Renovation Week 2 - Deep Breaths Help

Well, now that we got that first week out of the way, everything is running smoothly and our job will be done before we even know it. Not so fast, friends. Because, as I'm quickly learning (and I think I learned in college about this, too), if anything can go wrong, it will. Oh right, that's called Murphy's Law, and Murph, you are (were?) one smart dude.

You see, the demo went fine...I mean, what can possibly go wrong when you're smashing stuff up with sledgehammers and ripping stuff out with crowbars? I even got involved, demo-ing the closets before the contractors even showed up...what better way to get rid of a bunch of stress than ripping shelves and hooks and other bits out of plaster walls!

Well, lemme tell you what can go wrong. Once the bathroom walls were torn down, my guy noticed a "bit of a leak" behind one of the walls. At that point, I was taking pictures and writing emails to our new board of directors and management company (that's me, always making friends). In a condo, you own "walls in," meaning anything that's taking place behind the walls or above the ceiling is the condo responsibility. A day later, the plumbers had pulled this out of the ceiling/wall, and our "bit of a leak" was repaired...


There was also some water damage coming from our chimney, behind the fireplace mantle...yes, we have a working fireplace! Same m.o. as above, and a day or to later, our roof leak was repaired and our fireplace started to look somewhat normal, though I have absolutely no idea what a normal fireplace looks like...

Our contractor dealt with these "discoveries" with aplomb, even offering solutions to our management company. Our new bedroom floor is installed and the whole place has been skim-coated, sanded and primed. By the way, can anything make more of a mess than sanding? Yes, but only if you count cutting stone for a fireplace. Our IKEA kitchen was delivered (on time and perfectly as ordered)...it's my job to build all the cabinets, and even though I don't like long nights, sometimes I wish I was Swedish. As we enter into our third week of renovation, things appear to be running smoothly...but I don't want to jinx it, so keeping my fingers crossed.

Oh, one more thing. Home inspections are friggin' useless. Oh, I know they're "necessary" in order to secure the mortgage. Actually, they're just another way for someone to take your money and run, imo. Did they find the leak in my bathroom? No. How about that chimney problem? No. It did tell me that my dishwasher was working - which was just great, considering that it was being ripped out and hauled to the dump. And by the way, not all the windows in the apartment lock properly...thanks so much. Ahhhh well, live and learn.