The Addition - Leaks, Squeaks & Creaks

The weeks have flown by as I have waited for the contractor to come back and finish this addition. Gullible and trusting to a fault, even I now recognize that he is not coming back. I think I paid him too much up front and now the remainder is so small that it isn't worth it to him to spend the time and money to finish.

We managed to put the shoe molding around the stairwell floor and everything is painted, albeit unprofessionally. Things always seem to crop up and today we need to spackle around the light on the wall on the way up the stairs. There is a gap around the light fixture base, which is apparently not something the painters believed to be in the realm of their responsibility. Never mind that I paid them the extra $250 for NOTHING. Certainly, that did not garner me any better quality of work.

I know I should not be sympathetic to the painters but everything was so rushed and stressful with the wood floor being put down the last day they were here. It just would have been nice if SOMEONE had taken the time to go over the job and see if something --- like the base molding just inside the living room and the crown molding to the left of the bookcase - might have been overlooked.

3 or 4 weeks ago, the contractor went on vacation for a week. He told me that while he was away, he would have the electrician (electrician's helper) come back to fix the light on the stairs, so it could be turned on/off from downstairs. He said the electrician (helper) would also do the wiring for the attic fan and the roofer would install the fan. The week came and went and I didn't hear from anyone. Finally, I called the electrician (helper) and the roofer and they said that Kevin, the contractor, never mentioned anything to them about coming here, or about the attic fan.

Kevin said he would be back here on Thursday, which I think was June 5. He was going to put the quarter round (shoe) molding on and fix the threshold, etc., but he has not come back.

This past Tuesday, he actually took my phone call. He said he had hurt his knee and was not working. He said in "a day or two" he would come and do what needs to be done here. I told him that we can't do the threshold but that I had done the molding, the painting, etc., myself. Kevin said he was going to get the electrician over here and that he was having the Heating and Air person do the attic fan. --- The electrician (helper) has called him repeatedly and Kevin has not called him back. He ignored my calls of yesterday. So I don't think he has any intention of contacting these people, nor does he plan to come back here.

Kevin Stevens always seems so nice and sincere but I guess I am not a good judge of character, after all.

I am left with bare wood showing near the old roof on the new part of my house and I am afraid that will cause it to rot. The roof is still leaking and Kevin's roofer said the whole back of the roof needs replaced - which he said should have been part of the construction. Naturally, Kevin denies that. The last time the roofer came to fix leaks, he put tar on the roof and it is on the white trim on the new part.

The $50,000 addition is too hot to stay in, despite having air conditioning. An attic fan is a necessity - so we will have to call and have one installed.

For three months we have been without a threshold under the back door. Today, my husband fixed one that is actually pretty OK.

Walking on the wood floor, with the squeaks and creaks, is sort of a shock after walking on the existing floor.

So we have leaks, squeaks, and creaks.

This entire experience has gone from bad to worse. It seems that once the painters came here the first time and started talking to Kevin about the job in Spanish Town, he completely left here, mentally. He got onto that and became completely disorganized, with his work of a very inferior quality. We have spent lots of money trying to get things done and he evidently doesn't care.