Progress so far this week:
On monday, the village did a 'pre-inspection' giving the contractor a laundry list of things that have to be fixed.

Among them, annoyingly, is a requirement for a thicker roof to put R38 insulation into, as opposed to the plans they approved which specifies R30. So the builder has glued and nailed 2x2's on each rafter. Sigh.


The vent hood fan has also been installed. This is a monster that looks like it should be on a commercial kitchen. I can probably suck most of my house's furnace/AC output through my kitchen if I put this baby on high.

Other than that, blocks have been installed along the Garage wall in advance of some fireproofing insulation at the ceiling and floor level. I haven't seen any subcontractors this week, even though I was promised the siding contractor would be here on Monday, and the plumber today. The electrician has been fired (you don't even want to know the drama that caused that) and replaced, and the new guy is supposed to pick up where the old guy left off tomorrow.

I just want a place I can cook and entertain in... this is becoming a life's work.

Oh yeah, the eBay-bought speaker wall plates showed up. The only things left to buy are the washtub and faucet for the mudroom, concrete board underlayment for the tile, drawer/door pulls, and the garbage disposal.

HI,

I guess you are still using your old kitchen? When does it get demolished and you get on k-rations?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I guess you are still using your old kitchen? When does it get demolished and you get on k-rations?

Nice thing about putting in an addition: The new kitchen will be drywalled and painted before we break through the wall and demolish the old kitchen. Optimally, I will only be out a kitchen about three to four weeks: as long as it takes to tile, install cabinets and wait for countertops.

That will happen sometime in the next two weeks to ten years, based on previous contractor performance.

We are moving the old stove into the basement (a new gas line was put in for that purpose), the nearby bathroom sink is large enough to rinse a few things, we've got a microwave and a gas grill... I'm hoping our general meal pattern won't change that much. Oh... I'll roll the old fridge into the new space, mainly because otherwise there will be almost no way to get it out of the house, literally. It's bigger than the doorway, we had to remove door and fridge handles just to get it in the house.

It's hard to believe, but the contractor has gotten even less done this week.

Last Friday, the new electrician came through and did *most* but not all of the pre-inspection work -- the electric clerestory windows still aren't wired, because he needed to find out if he needed to use three (ugly) controller boxes or just one (less ugly) to control all three.

Monday, we found out that yes, it needs three 4x4 boxes to control 3 windows.

Tuesday, we found that the installed fan on the roof was not waterproof from the weekend rains. Some more mastic may have helped that, but it has yet to be tested.

Wednesday, a couple of pieces of ducting were attached to the fan (reducer and elbow), and the french door hang was adjusted so it closes and locks cleanly, but that's it.

However, the village said they won't come out to inspect, because his inspection bond is spent and they want more money. I haven't heard from him since Wednesday at noon. I may need a lawyer.

OK, a little more progress. The electrician came back and put in the conduit and boxes for the light switch next to the garage, but removed the window control box, since we'll need to set up a row of three (sigh). He also removed some old wiring that ran across the entrance to the crawlspace, left over from old exterior lights.

It's been almost two weeks since my last post, and not enough has happened.
The rough-in inspection passed on April 26, and the contractor predicted three weeks to complete the whole project. Certainly not at this rate.

On the 27th and 28th, a part of the wall insulation was done, and the vent channels in the ceiling mostly installed.

During this last week, most of the wall and ceiling insulation has been installed, but the fire blanket or "rockwool" still has not been put in along the garage openings. I don't know why the contractor has had such trouble finding this stuff -- I provided vendors I found on the 'net. There are few spots not completed, especially near the garage door.

Twelve new pictures, prompting me to upgrade to flickr pro.

OK, in the last six days, the insulation was completed and passed inspection, the exterior electrical riser has been installed (big sucker for 200-amp service compared with the old 100-amp one), although it's not live yet, the motors and controllers for the electric clerestory windows are installed but not connected to each other (hopefully today). The supply riser means that the siding can be finished (and needs to be done soon, so that the rain sensors for the electric windows can be put outside the siding.

The contractors really seem to understand division of labor... into really tiny chunks, no two of which can be done on the same day. For instance, yesterday all the GC did was deliver the drywall. In the first hour they've been here, there's already four sheets up. Couldn't be done yesterday, I guess.

A whole batch of pictures that look just like the old ones, but are final pre-drywall.

However, the village said they won't come out to inspect, because his inspection bond is spent and they want more money. I haven't heard from him since Wednesday at noon. I may need a lawyer.

Do you care to comment what happened?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Do you care to comment what happened?

Things seem back on (slow) track again.

Talking to other people who are getting remodeling done, I may be overreacting a bit, and have too-high expectations. Apparently disappearing and not returning phone calls for several days is just the way contractors operate

Talking to other people who are getting remodeling done, I may be overreacting a bit, and have too-high expectations. Apparently disappearing and not returning phone calls for several days is just the way contractors operate

We are going to be starting a whole house remodel and addtion in about 6 weeks....I hope I am prepared for it....

Instead of hoping to get it to on time and within budget, I think that I am more worried about staying married after it is done, with all the stress that it causes

First a note to Kevin: We're maintaining our relationship through this by having a common ground in annoyance with our contractor.

Get references.

Another week's updates:
The drywall hanging is done (with a couple spots needing touching up that the contractor says the taper will fix, I'm less than convinced). He still hasn't built the soffit for the hood, which annoys me. He was more concerned with the next item:

Demolition is mostly completed on the old kitchen: The cabinets removed, the old tile and crappy fiberboard underlayment removed. This triggered the next payment milestone, which will hopefully bring the electrician and siding contractors back in play. The contractor left the stove and microwave hood in place, to keep us in usable kitchen for a couple more days, but see below.

The new cabinets arrived, which now fill my garage.

Thing1, Thing2 and I installed so far 8 sheets of Hardibacker underlayment today -- lots of hammering, lots of stirring mortar.

And now for the bad news: While removing the microwave (I've got it up on Craigslist for a song), I dropped it onto the stove, breaking the glass top. Abt tells me it's $525 to replace the cooktop (they don't just replace the glass), which is more than half the cost of a range. We were intending on keeping this in the basement as a spare oven for parties. Abt says the oven should still be safe to use, but the cooktop could be hazardous (there's electrical and insulation stuff that could be really bad in a fire or spill). We'll have to decide whether we'll keep this as is, or pick up a cheap range for the basement. Meanwhile, until the project is completed, we'll have to switch to grilling, microwaving, oven and camp stove for meals.

Next week should bring about breaking through to the addition, but some electrical rerouting needs to be done first, as all the electrical for the upstairs runs through the wall that's coming out.

The taper was supposed to work today (Saturday), but never showed up.

I've also arranged for a new 13-SEER Carrier air conditioner to be installed (the old one was removed during Phase 1, as it sat where the new foundations are).

I'll try to get some new pix tomorrow, it's too dark now and I've been too busy.

KevinT wrote:
We are going to be starting a whole house remodel and addtion in about 6 weeks....I hope I am prepared for it....

Instead of hoping to get it to on time and within budget, I think that I am more worried about staying married after it is done, with all the stress that it causes

I'm too am going to be adding a second floor to my home and a kitchen/laundry room (which will turn into a dining room) remodel this summer. I'm really dreading it on a few levels and hope I'll make it through with my sanity left.

Yesterday, they opened the wall between the old and new kitchens. Moving the electrical and removing the plumbing are needed before the new beam can go in to completely remove the wall.

Twelve new pix.

Lessee...
Tuesday, the electrician came and moved the critical conduit that powers the entire upstairs -- took most of the day, and I had to help him out a couple of times. Never saw the contractor, although he apparently ducked his head in on the electrician twice.

Wednesday, didn't hear from the contractor at all.

Thursday, he was here from 9 until noon, and placed the new beams in place of the old wall. Nice.

Friday, installed plywood to shim up the center island, and put up some of the plywood and drywall on the wall that used to be the outside of my house. Not all of it, sadly, and he left the plumbing from the old sink in the middle of the opening, even though I told him that this is the only weekend I can work on flooring.

Meanwhile: I've contracted with someone to bring in a new central AC -- I could have really used it this weekend. But the contractor has to put in the new 220 line and pour a concrete pad. Supposedly this will happen on Tuesday.

Still meanwhile: On Friday and Saturday, we finished the underlayment (except for the #@!$ing spot where the plumbing comes through the floor), and moved the rest of the stuff out of the old kitchen (anyone need a dishwasher cheap?), and hooked up the old stove (now just an oven) in the basement (requiring us to remove the old gas lines, which the contractor should have done Friday), and corrected the plywood the contractor put in the middle of the floor (he forgot to account for the toe-kick space -- can you get the feeling I'm a little peeved?). Today we laid lots and lots of tile, and found that I ordered about 10% less than I needed (even accounting for the 10% they always tell you to order).

Tomorrow: lay a little more tile, start grouting.

Hi,

About 10 years ago, I was forced to retile a bathroom because plumbing repair broke more tiles than I had replacements. I have more than 10% extra tile from this effort because I'd rather put up storing this than overhauling a bathroom because we were a few tiles short.

Tile on floors in a work area like a kitchen can crack from dropped objects. You may want a bit more than 10% to allow you wiggle room for future repairs.

Regards,

We finished laying the tile today (except for the stupid spot with old plumbing in it, about 12 total 50x50cm tiles)... and we're beat. It required a trip to Itasca for Century Tile's warehouse, but it beat waiting until Wednesday for them to drive it over to the Mt Prospect store.

Grout will have to wait for another day.

How we could end up so short on tile, but with excess mortar I have no idea. Well, I do actually, we threw out a lot of scraps smaller than half a tile, while almost every single cut tile was bigger than half a tile.

Seven new pictures


Here's a good shot of the new kitchen with 20" tile laid, plywood set where the island will go, the hole for the CD player on the bar wall, etc.

Wow, two weeks since last post. I'm getting lazy... but if the contractor were busier, I'd be posting more.

In the last two weeks, the taping was completed, as was laying the tile.
The contractor has been painting for a little over a week (far too long).

Today, the first couple cabinets were installed... then he stopped, saying he has to get his jigsaw and cabinet clamps.

Seven new pix on Flickr:

I hadn't realized just how badly this had ground to a halt until I saw that my last post was June 14.

Actually, there's been some activity.
The cabinets were all-but-one hung by June 21, when the countertop people came out to scribe, and couldn't because of the last cabinet (the tall oven cab).

The remainder of the appliances, except for the fridge and freezer, have been delivered. Abt let mine go to some other customer, and now they're discontinued. They're giving me a similar model -- allegedly more expensive -- but they're having trouble getting a hold of them, hopefully in the next few days. They're not installed, but were needed for the countertop scribing.

The Mystery Rock was broken up (but still not hauled away) during the week of June 24.

The back stoop has been framed up, also last week, but not yet poured.

The siding and gutters were worked on some last week, and may be finished today (yay!).

The electrician came out and installed the new breaker box and finally routed the supply through the new post on Saturday 6/30. Still no wires to the new section, hopefully later this week.

Today, the contractor installed the new door to the garage, with a wooden stoop (no lockset yet) -- this is the first work done by him (as opposed to a sub) since 6/24.

His enthusiasm seems boundless for completion... and yet here I am still eating off paper plates and limited to grill, microwave and camp stove.

Pictures to come when the siding is done.

I thought I'd posted that there were new pix up on Tuesday... but I'll post it now. Over 20 pictures posted this week, including siding, electrical, cabinets, and a Working Refrigerator and Freezer!!!



The contractor also put the lockset on the new door to the garage, framed the soffit for the vent hood, and finally mounted the oven cabinet to the wall. Not much for a whole week, is it? After being promised twice that the electrician would be out to do more wiring, none of that has happened (now promised for Sunday).

Yeesh, this has to be the fourth time I've posted, previewed then closed the window -- unless some conspiracy is deleting my posts.

Two weeks, and it seems things keep getting slower on the part of the GC: The soffit for the vent was drywalled, and three sets of casing out of six have been put around doors (none on windows), the last cabinet was hung so late that the countertops were delayed by six days.

The electrician has been out several times, and the cement stoop finally poured, so that's good. But the drywall contractor has disappeared, the HVAC sub is AWOL, there's cement all over my lawn and the fence post that the cement contractor broke is now reset -- two inches off.

The big news is that the countertops are in! To recap, they're DuPont Zodiaq cultured stone (quartz in a resin), which is as hard as granite with less maintenance and more color choices. This color is "Borealis Blue" which is not very blue, but pulls out the blue in our floor and backsplash tile. The sinks are Kohler cast-iron undermounts (no stainless in this house except for the stovetop, which didn't have any other options), and the backsplash is a tile mosaic.

We also finished the floor grouting, and most of the electrical is done except for undercabinet lights and the oven -- which was supposed to happen yesterday except the GC didn't show up to cut the opening to size and put in the support members.

A bunch of new pix, including the counters, light fixtures, and the in-wall stereo.

While I'm stuck in Jersey again, MrsF wrote:[The GC] and Uncle Whatshisname were there all morning and got the stove installed and plugged in, but no gas yet. They put cabinet pulls on all the cabinets, but not the drawers. The pulls came with 2 lengths of screws and neither one works on the drawers. Mike said he will bring a clipper and clip the shorter ones so that we can use those. Even if he ruins a few, this should work since we have a 2 to 1 ratio. (I think they must be designed for the IKEA cabinets which have metal under the wood so the inner parts are thinner.

They moved the shop sink over to mud [room] area and unpacked the dishwashers and pushed them into place so that they look real good, even though nothing is hooked up. Mike and I discussed the placement of the shop sink and we are going to mount it slightly to the right to give us
enough room on the left wall to put shelves and still access them.

[The GC] told me he will be back tomorrow to install the oven, hook up the gas on the stove and do the plumbing hookups on the shop sink. That way we will have a working sink and stove for cooking. He then wants to get the cabinet bases on and the trim on the bar area. The main sink he
plans to leave for the plumber to hook up since it is much more complicated. I am going to go get a garbage disposal tonight so it is ready whenever he gets a plumber there.

He told me the heating/cooling guys are all terribly busy with the heat (which I am sure is true) but that he will try to get there either Friday or Monday to do the ductwork. He also told me that the taper will be here on Saturday. I hope that is true.

We will see what actually gets done. At least he was here and working
until about 1:30 today.

Two weeks again, and a pathetically small amount of work done.
If anyone has a suggestion as to how to spur a contractor on, I'd appreciate it. If I fire him, he won't pay the subs and I'll get screwed on liens suing him to pay them off.

Most (but not all) the cabinet handles have been installed.
The stove is installed and working.
A taper came in and fixed most but not all the issues, but at least the hood soffit is taped finally.
The HVAC is finally installed for the new room.
Some trim pieces were installed.

Still no plumbing, lots of trim work to do, painting, electrical (oven, hood and undercab lights)... and a whole bunch of little things like cleaning the concrete out of my yard, fixing my fence, install the sump pump...

I'm truly depressed that this has taken 7 1/2 months, and shows no sign of completion.

We bribed the project manager and sub-contractors with beer and food. But we weren't living in the house at the time so we'd leave donuts and coffee cakes on the counter and beer in the fridge with a note for them to help themselves. It worked--they would come to our house first (there were 5 new construction houses being completed at the time). The project manager does have some degree of control over when they show up. It's a tough situation to be in--good luck!

JoelF wrote:Two weeks again, and a pathetically small amount of work done.
If anyone has a suggestion as to how to spur a contractor on, I'd appreciate it. If I fire him, he won't pay the subs and I'll get screwed on liens suing him to pay them off.

Most (but not all) the cabinet handles have been installed.
The stove is installed and working.
A taper came in and fixed most but not all the issues, but at least the hood soffit is taped finally.
The HVAC is finally installed for the new room.
Some trim pieces were installed.

Still no plumbing, lots of trim work to do, painting, electrical (oven, hood and undercab lights)... and a whole bunch of little things like cleaning the concrete out of my yard, fixing my fence, install the sump pump...

I'm truly depressed that this has taken 7 1/2 months, and shows no sign of completion.

First I would point him to this thread to show him that you are publicly displaying your displeasure with his work. Then I'd add his name to the thread so everyone who is following this knows who not to call for their kitchen.

Flip

Flip wrote:First I would point him to this thread to show him that you are publicly displaying your displeasure with his work. Then I'd add his name to the thread so everyone who is following this knows who not to call for their kitchen.

Flip,

While that's one possible way of doing things, LTHForum is a Culinary chat, not a use as a hammer to motivate the contractor chat.

Enjoy,
Gary for the moderators

G Wiv wrote:

Flip wrote:First I would point him to this thread to show him that you are publicly displaying your displeasure with his work. Then I'd add his name to the thread so everyone who is following this knows who not to call for their kitchen.

Flip,

While that's one possible way of doing things, LTHForum is a Culinary chat, not a use as a hammer to motivate the contractor chat.

Enjoy,
Gary for the moderators

Gary,

I know, I just figured that it would kinda be culinary related because it would put the contractor on notice that he is on the "chopping block".

Flip

Flip wrote:First I would point him to this thread to show him that you are publicly displaying your displeasure with his work. Then I'd add his name to the thread so everyone who is following this knows who not to call for their kitchen.
Flip

I'm doing everything I can to keep him working, and not get lawyers involved. After he saw me speaking with a neighbor (who has since signed a contract with him against my advice), he threatened to walk off the job and sue me for defamation of character, slander and blasphemy [sic].

The general advice on those offenses is that the truth can always be told, but I'm working cautiously.

There's been a little more progress this week. The drywall work done last week has been primed, the old kitchen repainted, and we finally have a sink hooked up. But his promises don't get kept (we were supposed to get two sinks and two interior doors installed, and he's gone for lunch which usually means for the day).

But at least, with a working stove, we can cook. The new griddle is great, and the Thermador 15000BTU burners are awesome for sautee and even just plain ol' water boiling. We've done chicken picatta, ravioli, breakfast sausage, quesadillas, fried empanadas, and a couple other dishes.

By the end of this week, not much more had happened.
The contractor delivered but didn't install, the pantry door.

But then surprise surprise, the electrician showed up Saturday morning, and the oven is hooked up (although not yet screwed to the cabinet), plus more outlets and one of the main light fixtues are now live. We're waiting on the other light fixture because the soffit for the vent hood still isn't right, and we want to leave space for guys on ladders to work.

But we're chugging right along ourselves: we painted the dining room wall whose door was removed, and a wall in the living room the same color; replaced outlets and switches in the dining room and old kitchen with Decora-style ones, and hooked up the in-wall stereo -- sweet!

We've been promised that the plumber will be here on Wednesday.
That, for me, is the drop-dead date. If the plumber and electrician can hook up my dishwashers, sinks and icemaker, but the GC is still dragging his feet, I think it's time for some drastic measures.

OK, a couple more days of, well, basically dicking around by the contractor (painting things that will need to be repainted when something else happens like some plastering), a bit more has been done: some more baseboards, the oven is mounted, and a small stretch of toe-kick board.

But I LIKE this electric oven. With the big control panel and the convection and the probulator (glayvin).

Last night it was cornbread: cut 10 minutes off a 25-minute bake, and kept a nice GBD (golden brown and delicious) on the top.

Tonight, it was lasagna: my usual quick recipe, fiddled with a bit:
1 pkg lasagna, prepared as directed
1 lb italian sausage, skins removed, cooked crumbled, drained
1 15-oz container ricotta
1 jar Barilla Pasta Bake sauce (yeah, shortcuts)
1 8-oz fresh mozarella, sliced
1 8-oz "ordinary" mozzarella, grated (what I had in the fridge)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped fine
black pepper, red pepper
lemon zest
1 egg

While the pasta is cooking, preheat convection oven to 330, or regular oven to 350.

Mix ricotta, egg, basil, lemon zest, black and red pepper, and a small handful of the grated cheeses.

Drain the noodles. In a large pan, coat the bottom with about 1/2 cup sauce.

Top with noodles, then 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the sausage, a little more than 1/3 of the grated cheese, and another 1/2 cup sauce.

Repeat two more times, skipping the grated cheese on the last layer, then top with the sliced fresh mozz and the remaining grated cheese.

Bake 30 minutes. Eat immediately, most of the liquid is absorbed already, no need for set time.

Yum.