Vim Fuego posted:

Slanderer posted:

since the board is held on by bolts and not screws, I actually have no idea how this effects the capacity. I suspect it's based on the size of the bolt head and if the shelf is wood or veneered MDF.

but as dumb as it is, i bet it probably wouldn't fail for anything they actually use it for (especially since the TV is so close above--too close to use it as a bookshelf)

Vim Fuego posted:

Vim Fuego posted:

Hey sorry this isn't about government contracting fraud, but

quote:

Many of you commented on my previous post asking about a contractor who cut my floor joists. There were so many comments I couldn't begin to respond. As things with the GC continued to devolve I decided to go quiet until things got sorted out, just in case he happened to come across the post. To answer everyone's question, yes, we fired him. How we got there was quite a ride. Here is a small dump of photos to accompany this post It's long, so the TLDR is that the GC did a crappy job on the fix but we ultimately got there. He became a complete dick and asked us to immediately sign a waiver of his liability or else he quits. We fired him and have found a new GC who is going way out of his way for us.

After my last post, the GC attempted to repair the joists with straps. Obviously this does not fix things. I told the GC I was not comfortable with this, and he attempted to tell me this is a common and acceptable fix. He then attempted to reassure me by saying "Plus, the cabinets will be below this section." Yes, he really tried to tell me the cabinets are structural.

At that point I insisted we cease work until an engineer can design a fix. I spoke with an SE friend who was not able to take the job but could look at the home and quickly advise me. He assured me that the damage did not put us in immediate danger and did not need temporary reinforcement. It was just likely to sag over time.

We hired an engineer who came up with a plan to span headers between good joists to support the weakened joists. I obtained a copy of the stamped plan and approved the go-ahead.

When I got home from work, I found that the GC did not complete the work to the engineer's drawings. The plan was to reinforce the un-notched joist between the two sections of notched joists. Then a header would be run from that reinforced joist to the untouched joists on either side of the notched joists. However, in one section he ran the header from the reinforced joist to a notched joist.

I called him to ask about it and he said the plans were wrong, that there was no good joist to run it to. This is not true, but I've learned by this point that arguing that would get us nowhere. As a special touch, the GC used some used wood that is painted. I am thinking he pulled this off someone else's deck on the way over or something.

We now have to have the engineer come up with a second set of drawings. We will build up the back side of the cut joist which is attached to the header so that it is supported by the chase wall below it. That's better explained by looking at the drawings and photos I linked.

Once that work is done, I tell him I have not yet seen the drawings for this work and I am not going to allow sheetrock to go up until I see those. He assures me I will see them tonight. So we decide to use the evening to shop for backsplash tile.

On the way home, GC emails us the drawing saying "Please sign by 6:15." That was in 15 minutes! I open it up, wondering what he is asking me to sign. It's the drawings, plus some sort of affidavit that I can only assume he expects me to sign to release him of liability.

My wife calls him to ask what this is all about. He tells her that it's nothing more than "a statement of fact." In a short conversation, he tells my wife that I'm an rear end in a top hat and he doesn't have time for this. He gives her 30 minutes "or we are done." Eff this guy, I'm eating some dinner with my family.

As my wife and I talk about what we are going to do at this point, which certainly doesn't include signing this thing, he texts my wife "Tick tock. Time's up!" We text him back saying we aren't signing.

The next morning we begin working out the details we need before we fire the GC. We need to know if our cabinets have been paid for by the GC or how we can secure them, and we need to know if the electricians can still come by and finish the job without going through the GC. We call each of them, and they say they will get back to us since the person who answered can't help directly without talking to someone higher up in their respective company.

Almost immediately after those calls, we get a call from the GC, who is suddenly singing a different tune. For the first time, he is taking ownership of his mistake - but not really cuz he's also blaming the HVAC guy. He's being super friendly and denying that he said he would quit. We end the call and decide to leave him hanging while we look for new contractors, just to make sure we can recover.

We found a new contractor who is significantly more expensive, but is SOOOOO good. He is over a year and a half out on new jobs, but he says he will see what we can do. We txt the GC telling him we want to end things amicably, paying for the electrical and HVAC work and he agrees to release the cabinets to us. He says OK, so we send him a termination letter and request an itemized invoice. At the time of this post, we have not seen that signed or seen an invoice.

By the next evening our new GC has his guys over trimming and shimming the studs, which the original GC wasn't even going to do. His guys stayed there late, did meticulous work, and cleaned up thoroughly before thanking us and heading out. What a difference! The GC has got sheetrock lined up for Monday and has agreed to get us through the cabinet install, and we can discuss options for next steps once we get there.

sporklift posted:

I'm looking to replace some windows in my house so of course Instagram has me covered.

gvibes posted:

There is an architect I like who is good for one ridiculously over-engineered mechanical feature in every house:
Nice door!

gvibes posted:

There is an architect I like who is good for one ridiculously over-engineered mechanical feature in every house:

gvibes posted:

Very practical lighting lowering/raising system

Phanatic posted:

Cyrano4747 posted:

So did they just think the 4 foot high ceiling was normal or something?

quote:

Bit more info: we bought the vacation home in the 90s and there was already an old wooden hut with an outside kitchen. Inside there was a lower doorframe leading to the pantry (driver's cabin of the bus) and the bathroom (back of the bus). We always wondered why the ceiling was so low but never put it together until today

To adress a few questions that came up multiple times in the comments:

yes, I and my family are very small

having a small 'Schrebergarten' in Germany isn't a rich-people-thing (post-war history is interesting, the 'right' to have a spot to plant produce on a small green patch of land is still a thing)

it's not unheard of to have started a vacation plot/lot(?) with just a camper-van and then expand (it usually just got replaced instead of incorporated in the structure)

the low ceiling was never weird to us considering all the info above and looking at other huts in the community

not everyone on the internet is from the US - no need to insult me on the basis of your american understanding of the world

Phanatic posted:

Phanatic posted:

Wingnut Ninja posted:

You're gonna be thankful for this one when you get a bad case of food poisoning and it starts coming out both ends at once.

Wingnut Ninja posted:

You're gonna be thankful for this one when you get a bad case of food poisoning and it starts coming out both ends at once.

Motronic posted:

There is a 0% chance this person will be able to keep that place insured. They just haven't had the property insurance company they picked do a drive by and notify them of the 30-day termination yet.

PainterofCrap posted:

God I wish. There are very few underwriting-sent inspections at policy issuance. The agents are supposed to do it, but labor's been cut to the bone over the last 20-years.

Nighthand posted:

Basically.



Pre-demo album: https://imgur.com/a/IrBZqbM
Album from the demolition: https://imgur.com/a/zRjnmk8
Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/uicurg/were_demolishing_our_old_vacation_home_after/

Phanatic posted:

`Nemesis posted:

Bad Munki posted:

Looks like a small cabin type place on a lake, literally nothing is off the table with those, and weird "features" are the norm, so yeah, a weirdly short bathroom is just...whatever. "It's always been that way".

Without looking, I'm going to say Ozarks.

`Nemesis posted: