Drywall drags on....

Drywall drags on....

December 14th --  The drywall work drags on while the painters continue to do amazing work to clean up the poor quality work of the first drywall crew.  Sometimes I wonder if the intricacies and sheer amount of drywall and how long it would take was under-estimated, but then I really don't have any basis for wondering that this might be so, other than it seems like it is taking forever.  Maybe it is taking such a long time because the poor work of the first drywall crew needs to be re-done and the painters have a much, much higher standard of quality and pride in their work. Either way, I have to admit that I am getting to the point that I cannot wait for this part of the process to be done.

There is no doubt that the painters are doing a great job, and there has been anywhere from 3 to 5 painters working on the drywall at the same time, usually from 8:00am to 4:00pm since Monday.  The painters arrived today, Saturday at 8:00am and are expecting to put in a full day.  They will let me know later today whether they will want to come by tomorrow, on Sunday.  

As the following photos show, they are really doing a very careful and precise job.

Here is the guest suite and doorway to the bathroom

Here is the doorway from the dining room to the kitchen

Here is the south wall of the galley kitchen and the window where the sink will be. 

Here is the view of the pantry(below to the left) and the laundry room (to the right)

The stairwell to the basement is also getting the drywall treatment.

Here is the view of the guest suite from the dining room where the translucent library pocket doors will fit into the drywall frames. 

There has even been some progress on the upper level in the master suite, although the painters will need to put that work on hold as the floor guy is coming both days this weekend to lay the hardwood in the master bedroom, the hallway and closet.  He still needs about a full day to do patchwork on the floors in the dining room and guest suite bedroom.

Here is the drywall in the future linen closet (to the left)!                                                                         

These two photos show the progress on drywall the master bedroom closet

And, here are some photos of drywall progress on the star gable ceiling and walls in the master bedroom

I have been fighting some bug that has been going around.  I opted to leave the house this morning as the crew was getting ready to sand the drywall on the main level before applying the texture coat, which will need to dry overnight.  It is a good thing that the temps are in the mid-40s as they have turned off the furnace to try to reduce the amount of drywall dust that will get into the heating system.  I didn't think that breathing the drywall dust would be the best thing for the bug I'm trying to fight off.

The kitchen cabinets will be delivered on Monday morning.  The finish carpenter is coming on Wednesday.  I selected the shower doors for the 3/4 bath off the gathering room and for the master bathroom yesterday.  Once the walls are done and before they are painted  there are four bathroom floors and walls that will need to be tiled, along with the tile in the kitchen and the granite for the kitchen counter tops. The appliances are scheduled for delivery on December 23rd, but my best guess is that I will not have a working kitchen until mid to end of January. The in-ceiling speakers I ordered and the garbage disposal all arrived this past week, but there is no place to store them on-site as my garage is full and I've been told that it is not the most secure thing to keep those items in the basement as several crews of subcontractors (floor finishing, tile and granite, plumbing, electrical, painters, shower door installers, finish carpenters, etc) will be working in the house in the weeks to come.  Fortunately, very dear friends have generously agreed to let me put 3 boxes of in-ceiling speakers, a box containing a center-channel speaker, and a box filled with a garbage disposal, its power cord and a connector kit to the dishwasher in their house for temporary storage.   

On Monday afternoon I will finalize the stone tile selection that will provide trim for each fireplace.  I still need to purchase one more ceiling fan (I already bought one for the gathering room and another one needs to go into the master bedroom), I have to select door hardware (locks and handles), cabinet door and drawer knobs, and interior wall colors, although I already know the paint color for the window trim and baseboard (high gloss white). 

I know that a lot will get done soon, but I also know that most workers will want to take off during  the week between Christmas and New Years, another cold snap is predicted, and I can't imagine how all these different finishing crews will be able to work together on their respective parts of the house simultaneously.  

Ah...so close, yet so far away!

The Painters Continue to Rock it....

The Painter's Continue to Rock It.....

December 10th -- The construction train is back on the tracks, full steam ahead, because the painters continue to rock it -- sheet rock it, that is.

Whew...my faith has been restored after a bit of a shaky start this morning.  At 7:45 am I caught a glimpse of someone in the side yard and a few seconds later there was a knock at the front door.  When I went to open the door, it was one of the crew members of the initial drywall company that was fired.  I was a bit surprised, but it was freezing cold outside so I told him to come in out of the cold.  I told him that I was not expecting him and that another crew was working on the drywall.  I tried to call my contractor, but could only leave a voice message.  The drywall guy called his supervisor and handed his cell phone to me.  The supervisor told me that my contractor called him late yesterday and told him to get someone over to clean up the drywall scraps mess in the master bedroom.  So, this guy was here to clean up the mess that they had left almost two weeks ago, but not to do any more work in the house.  Nice to know.  

My contractor returned my phone call and explained that the cabinet delivery has been delayed until next week and the finish carpenter would also come next week.  I was also told that the electricians would stop by with their schematics to make sure that the appropriate wires and light fixtures were not covered over by the dry wall, and if they were they would mark where the fixtures were located.

The painters showed up next and were ready to go.  The owner of the painting company told me that he really wanted to get the dry wall done as soon as possible and before next week.  He said he was willing to work through the weekend and would see how many of his guys he could get to do that as well.    These guys really know what they are doing and I'm so relieved to see that their work is high quality and that they take pride in doing a good job.

Photos of today's progress:

Before painters to the rescue:  View of doorway to basement stairwell

After painters to the rescue:  View of doorway to basement stairwell

 Before painters to the rescue:  View from the gathering room of the 3/4 bath (to the left) and the galley kitchen 

After painters to the rescue:  View from the gathering room of the 3/4 bath (to the left) and the galley kitchen 

The north wall of the kitchen where the future range top and refrigerator will be 

The opposite side of the kitchen where the sink will be (under the window) 

 Several photos standing in the gathering room

Looking into the laundry room (to the left) and the pantry (to the right)

The painters did a cool thing in the dining room, which was to overlay drywall over the lath and plaster walls around the doorway leading into the kitchen

They also filled in around the doorway in the dining room that will lead to the deck, and they will put a skim coat over the lath and plaster wall on the south side of the dining room.

Here is the drywall progress in the rear-entry mudroom

And, even though they still have plenty to do on the main level, one of the painter/drywall guys started working on the master bedroom

As well as working in the master bathroom

As I was leaving for the office this morning, the owner of the painting company told me again that his hope is to complete the walls before the finish carpenter comes on Monday.  They are making great progress after two days on the job.    

As the drywall turns....

As the drywall turns....

December 9th --  Who knew that this would turn into a drama called "As the Drywall Turns..."  The owner of the painting company sent me an e-mail to tell me he would arrive at 8 am on Monday -- have I said how much I love the painter?  I love him even more when he e-mailed at 7:00 am this morning to let me know that he would be a little bit late because he needed to pick up a few tools first.

When the painters arrived I blurted out, "Painters to the Rescue" (all the credit goes to Kristine for that line).  One of the painters worked for five years hanging drywall with his father and they were bringing in a fourth guy with vast drywall experience.  That was the good news...and then the not-so-good news as they started looking around at the really crappy job the previous drywall crew had done. There were large gaps between sections of drywall and the previous crew had used lots of pieces of drywall instead of larger pieces, which meant that there would be more taping and mudding and sanding and horrible, horrible dust.

On the one hand I was very impressed by the critical stance my painters were taking by looking at the drywall and identifying what was wrong and what would need to be fixed.  On the other hand, it was pretty depressing to think how bad the previous crew was and how shoddy their work was.

By the time I had left the house -- mid-morning -- I have not yet heard from my contractor, who had returned from a week's vacation.  But, I left feeling that at least the painters would know what to do to fix everything.  In the meantime, the painters told me that they had learned that the finish carpenter was rescheduled from this Thursday to next Monday.  So basically, my four painters had one week to correct the mistakes, tape, mud, sand, and finish the drywall.  

By early afternoon, I received an e-mail from my contractor who tried to explain that his only weapon at this point was his phone and while he had not yet reached the owner of the drywall company, he had talked to the supervisor who claimed that last week he had sent two different finish crews to my house and they either didn't show or didn't want to do the job.  My contractor explained that this is common in the industry as crews will take a higher-paying or easier job over another one.  There is no doubt that my house is a "big job."  The contractor assured me that the drywall company would cover all the costs, and that he would speak with me by phone soon.  Of course, it wasn't clear to me if the contractor had actually talked to the painters who were very, very dissatisfied and critical of the state of the drywall.  There is one thing to "cover the costs" of finishing the drywall and another thing to cover the costs of having to redo the current drywall and then finish it.

I will speak by phone with the contractor tomorrow and make clear that I will refuse to pay any increased costs to get the drywall correct.

It was a pleasure to arrive home this evening and to see the progress that my painters/drywall guys made.

Before Painters to the rescue:

After Painters to the rescue:

Basically, you get the idea.....

Here are a few photos of just what nice work these guys are doing, and I didn't even take photos of how they swept up their debris, how they put down drop clothes, and how organized they left their work space.

Yes, Painters to the Rescue indeed!!!

Maybe I will like drywall again....

Maybe I will like drywall again....

December 6th -- I think I will need therapy to recover from drywall post-traumatic stress; either that or lots of red wine and a pre-Christmas miracle to get the drywall train back on its tracks...soon.

When I talked to the contractor's son the other day I mentioned that the painters, who I like a lot, told me that they also do drywall.  I like the painters because they show up early and when they say they will; they work hard; they do a great job; they clean up and don't make a mess; and besides being in a Reggae band, they are very pleasant, polite, low key, and just really sweet guys to have around.  

This morning I left the house a bit before 10:00 am and no drywall workers had yet arrived. The temperatures remain frigid as it was 10 degrees below zero this morning and the high temperature today was 8 degrees above zero.  All the drywall guys need to do is get here, because the new heating system is working well and it is actually very pleasant inside, especially in the new sections of the house where there are working heating vents and lots of insulation.  

A few hours later the contractor's son called my cell to ask if the drywall guys were working. Since I wasn't at home and would not be for a few more hours, I explained that they weren't there when I left the house, but I would call and let him know as soon as I got home later in the day.  The contractor's son repeatedly apologized and said that he was very disappointed about the drywall delay.  He also told me that if the drywall workers had not showed up to work on my house by the time I got home, he would get rid of them and get the painters to finish the job.  

Talk about ambiguously feelings -- on the one hand we need the drywall guys here working like crazy to get ready for the finish carpenters who arrive next week, but on the other hand, I was hoping that they didn't show so that the much beloved painters would be here to do the job (and maybe save the day). 

When I got home, sure enough, no sign that any drywall work had been done or that anyone had been here to do any work. The drywall crew has now cost me 4 weeks on this project.  As we agreed, I called the contractor's son and left a voice message and asked him to let me know what to expect next.

The contractor's son called me back to say that the former drywall crew is toast; gone; done; we've broken up and I'm over them.  The painters, a crew of three, plus one more guy called in for reinforcement, will start early Monday morning to tape, mud and sand the drywall.  They will do what they can as fast as they can, and there will be an attempt to see if the finish carpenter can delay his arrival by a day or so.  The contractor's son, again being very apologetic and also optimistic, told me to look on the bright side -- since the painters will be doing the drywall, they can't complain about the drywall job as painters usually do when it comes time for them to paint the walls that they actually finished themselves!

As soon as I finish my latte, I am going to have lots of red wine.

Why I have really come to dislike dry wall.....

Why I have really come to dislike dry wall....

December 4th --  So after we finally passed the drywall screw inspection last Friday I thought we were almost done with the entire drywall debacle.

Silly me.

 I started to prepare myself for the worst part of the drywall taping, mudding and sanding that was supposed to be completed by the end of this week, but no one came to work on the house on Monday (12-2), Tuesday (12-3) or today (12-4).  The cabinets are scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday (12-11) and the finish carpenter is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday (12-12) to start installing the mill work. 

 I'm pretty sure it is impossible to install mill work on walls that have not yet been completed.   Oh, and did I mention that my contractor is out of town this week?

The weather was beautiful on Monday and started going south on Tuesday afternoon when a front came in and the temperature dropped 26 degrees in two hours.  This morning it was snowing and 11 degrees, but was really minus 7 degrees with the windchill factor.  As my contractor has said to me, "When the weather gets cold, construction slows down."  This is more than a slow down; it is an all-out stoppage.  So, the three-week delay that the drywall has already cost me is now turning into a four-week delay or maybe even longer.  In realistic terms, this just means that I will have to wait even longer before I can once again sleep in my bed.

On the bright side, the new furnace, which is operating on a temporary construction thermostat that has one setting, 65 degrees, and is not operating on the official zone system, is actually doing a great job.  Sleeping under my down sleeping bag also keeps me toasty at night.  Of course, the new windows, roof, and ton of insulation also helps.  This morning when I got out of the shower wrapped in a towel, I stopped dead in my tracks as I had a "What is wrong with this picture" moment -- there was no usual cold draft in the bathroom!  In fact, this house has never been warmer, especially in this kind of cold snap, in the 26 years I've lived in it.

While my contractor is out of town, his son, who will eventually take over the business (I think) is in charge of things, but I haven't seen nor heard from him.  My contractor did not specifically tell me to call his son when he told me he was leaving town for a week.  

So, I contacted my architect by e-mail, explained the situation that no drywall work has been done since last Friday and the mill work is supposed to start next week, and asked him what I should do.  Within about 15 minutes of sending that e-mail, my phone rang and it was the contractor's son, explaining that he has been in touch with the drywall company and that they will be here and will bring in big heaters to dry the mudded walls this weekend and that he is doing his best, but it is clear that this is the first and last time they will use this drywall subcontractor.  Unfortunately, the drywall subcontractor that they regularly used was not available for my project, and with my contractor out of town, there really was no one who had almost 30 years of experience as a contractor to yell at the sub-contractors to get the job done.  I suggested to the contractor's son that I hope his father will teach him how to effectively yell at sub-contractors who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.

After I got off the phone with the contractor's son, there was an e-mail reply from my architect who wrote that he had forwarded my e-mail to the contractor's son and with a message of something to the effect of  "WTF Chickenbutt."  At least that is my laugh for the day.  The architect also wrote that if I did not hear from the contractor's son, that I should let him know and he would jump in.  That architect is a good man and a brilliant designer.

As I wrote early on in this process, one of the most important things to do before undertaking a project like this one is to put together a team that communicates well.   Although the lack of a completed dry wall job after 6 months and 6 days since this project started is beyond frustrating, at least I know how  to contact my architect who has my back along with a sense of humor that often brightens my day.  

No matter, I still really dislike dry wall.