The Joys of Home Improvement - that would be sarcasm

Does anyone have an ice pick handy? A stab though the temple would be less painful at this point.  I desperately want to do home improvements (well have somebody do them), but each and every time we go to improve something, something goes wrong.

I finally dragged hubby to the floor store for the umpteenth time last week to see if we could finally agree on a color for laminate flooring.  We went to two different stores, and finally agreed on something (hallelujah!).  The owner came out the following day to give us an estimate, and we signed the contract.

Yesterday was the first day the guys were here, installing the floor.  They started in the family room and finished it beautifully by the evening.  Their work is wonderful, the trim work is excellent.

 

When hubby came home he walked across the floor.  I saw a "bubble" or high spot that indented when he walked over it.  We started walking around that area and found a few more similar spots - all on the same side of the room.  This was not cool, as we are paying big bucks for new and what should be perfect floors...right?   We marked the spots with blue tape, so they can be attended to today.  I wandered into the dining room, where they had prepped it with the under layment, and felt a big "ridge" going down part of the room.  I also felt a nail head that stuck out a bit.  If they put the floor down on top of all of this, we will have the same problem.

When the workers arrived today, I showed then the spots. They said "well, it's sloping".  Now, call me silly, but isn't part of the project making sure the floor is level before you start?  I also pointed out the ridges where the boards meet and stick up, in the dining room and living room.  Finally (they weren't too happy about it), they started sanding the ridges and doing a little prepping.  The noise was so incredibly loud I thought my eardrums would burst.  They are still down there sanding and hopefully smoothing it.  The owner came by and again, told me it's sloping.  I'm not buying it.  Even it it is - fix it!!  He is very nice, and hopefully will do the right thing.  I really am not one to complain, but when we are spending huge amounts of money, we expect it to be done correctly.  If the family room is left the way it is, the seams will start cracking open in no time.


There is sawdust everywhere now, my house is a disaster, I rammed my foot into a table yesterday, and hurt my back while trying to "help" move stuff.  I finally escaped to my room to escape the chaos (and to blog about it LOL - thank goodness for this outlet!).  Look how pretty (NOT) my house is:

OH and get this.  My DH called this morning and said that the color on the tv screen was kind of weird last night, and could I call someone to come and take a look at it today.  Now, I am assuming that the tv being moved yesterday is what caused the color to go wacky, so I said we should probably wait a day or two until they are completely done fixing that room, in case they need to move it again.  Well, no, he really wanted it done today. Ummm I am a little busy dealing with a few other things!

So there is Day 1 and part of Day 2 for you.  Wish me luck that they do the rest of the floors perfectly.  I cannot wait to share pictures of the finished job!

UPDATE: Good thing I didn't call the tv people, because they are pulling up boards in that room. I have no idea what they are going to do, but there is no way a repairman could even attempt to get in there.  So HMPH!

2ND UPDATE:  Hubby unplugged and plugged everything back into the tv...turns out a wire wasn't plugged in : )  Floor is just about done - just a little bit of trim work tomorrow...it looks gorgeous!  I'll post more pics soon.