I can feel your pain here. We GC'd (verb?) our total renov/gut job and just moved back home. The upsides are that you have a certain amount of control and can deal with contractors directly. The downside of course, is the level of stress and pressure.

It was a 24/7 job for DH and myself for 5 solid months and believe me, we had our share of challenges. But we saved a boatload of $$ and are very happy with the results. Best of luck. I do hope things go smoothly for you!

I just learned today when the Ikea cabinet installer guys arrived that I should have had baseboards installed before cabinets installed.

Why? I don't have baseboards behind my cabinets.

I'm not sure why the baseboards would need to be up either, wouldn't you want to fit them to the cabinets? Are IKEA cabs different and need the baseboard behind?

I wasn't GC, but I did have a separate cabinet company I was dealing with doing install and also I purchased most of the materials. But that was close enough for me! I wouldn't want any more stress than that! I was sure to ask many, many times what each crew needed so I could ensure it was in place. It almost worked, but at least I could say they didn't communicate that to me or it would have been done.

Ikea are on leveler legs, not toekick platforms. With the legs, the base goes behind the cabinets (if it's not too tall). With the toekick platforms, the base usually dies into the cabinet side, so is installed after the cabinets. (Or that strip is.) It's still plenty doable after the cabinets are installed, so don't let them make you feel like that's a major error. It's not.

Still not sure what you're talking about for the spray foam though???

Thanks lazygardens for your input. There is a gap between bottom of sheetrock and floor. With my inexperience, I thought the guys just did the standard install. Now I'm wondering if they might have found it easier measurement wise to fit without having to do a small sliver of dry wall to fill the opening that remained after the full sheets were installed?? Hope that makes sense. Made their work easier I guess and I didn't know any better.

But I'm told now that little critters can enter the house through this opening, especially given that our foundation is "pier and beam".

Baseboards can still be installed later wherever there is no base cabinets. Problem will be beneath base cabinets in back behind toekick. Now that I look at it, I think if my tile guy had gone further in, the opening to the underside of the house wouldn't look so "vulnerable" to little critters. Not sure who to blame but that "ship has sailed" and now I just need to figure out what the options are to "fill in" that space now after base cabinets installed. I'll try to get a picture after the cabinet install too but below is before. Looks like there is some spray foam intermittently used but don't think it is enough.

I would seal off those gaps even where the baseboard is going over them. Hope you can get the area under the cabinets too!

Nice looking floor!

P.S. I have dealt with this kind of stuff all the time with the guys in control, so don't be kicking yourself for not being perfect enough. Neither are they. (And then it all gets covered up and you might not even know about it!)

This post was edited by snookums2 on Mon, Dec 2, 13 at 13:10

I don't understand the comments about having more control when being your own GC. I had a GC for our house reno and had total control. If you feel you don't have control of the job you've hired the wrong GC and you weren't prepared..

I'm not smart enough, savvy enough, patient enough or suffer fools gladly enough to be my own GC. I have always admired DIY'ers and those who act as their own GC for their respective talents.

Looking forward to seeing finished pics of your reno.

I didn't put baseboards behind my cabs either. Are you using the plastic legs with plinths or the metal legs without? I recommend the former because the plinths look better than the metal legs and the plastic legs are easier to work with. Then just run the baseboards up to the plinths.

BTW, a GC wouldn't understand these Ikea choices and peculiarities any better than you.

We GC'd our entire house building, are 3 weeks (we hope!) from moving in. Woo hoo!

I felt like we had more control because *we* chose our own subs, we chose our own cabinets, etc. It wasn't some builder giving us a limited list of what could go in the house - we had an unlimited list of vendors, subs, designs, etc. We did all of the legwork in tracking stuff down, in negotiating for good prices. We also didn't have to go through the GC with our changes/odd requests - we just told our carpenter what we wanted to do, and he did it.

I was just out at our house a little bit ago. There were some questions about tile placement, etc. Yes, carpenter (site foreman) was there; if he would've been GCing for us (he often GCs), he would have answered the questions on my behalf. But I was there, directly dealing with those questions and problems, I admit. Much more efficient and satisfying to be so directly involved, rather than trusting a GC to handle things for me.

Yes, GCing your own project can be huge. I've been on call 7 days a week since we started the project in March. I've answered the phone at all hours and frequently had to jump in the car with little warning to track down supplies or run out to the house. It isn't for everyone. But I think it's rewarding if you like being very involved in your own work.

OP - I'm sorry that happened to you. Except *everyone* makes mistakes, even "real" GCs. And if you were to hire someone to GC for you, that would have it's own set of hair pulling moments.

This isn't too bad. Just be glad you have a nice floor since you're going to be on your belly on it for a while! :P

One thing that was an advantage for me, in doing a "partial" GC, is that I could get items (like the retrofit LEDs that fit in boxes) that the contractor and crew had never heard of. The down side, was that I didn't know what I didn't know and no one volunteered to tell me, there were delays due to my need to shop for and choose some materials, and some things that I left up to the contractor (like ordering the window, having his crew install the custom cabinets, and relying on him to supply the drywaller etc) didn't work out to the best quality work every time.

You guys have all nailed it! Each of you are right. Best thing I can say is that I REALLY have done a WHOLE LOT OF HOMEWORK so that has saved me from the really big problems, I think (though we're not finished yet so I shouldn't brag yet.)

Main problem I have is that contractors, hardworking guys that they are, do not like delays so they try to answer questions "on my behalf" if I'm not around. Without being an "a-hole", I don't know how to communicate effectively enough that I want to be involved. Though I have been somewhat effective.

I think one mistake I've made is not to use GW enough. If I would have taken pictures of the drywall and posted here, I bet one of you at least would have noticed the gap at the bottom and said something about it.

Well - definitely making progress .. thanks for everyone's input and hopefully that might have saved someone else a similar problem.

Elphaba - I think it helps if you find a way to be on site as much as possible. That's hard to do - so you feel like you are doing something (not *watching* them!), but still being available.

This morning I went to the house early to start the fire in the stove, so it'd be warming up for the first crew to arrive. I answered some questions while I was there, discussed some minor issues. Later I went back out to sign for appliances and since I was there, I was able to answer more questions, etc. I always try to compliment them on their work as well - you know, keep things happily moving along.

One stray observation about this GC thing - some days it's been easy. Slow at times. But as we're coming down the home stretch here, you know what I'd like? The chance to take a shower/relax during the day and know I won't be interrupted. But I'm always ready for the phone to ring. And it often does. It's been a wild ride, and I'm glad we've done the GC thing though.

I have to agree that "effective communication" is crucial when it comes to acting as your own GC. If you have a hard time making your wishes known, or if you have hard time dealing with confrontations, or with awkward situations, you might not be cut out for the job.

jellytoast - you are 200% correct and you have described exactly why my work as GC is "problematic".

If the workers are ideal (and many have been), everything is great but if I have to "crack down" in any way, even if I try to be subtle, that is where the problems come in.

We are our own gc too for a whole house renovation. But we are also the crew :). Hubby was demo, electrical, plumbing, cabinet install (with me assisting poor guy lol), tile, drywall in the bathroom only. I was the paint crew (14 foot ceilings and tons of drywall repair ugh). The only thing we didn't do was the new heat system (my brother and dad) and the floor refinishers are coming Wednesday. It's been 8 months and counting of nearly every spare minute working on the house. Hopefully the end is near! I must say it has been nice having complete control after reading how much of a struggle it can be with contractors. But renovating a whole house (even though it's small) has been a TON of work.

I wish we had all of those skills, Chrissy! I think it's massively fun doing your own work - very rewarding. We were afraid we wouldn't know enough to pass code, though.

BUT we've done most of the caulking on our house (log houses can need a lot of caulking), dh is putting down the pvc tile in the shop, and this weekend we're putting the finish on the fir floors - about 1500 square feet of them. Of course we've done most of the site cleanup as the work has progressed. Most of our subcontractors have been very nice; the ones I worked with today (painting and tile) helped counter our sourpuss site foreman/carpenter!

If that wall is an outside wall, you can fill that gap at the bottom of the drywall with an insulation product I've seen at HD or Lowes. It looks like foam 'rope', maybe 1/2" in diameter or a bit less. You just stuff it in the gap. I used a lot of this behind the baseboards of my house when I tightened things up. Much less messy than spray foam.

Maybe I'm not getting the drift of this thread, but, You should have a small gap below the drywall. So water won't wick up the drywall. If you want to fill it with something that won't absorb moisture go for it. Mind you, that's just an opinion.

Curious, as I don't know Ikea cabinet particulars. Are you all saying that Ikea cabs need more support than the leveling legs they come with??

Elphaba, if it makes you feel better, there are enough threads on GW that suggest that if you had a GC, the only way your current situation would be different is you'd have a person telling you the contract (mind you, that THEY as the expert wrote up that was supposed to cover all the stuff that they should know would be involved in the scope of work and explicitly exclude things they recommended as necessary but you vetoed for whatever reason) didn't include the magic words that would make them responsible for this situation, and you'd be facing a change order to deal with it.

I have to say that if critters can get inside your walls far enough to reach that gap, they're too far inside as it is. You don't want a bunch of mice tunneling into your walls from the outdoors whether or not they can get right into your house.

meangoose - you and my husband are on the same wavelength. I'm leading the project but working 6 days a week, he has still tried to be very supportive and has been by my side as we have encountered numerous contractors whose interest in making this a successful project was minimal. Being able to show detailed plans rather than a loosely worded contract (except for drywall...) has helped considerably when things have gotten difficult. Oh well, I hope I can remember the good and not just the bad, once this is finished...