Marilynne's World

We have problems Houston – solar people. Since signing the contract to get solar on our roof we have had no action. All of the milestones on our contract have been missed and they are in default of contract.

The next question is what to do about it. The first impulse is to request our deposit back, cancel the contract, and hire someone else. Now let’s stand back and examine that.

1. Can we get out of the contract?
2. Can we get our earnest money back?
3. What about claims from our dealer that they’ve already done a lot of work for us? (not that we’ve seen any effort besides dodging us on the phone)

We’ve heard a lot of excuses about work done, but needing to get a permit, needing to schedule it in, etc., etc.  The contract says they’ve reached their limit.  Now they want to make more promises to do the work.  Are they really ready to do the work?  Can they perform?  Do we want them to?

They claim to have made a plan and had it approved by the County.  Is that true?  How can we tell?  We haven’t seen the plans, though we are supposed to approve them before they go to permit.  Did they get it approved by the County or were they lazy and got it approved by our post-office city.  If it’s not the County they paid too much money to the wrong people.

To us, it appears that they’ve not remained in contact with us, not done the work in good time, not shown that they are reliable.  We want out.

The question remains, can we do it?  What about our report to Angie’s List?  How far should we go in listing our woes?  We’re still chewing on it, but we are not happy.

Marilynne

I'm putting my mind in a quiet place. I don't want to get too excited.

They have found my chosen door at another location, arranged for it to be picked up, and rearranged their schedules so that the last door will be installed on Tuesday, as well as repair to the damaged door frame.

I understand that construction projects (my doors appear to be a construction project) run into problems that need to be solved on the spot. My understanding is increased by their willingness to make it right.

The painter will be there and the installers will drive that poor quiet man crazy, but I’ll try to run interference for him.

I am so enjoying the anticipation of having a party with our family and friends. I am also enjoying that our daughters are doing all the work. The night after the party we’ll have an after-party for them to show our appreciation. Scaled back. Relaxed. Food brought in, but not catered.

I never realized, even when our parents were being feted on their 50th anniversary, what a pleasure it is to mark this occasion with family and friends. It’s not so much the party itself as having all our friends together at the same time just to have some fun.

So, I am looking forward to having the door project completed, although the last coats of varnish will go on after the party is over.

And I am REALLY looking forward to celebrating with our friends.

Marilynne

Just a door I found intriguing

My house is determined to just grow old and ugly.  At least it would seem to be that way.  Replacing the doors is a lot more than just pointing to the one you want and saying  “I want this one.”  And I did expect to lay out some money for them.  I did expect that.  But we ran into problems:

—-Because I didn’t want them to disturb the unique door jams I couldn’t go with pre-hung doors.  I was fooling myself.  One  door frame must be re-worked to accommodate an exterior door.  The garage door probably should have been.  They damaged the molding trying to fit it in.

—-Today I selected a new exterior door to replace the French door that couldn’t be installed because it was an interior door.  I could have special-ordered an exterior French door, but, you know, I’m tired of working on this.  I ordered another 9-light door (top half) just like the one that’s new on the garage door.  It costs less and I can have it sooner.

—-Today, and no later, I must seal the edges of the new doors.  Yes I hired a painter.  No, I have to do it myself because the 48-hours allotted for the task are almost over and the painter can’t come until Saturday – maybe.  I bought some sealer (1st step in the chain) to paint the edges with.  I hope that’s satisfactory because I really don’t want to paint these doors myself.

—-My painter (more money) not only can’t start until Saturday/Monday, but he’s indecisive and unsure of his abilities.  I know this to be a personal problem because he did an excellent – maybe even a super job of painting other parts of my house.  I’ve decided to go with a MinWax stain.  Now I have to call him and tell him so.  No problem.  He’ll do it my way – he just waits for me to tell him what to do.

—-Another painter problem – I ordered a very nice lock set for my very nice front door.  The installers put it on the door (thank heavens), but now my painter is uncertain that he can paint around it without damaging either the lock or the door.  He also won’t remove it while he paints.  I’m going to try to bully him into it because I believe he can do it.  We’ll see.

—-I have to pay extra because the door installers have to rebuild the door frame.  This is not a big job, but apparently it’s an expensive one.

—-The new door frame will have to be painted.  This is OK because they have to come back and fix the frame on the garage door and it will need to be repainted to.  I can paint door frames, I just didn’t expect to have to do it.

I was unhappy about all of this.  A supervisor at Lowe’s got involved and he very kindly gave me my bag of other items for nothing.  I didn’t ask him for it, but when he offered, I took him up on it.  I think there was a good $50 of  things in my free bag.  He’s good at customer service.

I would rather be thinking of nice things to do for my house full of company that’s coming.  However, my company gave me the incentive to do what I wanted to do for a long time – replace those three doors.

I’m pretty satisfied with the way Lowe’s is dealing with this (free goodies helps).  They do seem to be focused on helping me solve the problems.   The installers too have done a good job, but they haven’t got the customer satisfaction thing down yet.  When it’s all done I’m going to be a happy lady.  If there’s any money left in the budget I’m going to . . . silly me . . . when is there ever any money left in a remodeling budget?

Marilynne

Unpainted, but very classy front door

Two of my new doors are in and I’m waiting for my friendly painter to give me an estimate for staining the doors.  I decided against doing them myself.  I’m afraid of drips and uneven stains.

If you compare this picture with the one on the previous post, you’ll see I have a lot more glass in this door.  That’s because I want to see who’s at the door.  During the day, I need more light in the little entry hallway.  Today, whenever I look toward that area I think “the door’s open” and just as quickly remember it’s the new door.  It’s actually quite pleasant in that area now, not just a dark hole.

I was concerned about having such a large window in my door, but the installer assure me that you can hit it hard and it won’t break.  No hitting it with a crowbar and hearing glass tinkle.

I like the light color of the bare wood and have decided to stain the wood a maple color.  The installers had to shave bits of wood from the door so it fits right.  I asked them for the pieces so I can try out the stain on a bit of wood before committing to the color.

No need now to feel ashamed of my front door.  (Big smile)  The installers also put in a 9-light door between the garage and the verandah.  (When I buy doors, I buy DOORS.)  I needed the window in the door so no one gets bashed going in and out.  That’s a really popular door.

However, the installers said they couldn’t install the French Door in the laundry room.  Apparently in my excitement to have a French Door in that spot, and the Lowe’s guy being happy to find a door of the right width that made me happy, we failed to note that it was an interior door.  I need an exterior door.  So, we’re going to select another one with that criteria in mind.   Since I have two doors out of three, I’m willing to wait a little while to get what I want.

I can’t wait to see what the doors look like stained.

Marilynne