Day Seventeen (1)

Day Seventeen (2)

Day Seventeen (3)

Day Fourteen

Today was a big day. It was also really difficult.

I was out on a site visit and Brian was at home, trying to work, but only getting kitchen things done. We kept in constant contact on the phone...when I wasn't take a sound measurement.

The order of business went something like:

- Email/call Jim to inform him about the plug strip power

- Deal with the ABT payment--they were expecting the balance of our total order when they were bringing just the cooktop. And, the only reason we had a balance was because we had added the TV after we applied for their financing deal. I wish they had thought of that before the morning of.

- Brian and Slawek realized that the dishwasher power was also missing. It was existing and should have stayed. This is still a bit of a mystery. Not exciting for, considering the appliance people were coming for a walk through. I'm less than thrilled with Javier.

- Slawek started handles and we reconsidered the sizes and locations. (Oh, right, I forgot. Yesterday, we realized that we were a few handles short and that I'd have to stop at Ikea while in the suburbs.)

- Brian needed the phone number of the countertop guy, who was scheduled for the afternoon, to let him know about the timing with the ABT guys and his doctor's appointment. I called Jim, and convinced him to give me Geoff's number.

- Brian and Slawek reconsidered the marble plank below the wood stove. As it turns out, we may chose to replace the stone, enlarge it, and get a new stove--maybe wood... maybe gas. We have to decide that tonight. Jim was here and gave us a quote for installing in the gas line to the stove area.

- Brian called. Slawek confirmed that he needs two more trim pieces and he'd need another board in order to get the finished edges. (One of the panels I ordered was mysteriously a different width than the other. Not sure why.)

- ABT arrived. They informed us that the washer/dryer power was incorrect! The washer hooks directly into the dryer, after all. We only needed a single 30 amp circuit. Brian had me get on the phone with the installer. I gave him an earful, telling him that if ABT prides themselves on customer service and they want to carry Bosch, then they better damn well figure out how to solve this problem in the future.

- The countertop guy arrived. Our peculiar details seemed fairly straightforward to him. Brian called me with some questions. He took the sink to cut the right size hole in the shop. He's going to cut the cooktop hole in the field, as it turns out. *sigh*

- I stopped at Ikea. Got the handles, got the new panels (need to pick them at the warehouse next week). Then, I threw a little tantrum because they told me that they couldn't give me the metal hardware I needed. They told me I was wrong. They told me that the couldn't help me and that it was my fault because I didn't check the parts when they arrived. (This is the metal bracket for the false drawer fronts at the cooktop. Brian realized a few weeks ago that those drawer-fronts had never been ordered--not sure why and no one has any explanation for it. But, what we didn't realize was that it required this hardware to install.) As it turns out, they didn't know what hardware I was talking about. And, in the end, they had it in stock. It costs $8 (plus frustration).

- I stopped at Container Store to return the drawer for the composter. It doesn't fit in the cabinet, which was a bummer. Not sure what we're going to do. (Oh, yesterday, we stopped at Brian's office to bring home the composter, as it had been shipped to his office. I also forgot to mention that yesterday we brought home the stainless panels which had been delivered to my office while I was traveling.)

Tonight, we're going to try to make a decision on the stove, so we can get that in motion.

Day Thirteen

I arrived home in the mid-afternoon. Slawak and Oscar were working away. Oscar had painted the Den, Slawak was working on finishing the out the West side near the refrigerator--a complicated detail with a cantilevered cabinet and a large trim panel. They had some questions, including a door swings and handle placement. Slawak also had a piece of base board for my approval. We dug out a on old piece of quarter-round out of the surplus stock from the previous owners' work for him to match the stain.

After Frisbee in the evening, we arrived home and probably stood in the kitchen for an hour. Brian noticed that the electrical service to the west-side power strip wasn't there--or had been covered by drywall. Elswhwere we have flexible conduit whips that will service the hard-wired plugstrips.

Day Twelve

I left early, before the contractors arrived, for the airport to go to New Orleans. At that time, Brian was already on a flight back to Chicago from Vienna. I left Brian an email with a list of things to check in on with Slawek when he arrived.

In the late morning, Slawek called me. My stomach always sinks when I see that it is him calling. Luckily, this time he was only looking for the hinges, which I had stashed away in the less-dusty secondary staging area—the second bedroom.

When Brian got back, Javier and Slawek were there. I have a really hard time communicating on the phone with Slawek, so Brian called and “translated’ the remaining questions that Slawek had. Simple things like, “is the filler panel near the furnace room door flush with the cabinet door or set back?” and “does the cover panel that goes below the wall cabinets overlap the backsplash, or the other way around?” Brian and I called back and forth through the afternoon. In New Orleans, we were commissioning a renovated high school auditorium. I kept tabs on what was happening inside with the tuning of the audio system, and kept stepping outside to take the phone calls. Gladly, I only really had about an hour of fixed schedule through the day.

Also about that time, ABT called about the appliance install. While I feel that the level of service is high and that everyone is pleasant, I feel like the information sharing from ABT hasn’t been that great. Maybe we missed the “So, you just bought appliances from us. Now what?” orientation and training session. I’m kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this, actually. On the appliance install date, we will not have a countertop, which means that the cooktop cannot be installed. Duh. But, it’s kind of chicken-and-the-egg, as we need the cooktop template to fabricate the countertop. In the end, we have arranged for ABT to bring the cooktop on Thursday during their initial walk-through. Then, on Tuesday, all of the appliances except for the dishwasher and cooktop will be installed. They will then return on the following Tuesday to finish the cooktop and dishwasher. In the meantime, we pray that the countertop stays on schedule. Luckily, it’s not an extra charge for them to come out twice. Unfortunately, this means the full completion will be May 6—one day short of a full month since the start of the project.

I should say that Brian, after not having seen the room for a number of days (since before the floor went in) was very excited about the progress and pleased with the look. He sent me some photos in the evening (they were big files, so I couldn’t upload them to the blog right away). Here they are.

Day Eleven

When I emerged from the bedroom, Oscar and Slawek were here and getting started. Slawek was already reviewing drawings and sorting through hardware. I went over the plans with hime and he caught on immediately--what the starting points should be, how the trim pieces should align, and how the legs heights and elevations worked. Feeling useless, I checked in with Oscar about the cable passes and headed to work.

After lunch, I got a voice mail from Jim. Two issues: Slawek was missing some pieces of Ikea hardware and they questioned the cantilever of the countertop near the den. I let Brian know and whipped up some sketches for us to talk through the different options for the counterop. Like all of the design issues, we came to an immediate agreement and I sent a reply to Jim. As far as the Ikea hardware, I'd have to wait until I got home to check how critical the parts are to the installation.

Next, Slawek called. He had the oven cabinet in place (already!?) and that the outlet for it wasn't in the right place. (Crap.) Slawek measured it and (sure enough) it is not where it is shown in the drawings. I told him to let Jim know that it'd need to be moved.

Brian, in Vienna, and I talked more in the afternoon. He pointed out that Thursday was the appliance install walkthrough and that I had scheduled an all-day site visit. To sort things out, I called ABT to give them Slawek's phone number so he could let them in. While on the phone, Vida asked if I had been given a call back about the washer power. (Oh, boy.) She then informed me (despite what I had been told in my previous three phone calls on the subject) that the washer requires a 30 amp circuit. Good timing for this news since the electrician was coming back in the morning for the oven outlet.

My dread of coming home in the evenings increases each day. "What next?" It all looks pretty good. Slawek had done everything correctly, following the Ikea directions exactly and tending to my specifics about the cover panels. The wall cabinets on the west were all installed, and two of the base cabinets were in place. There is continued progress on the drywall and finishing, but I kind of expected a full finish paint job before the cabinets went in.

The missing Ikea hardware is not critical for advancing the installationg--it just affects the plint on the East side. Otherwise, we're ok.

Weekend 2

After working at Savor on Saturday morning, I reserved an iGo car to
drive to the lighting store to pick up the track lights. I think this
is the last of the 'owner-purchased' items, with possible exception of
the composter, which it probably at Brian's office.

In the afternoon, I took a walk to run a couple of errands and to get
an early dinner. I spent the evening organizing the stacks of
receipts, invoices, and bills.

On Sunday morning, a took a Zipcar to the laundrymat to catch up on
two week's worth of clothes. I think I'll be able to hold out, now,
until the appliances are installed.

In the afternoon, I started reorganizing the dining room and cleaning.
It was kind of like playing one of those puzzle games where you have
to move all the squares around to form the image, but you only have
one blank space.

By the end of the night, the cabinets were lined up in order of
installation and all of the boards for the trim panels were labled and
marked with instructions. The picture, here, is from early in the
evening; it is still light out.

Day Ten (evening)

OK. I'm home now. And, I've calmed down.

Mirrors - great. Like it never left. And, the edge at the wall is better than before since it hasn't ever been painted.

Floor repair - great. Not shiny any more with all that drywall dust. The only criticism is that the boards aren't exactly level. This isn't a surprise at all consider there is no subfloor below them, as we have learned.

Drywall - great. It's really looking good.

Cable outlet move - moved laterally to center of wall, not moved up. Not quite sure why this happened... but, it's not a problem.

Cork - great, but now all covered up with paper and cardboard. The amount of work that is left to do, with the finish floor in place, kind of makes me nervous. But, it's protected, and I can't really do anything else... but worry, of course.

All-in-all, it's been a good week. Just go back to Day Five for a moment and check the photo. Yeah.

Day ten (afternoon)

> The morning started off well. And for all I know it may finish that
> way. But, for now, I'll ride the Green Line back and forth.
>
> In the late afternoon, just as I was attempting to finish editing a
> portion of a major proposal, I got a friendly message from my
> contractor (pause. I nearly just had my iPhone stolen. Would have,
> if my Green Line intuition hadn't kicked in.) which killed my mood
> and capacity for original thought.
>
> Three things:
> - there was some ambiguous message about the cable outlet that was
> moved. It was in the right place to start with. I'm pretty sure that
> Oscar know what was needed, which was that the cable pass needed to
> be installed. I sure hope Jim is wrong.
> - no cabinets until Tuesday and maybe no work tomorrow. This is only
> a problem because Tuesday is the only morning during the whole
> project on which Brian and I will both be away. I need to set up a
> meeting with the installer for Monday, I guess.
> - the mirrors were installed. This I found out just after Brian
> called from Poland and asked specifically if the guys on site knew
> that we wanted the paint cleaned up at the edge of the old mirrors
> before install. I assured Brian that the mirrors would not go in
> until next week.

In my distraction and haste at the end of the day (I sure as hell
wasn't going to stay late on a day when I had already taken half of a
vacation day), I left my keys on my desk when walking out with Greg
and Evelyn to go get a drink. (The toast was to "survival.") I only
realized when I got downtown to transfer to the Red Line. So now, I
ride the Green Line back and forth with the bandits who are encouaged
by the warm weather wonderingvwhat the status of the kitchen really is.

Day Ten (morning)

I stayed home in the morning to meet the flooring guy. He and I are on the same page for the the hardwood repair. They started right in on the cork. And, at about an hour in... they're nearly finished with the kitchen.

Day Nine

Lots of progress on drywall today. That's about all.

Oh, and I realized that the gas line to the cooktop wasn't raised, as I had shown on the drawings. Crap. I don't think it will be a problem, but it will require modification once the cabinet goes in, in order to allow proper clearance for the drawer.

Day Eight

In the morning, Brian got a Zipcar to drive to our Polish hardware
supply store to pick up the sink. In the afternoon, he flew to Poland.
The sink looks great. I had been a bit nervous about it since we had
never seen one in person.

Brian met with the contractors before he left, coordinating some
things in the den.

Aside from some correspondence with Jim about the floor, the rest of
the day was quiet. And, aside from not having heard from the
electrician since Friday, everything was going well.

After the first Frisbee night of the season, I arrived home at about
8:30 to find two guys pulling electrical wire. They were, just like
anyone would be, laughing and carrying on, trying to make the best of
working so late. I really can't even believe that our contractor is
so schedule-concious.

The drywall on the East wall is nearly complete now, as well as the
additional framing in the wall in the den.

Day Seven

In the late morning, we received the contractor's revised estimate to cover our added electrical work and the cost of the subfloor. The line items were inconsistent, leaving us open to question the bid. As it turns out, we talked him down about 20%. Not bad.

In the afternoon, I started in on confirming the dimensions of the stainless steel panels for near the backsplash. I double-checked the hood measurements and somehow realized that the model number for the hood on our order from ABT was the wrong dimensions. We need an "under cabinet," whereas the hood on the order form was a "wall mount," meaning that it was twice as deep. I called ABT and left a message. Late in the day, when our saleswoman arrived for her twice-weekly evening shift, she confirmed that the change was no problem, that she could give us a price less than their web site, and that the total price was about $450 cheaper.

Our lovely, attentive Polish sales lady from the hardware supply store called to let me know that the sink had arrived. Very exciting.

Arriving home, we found a big box from IKEA that had been shipped UPS. The box contained the replacements for the damaged shelf and the defective door. I didn't have my hopes up for the door, as our customer service rep at IKEA warned us that this door was, yet again, in the same control batch as the others. (A problem she could fix on the next order, if necessary.) To our surprise, the door is okay. It's not exactly correct, as the center panel still slides around a bit. However, this one reveals no obvious gap or change in finish. Good!

In the kitchen, we found the remainer of the subfloor complete, the first of the drywall installed, and our damage mirror removed. Also, the hardwood floor replacement boards were there. The boards are as close to an exact match as we could expect. Again, very exciting. The sheen is much different, which is not surprising: 80-year-old oak boards that are in the highest traffic area of the house or a brand new finished board that was just taken out of its cardboard shipping box. We have good confidence in a reasonable-looking repair. Good!

We did some vacuuming, and I marked the wall in the den for the additional framing for the wall-mounted shelves.

It did not appear that electrical was on site today. I hope the electrician isn't holding us up.

Day Six

The morning began with a meeting with our contractor. He has proposed that pre-finished oak boards be used for the dining room floor repair. He's confident that it will be satifactory to us. But, we just haven't seen it yet, and we're still skeptical. We also looked at the mirror issue, and he agrees that he and/or his electrical sub will cover the cost. (Of course, we're also asking for an increase in the electrical scope at the same time. Jim assured us that he'd make sure that we're not paying for the mirror in that change order.)

The day was fairly kitchen free, with the exception of developing a master list of all of the electrical changes and adds for pricing.

In the evening, we went to the gym, like normal people, and had dinner there.

Arriving home, we found the bulk of the subfloor to be finished. The floor leveling is nicely done and we create an almost exactly flush transition from the cork to the adjacent oak floors--what this whole floor fiasco was about in the first place.

No electrical work today.... and still no oak boards to review.

Weekend

Saturday

Brian got up with me when I left Savor and got a Zipcar to drive to Homewood so that he could do some research on our damages at to the hardware store and glass store that his Mom had recommended. The wood stain was not a successful venture, partially because the board that was actually damaged was somewhat of an outlier in the color of the floor boards. At the glass store, he found that the replacement cost would hover around $300.

After some other errands, Brian picked me up at the end of my shift at Savor. We headed to 'burbs. We stopped at ABT to view our appliances and look at the TV we selected. Then, at Ikea we reviewed the options for drawer inserts and purchesed at least enough to get us started. We also stopped at container store to buy the slide-out drawer that the composter will sit in. After a quick lunch/dinner, we drove to Oak Park to pick-up the fans. Again, we had to totally unpack and repack the car to fit everything.

At home later, we wrote a big, long email to our contractor outlining all of the unresolved issues and informing him about the mirror issue.

Sunday

We finally slept in. For the rest of the day, Brian got caught up on schoolwork and worked on setting up the new network. I dusted, swept, mopped, vacuumed, Swiffered, and organized. When I ran out of cardboard to protect the dining room floor, I assembled the new shelves for the Den to use their boxes. In the evening, we had our condo board meeting and we went out for dinner and drinks with Tim. Ah, to have a normal life.

Day Five

We received a quick response back from our contractor from our comments on the previous day’s work. His message, though, indicate that he suspected that some of the sleepers may have had some termite damage. Brian made some phone calls to the building’s exterminator and to the roofing contractor who review the roof flashing after our last problem. We ended up being able to get a free evaluation of our termite problem just after Noon. Bob the termite guy reported that we did not, indeed, have any termite damage. Thank God.

Ikea called today about our attempted return of our doors. We should receive a new door on Monday via UPS.

Brian spent a portion of his afternoon exploring new network electronics and he ordered our indoor composter, which we will use in lieu of a garbage disposal.

Arriving home, we found that the sleepers and gravel had been removed, the electrical back boxes were complete, our new electrical box had been installed, and that the dryer and exhaust hood changes had been made. I’m really glad to not have been here when the new hole in the masonry wall.

Today’s issue was that one of the mirrors on the dining room wall was cracked where there is an outlet that penetrates it. It must have happened when the electrical panel went in. We’re not exactly sure how this will be resolved yet and how much our contractor will be willing to cover of this damage.

Day Four

The morning was normal for once.

In the afternoon, I spent a significant amount of time trying to confirm the electrical requirements for the new clothes washer. The cutsheet was misleading, and when David and Eric upstairs, had theirs installed some modification was required to the electrical. After two calls to ABT and emails to Eric and Javier, I finally determined that the problem related to the 15amp/240V receptical, and not a standard 120V.

Brian and I both worked late. We had dinner delivered to Brian’s office and then trekked home. Inspecting the day’s work, we found a considerable amount of electrical work complete, the other wall demolished, and the framing for the furred-out section of wall started. We were very encouraged by this progress. And then… we started finding problems. After measuring each and every electrical location and modification, we found that the framing didn’t leave the proper space for the washer and dryer, the conduit for the electrical outlet conflicted with the revised dryer exhaust location, we suspected that the gas line need to be moved to accommodate the exhaust hood connection. We also found that the subfloor in the den was damp—at a location where we have had water damage on the ceiling in the past. During the day, a steady rain was coming from the East—a similar condition to when the past problem occurred. It was about 2 AM by the time I finished and sent an email report to our contractor and an email to the building about our water problem.

Day Three

Wednesday was quite a morning. I had planned on the electrical contractor arriving at 7:30 AM to meet me and talk through the plans and to discuss the changes. I got up early and started clearing out the second bedroom closet, anticipating that when the electrical work started that access to the junction box above the closet would be required. I toiled away, and as the 7 o’clock hour wore on, I got more agitated that I would be late for work, yet again. Finally, I called our contractor and founout that he hadn’t passed along the message about the 7:30 meeting to Javier, his electrical sub. After I got ready for work, Brian remembered that we needed to find the original Ikea receipt for that night, as we had a car reserved for an after work to drive to the ‘burbs. We searched everywhere, but couldn’t find it. We were both pretty grumpy. We finally gave up, resolving to use the faxed receipt we had received back when we had the IT glitch at Ikea. We got on the bus… but, I realized that I forgot my computer at home. So much for not being late to work.

When I got to work, I found the missing receipt in my briefcase (which has been with me at home, the whole time).

In the mid-morning, I got a call from Javier, the electrician, asking for the appliance cutsheets. I had intended to leave them out for him, but forgot. I asked for his email address, and forwarded the pdfs that I had compiled for him.

In the afternoon, after his class, Brian got a car for our evening adventure. The original plan was for Brian to pick me up from work and we’d go to iFloor together. At 6:15 PM, it became clear that Brian would not have time to pick me up first, and he headed straight to the iFloor warehouse. I called ahead and let them know that Brian was on his way and might be there right as the store closed or a little later. Thankfully, the manger agreed to stay. Brian picked up the floor—all 14 crates—and drove to my office, arriving by 7:45. We took off immediately for Ikea, arriving there 45 minutes before closing. Brian went to the showroom to order the additional cabinets for the Den and I managed the exchange of the damaged pieces. Unfortunately, one of the replacement doors had the same defect as before. We’d have to order, yet another. Right at 9 PM, closing time, our order was ready at furniture pickup. In order to get all of the Ikea stuff in the car with the flooring, we had to take everything out and rearrange. I had to sit in the back seat behind Brian to accommodate the new Ikea bookshelf.

We stopped for burgers at Bar Louie, then headed home.

Arriving home, we didn’t’ find the day’s progress to be as dramatic as the days before. The den floor was nearly completely removed and much of the garbage had disappeared.

Day Two

I started the morning with a Zipcar and a drive to the electrical supply store to buy two surge-suppressed duplex outlets. I arrived back at 8:15. The crew arrived at about 9.

At work, Joan's husband brought some stainless steel samples for us to review.

After work, I worked on the drawings some more, making the changes that have occured since my first meeting with Jim. I think this should be my last drawing update that is required.

... Arriving home, we found that kichen had been cleared and the floor was taken up. I asked our contractor early on whether he thought we actually had subfloor beneath the old 1920's floor; he assured me that we did. Boy was I right. Beneath the floor, we have tar-paper, sleepers, and gravel. Yes, folks that right. Gravel.

The demolition of one of the small walls was completed today, which was fun to see.

The unpleasant surprise was that at the threshold to the dining room, one of the floor boards on the dining room-side was damaged. This board will have to be replaced, and likely before the cork goes in. I hope this doesn't cause any delay.

I spent the rest of the evening drawing on the wall--indicating the electrical locations and some detail drawings. All the dimensions seem to checkout.

Day One

After a rushed morning of final preparations, I was glad that the contractor was about 30 minutes late. Jim arrived with two guys, one of whom will be our project manager, Oscar. Jim and I talked over the plans and the couple of changes we've made since he received the drawings--including the replacement of the floor, the work in the den, and some electrical. After writing the big check, I headed to work.

During the day, Brian confirmed with ABT our order of our new TV for the den. We decided to add this work to the project, since the flat-panel bracket will require revision of the wall framing and some electrical work. The TV will arrive along with the appliances. Brian scouted out another good deal.

I confirmed that our floor had arrived at iFloor and is available for pickup. I also called ABT to slide our appliance installation by a week.Arriving home, we found that the nearly all of the cabinets had been dismantled and that all of the appliances, except for the fridge, had been taken away. The cabinets haven't been discarded yet, but are stacked in the den. The Mexican appliance scavengers took the appliances away in their questionably road-worthy pickup truck. No surprises today. We're just struck by the oddity of having two sets of kitchen cabinets--one in the process of assembly and one in the process of disassembly--in two non-kitchen rooms of our house.

everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink

It's been a few days since I've written, mostly because Brian is back and I have someone to talk to about all of this.

The biggest news is that the demolition start was delayed until Monday, 7 April. Our contractor was not quite ready to start by the beginning of this week, and I was unwilling to have him start on Thursday, since we'll be away on Friday. All-in-all, this works out well, letting us get in a few more loads of laundry and a little more prep time.

Other news includes:

- plug strips arrived on Monday

- the missing panels for the sink cabinet arrived from Ikea

- countertop/backsplash pricing was received and is under budget (woo!)

- flooring should arrive to the warehouse today (we'll pick up next week)

- I'll pick up light fixture tonight

The biggest deal is the finalization of the sink and faucet selection. This morning, Brian and I got up early to get a Zipcar and drive to the Studio 41 showroom on North Pulaski to view the faucet and a sink option they suggested. We ended up going with the faucet I originally intended. Super cool and simple. The sink, though, was not quite what we were looking for. The corners were too round. We ordered an Elkay model of the same size, but boxier. The store was a great experience. It's essentially a remodeling supply center for Eastern European contractors. Everyone in the store was Polish. Most of the business there is not conducted in English. The prices are great (30% off list for our stuff) and they really are friendly. It really felt good to get a deal and to not drive to the suburbs to some giant big box store.

Our next challenge is to finalize the extra cabinets and electrical stuff for the TV nook in the den. We're going to tack this work on to the contractor's scope once we finalize it. Brian is exploring flat-panel TV mounting brackets today, and we'll try to get the layout drawn-up tonight.