A slap in the face...

I guess the guy doing the hardwood didn't like it when I noticed a repair job he did.  There seemed to be a big sliver of wood missing on one piece of the floor right near the doorway to the master bedroom.   I have no idea how it got damaged in the first place, because our floor was in pristine condition before any of this renovation began.  However, there it was...and he had repaired it by using some gummy dark brown putty.  Not only did it look ridiculous, but, it had sharp edges and was dangerous.  I told him it was not going to do and he would have to replace the piece instead of the tacky repair job.

This is what he did.

To me it is like a slap in the face.  He cut out a five inch piece and replaced it with this.  As far as I am concerned, he did it on purpose.  I didn't notice til after he left the house.... and then he was gone on holiday for 3 weeks.  So...it will remain like it is for another week or so.  The contractor said..well, now it looks worse than it did before.  Gee, ya think?   And, I know for a fact it won't be staying like that.

Why would a professional hardwood person do something like this?  A rookie wouldn't even try a trick like this.  How dare they call themselves professional at all?  This is not professional.  This is just downright ridiculous.  And infuriating.

I could slap him all the way around the block.

The stupidity continues.

No word from the cabinet people when the panels will be ready for the dishwasher or the fridge .. ..or when the other drawer will be done..or when we can expect any work to be completed on the too large opening for the oven or the too large opening for the microwave.
So...we wait.  In the basement.  Except for when I am cleaning upstairs...in anticipation of moving some furniture up sometime soon.  One room is now ready for occupancy.  The small bedroom.  The painters finished some touch-ups today.  I got the floor washed in that room yesterday and also the windows... there was an area on the ceiling they forgot after drywall repairs and sanding..but, that got done today.  Better do it now than have them jumping on the bed doing the painting.  They would.

The floors must be washed on hands and knees...in order to get all the stubborn, sticky, fine drywall dust from beneath the baseboards.  It is not as easy as sliding a mop around..... and my knees will only take one room at a time.  So... today I just did a few cupboards and drawers instead... baked a batch of muffins in my little toaster oven and thought about digging out some small furniture to move in......

In floor heating..

...   in the ensuite bathroom.  The tiles were laid yesterday and Saturday.... but, now the room is piled high with doors, a bathtub and the surround for it ...some shelving and oh, yes... sandpaper.  Sandpaper for the big sanders....

The hardwood (which is everywhere except the bathrooms) was given a first sanding today.... then, coated with filler and the second sanding is underway.

WOW.   I was a total skeptic when the contractor told me the hardwood sanding would be "dustless".  Yeh...right ...and I'm the Queen of the Nile.  I can't remember my exact words...but, they probably were more or less that...or maybe shorter four letter ones....can't say for sure.

Well....it is.  Dustless that is.  Totally.  I'm still in shock.  And, I love it.
                                                           

The sanders have big bags on them...... plus they are attached to long vacuum cleaner hoses that lead to this.... two vortex vacuums.  Almost 90% goes into the small one...and the really fine stuff ends up being siphoned off into the larger one....somehow.....

Sanded entryway.. .. the old hardwood...with patched areas...

Now that I can see that beautiful wood under there all sanded and pristine, I just want to leave it like that!  No stain, no colour not even any lacquer ... it looks amazing...

But, ...colour we must.... and choose we must......drat......

it's December ....

hhahahah...no it's not!  But, it seems like Christmas to me!  And, I want you to know that I risked life and limb clambering over plenty of "stuff" in the crammed storage space to find my tiny tree for this shot!  It just had to be done didn't it?

Mr. BV said no way will you ever find it and if you do see it...you definitely won't be able to get to it....hah!  Oh, yeh?!

Boxes were delivered.... but, they are tightly wrapped ....and then...nobody came to open them the next day or to install the cabinets inside ....sigh.

The contractor showed up later in the day and seemed surprised that I hadn't opened at least one to get a sneak peek at my new kitchen.  It is strange I suppose.  But.. with some things? ....I AM patient....  not many, but some......

As you can see, there is some colour on the walls.  They add colour to the primer coat .. so you get an idea of how it will look.  Too dark for me...too blue-ish for Mr. BV...   back to the drawing board.  Or paint chips as it were.....don'tcha hate how tiny they are ?  Who can tell what a whole wall or room will look like ....  I mean really?  Yes, you have sort of an idea...but no, not really.

Doors, casings and window mouldings were also delivered...

As you can see.....the "dust bunny" as they called her, was also around.  She vacuumed all areas to remove most of the drywall dust after the taper left.  Wow... it looks darn good in photos ... real life, ..... nyehhh.....  not so much.

Still plenty of mud, dust and stuff all around..

The hardwood has been patched in all the areas where we extended rooms and moved walls ...we pushed the walls back almost three feet in the master bedroom.........

oh, and yeh...where the kid with the skill saw got careless....

All patched areas just very lightly sanded for now....the whole floor will be sanded and refinished closer to the end of the reno.......it's tricky to keep up with the progression of steps really.... like painting a first coat before hardwood being done etc.  But.. apparently it is better to paint the primer onto the newly taped and sanded drywall...for protection during the rest of the things being done.  There will, of course, always be damaged areas that need touch up.

This area near the front door.... ..... you can really get the idea in photos perfectly.  It has always been a danger zone.

Can you notice that there is a step down from the living room onto the foyer area?  It is pretty much invisible with the grain of hardwood going in the same direction .... and several people have taken a misstep there.  So...this time we had a lighter strip of Maple wood inserted into the area,  I hope it is enough to give people the clue.  It had to be repaired anyway as we widened the doorway.  The doorway below is my hobby room.... which also now has a wider doorway and some French doors will be hung there instead of just the original pocket door.  Here is a shot of the bottom of the step.  You can see the step from the lower side no problem.......still needs a piece of hardwood inserted there as well...

.......... it continues.......................................