Monday, November 23, 2015

B.P. Farms - REAL Remodel - Week 3

Another week...another mess. Wait...that sounds bad. Another week...and a helluva lot of progress!

Yea, that's better! Progress! Looking back at last week I can't believe how much they accomplished, from ripping out walls and ceilings, digging big footings and pouring concrete, running a new gas line and then getting the massive beam in place. So much was completed, and it left me wondering how things would progress this week.

Two weeks into the actual remodel (I don't count week 1 when the cabinets were ripped out lol), and I think we've managed to hold up pretty well through all the chaos that's been going on around us. I've sealed the doors to our bedroom and dining room to attempt to keep as much dust out as possible. And for the most part...it's been working.

Michael and I walked into this remodel knowing that it was going to be loud, messy and stressful. And I think that we've actually handled it all quite well, even with the snafus that popped up this week. So let's get into the meat of it all, shall we?

We had a massive wind storm Tuesday afternoon/evening, which knocked out our power at around 2 in the afternoon. Luckily for us, we have the generator that kicks on automatically, and runs off the two enormous propane tanks we have. I won't lie, after the crew left, I was a bit terrified to be here alone. I stood on the deck for quite a bit of the evening, fearful of the trees all around us that were swaying back and forth. Praying that no damage would be done to our house, fence or animals while all this was going on. Standing on the deck I could hear all the trees popping, cracking and falling all around us...it wasn't a fun night. But we made it through the windstorm pretty much unscathed! Just some big branches to clear from the driveway and leaf blowing that needed to be done. So we lucked out with that!

Wednesday we hit a bit of a bump when the generator stopped working right after lunch time! Still without power, this left us in a lurch because the crew couldn't chip up the tile anymore. So I set out to find the manuals for the generator to see if I could fix it. I couldn't find anything in the manuals that would help, so I had to drive down to the gas station that's about 6 minutes down the road so I could get enough cell service to look up a service tech online. I called, and then waited for the tech to call me. While I was doing all this, the crew started to mud the dry wall. The tech called and asked what was going on, what the display was saying...and then told me to try and jump start the battery. Yes, I said jump start the battery. The generator has a car battery in it to run the starter. Well, the contractor jumped the battery, and it fired right up! YAY! But after 20 minutes it quit again. So I had to run to town and buy a new battery. But after installing it in dark, it fired back up and all was good! And then the power came on around 9 PM. *Phew*

The last speed bump of the week was a big one, and it's the one that really set me off. We purchased all our appliances from Albert Lee Appliance in Lynnwood. I placed the order in August, paying 1/2 the cost up front. On October 6th I went in and paid the balance and firmed up the delivery date. When the delivery drivers showed up on November 5th, they told me that my fridge was back ordered. And the dishwasher had been damaged in transit. So I was on the phone with Albert Lee trying to figure this all out. Turns out the manufacturer has been back ordering these fridges all year, and they were going to try and get it to me by the 30th. Ummmm...NO! I raised a stink, and our sales rep called his rep from KitchenAid and told me that there was one fridge coming in on the 20th, and it had my name on it to be delivered on the 21st with my new dishwasher.

On Thursday I got a call telling me that the fridge was back ordered until the first week of December. I lost my shit. I called and spoke with the store manager, he called the rep and then called me back telling me he could *probably* get me my fridge by December 2nd. I was over it. He was making excuses, and blaming KitchenAid. I told him that this was bullshit and unacceptable, especially considering that we ordered these in August, and I paid in full a month before the delivery date and not once did anyone tell me about a back order. He kept making excuses and I told him to cancel the fridge order and refund my money. While waiting for him to call me back, I had called Judd and Black and they had one of the fridges that just came in and they put my name on it. So after yelling at the Albert Lee store manager and hanging up, I drove to Judd and Black and paid for my new fridge. Feeling pretty accomplished I came home, excited that I was able to get the fridge and that it'd be delivered on Saturday! Screw you, Albert Lee!

The store manager from Albert Lee sent me an e-mail asking for me to call him because he'd been working on a solution and wanted to run it by me. I e-mailed him back telling him I already purchased the fridge from Judd and Black and he needed to refund my money. I was *so* over Albert Lee...it wasn't even funny.

On Friday morning, at the urging of one of my wonderful readers, I e-mailed the top three execs at Albert Lee, detailing everything, and copying them on all the e-mails that went back and forth. I received a call back from Ken, their General Sales Manager. He apologized for the problem, and even he tried to blame KitchenAid. But he offered me a 5 year warranty on the range we bought from them. I accepted the warranty, but I won't lie...I will NEVER use Albert Lee again. I can't believe that any sales person would allow this to happen. We spent a lot of money on appliances through them, and the fact that they dropped the ball and refused to acknowledge their mistake...well that's unacceptable.

Moral of the story...don't use Albert Lee...ever.

Well, now that I got all that off my chest...hahaha...let's get to the pictures! So much happened!!! Enjoy!

Monday:

Monday was a busy day, they immediately set to work attaching the roof supports to the beam so they could remove the temporary walls. By the end of the day, the space was wide open! And they managed to chip up all the tile in the kitchen and hallway! :)







Tuesday:

Tuesday was another good day, they managed to get a full day in before the wind storm hit!

Sheet rock was up put up on the ceilings throughout the space, and on parts of the walls.



Before they put up the sheet rock on the kitchen walls, I managed to catch that they missed pulling wires for the under cabinet lighting! **Phew**
 

So happy two have TWO skylights in the kitchen!


Wednesday:

Wednesday they set to work finishing putting up the sheet rock, and mudding the seams. They also started to chip the floor...but that couldn't continue since we lost power from the generator! (These pictures were taken during the 20 minutes that the generator was running again hahaha! That's why there are lights!)





Three feet into the sitting room and the power went out! (The lights are on here...because I took this after I got the battery jumped. lol)








Thursday:

Finally, with power restored they were able to get to work chipping out the rest of the tile! It was such a crazy scene! HAHA


While one of them was chipping tile, the other two finished the mudding...even getting the finishing mud up. 



Looks sooooo great now that all that pinkish tile is gone!


Pretty soon all the flooring will be the same!







Friday:

Friday, since the mud wasn't dry, they spent all day chipping up the thin set that was holding the tile to the slab. It was an all day job, that was loud and dusty. I felt kinda bad...but honestly, this needed to be done. The only other option was to put tile over tile...and we didn't want that.





Weekend:

Over the weekend Michael and I set out to sand all the walls that still had original sheet rock, then paint them with Kilz to seal in the nasty cigarette smell. And then I needed to tackle the pantry. I ripped out the shelves, sanded the walls and ceilings and then painted it all with Kilz.




I went to the store and purchased a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" maple, had them cut it into 1' x 8' boards. I brought them home and stained them. They'll look great as my new pantry shelves!



Here is the pantry, all sanded and painted with Kilz!



The mud is all dried, the original sheet rock that is left has all been sanded and painted with Kilz...it's all ready for primer, texture and the rest!
 




It was quite the week, noisy, dusty and chaotic. And I have to admit that Saturday night, I had my first meltdown of the project. I think the frustration caught up with me...and I boiled over. But hey...it was bound to happen. I had a good "frustration cry," got it out of my system and we are good to go!

This coming week is going to see some major transformations! We have "Clean Crawls" coming to clean out the attics and install new insulation, which will really help with the heating/cooling of the house! The cabinets arrive, and the tile will be starting to go in! So exciting!!! I can see the end!!

Until next time...Keep Cookin'! Oh...and do NOT shop at Albert Lee! ;-)

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