The Joys of Home Improvement

As human beings we are always trying to improve our surroundings. But it is also in the natural order that things seem to get worse before they get better. Well I am living the worse part right now.

Let's get carpeting we said. Foolish, foolish people. Up until yesterday, we had ceramic tile in the main areas of our home. Because it is a manufactured home, it had settled over the years and tiles had become loose and started to break. So the wheels were put into motion to change the ground that we walked on. Being tired of broken glasses and picture frames, we opted for carpeting.

The contractor arrived yesterday to take out the tiles, grout and backer board. First thing to make me think that I was at the off ramp for the road to hell, the contractor didn't exactly show up on his own. He was supposed to be here at 9:00. When no one had arrived by 11:00 I called, just to make sure that I hadn't heard the dates wrong. When I talked to the receptionist she told me I was mistaken. They weren't scheduled to come until later in the week. She then went to double check her schedule. I stood in my empty living room. Looking into my empty family room and then to all our furniture piled in the dining room and kitchen. She returned to the phone and all she kept saying is "I'm so sorry." Apparently she had looked at the wrong week and sent our contractor away because she thought he didn't have any work. 11:30, our contractor was at our door, tools in hand. Chuck had to work, so it was the kids and I, confined to our bedroom all day. It took him about 4 hours to remove the tiles and then the trouble began. Apparently the people who lived here before us did the tile installation themselves. Instead of the normal number of nails, they put nails every 4-6 inches through the backer board and then an unusual amount of grout under the tiles. By 5:00, our contractor's son arrived with a friend to help. I really didn't know what was going on at first all I knew is that they were having trouble removing the backer board. From the safety of my bedroom I heard "I have a mini jackhammer in my truck." At this point I was frightened. Then the noise began. For 2 hours, they tried to remove the backer board. At 7:00, there was a thick layer of dust on everything in the house, and they were only able to tear up the living room, but there was grout, broken tiles and exposed nails everywhere. They hadn't even started on the family room.

This morning the contractor arrived at 9:30. I went to do school shopping and left Chuck here with the kids. I was supposed to have my carpet in today, but at 4:30 this afternoon, they had just finished removing all the backer board and hopefully tomorrow I can proceed to wash down all my walls, every window and all the objects in my house.

All I can say is this better be *^*%%#^%&^(( worth it!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008