Home Improvement People
Terrible Work

Grievances Re Basement Renovation Jan. 12

1: Even though we signed the contract July 7/09, the permit application was not put in until Sept. 8/09 and that was only because I called on Sept 4 to ask when the necessary measurements would be taken. With work scheduled to begin Sept. 16/09, that only left 1 week for the permit to be issued. Quite improbable!

2: I learned Sept. 29/09from the town offices that a letter dated Sept. 22 was sent asking for changes to the heating and return air vents. I had to supply a copy of this as Elia was unaware of the letter.

3: When work finally began in late October the framer was the first person to start work. He proceeded to erect a stud wall with no attention to the standard 16” spacing for studs and cutting studs to a proper length. Some were so short that I could insert a finger under and over several studs. Small matters. The drywall will secure everything. He then proceeded to frame for the door in the middle of the wall, not to one side as the drawings indicated. Fortunately I was there to correct him. I had to ask for studs to be placed at each corner so that the drywall ends could be nailed.

4: The plumber then came in and broke the concrete floor to connect the drain pipe. When that was done and inspected he put back the gravel to cover the pipe leaving enough space for about one inch of new concrete. Again, I was fortunate to see this before it was filled and could insist on a minimum of two inches of concrete.

5: The floor was finished with a small trowel and the hardened concrete was high and low throughout instead of flush with the existing concrete. When I complained I was told: “You have been riding my ass from the start.”

To fix the concrete, the framer was sent in with a small disc sander. When I went down to see how he was doing, I could not go past the landing halfway down as the dust was overwhelming. Later when he saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and came upstairs, I saw that he had been working without any kind of dust mask. I couldn’t believe someone would be asked to work like this, doing something he” had never done before”. I had previously put up plastic sheeting from floor to ceiling to protect things we were storing in the furnace room area. This was not enough. The dust created by the sanding was too much. It even penetrated closed cupboards in a closed cantina. Another fellow came and broke the floor and put down new concrete. He seemed to have made the floor smooth, but he left the flood drain as it was-higher than the surrounding floor.

6: The framers then put up the drywall. However, the walls were not all straight, especially the left side of the bathroom where the vanity and shower controls would be

7: The tile guys put up the wall tiles and put down the floor tile, but they scratched one (behind the toilet paper holder) and installed a defective one to the right of the holder. They did not rely on spacers to maintain an equal spacing and it really shows on the floor tile

8: The plumbers came back to install the plumbing fixtures. They did not secure the shower head as I later found out. I had to ask for the vanity to be secured to the wall. As we found later, since the shower walls and curved floor section were not square and level, they could not install the glass shower stall properly and broke one of the panel in the process. They also forgot to have our artificial marble shower tray in place and drilled holes into the wall anyway. So the tile man had to come, remove four tiles and reinstall new ones.in breaking the glass panel, the floor tile was chipped. He replaced the chipped piece and installed the marble threshold. I caught him as he was putting silicone instead of grout in between the threshold and the floor tile. I then had to stop him from putting a different colour grout in its place. I later noticed that he used that different grout where that chipped piece was replaced.

9: The plumber said he had to put in an extra vent for the bathroom and he had to connect it to the main floor powder room vent. This required breaking the wall and removing the vanity. This added $630 to my bill. I learned from the plumbing inspector that this was not necessary as the vent connection could have been done in the unfinished basement ceiling.

10: Some small issues.in removing the excess gravel from the house, a trail of gravel was left on my lawn. Since it was not cleaned up before the snow came, I suppose it’s up to me to clean up in the spring. The workmen that came to clean up the floor took the grout I had supplied and my push broom. The grout was returned in time, but not used, for the extra tile work noted in #8. I never got my broom.

11: In correcting the shower stall base, I discovered that when that little curved wall was built no attention was given to using the proper materials, i.E. Waterproof drywall or concrete board, before installing the tile.

12: All through this project my Reno was treated as fill-in. I would be told a certain trade would be coming and then they would not show up that day.

When someone would come they would some framing, some drywall, some plumbing and leave. For instance, framing that should have taken a day (or less) took more than one week. It was the same with the work of the plumbers.

Items to Be Fixed or Completed

Jan. 15

1: Showerhead assembly has to be secured to wall

2: Drain in laundry area floor has to be fixed so water will drain

3: Gap in drywall over door has to be filled and made smooth

4: Wall over bathroom vanity has to be made straight & smooth

5: Other walls have to be finished straight & smooth

Company: Home Improvement People
Country: USA

  <     >