Quality Be Damned
28/09/17 16:38
It seems like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Let's just recount for the record: The drain plug arrived and was not brushed nickel as purchased; the subway wall covering for the tub was late in arriving so the contractor opted to use the subway wall planned for another job they were on; The contractor tells us this morning that the replacement subway wall was cracked so had to return it and will replace it with the one that we originally ordered - I have a sneaky suspicion that since I was at the house yesterday and they said nothing about a cracked wall that they cracked it when they cut it to conform to our specifications; The Kohler lights that we ordered through Amazon arrived with a broken glass bulb on one of the three light fixtures and had to be reordered; The shower door that we ordered through FW Webb was unpacked yesterday and the framing was chrome and not brushed nickel when the overall theme in our bathroom is brushed nickel - The sales person at FW Webb from day one seemed incompetent at worst and uninterested at best in assisting us in making our purchases through them.
Nancy says that the medicine cabinet we ordered ended up being too tall and was seemingly not right for the space it occupied - not to mention the fact that the height of the mirror made placing lights above the mirror a no-go as they were clearly too close to the ceiling; The top of the vanity arrived yesterday and at first glance appeared odd as it sat atop the vanity - the sink was too small and the space between the edge of the quartz top and the edge of the sink was not standard - it was some 6 inches when the standard is 4 inches. I'm not sure why the contractor didn't bring this to my attention. I'm guessing he thought that doing so would compromise one thing or another and he was under a deadline so it was better not to mention it. He was wrong.
He did admit when we called him this morning that he thought it looked a bit odd but only after we brought it to his attention; The vanity delivered had a defect in the front of the unit on one of the bottom drawers and the contractor contacted the dealer to have that replaced - I told Nancy that the contractor should also work with the dealer on the sink top but she seems to want to do that so we'll leave well enough alone; I disagree with Nancy on this but she seems to think that the flooring tile in a couple of places is not flush and has reached out to the flooring folks to have someone come and look at it - She has not received a call back from the installer.
It just makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Is it us? Is it the contractor? Is it the way things roll when you do renovations? There is a limit to the amount of incompetence that one should have to endure in such situations. And these are just the things we know about. What electrical and or plumbing nightmares await us down the road? I had a good mind at one point to get a marble and place it in the center of our new bathroom floor just to see if it would roll one way or another without any prompting. That said, if there is one thing that I like a lot so far it is the bathroom floor. Did we pay too much? Possibly.
We went to Home Depot last night to measure the distances on several if not all the vanity tops within reach to see if what they had delivered to our house was anomalous or just average. Add to that the time we spent searching the web for associated articles and it's safe to say we're fully armed with the necessary information now so that taking this issue up with the store will be that much easier. How accommodating they will be remains to be seen. We topped off the night with a soft serve at the local ice cream shop on Ocean Boulevard. Not a celebration, mind you, but rather the keeping of a long held promise to have at least one ice cream cone during the summer season. It was a dark sultry evening with temperatures in the eighties but cooler along the shore. Thankfully.
If there is one thing I won't miss about staying at this Airbnb it is that I have to wash the cars all the time because of the sap that comes off the trees here at the house. I haven't figured out whether or not this is a temporary problem and remain optimistic but our time here is running short so not sure being optimistic is going to help me one way or another. How do you own a place like this and not do something about the problem? I'm not exaggerating when I say that literally every morning I go out to the cars I have to wash the windshields with soap and water just to have a clear windshield with which to drive. Turning on the windshield wipers tends to smear the sap rather than clear it so that is not a solution. Not an easy one anyway. The entire car is coated with a sticky substance after a day or two and then things start sticking to the stickiness like twigs, leaves, pine needles, road dirt, etc. It's just disgusting. I can live with a lot of things but this drives me to distraction. I wash the windshields as well because I'm not sure that Evan would and that might interfere with his ability to see clearly. I won't have him driving with any form or impairment natural or other. That's just me - his dad.
I leave my new car at home because of this particular sap problem. Until I made that decision I actually bought a cover for my car to protect it. It works pretty well so I'm glad I did it. It's just easier parking it at home. One thing about this house I also like is the garden hose they have on the property. It is one of those hoses you see that expand when the water runs thought it. Never mind the fact that it has every appearance of an undulating black snake when the water moves through it. It may even be one of those as-seen-on-tv kinds of hoses. All I know is that it is lightweight, easy to maneuver, easy to store, and it just works. It is a breath of fresh air compared to the ordinary run of the mill hoses that you pick up at your local ACE hardware store or Walmart. They are typically cheap and flimsy and prone to kinking every time you move it or hard, heavy, and difficult to haul around from place to another. So, I ordered myself one from Amazon. What Johnny wants, Johnny gets. Did I tell you that I think the owners of this Airbnb are republicans? Their bookshelves are replete with books that suggest as much and each of their two homes has an American flag having out front. You need to be careful in tipping your hand when discussing politics these days but these folks seem not to care one hoot. I'm with them.
Nancy says that the medicine cabinet we ordered ended up being too tall and was seemingly not right for the space it occupied - not to mention the fact that the height of the mirror made placing lights above the mirror a no-go as they were clearly too close to the ceiling; The top of the vanity arrived yesterday and at first glance appeared odd as it sat atop the vanity - the sink was too small and the space between the edge of the quartz top and the edge of the sink was not standard - it was some 6 inches when the standard is 4 inches. I'm not sure why the contractor didn't bring this to my attention. I'm guessing he thought that doing so would compromise one thing or another and he was under a deadline so it was better not to mention it. He was wrong.
He did admit when we called him this morning that he thought it looked a bit odd but only after we brought it to his attention; The vanity delivered had a defect in the front of the unit on one of the bottom drawers and the contractor contacted the dealer to have that replaced - I told Nancy that the contractor should also work with the dealer on the sink top but she seems to want to do that so we'll leave well enough alone; I disagree with Nancy on this but she seems to think that the flooring tile in a couple of places is not flush and has reached out to the flooring folks to have someone come and look at it - She has not received a call back from the installer.
It just makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Is it us? Is it the contractor? Is it the way things roll when you do renovations? There is a limit to the amount of incompetence that one should have to endure in such situations. And these are just the things we know about. What electrical and or plumbing nightmares await us down the road? I had a good mind at one point to get a marble and place it in the center of our new bathroom floor just to see if it would roll one way or another without any prompting. That said, if there is one thing that I like a lot so far it is the bathroom floor. Did we pay too much? Possibly.
We went to Home Depot last night to measure the distances on several if not all the vanity tops within reach to see if what they had delivered to our house was anomalous or just average. Add to that the time we spent searching the web for associated articles and it's safe to say we're fully armed with the necessary information now so that taking this issue up with the store will be that much easier. How accommodating they will be remains to be seen. We topped off the night with a soft serve at the local ice cream shop on Ocean Boulevard. Not a celebration, mind you, but rather the keeping of a long held promise to have at least one ice cream cone during the summer season. It was a dark sultry evening with temperatures in the eighties but cooler along the shore. Thankfully.
If there is one thing I won't miss about staying at this Airbnb it is that I have to wash the cars all the time because of the sap that comes off the trees here at the house. I haven't figured out whether or not this is a temporary problem and remain optimistic but our time here is running short so not sure being optimistic is going to help me one way or another. How do you own a place like this and not do something about the problem? I'm not exaggerating when I say that literally every morning I go out to the cars I have to wash the windshields with soap and water just to have a clear windshield with which to drive. Turning on the windshield wipers tends to smear the sap rather than clear it so that is not a solution. Not an easy one anyway. The entire car is coated with a sticky substance after a day or two and then things start sticking to the stickiness like twigs, leaves, pine needles, road dirt, etc. It's just disgusting. I can live with a lot of things but this drives me to distraction. I wash the windshields as well because I'm not sure that Evan would and that might interfere with his ability to see clearly. I won't have him driving with any form or impairment natural or other. That's just me - his dad.
I leave my new car at home because of this particular sap problem. Until I made that decision I actually bought a cover for my car to protect it. It works pretty well so I'm glad I did it. It's just easier parking it at home. One thing about this house I also like is the garden hose they have on the property. It is one of those hoses you see that expand when the water runs thought it. Never mind the fact that it has every appearance of an undulating black snake when the water moves through it. It may even be one of those as-seen-on-tv kinds of hoses. All I know is that it is lightweight, easy to maneuver, easy to store, and it just works. It is a breath of fresh air compared to the ordinary run of the mill hoses that you pick up at your local ACE hardware store or Walmart. They are typically cheap and flimsy and prone to kinking every time you move it or hard, heavy, and difficult to haul around from place to another. So, I ordered myself one from Amazon. What Johnny wants, Johnny gets. Did I tell you that I think the owners of this Airbnb are republicans? Their bookshelves are replete with books that suggest as much and each of their two homes has an American flag having out front. You need to be careful in tipping your hand when discussing politics these days but these folks seem not to care one hoot. I'm with them.