Flooring Installation: the Saga

This new house of ours will surely be a work-in-progress for many years to come but it will be a lot of fun (and frustration!) along the way! Here are some pictures of our progress a month or two in:

Prior to putting the house on the market, one room had been re-carpeted. Apparently, the living room carpet was in "pretty bad" shape so the owner re-carpeted it. The rest of the flooring was also in pretty bad shape, in my opinion, so I can only imagine how bad that must have been...
But the good news is, we really liked that new carpeting - a good quality carpet and a nice shade of gray. We decided to go with it and since it came from Lowe's, that's where we decided to get the rest of the flooring. So we chose that same gray carpet for the playroom, up the steps, down the hallway and into our bedroom & the spare room.

I wanted to let the kids choose out their own carpeting (and paint color) - my parents always let us make that choice growing up. Dave thought it was a crazy idea but ended up going with it...and being happy with his decision and their choices!

I'll bet most people encounter some kind of snafu when going through installations or other repairs upgrades but it's so frustrating!

We'd picked out a wood laminate for the dining room, hallway and kitchen but it couldn't be installed on the same day as the carpeting. Dave and I decided to each take a day off work - one for the carpet install and one for the laminate install. 

On the day I stayed home for the laminate (a Friday), the guys gave me a call before the arrived and showed up on time - so far, so good!
They got straight to work in the kitchen / dining room and were making good progress - and I was loving the flooring we chose!
The first bump in the road came when the guys found a vent cover that they'd set aside...but no visible vent...so then they had to find the vent they'd accidentally floored over, remove that flooring, re-cut it to leave the vent accessible and place the vent cover over it. Not too big a deal...actually, a bit comical.

Goodbye, gross linoleum! 

We had the carpeting removed from the dining room
and had the new laminate wood flooring we'd picked out put down

The hardwood floor in the entryway (and in the 1st floor bathroom) was in such good shape,
we couldn't justify ripping it up. Once all of the gray flooring was installed, I almost wish we would have
but I think it still looks good...

Notice all of the sawdust?
That corner vent was the one the floored over and had to dig up and cut around...

The next bump in the road came when they realized the floor was a bit uneven between the kitchen and the hallway...so much so, they couldn't continue the installation at that time. The installers called their boss who actually came to my house to take a look. 

The installers were so mad because apparently the team who came to do the initial measurements should have noticed this and had it addressed before the installation team came out...

Luckily, the guy in charge of the installations was able to get another guy to come out that same night to level out the floor - which involved pouring a tarry substance on the floor which had to set for at least 24 hours...which means we had to wait until the following Monday to have the kitchen & hallway finished. 

While the installer was there, yet another issue was revealed - 
Due to some miscommunications, the laundry room was never measured (and therefore, flooring was never ordered to be put in there). The flooring we chose is made-to-order so it was not available in store...so I couldn't hurry up and go buy more for them to lay when they came back on Monday to do the hall / kitchen.

They took measurements of the laundry room and told me they'd order the flooring and would prioritize me on the install schedule once it arrived. 

The installation manager who had been at our house told us it would be fine to have the laminate finished on the same day as the carpet was being installed so that was the plan.

We moved as much furniture and stuff out of all of the to-be-carpeted rooms (cramming stuff into the bathrooms and the walk-in closet)...and the carpet installers called in sick that morning...
At lest they were able to finish the laminate install - and carpet installers came the next day (after we had to move a lot of stuff back in then back out again).

The "before" pic of Max's carpet

Lucy's "before" pic

Max's room "after"

Lucy's room "after"

Playroom

We were happy with the updated look but after the 7-10 day lead time for the laundry room flooring had passed, we called the installation company to ask for an ETA on supplies and installation...and were told the flooring had never been ordered! 

I ordered the exact number of boxes of flooring plus other supplies they said I'd need that night online and picked it up myself once it arrived.
At that point, we called the installation company back to get put on the installation schedule - hoping and assuming it would be as a priority, like I'd been told.

Then they told us that since I didn't "purchase the installation in advance through Lowe's," they couldn't help me. We called Lowe's and were told that since they didn't send their measurement team out, they couldn't sell me the installation. So even though I'd bought all of this other stuff through Lowe's and United Installations, no one could help me...

Ultimately, I found a friend who had installed laminate a couple of times - in his own homes and in his parents' home, who was willing to install ours for us for a fee...thank goodness! 

(Not much time passed before we noticed the transition boards starting to pop out...so stay tuned for the second part of this saga)...