Probably Christmas?

Please forgive me if the blog becomes a reconstruction rant for the next few weeks. Getting back into my house truly isn't the only thing on my mind, but it's certainly at the top of the list at the moment. And an especially frustrating item on the list at that.

When last we met, I was looking at about a two week delay to get someone to repair the rotted wood in my now dismantled shower. Thanks to my blessed handyman church member that problem has been rectified. He did an awesome job in fixing up the nasty looking studs and that shower ain't a-gonna be moving anywhere any time in the near or distant future! I couldn't have asked for a better resolution to that difficulty.

But then .....

The plumber's jackhammer guy came to the house and pounded the crap out of the concrete in the shower. After much chipping away, it was discovered that there's something weird about the way the original builder installed the shower foundation. The jackhammer guy consulted one of the owners. The owner stood there and scratched his head while trying to figure out how the heck to do the necessary plumbing so the marble can be installed. Totally perplexed, he left, still scratching his head. The jackhammer guy packed up his gear and headed off for the day.

Fortunately, the plumber did come up with a possible solution. Which meant the jackhammer guy had to come back the next day and pound some more crap out of the concrete. I may now have a permanent headache. *chuckle* Today, the plumber's supposed to come back to the house to do the plumbing work and then re-concrete the shower floor. He's not called yet, so I don't know when he's coming.

Ok - that was the good stuff. At least there will be some progress soon on the shower.

Then today started. I get a call about 7:30am telling me there'd been a cancellation on the schedule and the door installer would be able to come and install my doors today! Woohoo! Get the doors in and the shower fixed and the carpet/vinyl could go in only slightly off-schedule. Right? (wait for it)


WRONG!!

Turns out the guy who measured the doors and did the estimate on the installation mismeasured the front door. Two weeks to get the door reordered and back in. Then the installation has to be rescheduled. *sigh* Perhaps I'll be able to live in my house by Christmas.

The sliding glass door was installed, though. So that was a positive. But the weirdnesses associated with this house never seem to end. When the installer began the replacement, he discovered that the brick threshhold was an add-on which ended up serving the purpose of providing a most excellent source of unwanted moisture to the wooden portion of the threshhold, thus nicely rotting out the door's support. He chipped and levered the bricks out of their track, and now I have a 6-8" by 6-foot by 4-5" trough to be filled with concrete to level things up with the patio.

Maybe if the plumbing concrete guy comes by while the weather's still good, he might be willing to add my interesting trough to the indoor task. *pleads pitifully*

I am beginning to wonder why delays of 2-3 weeks keep popping into the picture. So, I'm going to get a window company that's been advertising in the paper to give me an estimate on replacing the rest of my windows. If it's not an unreasonable price and the timing of installation is right, I may go ahead and do that before getting the carpet and vinyl installed. Maybe in the interest of energy efficiency, and eliminating as many weirdnesses as possible while the house is still a torn-up mess, I ought to go ahead and finish things off. If it's not going to delay things by more than they are already delayed, then ... well, it's something to think about (and quickly!)

Here's hoping to something earlier than Christmas!