The shoe has been installed and everything looks mostly good. There were a few pieces that didn’t appear to have poly on them, and a few noticeable gaps between the shoe and the floor/baseboards … and our contractor has been great and is totally willing to work with us and send someone out to remedy those items. He has been totally reasonable and it’s been refreshing!
There was a slight issue with the pocket door … again. The repercussions of MAN’s shotty work have been following this renovation around for far too long now … and we’re both starting the regret ever even putting this pocket door in – it has just been a mess. But, the flooring guys installed the base and shoe along that wall because they had to ripcut the bottom when the floors were installed too close to the wall (remember?). Anyway, because MAN installed a super cheap pocket door frame, when the baseboards were nailed in tight, it bowed the wall (more than it was) and now the pocket door rubs against the frame as it slides out. We know that it is a result of the base & shoe because the door framing was installed after the floors went in and everything slid smoothly. Now, you can clearly see the bend in the wall and feel how tight the base is pushing up against the framing. It’s not the flooring guys fault really (you should be able to install the base/shoe tightly) – and it’s not really their responsibility either – but our contractor said he is willing to help and his guy will try to loosen the base & shoe. That’s about all anyone can do at this point, so hopefully that helps! Ugh.
But, otherwise the shoe looks great and once the walls get painted, everything will look so finished … and we cannot wait.
I did about 3 days of cleaning … again. I am totally over it. We were really sick of cleaning dust and more dust every single time we went to the house, so we hired cleaning people. We paid them a LOT of money. They did an okay job.
She did get a lot of the drywall dust off of the walls, which in turn has really helped the house stay cleaner without it all blowing around every time the heat kicks on … but also, little stuff was never touched, and the little stuff added up to a lot more cleaning for me. Again. For example, the bathroom towel rods still had layers of drywall dust; they missed a lot of the tops of window/door frames, most of the window sills were wiped down, but there was still piles of drywall dust in the corners, the banisters were a mess, the fridge/freezer are still pretty dirty inside, crumbs and stuff. And, my thoughts are that if I can use some Lysol wipes and clean this stuff rather easily, I would think that the actual cleaning crew should also have been able to do that … but whatever. I now think of that transaction as money spent to get the drywall dust under control. And it did do that. So, I guess it was worth it. Maybe? (not really.)
AND … finally … there are no more goops of drywall stuck to the walls or stairs; we can put stuff in the kitchen cabinets, and bedroom closets, opening a door doesn’t send dust flying all over. Everything is cleaned and sanitized – except the fridge and master bathroom, which I’ll do just before we move in.
This past weekend, we spend spackling and caulking. The ceilings, main walls, and window frames on the main level are ready for priming. The walls under the kitchen cabinets and in the little hallway by the ½ bath still need some work … but no furniture goes there, so if we end up painting that one Saturday after we move in, it’ll be easy.
This week – priming for me and wall prep continues for Patrick.
Welcome to our home ... our second attempt at a fixer-upper. 