Why can’t it just be simple?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Ok, first and foremost I’m going to make it very, very clear that I have precious little to complain about. Given the readily obvious contrast of those that live under oppression, struggle in abject poverty, suffer in conflict and worry about how they will feed and shelter their families we should not enjoy the enviable luxury of decrying the inconveniences (which is truly what they are) in our lives. My child will go to bed this night with a full stomach, roof over his head and nothing more than the faint sound of traffic to lull him to sleep.
So, that being said and will the clear context that I’m being a petty American, why the heck is it that seemingly simple things tend to become so unnecessarily complex? Those who have been visiting our site may recall the images of our condo here in California. We bought it in July of 2006 and have enjoyed its central location and solid construction, albeit with a few things we wanted to change. The first project was to remove some nice (if you happen to live in say, a bar) pitch-black marble and replace it with laminate flooring and tile. That did much to lighten up the hallway and bath and it eliminated the prospect of our sailing naked through our home, sliding on Teflon-slick when wet marble. So…a good start. Step two was the bath. Unnoticed (perhaps, to be fair, not present) during the inspection was the separation of the tiles in the shower from the wall. Basically we had a when will it fail situation staring us in the face, one that we were reminded each time we took a bath.
As these things tend to go, we kept thinking about it then forgetting it. We went as far as to get some tools (including some Mabel’s Dad sent my way – either a gesture of encouragement or an indication that he once again forgot my utterly LACK of home repair skills) but we never did it. Each and every person we asked made it quite clear that tile removal and installation is hard. Extremely hard. What is easy about it is doing it incorrectly – failing to cut them to the correct size, laying them out unevenly…you get the drift. No way. This fella was not about to swap mediocre for lousy. So, we hired someone.
Someone, we assumed, that could handle the limited task of replacing the tile and handles and such. Yes, we were smart and pulled back from the pie in the sky plan of shifting the plumbing and redoing the vanity and lighting. Keep it (cheap) simple. Perfect.
So the tiles are chosen, the handles selected, the matching curtain and bath mat waiting in the wings. The job itself quoted for two days…two and a half tops (hey the tile has to set, no big deal). We can even shower in the condo’s clubhouse or at the gym – this will be a cake walk.
Not so much.
To put it succinctly, we were faced with the home repair gremlins around each turn. Part one was easy – the tiles came right off no problem. Of course the fact that they had been coming off the wall of their own accord was a rather facilitating little piece of luck – but it was double-edged, as it led us to believe it was all going to go that simply. Nope. I won’t bore you with all the details, but let’s just say the original drywall was different, the valve stems were different, the handles were different – basically nothing matched as planned. That two-day job? 9 days to complete. And when I say complete, I mean completed with compromises…not the handles we picked, not the curtain rod we wanted, not even with a ready for prime time tub. As it stands, the tub guy comes in a two days to redo THAT.
…and guess who decided enough with hiring someone; that we’ll do the vanity ourselves?
Movies:
None, actually. We’ve been looking at ‘The Prestige” and “Transformers” sitting on our TV for a couple of weeks now. I expect the latter to be awful, but c’mon Optimus Prime in full digital glory? I have to see it at least once. The former was recommended to me, I hope it will prove a *cough* magical experience.
New pics of Nicky up on his page – check them out!