<p>jym: We live in Los Angeles where we are always remodeling. There are so many flakes here (should I tell you about our kitchen remodel?..no I want to remain sane…) that even the most highly recommended contractors are no good after a few jobs. We have been burned several times, but because my husband is a lawyer he knows what havoc lawsuits bring to a family, we’ve never sued. But boy have I wanted to sue…</p>
<p>On the other hand…we’re starting another project in the next few weeks. Wish us luck :/</p>
<p>ellebud-
After, and only after, I down a few drinks, we should have a back channel chat about our remodel nightmares. We are in the middle of one right now!!</p>
<p>jym and ellebud, Funny you should mention remodeling issues. I have just learned that the contractor who renovated a bathroom 16 months ago used the wrong stuff to stick the tiles onto the shower wall, and may not have done the right waterproofing as well! I am trying to find out whether I need to have the entire shower ripped out and re-done (by someone else, of course). I’m also trying to find out whether I can get the bad contractor to pay for it.</p>
<p>Back to the thread - we are not Jewish, and Christmas is a major big deal at our house. But we have Jewish friends who started coming to Christmas dinner about 30 years ago, when we all lived in another city, ending only when DH and I moved to the NY suburbs. Two years ago they moved to our area, so we revived the tradition.</p>
<p>Don’t they still say “Shalom Y’all” throughout the south? My sister put up a few people for a national BBG convention in Seattle, and that southern girl from Atlanta’s twang just kinda stayed with me…</p>
<p>^^^ Don’t know a soul who says “shalom y’all” dudedad, and I will keep my ears out for a southern accent around here. We all sound like we are from the north (probably because most of us are!)</p>
<p>In Hawaii it is Shaloha. Not kidding. Jym: We can talk about the disasters and the stress ANYTIME. I can tell you volumns. Happy to hear yours. As for the shower several questions arise: Did they use greenboard (or the new alternative) that is waterproof so that mold can’t gain a foothold? If the shower is on the second floor is there leaking/seepage to the floor below? Or if you are on a slab does anything feel loose? Did you need/obtain permits and have the inspector not see what was done? We have done 3 bathrooms in this house (we have 5–two more to go!) and each time I learn something that I wish that I had known before.</p>
<p>And let us never forget Eight Crazy Nights…the Chanukah song.</p>
<p>Sorry about your shower, NYmomof2. Apparently when our house was built the )%$)%<em>$^</em> builders did that same thing in the master shower. Somehow the first owners of this house didnt catch it. We had to rip out and rebuild the shower, tile, ceiling, etc. Now they use some cement product instead of greenboard. This latest nightmare was a total remodel of master bath/closet, a second closet, main floor bathroom and kitchen remodel. It was a major undertaking and 9 mos of living like a beg person. And then the contractor went loony tunes on us. The project is essentially done (the last things that need to be fixed/completed can be done by soemone else) but the headache contunues as there is more to this story. But I too want to remain sane, so will not go into further detail. It makes my blood boil just to think about it.</p>
<p>Nyah nyah! Gotcha beat on the kitchen remodel…our 12 to 14 week remodel, scheduled in at $35,000 went on for FOURTEEN months. Hired a longtime friend (who’s daughters were friends of our daughters) who was a contractor do the job…used individual contractors to finish the job…total cost of the kitchen (with cabinets that I didn’t want but contractor told me they had to be in the house in a month) $112,000. Not including months of takeout and barbeque.</p>
<p>We reported him to the State Licensing Board…and HE WAS ANGRY. Fixed some things…not others. Lost his license (listed with insurance…sure, bare minimum $5,000 spread among 7 complainants)…my girls, obviously lost their friends.</p>
<p>Holy crap!! You have us beat in many respects!! I am buying the first round!! However, to compare stories, our AHOLE contractor became verbally abusive (anyone surprised he’s been divorced twice??) refused to finish the job (though claimed he would eventually bring the last items, including replacement for a HUGE custom built but defective (way too small) cabinet door, as a “gift” – ha ha-- a gift??) when he got around to it, but that we should pay him the last 1% we owed on the job (we are talking around $1,100 on a $90,000 job). When we suggested that we would pay the last balance when the door was installed and he returned our housekey, he drummed up over $5000 of bogus additional charges and slapped a lien on our house! Now the lawyers are battling it out, and if it goes to arbitration, we may get stuck paying HIS attorneys legal fees! Did I mention he used photos of our bathroom in his ads and on his website??? Gee, he doesnt have written permission for that!! Lets see-- I think that should cost him at least $20K, don’t you??? Fully intend to file a complaint with the BBB and whoever else I can when this is all said and done.</p>
<p>Good luck with the arbitration. I hope that your judge has gone through at least one nightmare remodel. Ours called, incensed, when he received the call from the board. He started screaming at me, asking why we had turned him in.</p>
<p>I invited him (11 months into the job) to come over and sit in my empty kitchen to discuss the matter. The rotten thing? We will probably need to redo the kitchen in 5 years. (It has been 9 years since we did it.) What I know now…</p>
<p>When I read stories like these I am even more appreciative of the contractor who remodelled my kitchen in 1995. The job was supposed to cost $53,000 all-inclusive down to the studs and new windows and it did. It was completed in two weeks. One week for demolishing, including a full bathroom, one week for building. The last item was the flooring and that was installed during the 3rd week but we were able to use the kitchen after two weeks. The appliances are still working although the people who bought the house from me tore out the second dishwasher, fridge, sink, custom handpainted tile and banquette seating because they “aren’t cooks and don’t entertain”. I still miss that beautiful kitchen.</p>
<p>Trust me, that was not the budget. We too went down to the studs, removing a support wall. I did order top of the line appliances…but then there was the “problem” that made us put a new mainline in…which would have been fine except the plumber took his money and ran. Not our problem. True, in one sense because everyone was licensed…except that plumber was paid upfront. The contractor worked a few double charges here and there. And two addons…but the main problem was that the guy was an idiot.</p>
<p>And then there was the matter of the vet bill. Our dogs, large and friendly, were placed in a separate part of the house away from the workers. The electrician got blocked into our driveway by one of my son’s friends. He threw a temper tantrum and slammed our dog’s tail in a door. (That was the explanation offered by the vet.) To get to our dogs the SOB had to go two closed doors and jump a doggie gate. We called the police who said, the dog can’t testify. Our poor dog was in agony for two weeks. It cost several thousands of dollars. The contractor said that he knew the guy had a temper and fired him. Oh wait! He ruined our electrical and didn’t put in safety switches. We had to redo all the electrical, repaint and plaster and the granite cracked. That was on us because we long since had stopped talking to our contractor.</p>
<p>Yes, it was a financial disaster. This is not a glitzy kitchen. It is nice, but lots of money was spent on do overs.</p>
<p>we’ve already had to hire someone eles to fis a ceiling leak under the tub and regrout the shower. I just noticed that the grout in the kitchen is coming out too…</p>
<p>I have never celebrated Christmas but . . . I married into a family that did. And since my parents and siblings didn’t care about Christmas, and my wife’s parents and siblings did, well, Christmas became the holiday for visiting her family.</p>
<p>(Under pretty much anybody’s classification system, my wife and her family are Jewish. Except her mother as a young woman was rebelling against a domineering, Orthodox father, and her father worked for a company that didn’t hire Jews – in pretty much the same way the U.S. military didn’t hire gay people then, i.e., some cover was required. So my wife and her sisters grew up going to Unitarian church and celebrating Christmas, and all of her sisters really have no religious identification and married lapsed Catholics.)</p>
<p>As a consequence, despite not celebrating Christmas, I have been present for 26 years or so at Christmas celebrations on Christmas day. It used to be at my mother-in-law’s or father-in-law’s house, or at one of my sisters-in-law, but now for the past four years it’s been at MY house (because my mother-in-law is now nearby and cannot travel).</p>
<p>So . . . no Chinese food for me! (My family used to do that sometimes, and I had no idea it was a common practice until I went to college.) I spend my Jewish non-celebrating Christmases opening presents, taking pictures, leading carols (because I know all the words and can carry a tune), and cooking nice meals for a whole bunch of people.</p>