Bathroom Saga Continues

Sorry for the delayed update on the bathroom, it has been quite a crazy train over here.  Last Wednesday, Luis, our contractor, walked out.  Ultimately we are thrilled, but at first we were quite angry.  True, we were going to fire him last week, until Will noticed the water intake line to the toilet was there.  We got him back to finish that and he stayed for the remainder of  last week.  He was here on Monday and Tuesday.  But Tuesday, there was an issue with the radiator.  He couldn't get the rad installed flush against the wall again. He blamed us (Will, since he was home at the time); the wall not being straight (though he has just leveled it and put tile on it); and the floor not being level (though he had last week gone on and on that he has put new 2 x4s down to level it).  

Will figured it out that the pipes coming out of the floor and moved and it took the plumber to convince Luis that it was easy to take up one tile, twist the pipe back towards the wall, and relay the tile.

medicine cabinet in place

Once he left for the day, did Will realize that Luis had reinstalled the radiator without cleaning it and he has used regular trim paint to coat it. So, years and years of dust built up in the ribs of the radiator added to the 3 1/2 weeks of construction dust were just painted over with the primer and trim paint.  He didn't even bother to use the special heat-resistant paint he requested we get for the radiator!  And yes, we had asked him before he started the job, during the job, and right before he installed the rad, it just take it outside and hose it off. He kept saying that wasn't a problem!  Sure thing!

So, Wednesday morning comes and Luis walks in, telling Will that this will be his last day and that Will will pay him when he leaves. Will is insistent that won't happen as he and I haven't really gone through to make the punch list.  An argument ensues, in which Luis accuses us that we will be constantly calling him back to fix little fiddlely things; that none of his other clients are this picky; that this house is worth x amount of dollars, so what is a few thousand more for us to give him.  On and on.

But what really did it was the radiator.

Will said that what we wanted was for him to take it off, take it outside and hose it down-- and now have him strip it with the wrong paint that he just applied and use the proper heat-resistant paint, and reinstall it.

Jamie measuring for the door stop

Absolutely not. So, Luis packed up his tools, his men and off he went.  He left probably with 90% of the work done (about 2 more days) and a couple thousand on the table.   Quite astonishing actually.

Since then, Will and I have been finishing the bathroom, and finding even more things that aren't quite right with the workmanship.  We also decided that we might as well redo the upstairs hallway and back closet area since we had new walls ready to paint from the bathroom remodel. The hallway requires scraping the old walls and ceiling of the wallpaper used to help hold the plaster in place.  Patching the walls and ceiling.  Primer coat of paint on everything: walls, ceilings, trim, and doors.  Wall paint in the closet area.  That is where we are at the moment.

What we have found in the bathroom? Well, for one thing: Luis created a new door frame for the linen closet in the bathroom.  He built it.  From nothing.  He created it.  Not trying to fit an opening into a random wall; he created the whole thing.  What did Will and my cousin Jamie (who came over with all the equipment in the world) discover when hanging the door? That the top of the door was 24 inches wide but the bottom was 23 inches wide.  ONE INCH difference!  On a door he built!  How in the world can you call yourself a contractor/handyman/carpenter and not be capable of building a square door?!?!?!?  It is really unbelievable.

Jamie's tools that he brought over to help: you never know what you will need.  

It made Will and I very happy that we were made him walked on the last day.  We are under budget for the bathroom and can say that we actually put some work into it.  Turns out to be a lot of work, but that is because we are working on the hallway now too.

nail gun and compressor-- for the trim work that we have to install

Figuring out the exact length 

Will installed the lock on the bathroom door, once it was hung

Adding the cover plate over the hole for the locking bar

The linen closet hung.  They sheared off the lower half of the door to make it fit. 

wire shelving in the linen closet-- Will installed this too.
We have to go back and get the right length of brackets for the last shelf. 

In the back closet area-- the newly built wall with a fresh coat of "Devonshire" grey on it.  Trim work to come. 

Hallway all primed and ready for paint. 

properly hung bathroom door with working handle and fancy lock.

Ceiling of the bathroom with the Ikea light

The alcove for the shampoo-- not the best tile job for sure.
Don't worry: Luis's guy did finish all the tile before walking out. 

Light fixture above the mirror.  And yes, we do have a sink installed, just not in this photo. 

The mess that is the hallway with the repainting and
Stirling trying to figure out why there are sheets covering the floor and stairs. 

The amount of scraping and patching the ceiling was pretty major,
but the plaster underneath the wallpaper was pretty solid.

Ceiling: done.  

Shower still done with the shower head and curtain rod, plus a nice hook for a robe.