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The Irony Of It All
Brad Hollerbach

Floored by Lowe's and Armstrong

Posted Monday, February 22, 2010, at 12:00 AM

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  • A long time ago I was told one definition of an executive was one who can break the rules. One of my customers related that the bathtub he picked up was found to be a right hand drain by the plumber. The plumber waited until he went back to get the proper left hand tub. The box clearly indicated the correct one but when the plumber opened it was wrong again. On the third trip he asked the clerk to open the crate and verify before he took it. It was correct and the clerk asked him to wait for him to return with some paperwork. To his surprise a manager returned with a credit in the amount he had spent saying maybe this will ease the extra charges of the plumber's idle time.

    -- Posted by Old John on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 10:27 AM
  • Remodel, refurbish, repair? Never,EVER, again.

    I had some subflooring in my kitchen to warp, Thinking that would be a simple weekend job, I commenced. Bottom line, all the flooring came out except not all because of counters. Out came the counters. Couldn't find replacements because they were custom fitted to the space. So replace the subfloor with thickest plywood, apply new tiling, built the counters myself, turned an offset into a pantry, installed new stainless sink.

    Lo, the old cabinets looked horrible. Out they came and built the new ones myself. Of course, the walls had to be repainte4d and new track lighting installed and a special shelf for the new microwave...well, Brad, you get the picture and know the rest.

    The new modern kitchen made the rest of the house look old and shabby. So repainted all the walls, npaint spilled all over the floors, so sanded the hardwood floors and refinished them. Of course that required new curtains and cornice boards throughout the house.

    Not finished yet, Brad. Made the bathroom look tacky and dated. Lets just say a complete remodeling, replumbing and rewiring from the floor joist, wall studs, and rafters upward, outward, and downward.

    Moral: Stay away from Lowes and call a contractor. Then go on vacation until the work is finished. Of course, when you get home you discover nothing was done right, and why didn't you just do it yourself.

    I sold the house about a year later.

    -- Posted by voyager on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 11:36 AM
  • Home renovation is a game of dominoes. One "little" job creates another and another and another.

    For instance, I have this large upstairs foyer. It's about 400 square feet with 2 side halls, sprawling main stair case and a back stair case.

    The ceiling was in awful shape (very lumpy and cracked) so I skim coated it and used a special reinforcing membrane. I even built scaffolding over the stairwell to reach those hard to get to places. Fresh paint and it looked great.

    But then the banged up walls looked awful. They needed some love and then the space really begged for crown molding. Got that done and it looked great. But then with fresh primer on the walls, the gaps between all of the trim and the walls really stood out. Lots of trim -- seven door ways, 2 windows, baseboard and crown molding. They had to be carefully caulked and painted the trim color. Got that done and it looked great.

    Next on my list is to disassemble the scaffolding and clean the staircase trim which is in its original finish, but also needing attention. I plan to give it a thorough cleaning before applying a wiping stain (to refreshen the finish) and applying a couple coats of poly.

    Oh the list goes on. Good thing I enjoy this stuff.

    Thanks for reading.

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 12:03 PM
  • Yes, Rick, you are probably right. I've never seen so many choices of laminate flooring. Most of it is too "plasticy" for our taste. However, while price was important, the look was more critical for us.

    The Armstrong flooring we bought is 8 mil thick (real cheap stuff is 6 mil), and has a 30 year warranty (non transferable, of course). Even with a new lower price it was still $2.29 a square foot.

    TFR

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 12:29 PM
  • Coulda told ya'. Don't blame Armstrong or Lowe's! Get what you need at the discount price at the time you need it....that's why credit cards or Lowe's' credit is available. It's called working capital that is financed. Business people do this all the time on credit to take advantage of discounts at the time discounts are available. Guess you learned, huh? Remember, "working capital" from now on.

    -- Posted by vietnamvet on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 4:23 PM
  • Yes I know, Vietnamvet. Usually, I've been at the opposite end of the spectrum and buy too much. It was a gamble on my part.

    It would have been nice if Lowe's could have just shipped in the boxes I needed from one of their other stores, but the bbq at the 17th Street Grill made the trip all the more worthwhile.

    TFR

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 4:30 PM
  • K!

    -- Posted by vietnamvet on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, at 6:48 PM
  • or you could just stop by Holloway's and let us take care of you...

    -- Posted by PeggySue on Thu, Feb 25, 2010, at 9:46 AM
  • I know you could, PeggySue. Unfortunately, some house projects are just like jumping off a cliff. When you're already hurtling through the air, you can't change your mind or your course of action. You just got to proceed with the plan no matter how big of a PITA it is.

    TFR

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Thu, Feb 25, 2010, at 9:54 AM
  • I know! I just had to give you some grief!

    -- Posted by PeggySue on Fri, Feb 26, 2010, at 10:52 AM