Just while I have a few minutes as I wait for John to pick me up, I wanted to mention the latest bit of craziness that I forgot to report. Our drunken electricians didn't leave enough wire hanging out of the various outlets in the house in a few places, so they can't actually connect them. To fix this problem — which somehow passed inspection — they had to rip out parts of the wall today in three of our rooms to pull out more of the wire. That means they had to tear out the drywall and break through our foam insulation to try and find the wires they're looking for.
Yep, it's as bad as it sounds.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Refugees from 96A Crichton
John just went to the house around 7:00 p.m. tonight to see how the floors were coming along (they were supposed to be ready to walk on in socks at 9:00 p.m.) and found out that we actually can't sleep there tonight because the epoxy takes eight to 12 hours to dry. No one seems to have had any intention of telling us that. If John hadn't had the foresight to check on things, we would have been pretty upset to find out that we couldn't walk on the floor to get any clothes from our bedroom, and that we would have to find a place to sleep in a hurry. John hurriedly packed a few things for us, and my sister said she would take us in.
We are refugees from our new home.
We are refugees from our new home.
Post-move stress disorder (PMSD)
After a year and a half of planning, working, sweating and worrying, we expected to be celebrating one of the biggest accomplishments of our lives after we moved in. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out this way. We're still hanging on to the hope that one day soon we will get some joy out of our new home.
Our plumbers and electricians have proven themselves to be incompetent. Two weeks after we moved in, we still have an unconnected sink and another sink that leaks. The electricians, after admitting that the first crew who installed our wiring were drunk on the job (yep, for real), don't seem to feel any sort of urgency to finish their work. On top of it all, they leave a path of destruction wherever they go (a broken light here, broken lightbulbs there, etc.). They flick our breakers and boiler on and off at will, leaving us with systems that don't work when we want them to and no hot water this morning. The minute they finish their work, we will be complaining to the Better Business Bureau.
We've hinted at our flooring troubles, and I wish I could post our recent photos (I can't find my laptop at the moment, unfortunately). As we mentioned in our previous post, our flooring company left us with completely deficient floors before we moved in. They avoided our builder's calls for almost two weeks before finally responding after he escalated the issue to the company's president. They are scheduled to refinish the second floor today; we'll see what actually happens. Once the second floor is complete, we will have to move everything off of the first floor to the second floor so that that floor can also be redone. We've decided to just skip the third floor; it's not as bad up there, and we'll just do whatever we can to clean them up ourselves. Again, we will be contacting the BBB to lodge a complaint.
Our lovely stairs have, unfortunately, failed inspection. It's a very long story, but the stairs from the second to the third floor must be removed (!), corrected, and re-installed. We don't know yet whether we will just move some clothes downstairs and sleep among the boxes, or whether we'll stay elsewhere for the week. We have a bunny to consider, too.
In the midst of this, we've been sanding, staining and varnishing what feels like a million feet of baseboards and window and door frames. We're pleased with the results, but wonder whether our backs will ever forgive us.
On a happier note, we have continued to unpack as much as possible in our kitchen, which we truly love. We have many photos to share as soon as my laptop turns up. Stay tuned!
Our plumbers and electricians have proven themselves to be incompetent. Two weeks after we moved in, we still have an unconnected sink and another sink that leaks. The electricians, after admitting that the first crew who installed our wiring were drunk on the job (yep, for real), don't seem to feel any sort of urgency to finish their work. On top of it all, they leave a path of destruction wherever they go (a broken light here, broken lightbulbs there, etc.). They flick our breakers and boiler on and off at will, leaving us with systems that don't work when we want them to and no hot water this morning. The minute they finish their work, we will be complaining to the Better Business Bureau.
We've hinted at our flooring troubles, and I wish I could post our recent photos (I can't find my laptop at the moment, unfortunately). As we mentioned in our previous post, our flooring company left us with completely deficient floors before we moved in. They avoided our builder's calls for almost two weeks before finally responding after he escalated the issue to the company's president. They are scheduled to refinish the second floor today; we'll see what actually happens. Once the second floor is complete, we will have to move everything off of the first floor to the second floor so that that floor can also be redone. We've decided to just skip the third floor; it's not as bad up there, and we'll just do whatever we can to clean them up ourselves. Again, we will be contacting the BBB to lodge a complaint.
Our lovely stairs have, unfortunately, failed inspection. It's a very long story, but the stairs from the second to the third floor must be removed (!), corrected, and re-installed. We don't know yet whether we will just move some clothes downstairs and sleep among the boxes, or whether we'll stay elsewhere for the week. We have a bunny to consider, too.
In the midst of this, we've been sanding, staining and varnishing what feels like a million feet of baseboards and window and door frames. We're pleased with the results, but wonder whether our backs will ever forgive us.
On a happier note, we have continued to unpack as much as possible in our kitchen, which we truly love. We have many photos to share as soon as my laptop turns up. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
We're in
Apologies for posting so late, but things have been incredibly hectic for us lately. We moved on Saturday, October 4, and it was definitely the most difficult move either of us has ever experienced. To all those who participated, we are very grateful for your help. I shudder to think what we would have done without you.
We moved into what is still very much a construction zone, and are trying to settle into it a little bit more every day. The greatest challenge remains the floors, which are truly a disaster. We will have to figure out a way to fix them, which will not be an easy task now that our furniture and 8,000 boxes are in the house. Various workers are trying to finalize the electrical and plumbing, put in the phone line, and install the living room ceiling, baseboards and trim around all of the windows and doors. The list is really a lot longer, but we're taking it one day at a time.
In happier news, we have started to unpack a few things for our kitchen. As of this morning, our fridge is our only functional appliance, but never underestimate the power of a mug in the cupboard to put a smile on our faces.
Cheerier updates to follow, we hope. Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement; they mean a lot to us.
We moved into what is still very much a construction zone, and are trying to settle into it a little bit more every day. The greatest challenge remains the floors, which are truly a disaster. We will have to figure out a way to fix them, which will not be an easy task now that our furniture and 8,000 boxes are in the house. Various workers are trying to finalize the electrical and plumbing, put in the phone line, and install the living room ceiling, baseboards and trim around all of the windows and doors. The list is really a lot longer, but we're taking it one day at a time.
In happier news, we have started to unpack a few things for our kitchen. As of this morning, our fridge is our only functional appliance, but never underestimate the power of a mug in the cupboard to put a smile on our faces.
Cheerier updates to follow, we hope. Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement; they mean a lot to us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)