Home Renovation - Month 5

Our contractor stopped responding to our messages or phone calls starting October 18th, which was 2 days away from what he agreed to complete the home project. First week of October, Contractor came in to talk about the money status and the work status. He said that he needed more money to complete the project. We agreed since we want to get out of the mess. Two days before his completion date (which he gave us Oct 20th), he again told us the same stuff that he is broke and he cannot work. Even though paying extra money , giving him additional time , nothing has helped us in the end. We ended up paying for the daily labor for couple more days (to the actual persons who work) to wrap up the half baked stuff. He promised that he would do the electrical for free since it is his responsibility (We already paid him the money, so I do not consider that he was working for free). We were so frustrated by him that we ended up hiring new people to get the job done.

We hired a painter to paint the whole house , a patio guy who will finish up my front and back patio, a handy man to wrap up all his juggled electrical work and another contractor to finish up the gutter job. We ended up paying lot of extra money to wrap up the job and keep the kids safe at home. I would not be recommending this contractor to anybody.

Here are some pics from after some jobs has been done after my contractor ditched us:

 The electrical panel, cable and internet wires were even in worse shape than above.

 With kids running around and live wires coming out of the walls like above.

 The electrical plates that you see are fixed by us, We do no know how to fix the wires hanging, which is why we were left like above.

We took up lot of small projects around the home whatever we can. One of the small pet peeve for my daughter was that she wanted a pink wall on her bedroom. So I had painted the wall myself at night starting at 11:00 and ending at 12:30 on a friday night.

 The handy man did do a better job of finishing up the pantry space by adding shelving. The contractor took $600 initially asking for this job to get the materials (since it was not in the contract he mentioned). We paid him that extra money and he did not get the materials at the end. We had to get the stuff ourselves after paying the money to contractor to get this job done and get the materials ourselves.

The front patio work done by a different contractor:

 The storm door has been replaced by the worker of the old contractor on last day (which we paid for the labor). Although the contract specifies that we have no relation on payment or anything that happens to his workers, we ended up paying the extra money again to him directly.

 The small stoop in the front to enjoy in spring or summer.

Home Renovation - Month 4 (Almost there) - 2

Things are better almost to the close of the week as we can see somethings wrapping up, after we ordered the hardwood floors. Our contractor gave up on the project last weekend, but as a last resort, he provided us with an option of paying him extra amount for labor and material, so that we wrap it up. We decided to bite the bullet and get it done.

Here is the progress of the week.
Finally they finished the skylight inside the master closet. Issue is looks like there is one place they realized after almost done, that it needed patch work. They are trying to patch that one spot and may be finished hopefully next two working days.

 The vanity is almost set up . The grout is not finished on the accent tile since we have to bring it. Looks better now since the lighting is finished too, the water is working (haven't tested fully by checking the hot and cold etc), vanity cabinets has been fixed.

 The shower tiling is completed finally along with grout. The shower glass has been set up. Initially they did not consider the step that was coming in the start of the shower. So when they brough the two glass pieces together, they were of different height. They had to raise the shower wall a little bit higher for both of glass sides to match. They fixed the shower doors and had to do a little patch up with that clear thingy between glasses (not sure what the name is).

 The hardwood floors has been installed in master bedroom along with the baseboard and the small end part.

So the flooring upstairs is totally done, They painted the doors and frames and installed the fan in bedroom. To protect the flooring while they work (final stages) they laid the cardboard boxes.

The counter top guys came in today and installed today. With all the pulls and under cabinet lighting and the lighting inside the glass cabinets fixed it looks like in much better condition. The appliances are set in place but not fixed yet.

 The exhaust and the range placement has been done. They still need to be connected.

 The view of the counter top near the stove to other end of home.

 The tall cabinet which holds the oven and microwave. Currently they are not connected yet. Once that done, we need to test it.

Home Renovation - Month 4 (Almost there) - 1

I am not sure when this project will end but trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our contractor estimated the budget very less, time to fix very less, and time to finish project wrong. So after asking him multiple times and finally figuring out we just need to put in extra money and time into this project for us to be happy hopefully soon this is finishing, we are still continuing.

I have heard that home renovation process is never easy there will be ups and downs and lot of other things. But this is beyond what I can anticipate I guess. This literally tests your patience to the last string. Currently I am in my last string, hoping to see the end of the process. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Progress:
They finally started on kitchen. Put down the flooring, added pantry doors and the lighting in the kitchen. One additional thing in our project is assembling kitchen cabinets as they are from Ikea. We spoke with Countertop guys and hopefully they will be in next week. So currently the assembly and fixing of base cabinets is done. Along with wall cabinets. Upstairs they started back on the shower and they are fixing the floor tiling today. There are lot of small things around the whole house that needs to be done, which might be a little cosmetic, quick fixing but I know they will take up time too. So again keeping my fingers crossed for it to go on smoothly and hopefully faster.

Our main level formal living fan has been changed.

 A fan has been added to the family room in new area

Pendent lights has been added

Shower tiling has been finished as of yesterday. Except for the small middle part where the pebbles are supposed to go.

Center island cabinet (one of it) has been fixed. Still lot of details to go in but atleast it is getting there.

power outlet on either end of the center island (inside ) that way it is hidden from outside but still have the convenience.

Power outlets inside the pantry where I want to store the popcorn maker and other small appliances. Plan is to directly plugin inside the pantry and use them instead of taking them out and plugging them on the counter top and then putting them back. Lets hope it is worth it,.

Home Renovation - Month 3 (Still Continuing)

Here we are started the construction work around mid July, after waiting for more than one half month for the permits to come in. for almost past 3 and 1/2 weeks, they were just working on the Electrical, plumbing and HVAC, then some inspections. Now finally filling it in and looking like a little house once they started the dry wall. Here are some pics from the past few weeks and after the dry wall started.

The temporary steps were removed and cinder blocks are laid to make the pathway from kitchen to backyard.

The drywall was put between the master bedroom and bathroom and closet. The pocket doors I asked was to save wall space.

The shower base got ready as the plumbing inspection person insisted on testing the water/sewer flow at the shower.

Once the inspection guy gave a green signal to put in the insulation, the main level got ready with it.

After second day of the dry wall and the patch up this is how kitchen looks.

Home Renovation - Bay window in Kitchen

Bay window finally put in the kitchen. Here is the progress of it in pics.

 The window dimensions are cut and not boarded.

This pic shows the window dimensions and a small board to hold the windows.

More progress has been made for the false front of the window(not sure of the technical term here). Also they had the top also framed for window.

Bay Window finally in. Looks beautiful.

Home Renovation - Roof and Wall Framing - 3

Since last week the job has been going pretty good I felt. They tried to put the temporary tarp so that they can work under/inside the home, without leaks into the newly constructed zone. Lot of changes happenned and I did not find time to update my blog. So here is second floor walls with the external doors and windows done.

Finally they installed all 3 skylights. One of the skylights issue is, we cannot see it yet, since it is on top new roof and there is another one from old still there. The roofing is finally done last tuesday.

so the outside is looking good..... trying to wrap up fast, keeping our fingers crossed.