What have we gotten into??

[celstu1]

Soooo we are now 4 weeks into a double bathroom remodel. We gutted 2 baths, actually 1 full bath and one 3/4 bath. We moved the wall that separated them and made 2 full baths. Every time we go to do something we are set back! The plumber screwed up just about everything. too long of pipes, to low of pipes, too short of pipes, wrong place for toilet drain, etc... We got the shower working and he left the pipe out of the wall too long, so we put the hardware on anyways and will tackle fixing it later and he hooked up the hot water to a cold water pipe so we couldn't use the shower anyways. We had him come back again to fix that and now the pipe is leaking!!! Yesterday my BF cut tile all day long, and I did yard work all day long. At 730pm I went to lay the tile while he finished cutting, we mixed up the adhesive and I went to town getting the tile down. 8:02 I ran out of adhesive and was 3/4 done the floor. Everywhere closed at 8pm so we had to stop for the night with only like 11 tiles left to lay. Earlier saturday we went to get unsanded grout for the wall tiles and it's special order.... ggrrrr so a week more stall on getting that shower up and running.

A tile came loose in the main bath and now we need to buy a dremmel tool and get the new grout out and get more tiles and replace that one and regrout (buy more grout). Not to mention, the plumber on friday when he came to the house no one was home but the dogs. He did not shut the bathroom door and the dogs peed in the bathroom 3 times. We had not sealed the floor because we haven't been able to clean it good enough to seal it, so now the new grout is stained, so we can't seal it until we get new grout over the stained grout so it does not look stained. The dogs peed probably because it all is new and smells weird to them and because they were nervous to be there at BFs house alone but then for a stranger to show up too...

Ever wish you never tackled something??? We are at our wits ends. So much has gone wrong, so much has been delayed. Not to mention for 4 weeks now the house is a mess!! Ive given up cleaning at this point. I can't keep it clean, actually finding foot traffic does a better job of clearing out sheetrock dust than any mop can!!

BFs ride on lawn mower broke the other day.... and the push one broke last year. The grass is a foot tall with nothing to cut it now. He is soooooo mad .... Ive never seen him look so helpless.

This morning I woke up to only 1 cup of coffee bc there was only enough milk for 1 cup, we forgot to get milk yesterday.... and I woke up with my 'friend' ... I woke up hurting from all the yard work and then for some crazy unbeknown reason, I left the keys in the car in the on position all night last night. I had a dead battery. Had to call AAA who came pretty quick but then informed me that I won't make it through winter with my battery so I'll need a new one in the fall for sure. OH and during an oil change on friday evening, I was told I needed new back brakes now!!! Caught a break on that one though, my BFs brother did it and it cost $52 instead of $300 the dealership quoted. So thats done. But aaaahhhhhhhh

Anyways... rant done I guess.....

[yorkieusa]

You've got me almost in tears! First thing - fire the plumber. Then get someone who knows what they're doing. I hope things lighten up. Things always come in bunches, but you really got more than your fair share.

[celstu1]

LOL Thanks for your compassion!

I was in tears this morning... the dead battery was my wits end. I wanted to sit and cry. I am exhausted, we have pulled more midnight nights doing bathroom stuff... it just feels like every 2 steps forward we go 1 step back. Some days we can work on it for 10 hours and it looks like we got NOTHING done. Like this weekend. We spent saturday 1/2 the day trying to figure out how to lay the tiles in a nice pattern. Then sunday just cutting and cutting and cutting... yet the floor is still not done. So it looks like we did NOTHING all weekend. Yet we worked for 11 hours straight on sunday and like 4 hours on saturday.

As for the plumber... well he did the whole job in 2 days... then when our contractor came in he was horrified. (we had no idea the mistakes) So now that we have paid him, he has come back 2x so far to fix things and BF will call him today to come back a 3rd time. All the times have been with no addition pay obviously so at this point we are just having him fix his mistakes. We know though that we won't recommend him to anyone though. We know 2 other people who will start a bathroom remodel and will need plumbing if he had done a great job, but forget it!

I just got my car in Jan... it's a 2007 Accord. I traded in my 2008 Civic for it because i did not like the civic at all. It was making me sick when I drove, motion sick. It was very lurchy and had no no no power, like turn off the A/C to accelerate onto the highway! Ridiculous. I could not drive that car! I love my car now... but in the short 3 months Ive had it... it needs 2 new tires ($200/each), back brakes, new battery all right now pretty much. Then it got keyed at Mohegan sun casino back in March so the paint needs fixing... then someone dinged the passenger side door so that needs fixing, all 4 rims look like they were munched into a curb and are all chewed up (previous owner). Its just sad that my new car just does not look like a nicely maintained car. I would have though that even with a pre-owned car the dealership would have done basic maintenance like tires, brakes and battery.

[cj125]

I know... when it rains - it pours!

I honestly don't think I've ever heard of a project getting done on time or for the amount of money it's suppose to cost. It seems like it's always *more* whether it's time or money. To this day whenever my hubby tells me something is only going to cost X or it will only take X amount of time - I always double it! LOL!

Hope you're happy with the end result - please post pictures when you're done.

[yorkieusa]

I think we have all pretty much been thru similar times. The only thing I can tell you is that you'll make it thru but you won't want to do it again. Usually dealers at least put cheap tires on them. You could go to a discount tire dealer.

[cathys]

I know how you feel. We just finished a two year remodel of our house. There are 7 people living here. Every time we tried to go forward one step we would get pushed back two or three. There was always something or someone not working right. Please hang in there after the rain there are beautiful flowers. My house turned out perfect, I would not change a thing. Just hang in there you will get it done, and it will all work, maybe not as fast as you had wanted, but it will get done.

[celstu1]

Thanks so much for the encouragement!

I told my BFs mom, when she asked, how great the floors will look when we are done and her response was "You're not modest at all, hahahaha" like she was funny... but I was taken aback? If I told my mom that she would be sooo thrilled and proud of me for learning how to tile and doing it on our own. Not to mention, it took BF about 11 hours to cut the tiles so it's pretty intricate and that was her response? Weird right?

He** no I'm not modest... this was a TON of work for 2 newbie tilers... give us some credit here! Just the way she said it rubbed me the wrong way. By the way I did not say that I alone did the work, I actually said that we laid them out and my BF (her son) did all the cutting and how great he did and how great it looks. Wouldn't you think she'd be proud of her son? GGRRR maybe I read it wrong.... but it sure struck me as odd, her response. Oh yeah and she pretty much blatantly said that I alone picked out the tile pattern and purposely made it SUPER difficult and that I get what I want. It was so weird bc we did it together, him & I, and we laid out the tiles at least 50 different ways before we BOTH agreed on the pattern... yes it was harder and more intricate but we BOTH choose it, not just me.

Cathys, I am sooo not looking forward to gutting and remodeling the kitchen .... it needs it too though, that is like 2 years from now I think. We were thinking next year, but I am not sure if I"ll get through the trauma of this project by then! LOL Good for you though, your house sounds gorgeous!!!!

Let me post some pics of the before baths..... they were very outdated!

[celstu1]

The first 2 pics are of the main bathroom.... it had tannish pink tile walls and shower surround, all the way around like ceiling and everything. It had pink sinks, toilet and tub and it had lime green countertops.

Then the master bath was not that that bad but we made it bigger to fit a tub in there... so we had to gut it too. It had a shower and the walls were pretty bad with this white tile with pink veins and rose striped wall paper. Not horrible, but outdated for sure.

[yorkieusa]

Very pretty. When you get done, you'll forget about the bad time...in time.

[cathys]

You'll make it and you should be proud. I'm sure the two of you will make it just the way you both want it. You can't worry about what others say. My husband takes great pride in the fact that I made the decisions on the remodel. He loves the way everything came out, after all if we didn't have similar tastes we could never be married 25 years. Remember this is for the two of you and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Just wait when your done she'll be going on and on about how proud she is that (her son did it all by himself). Maybe she's jealous because no one is doing her tile work. We had to do one bathroom at a time, because we had to live here with all 5 children, but we did it. As for the kitchen, plan on it taking about 6 to 8 weeks longer than you think, but it will be worth it. You will have a home you will be proud to walk into every day. It will make you smile, like mine does for me.

[celstu1]

Thanks so much!!!!

I think there is a lot of family controversy over this remodel. The house belonged to his parents and it has 2 floors, one is an in-law apartment. Well his parents bought the house but lived in the basement apartment for 4 years while his sister & her husband and their 2 kids lived upstairs. While they were there (starting 10 years ago) they bought fridges and stoves for both floors and split the cost and they bought a ride on mower and some other things.
I know his sister is very upset and taking the remodel personally. They did work to that house and we are destroying it. No offense to the work they did, but what they did did not add value to the house, they did surface work to the house, tile floor in the bathroom, painting and stenciling and linoleum flooring, things like that. Yes it was work, yes it cost them money... but we are doing complete remodel to add value to the house. It has nothing to do with them. It seems that everything we are doing to the house is going to be looked down on or ignored or taken ungracefully.
His sister and her husband moved out about 5 years ago and his parents moved up to the first floor where his mom did more work. Painting wood cabinets with paint (not my taste to be honest, i'd rather not cover wood with paint) and other things... so I think they all feel offended a little bit. I wish he never bought this house, I wonder if he feels that way now too.

[celstu1]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

Very pretty. When you get done, you'll forget about the bad time...in time.

Oh girl... those are the BEFORE pics! LOL You don't have to lie , it's quite ugly in all honesty!!!! lol It will be pretty when it's done!

[Tiggerwit]

HUGS

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by celstu1

Oh girl... those are the BEFORE pics! LOL You don't have to lie , it's quite ugly in all honesty!!!! lol It will be pretty when it's done!

I know they are the befores. When it's done, you'll be in heaven.

[Connie]

Remodeling is so stressful, and then to have so many other things go wrong...you poor girl! Also seems a person can't find good help these days. We remodeled the basement bathroom last spring and I was ready to tear my hair out. The whole house was covered in dry wall dust and it just drove me crazy. Then we put all new sliding glass doors on our sunroom. I had a temp job at the time and came home from work and hubby and the hired help had decided to design new moldings for around the doors. OMGosh...the doors looked like they were sitting in crates. Never trust a man to make decisions. LOL I stewed over that for a few days and then told him I cannot live with that, so now that ugly stuff is gone and it looks like my sunroom again. Then in the middle of this mess, my MIL and SIL came with their dogs...and one of the dogs marked the livingroom and sunroom...I mean...there was pee everywhere. Yep...ain't life interesting.

I sure hope things start going right for you. Once done you will love it, but until then, do something for yourself so you aren't so stressed out. Maybe have a glass of wine!