Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Carpet Choices and a Few Hiccups

Preparing a home for new flooring installation is a daunting task. I worked long days in the shop and long hours in the evening for 2 weeks preparing my home for the folks from Home Depot to come install my new flooring. You can view the Chaos I lived in HERE. It felt as though I was moving, only without all of the marked boxes. This is a long post, full of pictures and story, please grab your drink of choice for the tale of carpet choices and a few hiccups. 

The morning finally arrived and I was one excited cookie. The phone rang with a guy on the other end of the phone telling me they were with Home Depot they were on their way. They wanted to inform me that Home Depot was suppose to call yesterday to let me know the house had to be empty of all my pretties all they did was move furniture. Well, I had a good chuckle, after all we know I've been working for 2 weeks emptying out the house of the pretties, I also informed him Home Depot had not called the day before. 
As I heard some one pull up I looked out the kitchen window, this is what they pulled up in with my carpet pad and carpet in the back of the truck. I have to say I was a bit alarmed. I was expecting a van with the carpet pad and carpet enclosed free of dirt and grime from the highway.
When I went to the window I was in for a bigger shock, it was a couple, a man and his wife. Shocked is an understatement. I said to the wife,"surely you aren't helping move furniture", her husband answered for her, and said" yes they were moving furniture and installing". 
Now here is where it gets interesting. The week before I talked to the owner of the company explaining I had a couple of spots that needed to be repaired as seen in the last post. I was told by the gentleman that measured the carpet to alert them to any problems, the he even pointed out the day he was here measuring. So, I'm following protocol right? 

Here is where the break down of communication began and only got worse. After about 6 phone calls and a 3 hour delay as to who was responsible for repairing the floor, the gentlemen that owns the company hired by Home Depot was on his way from the Gladstone store with the product we needed to begin. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I did point out we have a lovely remodeled hardware store here in town they could pick up the product and begin. Oh goodness no, we had to wait until Jerry brought it down to us. Now, in the meantime, Jose' is upset had he known he would have brought it, said he had a whole garage full of it. Voila' folks, thin set, skim coat universal patch. 
Jerry finally arrived, assessed the situation and then finally the product was mixed and applied, then I had to locate a couple of fans to help the drying process, so they could really begin putting down the carpet pad. This is the area leading down to my office and the shop.
And, this is the area in the master bedroom. After Jerry the owner finished, quite quickly and left, Jose' got busy and redid what the owner had done, because it was not done correctly.
The day started off very stressful to me, I was hoping for a smooth installation. After a fashion it was, the poor installers, I felt so badly for them. None of this issue was any of their fault. We talked at great length, and he finally realized his boss was NOT telling the truth. I was so disappointed in Jerry. After all the drying was complete the installation finally began.
Now, onto the choices I made. I went with the Prime Comfort 1/2 in. thick Premium Carpet Pad with Double Sided Moisture Barrier with Teflon Surface Protector, remember I wanted a plush feel under my feet.

The rooms were emptied of all furniture, previous carpet, pad and staples removed, floor swept and vacuumed.


Jose' and his wife Maria began putting down the carpet pad. I had to give it to Maria she could swing that staple gun. Maria turned on her music and I got busy doing my happy dance. She laughed and laughed at me, her language was not mine so she didn't understand what I was saying, she did know I was having fun.
I originally began with 3 choices, here you can see the previous carpet. I tried the samples in many areas of my home, trying to get a fill of what the whole house was going to look like when completed. I'm not sure why the walls look blue here, they're really a gray.
In the above picture you can see the colors look entirely different on the old carpet than they do here on the kitchen counter top.
This sample is Style Appalachi ll color: Woodstock it has a lot of blue. I felt it had way too much blue in it.
This sample is  Style Appalachi ll color: Skyline. Not too light and not too dark.
This sample is Style Appalachi ll color: Day Trip. It is quite dark, not something I was really wanting. I was going for a lighter look around my home.
I tried Skyline and Day Trip against the tile in the hall bath. Both would have worked fine had that been the only area I was covering.
I chose, Skyline. It was my first choice. You know what they say first choice is always the best. This particular carpet has a 79 oz weight, even without the pad it felt so plush.
The day was a long and hard one, Jose' and his wife Maria didn't leave until after 8. While Jose' was working in another area Maria and I started moving some key pieces of furniture back into place. I worked until after 11 cleaning the furniture and placing a few pretties back into place. They showed up the next morning to finish laying the carpet.

I'm pleased with the end results and most of the installation. I have a couple of things to take up with Home Depot I'm hoping to have resolved quickly. The experience was daunting, full of a few hiccups, a headache and yes even through out part of it a bit of fun. I've been asked by a couple of friends if I would recommend Home Depot, and would have to say I would. My only suggestion is make sure you ask a ton of question, I thought I had, and ask them again. I was not compensated in any way, although it would have been a sweet end to the story. All thoughts are my own. What are your thoughts so far? Going from a very worn out mauve colored carpet to a beautiful clean Skyline carpet?

Thanks for sticking around until the end..reveal coming soon.


Fondly ~ Lynne ~


3 comments:

Alycia Nichols said...

Gotta say I'd actually be relieved to see a woman as part of the installation crew! Nothing against men, but they aren't always the best arbiters of some detail stuff we women hold near and dear. While a man may have muscle, a woman has other qualities to bring to the job that are absolutely invaluable! I'm glad the hiccups got worked out and that your experience with Jose and Maria turned out to be quite positive. Our basement flooded last week with all the rain, so we'll have to invest in new floor coverings. Don't think we're going to go with carpet again. Once bitten, twice shy. I'm learning a few things through your experiences so that maybe we don't have to face some of the hidden problems that can/do occur.

Rattlebridge Farm said...

Whew, that was an adventure! I know you're glad it's in your rear view! I love your carpet.

Amy at love made my home said...

Glad it worked out in the end! Enjoy the new carpet!