It is often the smallest of details which make it difficult or challenging to complete something. These details can prolong or ruin an otherwise straightforward task.
And so 31 weeks, 217 days, 5208 hours, 314,850 minutes, and 18,478,807 seconds later (but whose counting) you finally get subcontractors inside your home to work on interior finishes. You tell yourself it's the home stretch. You finally breathe a sigh of relief and let the excitement wash over you as you see your choices come to fruition. You begin to picture yourself living in your new home.
Drywall is completed, tile and hardwood floor are laid. The interior of your home begins to take shape. Progress picks up as teams of subcontractors swarm inside your house like busy bees in a hive each with a specific task at hand. Until.... (queue menacing music) one of the finish details hits a road block that knocks your sweet little building timeline on it's ass.
For some reason choosing the hardwood floors for our home was a difficult task. In hindsight, it should have been an omen that hardwood flooring would eventually be problematic. I spent many weekends visiting established flooring company's in the area, getting pricing and samples before settling on a 4 inch wide plank oak pre-stained a walnut color from a local company. This company has a 20+ year reputation in the housing development community.
Hardwood floors have to be down before your kitchen and counter-tops can be installed. The flooring company required a substantial upfront deposit and a 2 week lead time to order the hardwood from the manufacturer. Based on this timing I scheduled our kitchen cabinet delivery and install.
There is a lot more prep to laying hardwood floors than you would think. Twenty four hours before delivery a de-humidifier was set up inside the house and left running to help remove any additional moisture from the air. Summer's in New England can get brutally humid.
Once the hardwood arrived, the boxes were opened and the wood was given 48 hours to acclimate to it's new home. The de-humidifer continued to run day and night during acclimation. Finally the hardwood installers arrived and began the install. A vapor barrier was laid on top of the sub floor to ensure no moisture would touch the hardwood.
On the first day of the install my dad called me at work to relay concerns about the flooring. I believe his exact words in my very best Greek accent were "Eh, where did you get these floors they are junk" They need to be ripped out and returned, they are warped and not laying flat on the floor" "How much did you spend on these junky floors?"
I didn't want to believe my dad. To appease him I contacted the flooring company and spoke with the sales rep to let him know of his concerns. He reassured me it was normal and the hardwood needed some additional time to settle and that the company stood behind it's products. Seeing that I didn't buy the flooring from the back of a truck, I convinced my dad that the rep was right and that it would all be ok.
Today (the day the kitchen cabinets were scheduled to be delivered) the hardwood installer actually pulled my dad aside and told him he refused to continue laying the hardwood because it was too warped. He then left and had his boss come out. His boss took pictures and talked to my dad. Of course the boss only reaffirmed my dad's concerns.
And I am notified at work, while facilitating a meeting with 10+ people. Whenever my cell phone rings I cringe if the caller ID is my dad, because I know if he's calling me during the day it has to do with some awful housing related emergency. As soon as I pick up he begins to yell that he was right and that the flooring has to go. In my calmest voice I say" yeah I'm going to have to call you back" and I excuse myself and go outside to find a place where I can yell and curse and vent.
As I walk to the door any and all excitement I had about finish work at the house plummets faster than the NASDAQ in 2008.
I try calling the flooring company but both the sales rep and owner at out of the office. I leave a message with the owner's administrator and implore her to get a hold of the owner and have him call me back. No one has returned my calls yet.
Tomorrow morning when I get ready for work I will add a layer of armor to my business casual outfit so I can face yet another day of construction!
