Renovations – Day 2
Today was supposed to be relatively low key but was full of some surprising ups and downs.
Plumbing was the theme! Our new house was built in 1996 and has polybutylene pipes. Even though there were no leaks or signs of failure in the pipes, getting them replaced was a high priority for us since they are a possible ticking time bomb. Josh met the plumbers at the house this morning, and they got to work cutting holes in the drywall to replace the pipes.
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The first win of the day was learning our main line wasn’t polybutylene! This saved us nearly $1,000 off the estimate. Praise the Lord. They also sent three plumbers to get two days’ work done in one since they aren’t able to patch the drywall until it stops raining.
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I seemed to have forgotten all about this savings when Home Depot called and walked me through the estimate for replacing the carpet with the sample I picked out. It was more than I expected, and the sample I liked was special order, so it would take 7-10 days just to get the carpet cut (likely not able to install before we move). I asked the helpful rep a dozen questions – what if we only did the master bedroom, what if we changed this or that, etc. I ended up telling him I wasn’t going to be able to fully decide on the phone. He emailed me two variations of the quotes we discussed and sent the information to the store nearest our new house, so I could talk to someone there when I was ready.
I spent a few minutes looking at different types of carpet (tangent: did you know some people pay outrageous amounts of money for carpet? Like 4x the amount per square foot than what I’m looking at? Madness.) and found that another sample we had liked would bring the price back into budget range, and we’d be able to finish both rooms instead of just one.
I was still a little put out about having to drive to Marietta today since I was hoping to have a day off. The weather didn’t help either. Major thunderstorms and rain meant inches of standing water on 75. As it was pouring down rain during my drive, the sun was shining, and I remember thinking, “Where’s my freaking rainbow?”
I got one ten minutes later! I am so thankful that even when I’m an ungrateful, snarky little whiner, the Lord still takes a moment to show me his goodness.
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The next up came from meeting Vinny. Vinny is a flooring specialist at the Marietta Home Depot, and he’s the bomb. I told him about my quote, pulled out some samples I already had, and asked him to show me samples that were under $2 per square foot. He walked me through what they had at that price point, and I found a sample in the same color, almost the same thickness, for well under $2 per square foot. It was also one of the “72 hour” carpets, so they guarantee it will be installed before we move. Win, win, win. Back on the up and up.
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Josh asked me to stop by the house on the way home to make sure the plumbers locked up and latched the crawl space. I brought a new canister of Clorox wipes with me to get started on cleaning the kitchen cabinets since we want to get part of our kitchen moved in this weekend.
I am a type-A neat freak. I enjoy cleaning, but cleaning the messes that someone I don’t even know made grosses me out. Long story short, these cabinets were filthy. I used the entire canister (75 wipes) and didn’t even finish all the drawers. There’s a reason for shelf paper, people!
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Even though there were some low moments for today, it was certainly net positive. Every day the house gets a little better and gets one step closer to being our new home.
Sara Morrison 