| So I have decided that I am not one for surprises.....at least bad ones! Here is the story:
December 24, 2005 -
2:10am -- Jennifer wakes me up and says, "What is that sound.? It sounds like running water. After stumbling through the bedroom toward the noise, still half asleep, I find the source of the noise..... Water pouring, not dripping, from my master bathroom ceiling.
3:00am -- I have to wake up a city water crew to come to my house because while trying to turn off my water at the meter, I found that the shut off valve was seized up and I, of course, broke the meter trying to turn it off.
3:15am -- I walk back in the house waiting for the water crew to show up, and Jennifer is sitting on the couch. She says to me, the ceiling isn't going to cave in is it? I, of course, said "Nah, I doubt it." HA! Stupid me! Within about 2 minutes of me saying that, we hear a crash in the bathroom. I have never heard or seen a ceiling cave in, but I immediately knew what it was. So, lets recap, water pouring from the hole in the bathroom ceiling, water flooding the front yard and street in front of the house, drywall and insulation all over the bathroom, not on the ceiling like it should be.
Early February -
TAX RETURN! Woo hoo! We can afford to repair the bathroom ceiling. We begin the planning process and figure out that we have the money completely remodel the bathroom, rather than just patching up the ceiling. So, upon further investigation, I find a guy at work who is a general contractor on the side, who is willing to do the work, at a good price.
March 20 -
Marvin, my contractor/co-worker, begins work while I am gone to a training seminar. I come home to find Marvin with great news for me.....
TERMITES! Turns out, termites tend to invade damp wood. Leaking ceilings make for wet walls, making for a bad time for me. Luckily, they only invaded one wall, and it could be treated with no lasting problems. (Other than the money I am out to the exterminator) Now that we are past the termite problem, we are on to the plumbing problem.
GALVANIZED PIPES! Rusting pipes, they have to go. I have budgeted for that, no problem right.... HA! We now have to spend even more money because the work wasn't done right the first time (when the house was built) so he has to repair and replace parts that should not have been my problem. More Money!!!! But lets just move on....to the floor problem.
TILE! I didn't really care for the stick-on tiles in my bathroom, so we bought ceramic tile to go down on the floor and in the shower. Well....apparently when they laid the original tile, they did it while the concrete wasn't cured, so it can't be removed. In case you didn't catch that, I said the original tile, no the ugly stick on tile or the layer below that....THREE layers of ugly tile. So, you guessed it....MORE MONEY to cover it with concrete board to make the tile go down properly. But lets not dwell on the floor, lets talk electrical!
ELECTRICAL! It really isn't comforting to hear from your contractor, "Man, I am surprised your house hasn't burned down already". WHAT? Some genius decided to put all of the lights, every fixture in the house, on one breaker. I am not kidding...every ceiling fan, and light fixture is on the same breaker as the bathroom light switch. Then, to top that off, they must have added the outlet next to the sink later, because they just hacked, not cut...hacked, a hole in the side of the light switch box, and ran the wires across the beams (not under, behind or through) over the top of the beams, thereby pinching the wires when they shottily put on the drywall. The wires were actually bare in one place. Then we move on to the tub!
TUB! My lovely wife has always wanted a nice, deep, comfy, Jacuzzi type bathtub to soak in. She works hard, she deserves it....and I decided it was time for her to get one. DUMB ME! I went to Lowe's with her one day, and she picked it out. Seemed too easy, they had the exact tub we needed...at a price we could afford. So, dumb old me, bought it. Marvin takes it out of the box, and they sold me the wrong tub! So, I had to take it back, but they don't have the right one in stock. Then he said, "Hey, why not go to Home Depot across the street and see what they have". Sounds good to me...They have a tub that is the same price, and will work much better. But, we have to fix the Termite problem, plumbing problem, electrical problem, tiling problem, and the new problem before we can install it. That's right, the new ELECTRICAL problem.
ELECTRICAL! (AGAIN) Turns out, by building code, the bath tub has to be on its own breaker. No big deal right, HA!!!! We can't find anyone that sells breakers for the old breaker box I have on my house. WOO HOOO!!!!!!
Anyone wanna buy a house? I will sell it to you real cheap! |
