Reno starts tomorrow! Any words of advise?

11 years ago

Kitchen is finally cleared out. The rest of my house looks like a wreck but at least the crew will have a clean kitchen to destroy tomorrow. Ha!ha!

Hope this experience will be smooth sailing. Never done this before & I just hope the vision that's in my head translates to reality.

Thank you to everyone who's offered their suggestions & opinions. Definitely appreciated!

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Comments (17)

beekeeperswife
11 years ago
Advice? Make sure to book mark those margarita recipes that Breezy just posted. And make sure your corkscrew is not packed away.

Other than that...enjoy the whole process.

Oh, and take lots of pictures before the demo!!! And then all along the way!

Bee
kgolby
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, Bee, for the great advice.

The blender is somewhere in a box & I will be sure to get those margarita recipes. BUT the wine opener is very handy... :)

I took before pictures so I hope to post some after pictures soon.
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Dandylandy, I'm so sorry to hear about this mess. You unfortunately do need to talk to a lawyer now. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to file a lawsuit--sometimes a stern letter or three from a lawyer is all it takes. Also, depending on the value of this (what's the total cost of the cabinets?) you might find yourself in small claims court or in mandatory arbitration, which is a lot easier and cheaper than a full-on lawsuit. Where I live any dispute worth $25,000 or less goes into arbitration, which just means you and the contractor show up (with or without your lawyers, but obviously I'm going to recommend WITH, absolutely) and say your piece to a group of three local lawyers who volunteer as mediators, and that group of three lawyers decides how to resolve it. It's much cheaper and easier than an actual lawsuit. If you're in NY, perhaps the cap is higher than $25k. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you may not be looking at a lawsuit at all; that's not the only way the legal system has for resolving disputes like this. So, put plywood on your counters or some other temporary fix, DO NOT pay the guy another dime, talk to a few local lawyers who specialize in real estate or construction law (ask friends and your architect for recommendations) and pick the lawyer who seems best to you. The first step will probably be for him or her to write a mean letter to the contractor, and then you go from there. Oh, about this: **"Some of the things that really bother me could have been avoided with better communication - e.g. if they couldn't go to the ceiling with the cabinets b/c my ceiling isn't totally level (or something, I am just speculating), and they warned me about it, that would have been a lot better than telling me "Yes" and then not delivering."** I don't even see how that would be possible; if your ceiling's not totally level, then the cabinets would stop somewhere below the ceiling and it would be up to you to decide whether to build up the ceiling a little bit or put some moulding on to hide the gap. In other words I can't think of a legitimate reason that your ceiling would prevent you from having ceiling-height cabinets. I just mention this to cut through any BS you may have heard from the cabinet guy. Anyway, gather together everything you have in writing (including any drawings or mock-ups) and write down everything you remember saying to or hearing from the contractor. Have your architect forward you any emails she sent to or received from the contractor. Also go through your voicemail and see if he left you any voicemails that could be relevant. Then try and write up in one or two pages exactly what you understood he was supposed to build for you, in every detail (dimensions, materials, etc.), and then what he actually did build, and what problems that caused or will cause (e.g. plumbing messed up, plates won't fit, layout changed so cost increased). Also note any scheduling screwups that occurred. Go over it with your architect and your hubby (if any) in case they remember things you don't. Then send this write-up to the lawyer, along with a copy of your contract with the cabinet guy and any other really critical documents like emails where the contractor committed to something that wasn't clear in the original contract or where he said X but it later turned out he did Y. It will take less time (and thus cost you less money) for the lawyer to read this than for the lawyer to "interview" you to figure out what happened. Best of luck.
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mtnfever (9b AZ/HZ 11)
11 years ago
corkscrews get lost; screw-top wine for the duration :)

how exciting for you! you know we need pics, soon and often!!

cheers
williamsem
11 years ago

No water source or tools needed! Tastes just like a $9 Mai tai.
momand3boys
11 years ago
All I can say is that it is a good weight loss program. I was stressed out and couldn't get to the food easily. Lost 10 lbs! Hopefully you will have a nice group of honest workers in your house. I was lucky for that.
suzanne_sl
11 years ago
Non-alcoholic suggestions:

Go with the flow - think of this as your own private HGTV episode minus the mid-show OMG!!! that always comes up.

Go with the flow - it is perfectly fine to decide to have Cheerios for dinner. It's an adventure.

Go with the flow - if you're home during the day, retreat to the bedroom with a book (or TV if you prefer). Emerge every now and then to check on things and tell the workers how much you appreciate their work.

Go with the flow - if you can't find the corkscrew, buy another one vs losing it and driving your family over the edge.

Got kids at home? Feed them Cheerios for dinner. Take them to the movies. Let them make forts out of the cardboard boxes. Help them make a puppet theater from the cardboard. Give them hammers and nails and let them nail all the scrap wood together. Let them draw pictures on the subfloor the night before the new floor goes in. Let them graffiti behind where the lowers will be. Generally, kids think construction is the best thing ever.
Gooster
11 years ago
Hang in there... there are a bunch of us going through this at the same time... we started demo today!
eleena
11 years ago
Our kitchen was demo-ed 10 days ago. I made (quite) careful preparations, cleared most cabinets 3 weeks in advance but the new stuff managed to sneak into those already empty cabinets. :-(

The demo-crew showed up earlier than expected and we had to move all the last minute stuff out in a great hurry with DD screaming for attention the whole time - you know how that goes... :-)

The first day, I couldn't find anything but it all got better eventually. MW is my friend right now as well as our electric tea-kettle and portable induction cooktop. My best friend, however, is a bottle of brandy, LOL.

Almost everything is getting delayed but we are surviving on take-outs and "go-outs" - with occasional home-cooked meals. We decided to view it as a long camping trip. Ever been on those?

I am going to try those margarita recipes everyone is recommending. I did not pack away my Vitamix!

GL, OP! Keep us posted on the progress.
heidihausfrau
11 years ago
That is all really great advice! Love the one about the kids drawing on the subfloor and walls before the cabinets go in!
Have been lurking here for months--my demo starts in 2 weeks. I am excited!!
kgolby
Original Author
11 years ago
Sorry, guys. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong to have the pics in my post. GW says the string has some words that are blocked which won't allow the images to appear. If someone can help me out that would be great.

Good thing about reno's are I found my diamond earrings last night. I've been in denial that I lost them or I vacuumed them one day. I was cleaning out a drawer last night & there they were!! WooHoo!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kara's before reno & start of reno pictures

This post was edited by kgolby on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 10:32
deedles
11 years ago
How exciting!
angie_diy
11 years ago
What are you doing for a temporary kitchen? This was a lifesaver for us:
a2gemini
11 years ago
We had the fridge in the Dining Room, a DeLonghi countertop convection oven (never call it a toaster oven), and an induction burner - we survived and ate quite well!
A pair of perfect Zingerman's pot pies!
kgolby
Original Author
11 years ago
I moved the current refrigerator to the garage where it will stay. Thank goodness for having that appliance. They didn't demo the wet bar so I still have that counter space but not too much longer. Probably will be gone tomorrow. I do have a toaster oven which will be useful but like others have stated I think there will be a lot of take out dinners.
drbeanie2000
11 years ago
Get some sleep if you can! Trust me when I say that a 72-hour period of sleeplessness will not do anyone any favors. This is what happened to me - 24 hours prior to demo, 48 hours after. And that included sharing a whole bottle of prosecco with DH the day demo started, to the chant "de-mo de-mo de-MO! de-mo de-mo de-MO!" Alcohol can only get you so far.
chicgeek
11 years ago
Paper plates, bowls and cups and plastic cutlery-they kept our sanity for eating meals. We were lucky: our contractor let us keep our stove & fridge and set up a temporary sink and we had a portable island as a work surface (that was moved nearly every day). We had to come up with meals that didn't require alot of prep. And we ate alot of Subway and Wegmans $6 meals.
frankginakay
11 years ago
This was so good to read, since our demo is starting on Monday! Seems like I have been cleaning out cabinets for weeks. We are also taking out all the tile in the whole downstairs and replacing it with a different porcelain. We live in Florida, and that is what most people have. We will have no kitchen and a lot of dust....
Good luck, and please keep the ideas coming, I am already not sleeping.

Reno starts tomorrow! Any words of advise?

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beekeeperswife

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