Drywall debacle....
November 25th -- Ugh....it was going well until it wasn't.
So, the drywall guys did not show up on Sunday. At 8:00am Monday morning they arrived. I told them how happy I was to see them and asked if they would finish today. They told me that they only came by to pick up their tools as they were going to another job. What? I asked when they would be back and they said maybe Wednesday or Thursday. I asked if they really intended to work on Thursday, which is Thanksgiving. They said yes, picked up their tool belts and left me literally speechless, stunned and in a state of disbelief.
About 15 minutes later I heard someone arrive downstairs. There I met a new face, who was equally surprised to see me as I was to meet him. He is the guy who will install the new oak hardwood flooring and he apologized because he didn't know anyone was living in the project. He also told me that he felt bad that the drywall guys had left such a mess and he would never do that. I instantly loved this guy.
He had just got off the phone with my contractor and said he was on the way over. After the floor guy and my contractor talked, it was my turn. First, the contractor shared some words of wisdom, "In the construction business, the bullshit flows downward." Ok...what this means is that the drywall guys decided that the gable ceiling in the master bedroom was "bowed" and they stopped work on Saturday. The contractor was annoyed because he had sent the framers to the house on Friday and told the drywall guys that if there were any framing problems to tell the framers so they could fix it. The drywall guys told the framers there were no problems on Friday. So the contractor couldn't decide if the drywall guys found hanging drywall on the gable ceiling too challenging or if there really was a problem with the framing. In the meantime, the contractor blamed this problem on the architect and muttered that he is the only one who designs "star gables" which are a pain to drywall, but they are quite beautiful.
I just stood there listening to how each person blamed the other and yes, the bullshit was flowing downward, and I was drowning in it. The contractor told me that he was meeting the owner of the drywall company in a few hours and would yell at them. The drywall company was also sending someone in to clean the drywall detritus so that maybe the hardwood floor guy could actually begin installing the tongue and groove flooring.
Hanging the drywall to the point where the screw inspection could be scheduled should have taken five days, max. We are now delayed on the project by three weeks because the drywall was late to get started and is still not completed. The contractor is almost as frustrated as I am, but he gets to leave for a week's vacation after Thanksgiving, and I get to spend Thanksgiving here. I tried to get a sense from the contractor about when the house would be done, and he said that if "done" meant that I could have livable space that I could move into, probably January. So, it looks like I will be without a working kitchen and sleeping on my "dog bed," uh I mean "alternative sleeping arrangement" for about another 8 weeks. I gave myself 72 minutes to wallow in my disappointment before trying to climb back to the heights of uber zen ville. Let's just say that I'm approaching zen ville with the assistance of red wine, but I am not yet at the uber stage.
On the bright side...at least the first floor drywall detritus was indeed removed and the space clean when I came home this evening. It was a pleasure to walk into a cleaned main level of the house, even if the dry wall is still only 80% complete. The kitchen plumbing (farmhouse apron style sink with "intense" faucet and pot filler bar sink) has arrived and the order is ready to be picked up by the contractor before he goes on vacation. I got a killer "Black Friday" bargain by accident this afternoon -- I logged into Amazon with the intention to order the range vent for the range top when the garbage disposal I had decided upon popped up as a "Black Friday" sale item (even though it was Monday, not Black Friday, go figure). I saved over $50 and got free shipping on the garbage disposal, and in the excitement, I realized afterwards that I had forgotten to order the range vent, which I will save for tomorrow (maybe I will get another Black Friday bargain on Tuesday). I will also meet the owner of the painting company tomorrow morning at 8. I really like this guy and his painting crew, who are in a Reggae band when they are not painting (they are the only blond haired, blue-eyed Reggae musicians I know, but they are really sweet guys). They will paint my garage, which was not included in the original bid from the contractor. The painter gave me a very reasonable price and they can get the garage done tomorrow, so we're on as the weather will be decent. They will also power sand the timbers on the covered deck and apply a stain clear coat to the timbers and corbels. If all works out, tomorrow afternoon I will go back to the "we're more than a brickyard brick yard" to place the order for the thin brick for the kitchen (Pawnee won the vote, by the way).
On Thursday I am hoping that I will be giving thanks for all the drywall being hung, but I am not holding my breath (although I will be holding a large glass of red wine). I am, however, very thankful that I have shelter and will have an amazing house to live in when all of this construction becomes a faint memory that will be refreshed by a visit in the future to this website -- that is when I have hopefully repressed the memories of the drywall debacle.
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