The Renovation Blues

One of the most frustrating aspects of a renovation is the chaos that it creates in your life.  Common sense says that we need to be available to answer questions and make decisions, so you can’t really run away and hide, or take a vacation. So you will be faced with...

entire rooms that are inaccessible,

there is noise!

there is dust!

there is stuff you need and can’t find!

And as carefully as you plan, as much as you research, MURPHY is out there just waiting for his chance.

The tile you picked out for the backsplash will take 6 weeks to arrive MAYBE?

It rains for 3 days straight and puts the contractor way behind

The jet tub arrives and is damaged.

Wiring or plumbing is not to code or unexpected repairs will be needed.

There is an endless list of things that can and will go awry during a renovation.

An example

My husband and I decided to renovate our kitchen ourselves. Dean has a pretty decent skill set and I was going to play gopher. The kids had moved out of the house, we were down to a single cat. It seemed like a good time and I had been waiting forever.

DAY 2:

It’s after work, we are taking the lino out of the kitchen.  Dean is using a crow bar and jamming in under the edge of the linoleum and peeling it up.  We are almost done just a little piece left under where the stove was sitting,  Dean jams the crowbar forward and SSSSST,  a bright flash and all the power goes out.  There we are standing in the dark, confused.  Find a flashlight and look under the linoleum we had just peeled up and what do we find ‘wires’!  Why are there wires under the linoleum under the stove??

After some investigation and careful removal of the remaining linoleum and cabinets we deduced the original builder forgot an electrical outlet in the kitchen and rather than remove the drywall and install it correctly, they ran the needed electrical cable under the lino and cabinets. Of course this means that WE will have to remove the drywall and install the wiring correctly.

Another discovery during cabinet removal  - the clean out under the kitchen sink had been installed backwards (good thing we never needed to use it).

That was just Day 2 I could hardly wait for the rest.