Renovation Bullshit

"Hooker" (Hooker)
02/10/2015 at 08:29 • Filed to: None

Long story short? My bathroom was remodeled (complete tear out) about 2 years ago. Almost immediately I started having problems again. First it was cracking in the walls/grout and now the floor is sinking in. It took months for me to get the company to agree there MAY, IN FACT, BE A PROBLEM!

I have the company come out and analyze the situation, they admit that they "screwed up" and didn't do the job right in the first place (I'm shocked) and that they will "take care of it." I get up this morning and the guys are there from this reconstruction company. Their question to me, the homeowner? "So, what's going on here?"

SHOULDN'T THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE THERE TO DO?

I'm so done with this week and it's only Tuesday.

/rant

DISCUSSION (18)

davedave1111 > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 08:40

There's knowing what you're there to do, and hearing it firsthand from the person with the problem.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 08:52

Conventional grout shrinks. The premix stuff with latex in it alleviates this, but costs about twice as much. The floor sinking sounds as if someone notched a joist a little more than they should have and it gave way. THAT'S gonna suck if it is indeed the case.

I just finished my basement only to have a deluge happen and water spill over the window and back in. I have to replace about 250 square foot of flooring that was down for less than 10 days..... Luckily I fixed the issue and barring the End of Days, it shouldn't happen again. The water table where I am has been affected greatly by Hurricane Sandy a couple of years ago. I'm looking into flood insurance.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 08:58

did they say what caused all this? how did they screw up. you should make sure ther isn;t a bigger problem going on. how old is the house? did any of this happen before renovations. what do you mean when you say the floor is sinking in? what the finish material? hows the floor sturcture look?

Hooker > V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!
02/10/2015 at 09:02

They fixed the rotted out floor when they remodeled a couple of years ago. However, there was a structural piling that was rotted (right next to and holding up the floor they just fixed) that they chose to ignore. It has since crumbled and the whole wall is now sinking pulling everything else with it.

I've lost trust in them but it's not like I can call another company, have them do the work and bill the original company. Though, that would be nice.

Hooker > davedave1111
02/10/2015 at 09:03

Yeah but I can't tell them to tear out the tub or what order to do things in. All I can say is why they are tearing shit out. Their PM should have told them where to start. They can't go under the house due to low clearance. The company knew this. It's a lack of communication thing.

Hooker > OPPOsaurus WRX
02/10/2015 at 09:06

The house is about 80 years old but generally in good condition. I have done a lot of work to the house but the bathroom was the last room I hadn't touched. I went in to shower one morning a couple of years ago and the floor gave way. It was rotted due to a slow leak in the wall.

They "fixed" the problem and if they had done it right (their words, not mine) this shouldn't have happened.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 09:10

Depending on where you live and if it's possible to show that in fact the support was not up to snuff at the time of the remodel 2 years ago, you may be able to file a lawsuit.

Have you spoken to your insurance company at all concerning this? I'd have a claims agent come out to at the very least take a look.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 09:24

yea thats sounds about right. I was thinking that replacing tiles wouldn;t amount to the issues you had described. I've done a ton to my house as well and still have a messed up bathroom which is the only thing left.

Hooker > V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!
02/10/2015 at 10:01

So far they are doing it under their warranty because they didn't do it right. That's a temporary win. I don't want to involve the insurance company again unless I absolutely have to. It would be like another claim (spoke with my agent) and they can drop you after two.

Hooker > OPPOsaurus WRX
02/10/2015 at 10:02

Yeah, I left the bathroom to the last because it scared the crap out of me. Now I know why! :)

davedave1111 > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 10:05

I doubt the guy was expecting you to tell him exactly what to do. It sounds like a request for general information - the 'why' you mention, not the 'what'.

I can tell you from experience (in various fields) that turning up at the client site and assuming that what you were told is in any way accurate is a great way to waste time and cause confusion. The first thing you do is get things straight from the horse's mouth, because there may have been a screwup with the work order, or the client may be expecting something different to what your employer has sent you out to do, etc etc.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 10:15

when we first moved in we got a new washer and dry which came with free delivery and takeaway. the guys came to get the old washer/dry and couldnt get it out of the doorway because it was too narrow. I took the door off the hinges and it didn;t work so I took the door frame off and it didn;t work so I edend up having to reframe the wall to get a big enough opening. I put sheetrock back up but the bathrooms been in a poor state since day 1.

Hooker > OPPOsaurus WRX
02/10/2015 at 10:39

Wow. That's insane. Aren't homes fun? Especially the old ones but even the new ones have their quirks.

Hooker > davedave1111
02/10/2015 at 10:40

Fair enough. Honestly, the way these guys presented, they seemed like they just had no idea (even with a work order.) Some people are smart to do as you said and go to the horse's mouth but these guys weren't those folks. Sadly. I would have had a little of my confidence restored had they been.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 10:54

this one is ~1915. I cant figure out how the F they got them in. I even redid the kitchen which is next to the bathroom. I figured maybe they had slipped them thru the wall during the last renovation but I couldn;t see any evidence of the wall framing being disassembled. The window isn;t big enough to get them thru. I dunno how they did it. O and the house wasnt built with studs, it was small thees that they flattened the front and back. The stuff is so hard that I was shearing the heads of off drywall screws and even broke a bunch of tips of the screw bits for my drill

Hooker > OPPOsaurus WRX
02/10/2015 at 13:11

1915. That's awesome. Maybe they disassembled the appliance and reassembled in the room? I've seen it done to a dryer.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Hooker
02/10/2015 at 13:23

that seems like a lot of work to get them in ther. before this house i lived in a 1820 house, beautiful old Victorian. I was unemployed for a bit so I took that time to fix stuff. One of the projects was to restore the crown molding in the formal living room. I figured I'd slap some wood putty in there and sand it as smooth as I could. Turns out the moldings, which were about 10" tall, were not wood but all plaster. This made the job a bit easier as I could smooth out the cracks and fill it then sand it completely smooth. There were gaps between the floor boards so when I was done, if u went to the basement it looked like there was a coke fiend getting ready for a party .

Hooker > OPPOsaurus WRX
02/10/2015 at 14:14

Haha. That's exactly why I love old homes. I could have bought a newer home and pocketed somewhere near 10K for the bank but I love my old house. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Even if I had unlimited resources. When we were renovating the bathroom the first time, I found an old glass jar. It was stained and chipped. The date on it? 1923. It was amazing. I now have it proudly displayed on a shelf as a reminder of how far this house has come.