Things about house renovation projects I forgot

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Every time I get a brainstorm to update something, I forget the pain and agony. Now, in the middle of a project, I remember why I put off needed renovations and that intense (homicidal) yearning for a project to be done.

Flies – It doesn’t matter if you do a project in the dead of winter there are flies. No one invites them in. The doors open when contractors are carting trash out or bringing materials in. The flies know. There is a fly village newspaper that tells them which house they can access. Once in the house, they instinctively know how to be annoying. Find the litter boxes and the food and then alternate. If they can find overripe fruit, score! I got very good at catching flies (and no I did not rehome them!). It’s not a skill I want to add to my resume.

Lack of privacy – There are people here every day. Sometimes only for a few hours but it still requires that we are up, dressed, cats fed, litterbox cleared and cars out of the driveway before 7:30 a.m. The annoying part is when you’ve done all that and no one shows.

The dirt – Most contractors clean up at the end of their workday, but they are in a hurry. It’s not their skillset. Or maybe I’m neurotic (a definite yes). I clean at the end of their workday. Every day. Not the whole house but the adjacent areas and walkways and the garage which seems to attract construction gunk. Some days there are insulation fibers hanging around and other days it’s just construction dirt like chunks of drywall or wood chips.

Progress is slow and “spurty.” A few dead days are followed by a flurry of activity. Today we have four workers. Yesterday there were none. For sure this will be the last large-scale project we do.  If I even mention anything taking longer than a week (my new threshold), take me out to a field and shoot me.

 

57 thoughts on “Things about house renovation projects I forgot”

    • We didn’t change the footprint either but removed a linen closet and ripped out the shower and floor tile. It will be another 2 weeks at least until we are at a point where we can move back into the bedroom (6weeks from start). The shower doors will go in last. They won’t template until everything is done with the shower. I understand why people to the “one day” shower updates. Wish that would have worked here but nope.

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  3. We had to replace our heat pump and air handler in May. Thanks the heavens both units were out of the house. Heat pump on the pad outside the garage and air handler in the garage. Yes, Florida hangs air handlers from the ceiling in the garage. I was starting to get a little twitchy when I realized we were going to have worker dudes but then realized they wouldn’t be in the house… whew. I sat back and relaxed for the 6 hours they were here. I just don’t want anything bad enough to have workers in the house again. I am in awe of your ability to hang in there. Thinking good thoughts and positive vibes for everything to keep moving smoothly. The dumpster leaving is BIG!

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    • This is our last one. I’m fried. We’ve had some hiccups that I haven’t written about that make me nuts. The dumpster is supposed to leave today. It’s 2 p.m. and still here. Despite getting serviced (cleaned out) on Monday, it’s smelly again so I’m hoping I don’t have it all weekend.

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  5. Yes, flies – the bane of our existence. I find one, agonizing over where they’ve been before they got here. Ugh. Yes, contractors don’t care. When it’s just the HVAC tech or plumber here for a visit, I say “here, I’ll open the door for you so you don’t have to juggle it and then monitor the flies, but if it’s a more protracted visit then in/out the door, all bets are off.

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  8. I know what you mean about forgetting. When I think about my kitchen remodel, I think of Ann Marie, my contractor. She was wonderful! I remember going with her to the place with stone samples and the place with tile samples, and so on. It takes some effort to remember the dislocation of all my pots and pans, dishes and food. I actually don’t remember how I did that. It’s like forgetting the details of childbirth, I guess.

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    • It is. I am the same way about my kitchen. I think this is harder because we were displaced from our bedroom which was a place we could retreat to during the kitchen project. Our upstairs has been warmer than usual because of our crazy hot weather. Hopefully in a few months, it will all be forgotten.

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  10. Nothing takes less than a week where rennovations are concerned. There are cost overruns, other surprise extensive damage to home areas not even related to the rennovation, and supply chain problems. Then when the inspector comes by he notifies all that all this must be ripped out and done over because the building/rennovation proptcols and codes have been “revised”. Oh, I forgot. When home improvements are made they must be qualified by building permits. The project elevates home value so your tax bill increses. Perhaps hunter/gattherers living in cave had it better after all.

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  12. The bad thing about renovations is that there is nothing you can do but keep going and you lose control of the speed of the work. The last work we had done took weeks longer than promised. Next time we have something major done we will move out until it is done. Your frustration shows, Kate, and I can’t blame you. Hope once you have that beautiful bathroom you will think the pain was worth it. Cheers!

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  13. I imagine you were finally recovered from last year’s renovations. Everything was beautiful and you thought to yourself, That bathroom is an ugly sore thumb in my life.

    Or something like that.

    I don’t know what besides a twelve step program for endless renovations will help.

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  16. Well I have to admit I downscaled my thoughts on our master bathroom project for next year (maybe)….thanks to you and your adventure! It will be ONLY a new shower to replace the old one….period….no matter what else I had thought I wanted to do – we have decided it will be JUST A NEW SHOWER ENCLOSURE/DOORS. Feel free to remind me of this next year if I wander off the JUST SHOWER commitment! AND thanks for inspiring me to scale down. 🙂 🙂

    Hugs, Pam

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    • At our last house we redid the two upstairs showers and it wasn’t too bad. If we didn’t have to move out of our bedroom, this wouldn’t be so bad either. Being displaced and living on three floors isn’t fun. We expect the tile to be done Tues-Wed next week. After that things will go fast. Or so they say! 🙂

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  17. Thanks for making me grateful we can’t afford updating our bathrooms at the moment. Ugh. BTW, even if you are neurotic, that doesn’t mean they are good at cleaning up. They aren’t. Good luck. Hope it’s finished soon.

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    • Today is crazy. It’s a standard sized bathroom with 4 guys working in there. Kind of like how many people can you fit in a Volkswagen. The cabinets are in, the template guy is here so we are finally rolling. The tile will be what slows it down.

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  20. By your own point of admission, contractors don’t always show up, so even a week-long project might not be done in a week’s time. I vote for “done in a day” projects when the inconvenience is minimal!

    At least you are making progress!

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  21. Just think how nice it will all look. As my late, great friend Jackie used to say…you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

    And you have a great aesthetic eye Kate. Your last home was beautiful, and so is this one. One can see.

    Tell Gracie I asked for her and her Speedo. 🙂

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  23. I feel your pain. I remember when we had some remodeling done. It was the first and last time. LOL! But yet I have been thinking of getting our kitchen done, now you are making me come to my senses! 🙂 Hang in there!

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  24. Having just finished the kitchen renovation, I can sympathize. You can’t really relax if there is even one contractor in the house, much less several. Your life just isn’t your own during a renovation, and we are glad to be finished with all that. Only small projects, ones we can do ourselves mostly, on our horizon….after we build up the bank account a little again!

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    • Agree on the bank account part for sure! Last year we didn’t do any large projects. We replaced the upstairs flooring which wasn’t a big job (under a week) but required we keep moving furniture around. Other than that it was a great summer of a lot of normal time.

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