This week started off with me feeling terrible. I wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong with me. Mike suggested stress and I told him to stop talking.
While laying in bed Monday afternoon trying to half work and half rest, Mike came in and said he went downstairs and noticed a disturbing development, the foundation was leaking and showed me this picture.
He may have been right about that whole stress thing. We called the contractors and they were surprisingly unconcerned. They think it’s a drainage problem because the new gutters which are ironically now keeping the roof from leaking in through the basement door are draining in that spot upstairs and likely leaking through the foundation. We still don’t have a straight answer on whether or not we need to rip out the wall or not. It’s on the list.
That’s what life has basically come down to at this point, a list. Our list has everything big a small small on it that still requires attention before we move in. Our main contractor hasn’t been around so now I’m freaking out a little that all the conversations about the little things, like reusing the garbage disposal, bathroom mirrors we already have, which knobs and pulls go where, etc. all need to be communicated again.
This afternoon our plan is to basically lay everything out that we have in each room. Their goal is still to be done by the 20th, but then we will still need inspections and a closing.
A few developments outside include new window well covers and ladders. When I was little the neighbors house burned down and then when I got older I because the Vice Chair of Disaster Services for the Red Cross so I am weird and crazy about things like this, but with good reason. The back stairs are also done. We were allowed to grandfather in our existing steps that are not to code, but our new steps needed to have a larger landing. They were worried that if we did them in cement they would be too heavy, so we settled on Trex. It’s not my favorite to have them not match, but it’s just the nature of a remodel.
Inside, the granite went in. I got home at 11pm on Friday night and went inside to visit it. That is how much I love it. Mike and I got super lucky that we looked early because we found a stone that looks expensive, but was in our budget. The kitchen is 6cm on the edges and it’s amazing. These pictures don’t even do it justice.
The only three things that are really causing me heartburn right now are the granite in the basement bathroom where they didn’t center the sink, the squeaky floors in our master because of damaged si flooring, and this foundation issue. You know, minor issues. Ha!
Granite can’t exactly be easily fixed, so we are waiting to see if there is anything they can do on that. The flooring guys are going to take the wood up in our room this week and see if they can remove the squeak. It really isn’t bad, but it just annoys me because it should have been done before, and the foundation issue I don’t even know exactly what to do. We are caught in this battle right now of wanting to be done, but also wanting everything to be done right.
Oh, and our replacement fridge for the fridge that went out the week we moved out of the house died last night. I’m so annoyed at it and want to know how I pissed off the fridge gods so bad. This means we have the trailer fridge only until we move in because I absolutely refuse to even care about another fridge issue. And this also means I refuse to grocery shop until we move in. You will find me surviving on Club crackers, Cheetos and bottled water.
So, now I will stop complaining and say that we are really lucky to even be doing this and I am so thankful to be staying in this place I love with these people I love. Turns out home is where you park it in some cases. And I’ve learned that Mike and I can do a lot of hard things if we are on the same team.
TL;DR I think this project is giving me an ulcer. And the house is slowly coming together despite a few pretty big issues we have to figure out. We are grateful and love is where you park it sometimes!