Moldy Jello » Home additions

make sure you get revisions cost down in writing

jelly — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:51:26 +0000

when doing an addition or remodel or new construction, don’t ask for something in person, and let them answer oh yes we can do that. Get in writing what they are going to do and if there is going to be an extra charge, I’m frustrated now as we get to the end of the project and squeezing everything out of the budget to get answers like, where did this $1000 go. Oh remember when you asked us to change blah blah blah. that was the cost of doing that.

Tiling

jelly — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:24:48 +0000

Tiling takes much more time than I thought. I don’t know for sure what time they started yesterday on tile but they finished around 6-6:30 yesterday and only got the floor in one of the bathrooms done. So much for picking up some time on the tile. Maybe after a full day today we will see a little more progress. They did budget 2 weeks for all the tile but I was hoping it would be done sooner, now I’m hoping it just won’t be done late

a new bonus

jelly — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:10:47 +0000

Now that they have cut through the wall from the existing house into the addition we have a new added bonus that we have never had in the house before. MICE. the wife is thrilled. The cover the opening with plywood at night but I think they are still sneaking in, I’ll have to check tonight for holes to see how they are getting in and lay some traps.

We have never had mice in the house before in the 5 years we have lived there so I’m sure its through the hole in the wall, I can’t wait for the addition side to be sealed up so we don’t have to deal with this mess.

Unhappy, at least for now

jelly — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:35:27 +0000

They started to stain the house, I’m not totally happy. I’m fine with the color, however since the wood on our existing house is 8 years old and the wood on the addition is only 1 week old there is a noticable weathering difference. The original home has cracks and signs of weather on it, the new looks like siding and is too perfect. I’m hoping the addition will weather and crack over time but probably not until after the first coat of stain wears off. Looking back even though it wouldn’t have been an option it would probably have looked better to leave the addition unstained for the winter, so that it could develop some character, then stain it so that they both matched.

Copper sinks

jelly — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 14:54:39 +0000

It looks like we are going to go with copper sinks in the master bathroom. I did some research before coming to this conclusion and now I like this idea more than ever. The copper sinks will change color as time goes on unless you want to either take the time to coat the sink with a brass wax. However if you are okay with the change you will find that copper sinks are easier to clean, just soap and water, and copper contains antibacterial benefits that you don’t get from porcelain or stainless steel.

Redesigns are costly but…

jelly — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:46:51 +0000

Sometimes what comes out of them is so much better than originally thought. I think we are going to be happy with the remodel of the new room. I think its a much better plan than before and I think it will work better for us.

Our biggest problem right now is how long the trek is going to do be to do laundry. We are going to talk tot he builder to see if we can put a shoot in somewhere then we only have the problem with bringing the laundry back up, and I secretly like the idea of dropping laundry on the unsuspecting heads of people below me

No you can’t do that.

jelly — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:00:33 +0000

Why does it seem lately that everyone can tell you what you can’t do but no one wants to give you a valid option of what you can do. Our builder 6 months into the project has decided that the designed stairs are too big so we won’t be happy with them. We have been thinking this since day one and have been asking for them to confirm the size so we don’t get stuck with something we hate. Well now we know and its not something we can fix. We have an option of the stairs taken the entire lower room or we can completely gut the existing master suite and stuff a hallway through it, where there isn’t really room.

We opted for the hallway, it was the best of two options, although now the thought has caught us that the laundry room is about 5 miles from the master bedroom, definitely not the best location but we can work around that.

The builder completely gutted all of the master suite every wall is gone all the plumbing, except for the toilet, which leaks into the kitchen now, then he finally shared with us his master plan for the bedroom. We hate it.

I’ve drawn up an alternative that I think we like better but I haven’t yet heard if its doable. The worst part about it is, it envolves moving the bathroom to the other side of the lower ibeam. the plumbing is not on that side, we may have to raise up the bathroom so the plumbing can run in the floor.

Have I mentioned in other rants that I just want this thing to be done.

Remodel = inconvinience

jelly — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:41:48 +0000

If you are doing a remodel of any major or even minor remodeling except a certain amount of convenience.

For us this was the loss of our master bedroom and master bathroom. We thought this wouldn’t be too bad because we could move into the dining room below our master and still have a division between us and the kids for privacy. when it was time to move we were informed that we could not move into the dining room because the remodel was directly above there would be lots of dust/debris coming down so we didn’t want to be there. Also since our plumbing is in the floor of the bedroom, ceiling of the dining room they will be tearing that out as well.

So we have all moved into the basement. Our bed is not in the central area with kids bedrooms on either side. No privacy and only one bathroom for everyone to share.

Not a tip, just a rant ;-)

jelly — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:14:38 +0000

After spending day after day, night after night looking at colors, rocks, bathroom fixtures, lights…….

Everything looks exactly the same to me. I can no longer tell the difference between Blue sky gray and Beachcomber gray and even worse I think I am reaching the point where I know longer care. Just order what you want and slap it on the house and get this thing done. Actually we have been making much better progress since we got our timeline. maybe we can make us some time somewhere?
Truth be told I’m tiring of the process and just want it over, or maybe its just the fact that 6 of the wifes family are coming down for xmas and it is apparant now that the house will not be done, so on top of having to buy all of their tickets, now I have to find them a place to stay. The builder suggested parking a 5th wheel in the yard for them… that make me laugh…. oh well at least we may have found a comprimise where they think they can be done the remodel portion (we are remodeling a room of our existing) before xmas so that at least gives me one more room so we may be able to cram everyone into the house.

I see myself working alot of overtime around xmas.

Tip #2

jelly — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:49:17 +0000

When planning an addition tip #2

Get a time line in writing. Lots of people request these and everyone should The builder should not have a problem giving you one, when we asked we had it the next day. We didn’t get one of these until half way through the project, when it was obvious he was not going to hit our date, I wish we could have gotten it sooner. You can’t use this 100% for when the renovation or addition will be completed as things do get pushed back due to weather or other circumstances, however it is a rough guideline of when things will be done and in what order.

What does this help prevent:

It keeps the builder and homeowner on the same page as far as when things will be completed. This solves a lot of misunderstandings and keeps everyone on the same page of what is happening.
It keeps the homeowner up to date on when items need to be ordered. If he has down that the fireplace is being done in 2 days however he hasn’t ordered stone, be worried.
It puts an end date on the addition or renovation, so you know when its supposed to be completed and so if you get delayed a week when doing the foundation because of rain, you know that will move the date out a week and what you can expect it to be done.