His and Her Home Repair Saga, Day 3

Home Repair Saga, Day 1
Home Repair Saga, Day 2

The contractor and demo guys were here yesterday and work started! Yay! ....... Well, yay for the fact that the work started, but not so yay for all the problems they found.

We already knew that it was going to be bad, but it is worse than they originally thought. Here are some of the phrases I heard today while demo was being done:

"Shew! That's messed up!" 

"Why would someone do that?"

"This doesn't make any sense."

"Hmmm....that's weird."

They started by taking out the stairs.

"This door's gonna fall." 

"It [the sliding glass door and frame] should stay up. I mean, I think it will. Yeah. Well, maybe".

With a tone of sheer awe and shock, "They didn't even use the right sand [underneath the stairs]."

"I don't want this thing [sliding glass door] falling on me and if we demo those bricks, it's going to [because the builder built it on the brick skirting instead of on boards like they are supposed to]."

"Here, let me see your camera so I can show you something." I handed over my camera, he took a photo, and gave it back. I asked what I was looking at and he said a rotted piece of wood where the steps were connected to the house. The second guy reached out, took a fist full of wood off the house, and crumbled it to dust in his bare hands. My heart stopped beating for a second. I had to sit down.

This is the photo the demo guy took.

 The contractor was here last night to check on materials for tomorrow and he said to himself, "It ain't sittin' on nothin'." The "it" here is the back of the house. He then had to prop it up with some cinder blocks and a board because the back wall of the house had sunk a little since the guys left (less than 7 hours earlier).

"Even the porch light has not been installed correctly. There's been water leaking in around it because they messed it up."

"It can't get much worse than this." (I don't know if this is reassuring or scary. I'm going to choose to feel reassured. Or at least try to be.)


Here are the photos of day 3...demo day - aka Completely Stress Out Amanda Day!

This is where the stairs used to be. See all that lovely water damage?

The other side of the board is not as damaged - thank goodness!

This is how the contractor held up the back of the house until the morning.

The entire view.

*phew* Lots of demo and lots of stress. The contractor met with me this morning to talk about how he is going to fix the structural issues with the house. He came up with an idea that I actually understand - a first for me in home improvement - but it has upped the cost by a considerable amount. I am so happy that this is getting done, but my anger towards the builder who didn't take any care or concern for his quality of work is starting to grow.


Which contractor phrase is your "favorite"? Mine is the "They didn't even use the right sand" because the way he said it cracked me up. You have to smile right? It messes up less makeup than crying. :)


Happy Thursday,