Crown Heights Reno: October 2007
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October 24, 2007
saving grace
After what basically amounted to 2 (painful) months of inactivity,
we are back on track again
preparing furring strips for the new installation of the siding
we feel extremely fortunate that the person under whose umbrella said "contractor" was working
has stepped up to the plate to remedy the problems that we are facing.
we feel extremely fortunate that this person is organized, skilled and genuinely trying to help.
we have lost time and money,
he is losing money,
said "contractor" has put a sum of money in his pocket,
(or at least into his own house)
but hopefully without a company behind him,
he will not be working again anytime soon.
obviously there is more to this than can be disclosed here,
yes we had heard all the horror stories,
yes we (mistakenly) believed we were "on top" of things,
yes we were dealing with someone who has the gift of gab,
yes we had both personal (from someone in real estate)
and professional recommendations
and yes, being on the receiving end of the peter principle we got kicked in the proverbial ass.
it's true
sometimes when you are in the middle of something,
you can't see the forest for the trees
in hindsight, i believe we cut our losses just in time.
moving forward,
it is clear that when someone who is skilled takes on a job,
even one with which they had not originally signed up for
even one with which they have had no prior experience
the results can be excellent:
NB: this blog has had a policy against "naming names" (see faq #7)
before a job is completed. Given the sensitive nature of the situation and that we are not fully out of the water, i am going to uphold that.
but i would like to mention that the company that supplied the cement board: CBF really worked with us on replacing the boards that had been damaged by the previous installation
we have decided to treat this project in two sections:
rough work | finished work
once the heating system is in and we have had our rough plumbing inspection,
phase I will be complete
we are still deciding how we will procede with phase II.
October 14, 2007
the bad... and the ugly
the building of the extension was the last thing that went right
and that progress ground to a halt in late july once the roof went on.
the bad: part one
the extension has a flat roof with the slope coming from rigid insulation
which was engineered by firestone to give us drainage.
and it does drain,
some what,
but not completely
and since it will be covered by a deck
(which will greatly slow down the evaporation process)
and since we have MAJOR mosquito issues,
any ponding is an issue
the main problem here is that the grade is only 1/8" per foot
and the overlap of the roofing material running horizontally is also about 1/8",
so
the water gets trapped
also there is a low area of the roof nearest the house.
in other words, you will step straight out from the kitchen and then go up 2 steps to the main deck
this transition is because the ceiling height of the studio creates a level that is above the floor height of the parlor floor,
this isn't draining very well either
the bad: part two
how many things can go wrong with one set of doors that were custom made and took 1.5 days to hang?
let's see:
1. the active and the passive doors are reversed
2. the door knobs were not securely fastened and it seems as if the screws used didn't come with them
3. the knobs are brushed the hinges are not
4. there is supposed to be a 9" panel of wood at the bottom, it's 6"
5. there is a 1/4" gap at the top so the doors don't even connect to the gasket
6. THERE IS NO ROOM TO PUT A SILL!!!
and the ugly
this siding is a cement board that is impregnated with pigment so it does not have to be painted.
it is designed to act as a rain screen,
the boards are not fixed directly to the exterior wall
nor do they touch each other
basically the exterior waterproof sheet rock is covered with plastic sheeting,
then furring strips are mounted to which the board is afixed.
this allows any moisture that does penetrate to be shed off the waterproofing material and run into the ground, allowing the building to breath and avoiding the problems that can happen when water does penetrate and cause either cracking or mold problems.
but since this IS the exterior cladding, it needs to be installed cleanly, percisely and with care.
screws need to line up, edges need to be clean, the spacing between the boards needs to be even. the boards cannot be over tightened or the facade will be uneven
and it needs to be predilled
but our contractor treated it like sheet rock,
force drilled the screws which resulted in breaking bits,
screws driven in at an angle
and an uneven surface.
it was so bad that the neighbors thought we were going to be putting something over it
it was at this point, that it became painfully clear that this contractor did not have the same concept of "finished product" that we did
and that from here on in it would be a constant battle
suffice to say there were other areas of the job not being done correctly
and with the exception of the doors
we were expected to assume all financial responsibility for correcting them.
this coupled with the proverbial "why isn't there a full crew working on my house"
which turned into to the oft heard "my contractor has up and split for 2 weeks"
led us to the unavoidable conclusion
that we were going to have to part ways.
nb
this all came to a head mid september but since the messiness has taken some time to resolve, it's taken me this long to confront everything head on and post.
the good news is that work has started again
and we have a short term (if not final) solution.