Happy Updates!

The Top 10 Greatest Things About Our House:

#10: Free water!

There's no visual for this one, but we just got our first water/sewage bill and there's a magical $282.63 credit on our account. Based on our usage thus far, this means we won't be paying WSSC until about 2012. Finally - a clerical error in our favor!

#9: New cabinets in our dining room!

Our overhead cabinets were removed from the right side of our kitchen to make room for the fridge. But apparently they thought we'd like to keep the shelving? Since haul-away seems to be pretty low on our contractor's to-do list (oh I really need to take a picture of the landfill in our backyard), I've been making daily trips to the MoCo dump (errr... Transfer Station) to get rid of the debris.

(Despite the lack of storage space, it is pretty cool having our refrigerator where it belongs.)

#8: New kitchen door!

Seriously, there's no latching part to the knob - it only closes using the deadbolt. It's an easy fix, and we have the new hardware, but to avoid replacing it again when the contractor is done, we don't want to re-install until the work is complete.

Super double bonus: Since Erik and I never in our wildest dreams expected the reno to take this long, we never made me a front door key - instead, I had a key to the back door. That worked out just fine until they replaced it... and I was locked out of the house for two hours while Erik picked up a friend at the airport.

#7: Sharpie everywhere!

Erik and I were expecting friends one Friday night when all of a sudden three men showed up to tear out our front steps. The original plan was to fully reconstruct them in concrete, but our darling Ms. Marcella did not show up with the needed additional cement. (Surprise!) Due to all the action, we had to greet our guests via the kitchen door. Luckily, the guy in charge of the steps project spoke my language (literally and figuratively) and wrote us this helpful note on a plank by the front door. (That sounded facetious, but I mean it: I love notes in Sharpie.)

#6: Grown-up appliances! (...droooool...)

I am so flipping materialistic. In fact, when I came home one day to find spackle splattered across the top of my beautiful babies, I got so mad that I scrawled a big mean nasty note (yes, you guessed it - in Sharpie!) on a box that I then used to house the machines. It says something like, "Don't you DARE move this box! If you move this box I will charge you $$$!!" (Because "$" seems bridge the language gap?)

#5: No more roofing tiles!

Instead of roofing tiles, we've been stuck with ...well... that. Not the biggest improvement in the world, huh? Erik's favorite part is how the first step is (uneven and) 1" off the ground, the next step is (uneven and) 3" up from that one, and then you have to leap about 8" to reach the porch. Our contractor told us three weeks ago that this wouldn't be the finished product. But, umm... I'm starting to think it is.

#4: We're totally wired!

Erik and I spent about two months without internet or phone service. (GASP! I know!) Amazingly, we survived. When it came time to install our low-speed, bare-bones connection, Erik first had to figure out how to tackle the multitude of wires in our house.

Luckily, he's a lot more patient than I am.

#3: Concrete basement = summer energy savings!

"We" finally started tearing up tile in the basement to make way for the couches (gorgeous! pictures to come...). Unfortunately, any amount of squatting/kneeling makes me a mite uncomfortable and maybe even a little mean, so Erik's had to handle the vast majority of this project. Due to all the damp, the tile glue is super-sticky and hard to remove, but we hope (read: dream) that we'll have our floating laminate installed in time for the baby.

Some down, TONS to go!

#2: New neighbors!

We knew when we moved in that there was a slight bug problem. (Big hint: finding ~50 dead bees and wasps upstairs.) So we weren't hugely surprised when the hot weather hit and we started finding more wasps inside the nursery. Turns out, we had a colony of little neighbors living in our hood's exhaust vent. The wasps were then entering our home courtesy of the gaps in our 60-yr-old windows (nope, our new ones STILL haven't been installed). Erik gassed these hives and knocked them out, but apparently it's harder than that to get rid of wasps - they've now taken up residence under our back stairs and in the dining room window frame.

#1: Knowing we're going through all this for a reason.

Yikes - 32 weeks! (Dear Universe: I apologize for wearing a dress and sandals yesterday despite having neglected my legs and toenails for such a long time. I simply couldn't reach. Love, Amy.)

When it rains, it pours.

It did literally pour a couple weeks ago, for about three days straight. On the second day, Erik and I began hearing that characteristic, wet "plick" that drives every homeowner to the brink of insanity. Our first thought was that the pipe to the bathroom sink had started leaking again (after mysteriously stopping in early March). Nope. Was it the kitchen faucet? Not that, either. Had we installed the new shower head incorrectly? Still no. (Is it horribly disheartening how many semi-broken things we had to check off of our list for possible leaks? Yes.)

Then we realized [I am clenching my teeth even as I type this, 15 days later] that the drips [you're seriously not going to believe this] were coming. from. the. ceiling. As in: the dining room ceiling, which had just been replaced. And which was now supposed to be safely tucked away under a BRAND NEW ROOF. Not only that, but the water was also dripping down the side of our newly-plastered dining room wall. We checked the nursery window box and our suspicions were confirmed: the water was somehow getting in through the dormer, just as it had before the roof was replaced.

Here is the e-mail I sent to our contractor on 3/15 (and cc'ed our consultant, since he needs to start earning his pay on this one):

Hi Jim and Marcella,

Two major problems:
1) Our roof is leaking in the same place it used to – in the dining room ceiling and down the wall. It appears that this problem is originating on the side of the left dormer window because there was NO FLASHING INSTALLED against the siding. We are also sorely disappointed with the overuse of caulk on the roof and that the shingles are already curling at the edges of the roof. Simply put: it looks like crap and functions like crap.
2) The electrical heavy-up was not done to code. The box is missing four screws (only held to the wall by two) and there is a #10 wire going to a 40A breaker. Either the breaker needs to be downgraded to a 30A, or the wire needs to be upgraded to #8.
We need immediate assistance on both of these issues.

We require paperwork on the following items:
- Furnace (warranty promised by Marcella)
- Roof (warranty promised by Marcella)
- Copy of permit for electrical heavy-up

Thank you,
Amy

And here is what she wrote back:
i will have the roof over there asap. i will also get the electrician in to check the panel. both of these item will be addressed immediately. the gutter will be instaslled on wednesday but we will look at the roof before they are installed. i will be there tomorrow to investigated

Then we heard nothing from her for a week. On 3/22, she came by to install the gutters (nope, not the flashing - why would she do that?!). And brought with her a copy of the permit for the electrical heavy-up. Guess what date she applied for it? 3/17, two days after I'd requested it... and about two MONTHS after the work had been done.

Even though the flashing has yet to be installed, replacing the wall in the dining room (the ceiling wasn't damaged enough to require repair) helped us win one other small battle. You see, our very stupid contractor had decided to skirt building code and 203k requirements and originally put up the wall without any insulation. After not seeing any insulation laying around the house (and believe me: all the construction materials and tools are just laying around our house waiting to be used), I called her out on this in mid-Feb. She insisted that she herself had dropped off the insulation and that it had been put in. Well, Erik just so happened to be home when the workers were re-replacing the wall and guess what? No insulation. It's since been properly installed.

And the moral of the story is: NEVER hire Ionita "Marcella" Rutherford.