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Kitchen remodeling catchup
Got a lot of catching up to do on the remodeling blog effort...I started this on the plane to Denver, and will append a little at the end.
Last Thursday, I think, was the start of the Great Paint Confrontation. I came home to find that the painter (Joey) had started priming, and a check of the paint cans showed he had used a Duron product, not the Benjamin Moore primer specified on the plans. A voicemail exchange with Betsy got the explanation that Joey thought this product covered better, and that it actually cost a little more. When we actually spoke directly, Betsy finally apologized, saying she usually goes with the painter's opinion as long as it's a similar product and most clients don't specify a primer anyway. What it tells me is that Betsy isn't paying a great deal of attention to the plans. This is confirmed by the discussion we then had about the "metal edge" on my counters that she said Mary had seen on the plan notes. Having transcribed those notes for my own reference, I know there's nothing like that in there.
Anyway, I had a nice conversation with the painter himself Friday morning, checked the cans for the topcoat, and Betsy is supposed to verify that the Duron costs about what the Benjamin Moore does.
Then there's the tile issues. The tile is certainly acceptable, but it's not a real quality job. Several tiles aren't quite level with their neighbors, so an edge or a corner sticks up--I noticed this first on one that's high enough to cast a shadow. The grouting in also not very even--some places the spaces are filled almost to the level of the tile top, other places it's lower. As my brother said, in six weeks I won't notice, but at the moment it's niggling at me. Betsy had me mark the worst tile and we'll see what can be done. She's also che king on whether the grout can be sealed--the job wasbid without that as the grout the usedis "latex enhanced" and supposedly stain resistant. But it's my kitchen, I'm going to drop stuff, plus it'll will be high traffic. Anything we can do to slow down stains will be a Good Thing.
Then there's the bookcases for the living, which were delivered Friday. They were constructed with those ugly metal strip shelf supports, not the pin supports I want. Betsy said she'd told them twice to use the pins. The cases will have to be rebuilt--lucky for Jack, he hadn't finished the wood or installed them so he hasn't lost that additional effort and cost. Redoing the cases will be bad enough, I imagine.
Friday did see the cabinet delivery, and my garage was piled high with the boxes, up to the level that just allowed the door to open on one side.
My brother, who is doing cat-sitting duty while my s-i-l and the kids are in Savannah, reports that the cabinet installers got several cabinets in yesterday, and were still working today when he went over at 7:50 PM. He also moved the plumbing delivery from the front door to the garage Monday evening--only the cabinet installers were there Monday, and that didn't seem to be in their purview. Betsy called this morning to say how nice the cabinets were looking, and to tell me I need to buy my cabinet and drawer pulls and decide where they are to be installed. I asked about the tile problem areas, and she says they can fix the worst raised edge, and will fill in the lower spots in the grout job. We'll look at all this after the cabinets are in as that will hide a good bit of tile and make other areas less noticeable.
Last Thursday, I think, was the start of the Great Paint Confrontation. I came home to find that the painter (Joey) had started priming, and a check of the paint cans showed he had used a Duron product, not the Benjamin Moore primer specified on the plans. A voicemail exchange with Betsy got the explanation that Joey thought this product covered better, and that it actually cost a little more. When we actually spoke directly, Betsy finally apologized, saying she usually goes with the painter's opinion as long as it's a similar product and most clients don't specify a primer anyway. What it tells me is that Betsy isn't paying a great deal of attention to the plans. This is confirmed by the discussion we then had about the "metal edge" on my counters that she said Mary had seen on the plan notes. Having transcribed those notes for my own reference, I know there's nothing like that in there.
Anyway, I had a nice conversation with the painter himself Friday morning, checked the cans for the topcoat, and Betsy is supposed to verify that the Duron costs about what the Benjamin Moore does.
Then there's the tile issues. The tile is certainly acceptable, but it's not a real quality job. Several tiles aren't quite level with their neighbors, so an edge or a corner sticks up--I noticed this first on one that's high enough to cast a shadow. The grouting in also not very even--some places the spaces are filled almost to the level of the tile top, other places it's lower. As my brother said, in six weeks I won't notice, but at the moment it's niggling at me. Betsy had me mark the worst tile and we'll see what can be done. She's also che king on whether the grout can be sealed--the job wasbid without that as the grout the usedis "latex enhanced" and supposedly stain resistant. But it's my kitchen, I'm going to drop stuff, plus it'll will be high traffic. Anything we can do to slow down stains will be a Good Thing.
Then there's the bookcases for the living, which were delivered Friday. They were constructed with those ugly metal strip shelf supports, not the pin supports I want. Betsy said she'd told them twice to use the pins. The cases will have to be rebuilt--lucky for Jack, he hadn't finished the wood or installed them so he hasn't lost that additional effort and cost. Redoing the cases will be bad enough, I imagine.
Friday did see the cabinet delivery, and my garage was piled high with the boxes, up to the level that just allowed the door to open on one side.
My brother, who is doing cat-sitting duty while my s-i-l and the kids are in Savannah, reports that the cabinet installers got several cabinets in yesterday, and were still working today when he went over at 7:50 PM. He also moved the plumbing delivery from the front door to the garage Monday evening--only the cabinet installers were there Monday, and that didn't seem to be in their purview. Betsy called this morning to say how nice the cabinets were looking, and to tell me I need to buy my cabinet and drawer pulls and decide where they are to be installed. I asked about the tile problem areas, and she says they can fix the worst raised edge, and will fill in the lower spots in the grout job. We'll look at all this after the cabinets are in as that will hide a good bit of tile and make other areas less noticeable.