Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dealing with Delays

Things are not real great right now.  We are a few weeks behind schedule with the new house.  We had hoped to move in on the first of April, but due to circumstances beyond our control, delays happened.  The new move date is the fifteenth.  We were looking like we were right on target and then....the plasterer blew us off today.  If he comes tomorrow, which he said he would, it will still take him until late Thursday to finish (if all goes well)


Because the plaster then has to "cure" for three days, that means we have to cancel the big painting weekend we had planned.  My sister and her husband, our daughter and her beau, and my younger brother had all offered to come and help us get the painting done this coming Saturday and Sunday, but now the walls won't be ready.  I also had to postpone the carpet install until next Wednesday.  


Here you see the walls with blueboard installed, waiting for the plasterer.  It sure looks different from a few weeks ago, doesn't it?  Mac created a hallway between the two small bedrooms, and took out two big windows, replacing them with smaller ones which fit better in the spaces.  These two  rooms will have pocket doors so we don't have to lose any living space to the door swing areas.


That's Mac in the shot above.  He looks really tired these days.  He has been going from his day job straight to the house and staying until after midnight for months now.  He needs a vacation.  Here, he is plotting out how to pull up the floor in the upstairs master bedroom to add a supporting beam.  He saw it bounce as my tiny niece was jumping on it last weekend, and decided he couldn't live with himself unless he pulled up the sub-floor and rectified it, which he did in record time, finishing it in the wee hours of this morning.  He worked like a madman to be ready for the plasterer, and then the guy stood us up today.

On a very bright note, my brother has donated all our paint (gallons and gallons of it!) and my sister and her husband went over to the home center and astonishingly, paid (in full!) for the carpet we'd ordered!  I am so lucky to have such a caring, generous family - we have come to realize during this ordeal that they are truly our best friends, and we so appreciate all the help they have given us. 
 
We are determined to stay with our deadline for moving.  The only thing we can do now is for me to take next week off from work to try and get it all done, so I'm going to talk to my boss and see if I can get the time.  We are moving in on the fifteenth of April, come hell or high water.  The next time I write we will be in our new home.  Wish us well!