fireplace came loose (needed an anchor), and the hole in the floor by the living room fireplace was for the gas switch. It needed a grommet (got it from Office Depot).
- Sprinklers around the house needed repairs. New sprinklers were added to the side yard behind the garage for the Wax Leaf Privet and in front of the Master Bedroom French Door (Station 5). A row of sprinklers were added to the back of the main rear lawn (Station 4). The sprinklers in the left front lawn were fixed up for they sustained heavy damage from the dumpsters and all the truck traffic (Station 3). The 2 sprinkler heads to the left of the front entrance were revived after all these years. The flex rubber pipe used to connect them to the right front of the house going through on top of the garage door were bent and straightened up this time (Station 2). It's worth noting that Station 1, the main front lawn, and the control valves along with their connection pipes for all 5 stations, were professionally done 3-4 years ago. That job was rock solid, a perfect example of a job better left to the pro. BTW, the sprinkler controller (timer) was also relocated from the entry closet (demolished) inside to the newly built laundry area in the garage.
- The new back door needed a new screen door. The small bath door was not put back after the tile install, as it turned out to be a bit too long to fit on top of the tiles (a problem left behind by the tile/floor man). The master bath door turned out to be a bit long too after the wood floor install. Our tile/floor man shortened it, but damaged the paint somewhat noticeably. The door needed to be repainted.
- The family room sliding screen doors needed new screens.
- And, another old problem, rain water used to get into the garage in the winter from underneath the back entrance door. It was because the walk path behind the garage had higher grade. The walk path was redone. The culprit, higher grade concrete pavement, were taken out with an 8-pound sledge hammer. Concrete paving stones were put back in. Rain gutter was installed to redirect rain water to the front of the house. Threshold was added to the back door, to reflect direct downpour to the door surface.
Oh, well, we had a small job here, and a small job there. Pretty soon we got what seemed like some never-ending large jobs :-). Some small jobs were already accounted for in other postings (replaced kitchen window sill, worked on exterior window trims, took old carpet out, installed laminate wood floor in family room, fished a 220-volt wire out, put in curtain rods, curtains, and shade, etc.).
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Small Glitches
Small glitches were too numerous to count. here are some of the more memorable ones (mostly Daddy's job at the end of the day)...
- A hole was left in the ceiling, half way out from the top of the cabinets (not patched before the cabinet install!)
Note this hole is the vent for an ancient kitchen fan. The stove is moved to the right for about one foot. The old hole should be covered up and a new hole should be opened before the kitchen cabinet was installed. The Bad Labor conveniently ignored the minor detail and Daddy had to crawl into the attic, glued (yes, GLUE) a piece of plywood (with drywall board underneath) to the open space (because the 4 walls of that hole is metal). Thank God we have Gorilla Glue :-).
- The screen door for the French door was deemed "Wrong Size, Can't be installed!" (But, it's from the same manufacturer of the French door. It can't be installed because the outside wood trims were not installed according to the manufacturer's instruction.)
- Master bathrooom's door simply won't close (as it's a shade too wide).
(BTW, the door hasn't changed since it was the same old bathroom door. The door frame was made a bit too narrow, I guess, when it's re-opened inside the master bedroom.)
- The vent pipe adapters for bathroom fans (The fans were pumping air into the attic, not outside, because the vent pipes were not installed. What makes it worse was the fact that the adapters for the vent pipe were missing in action. Probably thrown into the trash can, along with the useless manuals. They had to be ordered from Internet, and installed by the ex-accountant-turned general contractor.)
- The wall left open in the garage from laundry hookup install had to be patched.
- Air-conditioning ventilation outlet in the living room demolished along with the entry wall had to be re-installed. The A/C vent outlet for the kitchen was installed but not insulated (demolished with the kitchen expansion, insulated along with A/C repair job in the end).
- Most window sills, except for the main kitchen window, were not in smooth surface (low grade pine was used).
- Most newly installed drywall surface was not patched and sanded properly.
- The 34 1/4-in by 21 3/4-in board that's supposed to go into the 36" kitchen cabinet was missing (The piece that came with the cabinet was probably cut and used as the facade for the built-in oven.)
- A hole was left in the ceiling, half way out from the top of the cabinets (not patched before the cabinet install!)
Note this hole is the vent for an ancient kitchen fan. The stove is moved to the right for about one foot. The old hole should be covered up and a new hole should be opened before the kitchen cabinet was installed. The Bad Labor conveniently ignored the minor detail and Daddy had to crawl into the attic, glued (yes, GLUE) a piece of plywood (with drywall board underneath) to the open space (because the 4 walls of that hole is metal). Thank God we have Gorilla Glue :-).
- The screen door for the French door was deemed "Wrong Size, Can't be installed!" (But, it's from the same manufacturer of the French door. It can't be installed because the outside wood trims were not installed according to the manufacturer's instruction.)
- Master bathrooom's door simply won't close (as it's a shade too wide).
(BTW, the door hasn't changed since it was the same old bathroom door. The door frame was made a bit too narrow, I guess, when it's re-opened inside the master bedroom.)
- The vent pipe adapters for bathroom fans (The fans were pumping air into the attic, not outside, because the vent pipes were not installed. What makes it worse was the fact that the adapters for the vent pipe were missing in action. Probably thrown into the trash can, along with the useless manuals. They had to be ordered from Internet, and installed by the ex-accountant-turned general contractor.)
- The wall left open in the garage from laundry hookup install had to be patched.
- Air-conditioning ventilation outlet in the living room demolished along with the entry wall had to be re-installed. The A/C vent outlet for the kitchen was installed but not insulated (demolished with the kitchen expansion, insulated along with A/C repair job in the end).
- Most window sills, except for the main kitchen window, were not in smooth surface (low grade pine was used).
- Most newly installed drywall surface was not patched and sanded properly.
- The 34 1/4-in by 21 3/4-in board that's supposed to go into the 36" kitchen cabinet was missing (The piece that came with the cabinet was probably cut and used as the facade for the built-in oven.)
Monday, June 11, 2007
Before and After
Here are some before and after pictures: (Click on the photo to see an enlarged image. Camera angles are shown in the sketches below the photos, with a blue arrow.)
1. Master Bedroom (Looking from the backyard; See "What About Floor?" for an interior view.)
5. Small Bath (3/4 turned into a full bath, width increased by 1 foot.)
1. Master Bedroom (Looking from the backyard; See "What About Floor?" for an interior view.)
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| 2. Master Bath | |
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| 3. Kitchen Cabinets | |
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| 4. Kitchen Breakfast Area | |
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
The Mystery of Electrical Wiring
Since the serious problems were behind us, we could breathe now. Oh well, not quite. That was when we started to notice the mythical electrical problems.
We were 100% sure we had 2 220-volts wires for the old electric cooktop and oven in the kitchen, since Daddy did the wiring for the kitchen plugs along both walls. Now the cabinets went in, only 1 wire was visible from behind the oven and cooktop opening. The other one was permanently sealed into the wall somehow. And, all 5 plugs in the family room were no longer operational. It would be costly to debug the problem, from the narrow attic space above or the tight crawl space below (Daddy tried, a couple of times). A quote of $680 or more ($85/hr x 2 persons x 4 hours) from an electrician sent Daddy underneath the house to locate the missing 220-v wire and to bring it up to the hole in the wall behind the cooktop opening.
For family room he devised a somewhat simplified method to connect a functional plug on the same wall (in dining area) using a junction box and wire underneath the house. The opposite wall of the family room got electricity back from the same junction box and a longer wire. The work was done by an an ex-20-year-accountant-turned general contractor, in about 4 hours at quite a reasonable rate. Daddy served as the requisite helper under him that day.
And, one more thing about the wiring... if and when the GFCI plug to the left of the kitchen window is tripped, all plugs downstream (i.e., further from the breaker box) are also out of commission, until the GFCI plug is Reset. A useful thing to know.
We were 100% sure we had 2 220-volts wires for the old electric cooktop and oven in the kitchen, since Daddy did the wiring for the kitchen plugs along both walls. Now the cabinets went in, only 1 wire was visible from behind the oven and cooktop opening. The other one was permanently sealed into the wall somehow. And, all 5 plugs in the family room were no longer operational. It would be costly to debug the problem, from the narrow attic space above or the tight crawl space below (Daddy tried, a couple of times). A quote of $680 or more ($85/hr x 2 persons x 4 hours) from an electrician sent Daddy underneath the house to locate the missing 220-v wire and to bring it up to the hole in the wall behind the cooktop opening.
For family room he devised a somewhat simplified method to connect a functional plug on the same wall (in dining area) using a junction box and wire underneath the house. The opposite wall of the family room got electricity back from the same junction box and a longer wire. The work was done by an an ex-20-year-accountant-turned general contractor, in about 4 hours at quite a reasonable rate. Daddy served as the requisite helper under him that day.
And, one more thing about the wiring... if and when the GFCI plug to the left of the kitchen window is tripped, all plugs downstream (i.e., further from the breaker box) are also out of commission, until the GFCI plug is Reset. A useful thing to know.
Plumbing Problems Left Behind by Bad Labor
The kitchen job was in trouble. What about the plumbing? The bathrooms were largely untouched when the Bad Labor quit, except for the bare walls and the tubs loosely placed in their designated positions. Oh well, it's time to get real professionals to take a look. Here is a consistent list of problems independently discovered by 2 licensed plumbers (one awarded a contract, the other an inspection fee):
- The pipes underneath the house were too far away below the floor joists. Need to attach them firmly to the bottom of the 2x6s, to secure the pipe, and to avoid clanking noise when the water is turned on.
- The pipes were attached with galvanized devices. Need to use copper devices to avoid corrosion.
- Toilet in small bath will block before we know it since it does not have a ventilation pipe going above the roof.
- Laundry hookup pipes are connected wrong, violation of code.
- Water heater ventilation cannot use flex pipe. Need to replace with fix pipe.
- Need to add ledge to the side of both tubs. Need to add dry mortar underneath the large 72-in by 36-in fiberglass tub in main bath, to make it sit firmly on the ground.
- Need to seal 2 open drain pipes under the house, and connect laundry drain line to a drain pipe.
- Need to attach hose bibs firmly to the exterior wall (all 3 were hanging loose in the wind)
- Need to change all drain pipes underneath from 90-degree angel to smooth curve, to allow clog-removal device to go down the drain in the future.
- Both the kitchen drain pipe and small bath drain pipe need to be replaced, as they were broken in the demolition process.
And, of course, we have all the finishing jobs left, dishwasher and garbage disposal install, tub, sink, faucet, shower head, and ice water line install. All these, and Bad Labor's earlier refusal to replace the water main (the line between curb side and the connection point into the house) as part of the re-piping job, would cost around $5K. As our plumber put it, this guy (the Bad Labor) only deserves to stand in front of the Home Depot, given only a shovel!
- The pipes underneath the house were too far away below the floor joists. Need to attach them firmly to the bottom of the 2x6s, to secure the pipe, and to avoid clanking noise when the water is turned on.
- The pipes were attached with galvanized devices. Need to use copper devices to avoid corrosion.
- Toilet in small bath will block before we know it since it does not have a ventilation pipe going above the roof.
- Laundry hookup pipes are connected wrong, violation of code.
- Water heater ventilation cannot use flex pipe. Need to replace with fix pipe.
- Need to add ledge to the side of both tubs. Need to add dry mortar underneath the large 72-in by 36-in fiberglass tub in main bath, to make it sit firmly on the ground.
- Need to seal 2 open drain pipes under the house, and connect laundry drain line to a drain pipe.
- Need to attach hose bibs firmly to the exterior wall (all 3 were hanging loose in the wind)
- Need to change all drain pipes underneath from 90-degree angel to smooth curve, to allow clog-removal device to go down the drain in the future.
- Both the kitchen drain pipe and small bath drain pipe need to be replaced, as they were broken in the demolition process.
And, of course, we have all the finishing jobs left, dishwasher and garbage disposal install, tub, sink, faucet, shower head, and ice water line install. All these, and Bad Labor's earlier refusal to replace the water main (the line between curb side and the connection point into the house) as part of the re-piping job, would cost around $5K. As our plumber put it, this guy (the Bad Labor) only deserves to stand in front of the Home Depot, given only a shovel!
Ill-fated Kitchen Countertop
Granite countertop came in heavy pieces. The 24-in by 8-or-9-ft slabs serve as countertop in the usual sense, the 36-in by 8ft piece is used as breakfast tabletop, and the 6-in by 8-or-9-ft boards go vertically along the wall (hence named back splash board). We picked a stone pattern called Emerald Pearl for our kitchen.
On the next day after the 3/4-in plywood were affixed on top of the kitchen cabinets we went into the kitchen to witness the first sign of failure for our remodeling project. The granite material was sanded into terrible raw shape along the line of slab connection on each side of the wall. The cabinet vendor was called in and the granite slabs deemed permanently damaged.
There were several problems with the installation. The first and the foremost problem was the cabinets were not sitting on level floor surface. The significance of some old hardwood floor boards sticking out from the bottom of one end of the cabinets while old linoleum tiles sitting underneath the rest of the section did not become clear to us until then, a couple of days too late. Failing to level the floor, the plywood on top of the cabinets could have been leveled before the countertop went on. The sequence for the granite pieces to go on also went wrong. The big piece serving as the breakfast tabletop went in last on the window side, leaving a wide opening between the end of the slab and the wall. The sanding at the joint lines was made necessary because 2 granite slabs joined into a ridge, or a valley, or a cliff, rather than flat surface. As it turned out, the countertop could be sanded down with special tools by a specialist from the cabinet shop. The result would be barely acceptable, far below the quality generally accepted in the trade. The alternative was to replace and reinstall the countertop all together, an expensive proposition, since the granite slabs tend to break when uninstalled after being glued down to the plywood.
With the help of our cabinet vendor, by then a sympathetic friend, we had the countertop repaired. The poorly assembled and installed cabinets were also strengthened and their defects hidden behind some properly installed mouldings.
On the next day after the 3/4-in plywood were affixed on top of the kitchen cabinets we went into the kitchen to witness the first sign of failure for our remodeling project. The granite material was sanded into terrible raw shape along the line of slab connection on each side of the wall. The cabinet vendor was called in and the granite slabs deemed permanently damaged.
There were several problems with the installation. The first and the foremost problem was the cabinets were not sitting on level floor surface. The significance of some old hardwood floor boards sticking out from the bottom of one end of the cabinets while old linoleum tiles sitting underneath the rest of the section did not become clear to us until then, a couple of days too late. Failing to level the floor, the plywood on top of the cabinets could have been leveled before the countertop went on. The sequence for the granite pieces to go on also went wrong. The big piece serving as the breakfast tabletop went in last on the window side, leaving a wide opening between the end of the slab and the wall. The sanding at the joint lines was made necessary because 2 granite slabs joined into a ridge, or a valley, or a cliff, rather than flat surface. As it turned out, the countertop could be sanded down with special tools by a specialist from the cabinet shop. The result would be barely acceptable, far below the quality generally accepted in the trade. The alternative was to replace and reinstall the countertop all together, an expensive proposition, since the granite slabs tend to break when uninstalled after being glued down to the plywood.
With the help of our cabinet vendor, by then a sympathetic friend, we had the countertop repaired. The poorly assembled and installed cabinets were also strengthened and their defects hidden behind some properly installed mouldings.
Leaky Windows
As the plumbing and kitchen countertops were being fixed, we started the interior and exterior painting jobs. Our painter used high pressure jet stream to wash the stucco wall over a weekend. He was a bit worried because he thought the windows might not have been sealed properly.
In fact, we knew. Daddy had already taken down the outside wood trims on 5 of the 10 new vinyl windows. The wood pieces were trimmed to the same width, and the windows resealed from outside (using vendor instruction and DAP's 50-year caulk). The small bathroom window was in open air under the wood trims (with no tar paper, no stucco patch; you can "feel the breeze", so to speak, if there were no drywall inside :-), as a result of our request to have the originally installed 3ft by 1ft window replaced by a 3ft by 2ft window (Bad Labor threw a tantrum when we made the request and threatened to quit the first time).
The 5 resealed windows survived the high pressure water without incident. 4 out of the 5 untouched ones leaked water into the inside glass pane like crazy. The 5th one seemed to have lived, only to have water dripping out of its irrigation hole continuously (took 4-5 pieces of fully soaked kitchen towel to get the water out). A deep sigh...
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Arched Kitchen Window
One of the problems we noticed in the kitchen was that the visible wood frames of the window seemed to be arched inward. It's mildly depressing to see the center of the top wood frame bending downward, while the center of the bottom piece bending upward. As it turned out the Bad Labor guy either didn't know how or didn't bother to shim the window frames properly to make it sit horizontally against the 2x4 frames inside the wall. When Daddy redid the work, it was also noted that the window itself was not shimmed properly either. Sigh...
Brick Floor Repair
There is a patio area in the back of the house where the brick floor has been popped up left and right by tree roots. In the beginning of the remodeling project, 2 smaller trees and 1 old tree stump were cleaned out in that area, of around 1700-1800 sq-ft. With the estimates at $5/sq-ft for concrete and $10/sq-ft for bricks or paving stones, we were looking at a good chunk of change to redo the area completely. So, we decided to repair the brick floor, using the brick-in-sand method we found online, using weed-blocking fabric, sand, and bricks (no mortar).
The result seems to be quite satisfactory, not only when bricks were laid out closely together, but also when we leave some space (quarter, or even half, inch) in between bricks. We did use 2x4 pressure-treated lumber as edge, along with 2-ft rebars to secure the 2x4s in place.
The result seems to be quite satisfactory, not only when bricks were laid out closely together, but also when we leave some space (quarter, or even half, inch) in between bricks. We did use 2x4 pressure-treated lumber as edge, along with 2-ft rebars to secure the 2x4s in place.
Driveway Patch
The pot hole left on the edge of the driveway, by the big dumpster, in the very first week of the project, was repaired with Asphalt Cold Patch material. 3 50-lb bags were hauled in from Home Depot and the instructions we found online were followed. It seems to work just fine so far. The other day we noticed that some city workers were also repairing the road with this kind of material, by pouring bags of asphalt into a recessed area without the usual asphalt heating vehicle on the side. BTW, a contractor can probably do a much better job in this case, but the repair alone is too small a job. The cost to repair and resurface the whole driveway is at least $1K in our case (vs. the cost of cold patch material, $14.99*3).
Friday, June 1, 2007
The First Mistakes
When a guy, even a competent-looking-and-sounding guy with good references, tells you that he can do it all himself (framing, plumbing, electrical, windows, doors, walls, ...), put a big question mark down somewhere before you make a decision. The first and the biggest mistake we made in this project was that we hired the wrong person to do the job. This guy turned out to be just a handy man. He came with 2 impeccable references.
He has done some small jobs for a good friend of ours, and lots of work for a friend of a friend, a real estate investor, who had worked with the guy for over 10 years. Our real estate investor gave high regard to the man's work, on remodeling jobs big and small, complex or simple, and on the quality of his work. And, of course, the quote (the estimate) for the job was good. So he got the job.
Daddy wasn't sure if this guy could handle the job at its planned scope (i.e, its scale and complexity), and asked him to do the kitchen first. But it was rejected as an all-or-none deal. I was not sure what daddy was thinking at the time, for he had always been working with licensed contractors only, for plumbing and electrical jobs, in the past 20 years or so while taking care of our old houses.
The first week -- three people came in to tear down the existing walls, closets, kitchen cabinets, and everything in the bathrooms. They made swift progress demolishing the old house. They dumped everything into a big dumpster. A 1-year old Maytag dishwasher was also thrown into the dumpster, when Daddy was on a business trip in DC. Over that weekend, daddy jumped into the dumpster to retrieve the poor little dishwasher from under a heavy pile of debris himself. When the dumpster was hauled away a week later, apot hole was left on the edge of the driveway by the metal wheels (see new driveway patching material later).
We used to have two closets in the entry area that separated the living room and the bedrooms. Daddy decided to tear down the closets to make the entry a bit more open and spacious. The separation wall was taken out when the closets were removed. The "openness" was a bit daunting, because one could look directly into the hallway of bed and baths from the living room. And, of course, adding the wall back was a bit problematic. We had a lively discussion on how to separate the living room from the entry area. We went through the ideas of adding a book case, a portable separator, like the Chinese-style wood panels, a wall with glass bricks, etc., before settling back to the good old solid wall. Then we had a debate on how wide it should be, 3 ft, 4 ft, or 6ft (the original length of the wall)? The change from 4ft to 6ft after it was built cost $500 extra, along with some difficult negotiation with our guy.
But the reason why it was a mistake to hire this guy in the first place was not so obvious until the kitchen cabinets and countertops were installed, with several quite visible and serious mistakes (validated by our cabinet vendor later). So he quit, after we learned the painful truth that the kitchen job was in trouble and the other jobs were uncertain too, when it was 8 weeks into the project (2 weeks overdue from the original 6 weeks project schedule). The reality of other costly mistakes unfolded itself later when the plumbing underneath was examined by 2 licensed plumbers and the new windows were stress-tested by the jet-stream water of our stucco painter (each topic will be written up later). Henceforth the work done by this guy was properly labeled "Bad Labor" in our spreadsheet.
He has done some small jobs for a good friend of ours, and lots of work for a friend of a friend, a real estate investor, who had worked with the guy for over 10 years. Our real estate investor gave high regard to the man's work, on remodeling jobs big and small, complex or simple, and on the quality of his work. And, of course, the quote (the estimate) for the job was good. So he got the job.
Daddy wasn't sure if this guy could handle the job at its planned scope (i.e, its scale and complexity), and asked him to do the kitchen first. But it was rejected as an all-or-none deal. I was not sure what daddy was thinking at the time, for he had always been working with licensed contractors only, for plumbing and electrical jobs, in the past 20 years or so while taking care of our old houses.
The first week -- three people came in to tear down the existing walls, closets, kitchen cabinets, and everything in the bathrooms. They made swift progress demolishing the old house. They dumped everything into a big dumpster. A 1-year old Maytag dishwasher was also thrown into the dumpster, when Daddy was on a business trip in DC. Over that weekend, daddy jumped into the dumpster to retrieve the poor little dishwasher from under a heavy pile of debris himself. When the dumpster was hauled away a week later, apot hole was left on the edge of the driveway by the metal wheels (see new driveway patching material later).
We used to have two closets in the entry area that separated the living room and the bedrooms. Daddy decided to tear down the closets to make the entry a bit more open and spacious. The separation wall was taken out when the closets were removed. The "openness" was a bit daunting, because one could look directly into the hallway of bed and baths from the living room. And, of course, adding the wall back was a bit problematic. We had a lively discussion on how to separate the living room from the entry area. We went through the ideas of adding a book case, a portable separator, like the Chinese-style wood panels, a wall with glass bricks, etc., before settling back to the good old solid wall. Then we had a debate on how wide it should be, 3 ft, 4 ft, or 6ft (the original length of the wall)? The change from 4ft to 6ft after it was built cost $500 extra, along with some difficult negotiation with our guy.
But the reason why it was a mistake to hire this guy in the first place was not so obvious until the kitchen cabinets and countertops were installed, with several quite visible and serious mistakes (validated by our cabinet vendor later). So he quit, after we learned the painful truth that the kitchen job was in trouble and the other jobs were uncertain too, when it was 8 weeks into the project (2 weeks overdue from the original 6 weeks project schedule). The reality of other costly mistakes unfolded itself later when the plumbing underneath was examined by 2 licensed plumbers and the new windows were stress-tested by the jet-stream water of our stucco painter (each topic will be written up later). Henceforth the work done by this guy was properly labeled "Bad Labor" in our spreadsheet.
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