Hairless or Saga Part II: The Florida Motto

Beware Visitors:
Guest room carpet - funky!

After tearing out all her hair, Mini Me overheard the following statement which she realises must be the Florida Motto -- an excuse for ______ [fill in the blank with almost anything that goes wrong]

This is Florida; it is just how it is.

Plus we are on Florida time which, we've found, means either
earlier or later but not the stated time.

Continuing Saga of getting Flooring - Carpets & Vinyl Installed

Saturday 10:15 am, we call and are told installer may arrive around 11 am as he is 'running behind.'  R and K (good 'ol Louisiana boys) arrive more personable than Friday crew; then colleague K departs.  Late afternoon -- oh dear, more comments about wool carpet (which it isn't)!?! and confusion over pattern matching.  Mumbling under breath has begun with return of K.

Around 5 pm it becomes clear job won't be finished today and they departed around 7 pm.  Now told the 'mud' on the bathroom & closet floors is the wrong kind and R is going out to get another product overnight.  Life sized me totally confused as we were sold the mud leveller as a proprietary product required to make the botched installation good and charged to us at $375!

Not much one can do whilst flooring is being installed throughout a small condo . . . am sitting on botched kitchen floor organising my pictures - so many more now that the camera is digital and I have these amazing sunsets to snap.

Sunday the 14th:  Up early again after another sleepless night in hotel, to await return of R and K along with our bathroom flooring.  State they would come at 10:00 am, arrived 11:20.

At least today I have carpet laid out (but not fully installed) to lounge on and watch the surf until installers reappear.  And of course this blog to write.

Noon:  Philip off to Home Depot (B&Q type DIY store) twice first to purchase a piece of 1/4 inch thick wood and then a toilet ring required to finish off bathroom floor (why this wasn't passed on to installer to supply, we don't know as we chased up a number of times and already paid for materials). 

Life sized me has asks installer to insure carpet is laid square in the room as there is a pattern and yes it makes a difference.  All negotiation skills and more have come into play.  Bedroom carpet is not square in room and lifting at the edges - oh my.

Next life sized me finds K installing vinyl using a spray aerosol, not the expensive proprietary product required by the manufacturer for warranty.  This is called to K's attention, but he insists what he is using is right.  Unfortunately his cutting skills leave very jagged edges and a cut into the vinyl floor itself.  Basically we are a 1 1/2 weeks later, but no further forward - just more damage to walls and baseboards along with further frayed nerves.

Not sure if life sized me is turning into a wailing banshee or a total lunatic or if Alzheimer's is setting in, but this renovation is not a health enhancer.  And she now seems to know more about flooring than most installers merely via Google reading/watching manufacturers' installation instructions!  How can this be?  Oh, oops  forgot, "this is Florida, . . ."  Apologies, I sound a bit jaded.

Installers finish around 4 pm (took much longer than they estimated) and we discover a number of issues.

Monday the 15th:  Hubby goes to carpet store who supplied flooring and installers; they agree vinyl  'is a complete mess' and promise to call later Monday with time for a new carpet installer to come fix the pattern matching in the living room.  Meanwhile life sized me goes grocery shopping to avoid committing murder in carpet store!


Flip Flop Wine!!

Fix to carpet to be done Tuesday before our [delayed] furniture from storage arrives Wednesday.  In the meantime, the circuit breaker for the dryer trips and cannot be reset.  Take wet clothes to laundry mat (mini me thought we were done with that!).


In the evening we go to a fund raising dinner (very informal beach style) for the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum and then on to a turtle nest inventory with  Sea Turtle Trackers.  Saw the Flip Flop wine in the grocery and wondered who drank it -- now I know!  A very pleasant evening indeed and a distraction from our flooring woes.