Twenty twenty has gone beyond what I call jumping hurdles to straight out punches that leave you dizzily starry-eyed wondering around in circles wishing you could find a hurdle you could flip yourself over to the other side to see if you have any luck escaping it. I called a company a few weeks back because I wanted to remodel the kitchen, put in a dishwasher and stainless steel appliances. Someone who was going to help me with the project said I had a slump where the stove sat and I'd need to get that leveled out if I was going to expand the cupboards over a bit. I didn't just call anybody I called someone I knew another person had used with no problem, also checked with the Better Business Bureau and on Yelp for any complaints, there was none. He came out and looked at it then later that evening he sends me a quote of two thousand dollars to replace what he called a rotted beam that sat below the stove, he said if they had to put in a new footing it'd cost another fifteen hundred. I agreed and he said he'd give me a call in a week when they had a couple slow days ahead of them, after that he said they'd be busy for two to three weeks. I had the five hundred dollar deposit and figured by the time he billed me for the rest I'd have it rolled over into my home equity loan I was doing at the time. I was planning on doing that and having new doors and storm doors put on. The plan was to have the duplex up and rented by the first of December so I could cash in on a bit more rent since rents around here have skyrocketed.
The morning he came he called first and said they were on their way. I go downstairs and I am doing dishes and they still hadn't gotten there. I went back upstairs when I was done and notice they had called. I call him back and he said they were there but no one answered the door. I asked him what side he knocked on and he said both. I told him I never heard him knocking and was downstairs doing dishes so I should have heard him. He said he was going to call the guys and send them back over.
His guys show up and I take them through what he said. They got all excited and said, "lady do you know how much digging we'd have to do to find a footing, he never said anything about a footing!" Taken aback by that I just replied I was telling them what he told me. They then go out to the truck and haul in their stuff. First thing that comes out of one of their mouths is "we didn't bring a post tall enough". I guess I should have said if you don't have the right size post then maybe you should go get one, sort of making it clear but one guy said he'd have to run back for one so I took it at that. I go upstairs and leave them to do their job. A little while later I go down to see how things are going. They inform me that they will have to lift the post at the other end of the cabinets to make things level. I told them what I told the owner that it would seem to me that you'd have to lift that spot and also lift the two post supporting the steps to make that entire area level...which is opposite where these two are telling me it needs to be lifted. Again they said he never told them that. The reason it needs to be lifted where they claim is because instead of going to get a post the right size or one they could cut down to the right size they just jerry rig the situation as can be seen in the photo above. In that situation though you are pretty much stuck with what you have to work with so they took a smaller four by four, cut it and placed it on top of the post that was to short. Now they were stuck with it's to high...so to them that's the reason they have to lift the post on the other end of the cabinets, in essence they created a "new problem". Instead of taking out a slump they created a bump. These guys call themselves professional house movers, Rollaway Movers is who they are known as, I'd hate to see what any house they move may look like afterwards as this story only gets worse. I look down and my footing is what you could describe as a patio brick from Menards broken in half and placed under the post...
In the back of my mind I am hoping I am not getting charged fifteen hundred dollars extra for that. To me there definitely must be a difference in what the owner considered a footing and what they considered a footing but maybe not as when I took it up with the owner they came here with a post that wasn't long enough it probably was because it looked like something he'd taken out of somebody else's house. He told me he had it laying around the barn from another job they did. "Exactly, taken out not to be put in someone else's house". He then tried to deflect away from the issue by telling me it was micronized wood. Well you know if he took it out of someone's house and it's micronized chances are it's the outlawed micronized wood and not the legal micronized wood. You look at that post and you can tell it's been around for awhile, grayed, cracked, chipped, gnawed looking, I mean really for two thousand dollars you'd think they'd at least throw in a new post.
Anyway, back to the two guys he sent over. They tell me they have to raise the post at the opposite end of the cabinets, to do so he said we'll have to cut around these sewer pipes in case they move. Which it's okay if you want to guess what they did next, it's fine, relax, feel free, guess. Yup, they didn't saw around the sewer pipes and ended up knocking off the gasket to the main drain. I told them it was no biggie, it was getting a bit worn and I was planning on replacing it anyway so I'd just go up to the hardware and get a new one. To me it was a small price to pay for not having to do such a crappy job. I come back with it and while putting it on they realize they also knocked off the one to the kitchen sink. I went back to the hardware and bought the size they instructed me to get. I come back and it doesn't fit. While standing there I noticed they started a leak in one of the water lines. I told them if they were planning on me fixing it they'd have to put up with a few expletives. Old plumbing like that you touch one thing...and well you know, something else gives. The guy says it's no problem they'll go to the hardware and get what's needed to fix it and return the gasket that doesn't fit and see if they have another size. While they are gone I take a look at what they had done to "fix" the post they said needed to be lifted. They cut a couple pieces of wood and stuck them underneath.
I guess one was not enough and two were to many as I was about to find out. They come back and he hands me a dollar out of a twenty I gave them. I thought it odd since they returned one part and bought another and two metal pieces. He cut the pipe where the leak was then applied them and screw them together. Pretty niffy I thought, I'd have to remember that trick. I told them while they were gone I took a look upstairs and now the floor was bumped up where they put that wood under the beam. We go up there and all they can say is that the cabinets are level now. Well the cabinets may well be level but it was slightly at one end of the cabinets and under the stove where the slump was and the slump was still there. If you look good at this picture you can see what I am talking about.
You can see where it appears the two cabinet doors to your left the floor seems elevated more than the floor under the two doors on your right. Here's another look looking at it based on how the trim under the cabinets look.
On the far left the trim has been pushed up, it no longer looks even all away across. All they could keep saying was the cabinets look even now, they were totally oblivious to the fact that the slump under the stove was still there where I was going to extend the cabinets out to and that they created a bump in the kitchen floor. The cabinets were always even, it wasn't until you got to the very end of the cabinets on the right where the post failed underneath onward toward the stove and beyond the floor slumped. By failing to use the proper size post they created a hump, now the cabinets to them wasn't even, what they needed to do was use the proper size post to lift that spot then on the other side of the stove, two feet from the stove, were two more post, supporting steps to the basement, one on each side of the duplex that needed slightly elevated and that would have solved the problem, how in the heck they created all this mess is beyond me being "known" experts in their field. It was about getting out a slump so I could extend the cabinets over not some supposed leveling of cabinets, the cabinets were already level, they'd stayed level if they'd removed the slump because the slump barely had any effect on the cabinets it was mostly under the stove and towards the basement door.
The owner, after going round and about with him over it said they were going to come and explain it all to me the next day. Really?, they are coming over to explain it to me? Not fix it. Not I'll have a look and see what the deal is but to "explain" to me why I hired them to remove a slump that still exist and got an extra "bump" out of the deal. I really hope I don't look that gullible. Needless to say I didn't answer the door.
About that change I mentioned earlier?...here's the receipts, one showing them returning the one part which went back on my debit card, the other shows the cash transaction when they bought the right part and the metal piece they put on the plumbing pipe, as I said they came back and handed me a dollar, they kept the other ten bucks. I didn't look at the receipts when they gave them to me I just sat them aside, I just thought the right part must have cost more plus the metal fitting they bought brought it to more. Last thing from my mind was they had ripped me off yet again. I should have gotten a brand new post the right size and a much better job done from people who call themselves professionals. It behooves me to wonder why they don't have any complaints flooding out on the net somewhere.
Overall I just feel a bit overwhelmed about the whole situation now, it goes beyond just being able to repair cracks and paint, there was all the damage done to the tongue in groove boards that had to be removed to put the post in, the removal of the electrical on the wall and the disconnect of the hot water heater. I really can't try and put everything back until I solve this situation and all the contractors are weeks out because of covid and a lack of supplies on the market to keep their schedules. It may be the absolute dead of winter before I can finally get someone to even come look at it. Top it all off I thought I could spell natural gas over there, then someone else said they thought they smelled it so I called the gas company and they found three leaks, there goes a few more hundred dollars. This year is so awful rotten I think when it gets close enough to midnight on December 31st I'll be diving like a baseball player to get out of this year before something else happens.
