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This may be a bit lengthy, so get comfy. These are my opinions and views about our current reno project and why I will never ever do another reno project again!!
Never ever leave hubby, son & BIL (who is a licensed home improvement contractor, so we aren’t without experience) alone on the beginning of a reno. No matter what anyone says. What could go wrong? Let’s see: Hubby gets carried away with sawsall and “nicks” electrical line. Goes even crazier ripping up back of bathroom floor addition and, yes, this time cuts the support beam - in 2 places!!! Took one whole day to jack up house and apply new support beams. Son in basement redoing plumbing and sewer line - does great job - this time.
BIL decides we don’t need the heat/ac vent in back of bathroom and relocates to front of bathroom. Put down new sub flooring leaving out vent in back. First, and I mean the first thing I notice on my return home is the vent missing. Why is it up front and not in the back? Answer: We thought it would be better up front. WRONG. Did you forget the heat/ac for our bedroom comes from this vent and needs to be in the back? Duh, yes. Hubby has to crawl under crawl space, cut out floor and put vent back. Had it been left in the front, we would have had the warmest/coolest hallway in the state!! This took another 3 hours to do.
Take off sheet rock and discover it was glued on, by none other than Hubby, last time we redid the bathroom 12 years ago. Glue had to be scrapped off. BIL comes over to check work a few days later. “Tell Bruce the screws in the sheet rock go 2 every 2 feet on the stud. Not every 8 inches (hubby gets carried away with screws & glue) unless he wants to mud the wall. By the way, he needs nail plates, (yes I knew what they were!!). See where he screwed into the wall in front of wiring? Put in front of wiring and plumbing.
We needed a plumber to replace our mainshut off valve as it totally disintegrated when they tried to turn it off. Of course, not covered under coverage I have for sewer & water as they threw away the old valve!! Cost: $200. Oh by the way, your plumbing is very old so don’t be surprised WHEN, not if, it developes a leak or break. That we can fix under your policy for up to $5000. Turn off main valve in sidewalk every day and check water meter. If turning, call water company and us so we can fix. Water company on speed dial.
Now we get to the good parts: Hubby cut and hung more sheet rock. BIL comes over and guess what, he hung it wrong!! Has to be taken down. Starts to give hubby hard time, and hubby tells BIL to go turn a pen. He says I don’t know how to do that. Hubby says, exactly, I ain’t no carpenter either! Some info would have been helpful. So far hubby has hung and rehung the bathroom 2 times.
Now the plumbing in the bathroom. Son decides we need to switch to the cpvc for water lines as old copper lines were thinning. At 2:00 this morning I heard a “waterfall” and yelled for hubby to get up and ran down stairs. One inch of water on the entire basement floor. 2 hours later we just finished cleaning up. Gota love the caveman who invented the wheel. All tools are on wheels. Only casualty so far seems to be the brand new freezer. Covered under homeowners as well as food inside. Of course, we now have the cleanest workshop floor ever!!!
After four hours today hubby replaces cpvc with copper pipe, takes shower and goes to work. Son comes home apologizes and I say forget it, could have happened to anyone. (But why us). Should I tell him about the 2nd drip I saw in the middle of the floor in the hot water pipe?
On plan for tomorrow: Get 3 more pieces of sheetrock and finish hanging in bathroom. The wall, that is. Frame out new closet in back of bathroom. Sun & Mon are days off. Hubby has been working nonstop since 5/2 on this bathroom.
Advice: Add 10% to your budget for take out food. Who wants to cook doing all this mess? When hubby gets carried away, hide drill and pretend you can’t find it. We have spent over $100 in screws for a 5x16 bathroom!!! Granted he had to screw down the sub floor as well as the cement board, but only so far has hung no more than 4 pieces total of sheetrock!!! Of course, we bought 8 so far. Don’t buy paint until the very end incase you have to take back floor. Paint might not match new floor. Add 10% to your budget for screws. Add 20% for unexpected plumbing expenses.
I’m still not sure if the light at the end of the tunnel is another freight train heading our way or not! Hopefully, next week this time this nightmare will be over!!!!!
Never ever leave hubby, son & BIL (who is a licensed home improvement contractor, so we aren’t without experience) alone on the beginning of a reno. No matter what anyone says. What could go wrong? Let’s see: Hubby gets carried away with sawsall and “nicks” electrical line. Goes even crazier ripping up back of bathroom floor addition and, yes, this time cuts the support beam - in 2 places!!! Took one whole day to jack up house and apply new support beams. Son in basement redoing plumbing and sewer line - does great job - this time.
BIL decides we don’t need the heat/ac vent in back of bathroom and relocates to front of bathroom. Put down new sub flooring leaving out vent in back. First, and I mean the first thing I notice on my return home is the vent missing. Why is it up front and not in the back? Answer: We thought it would be better up front. WRONG. Did you forget the heat/ac for our bedroom comes from this vent and needs to be in the back? Duh, yes. Hubby has to crawl under crawl space, cut out floor and put vent back. Had it been left in the front, we would have had the warmest/coolest hallway in the state!! This took another 3 hours to do.
Take off sheet rock and discover it was glued on, by none other than Hubby, last time we redid the bathroom 12 years ago. Glue had to be scrapped off. BIL comes over to check work a few days later. “Tell Bruce the screws in the sheet rock go 2 every 2 feet on the stud. Not every 8 inches (hubby gets carried away with screws & glue) unless he wants to mud the wall. By the way, he needs nail plates, (yes I knew what they were!!). See where he screwed into the wall in front of wiring? Put in front of wiring and plumbing.
We needed a plumber to replace our mainshut off valve as it totally disintegrated when they tried to turn it off. Of course, not covered under coverage I have for sewer & water as they threw away the old valve!! Cost: $200. Oh by the way, your plumbing is very old so don’t be surprised WHEN, not if, it developes a leak or break. That we can fix under your policy for up to $5000. Turn off main valve in sidewalk every day and check water meter. If turning, call water company and us so we can fix. Water company on speed dial.
Now we get to the good parts: Hubby cut and hung more sheet rock. BIL comes over and guess what, he hung it wrong!! Has to be taken down. Starts to give hubby hard time, and hubby tells BIL to go turn a pen. He says I don’t know how to do that. Hubby says, exactly, I ain’t no carpenter either! Some info would have been helpful. So far hubby has hung and rehung the bathroom 2 times.
Now the plumbing in the bathroom. Son decides we need to switch to the cpvc for water lines as old copper lines were thinning. At 2:00 this morning I heard a “waterfall” and yelled for hubby to get up and ran down stairs. One inch of water on the entire basement floor. 2 hours later we just finished cleaning up. Gota love the caveman who invented the wheel. All tools are on wheels. Only casualty so far seems to be the brand new freezer. Covered under homeowners as well as food inside. Of course, we now have the cleanest workshop floor ever!!!
After four hours today hubby replaces cpvc with copper pipe, takes shower and goes to work. Son comes home apologizes and I say forget it, could have happened to anyone. (But why us). Should I tell him about the 2nd drip I saw in the middle of the floor in the hot water pipe?
On plan for tomorrow: Get 3 more pieces of sheetrock and finish hanging in bathroom. The wall, that is. Frame out new closet in back of bathroom. Sun & Mon are days off. Hubby has been working nonstop since 5/2 on this bathroom.
Advice: Add 10% to your budget for take out food. Who wants to cook doing all this mess? When hubby gets carried away, hide drill and pretend you can’t find it. We have spent over $100 in screws for a 5x16 bathroom!!! Granted he had to screw down the sub floor as well as the cement board, but only so far has hung no more than 4 pieces total of sheetrock!!! Of course, we bought 8 so far. Don’t buy paint until the very end incase you have to take back floor. Paint might not match new floor. Add 10% to your budget for screws. Add 20% for unexpected plumbing expenses.
I’m still not sure if the light at the end of the tunnel is another freight train heading our way or not! Hopefully, next week this time this nightmare will be over!!!!!
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