My house is 1957 built. Renovations are ongoing, and my contractor made the baseboard cuts and we love them, with the exception of the plain baseboards attached to all ends. He will simply not remove the plain ends. We have offered to pay him, outside of our contract and still he refuses. I would like the work to get done.
Does anyone foresee a problem of having another contractor come here and do the work while my general contractor is here? My general contractor started on July 2nd, he sporactically comes, he has taken chunks of time off from my project to look for a house with his wife.
Any and all comments are welcomed.
Thank you.
Rita,
If he is truly the general contractor, you shouldn't be hiring other trades while this is still his project. Built is your home.
You just posted three problems with this contractor. In my opinion that was two too many. If he is not doing what you are asking him to do, get rid of him.
As far as your design issues, three are some things you can change and some things you have to live with.
The design of your basement stairs, the height of the ceiling in the basement and the layout of the kitchen are not easy to change. I would simply build a box around the bulkhead so you have a flat storage area and live with it. I'm not aware of an easy fix.
After you fire the contractor, any good contractor, carpenter, handyman, etc can clean up that return air vent, make it flush, pull it away from the baseboard and make it relatively inconspicuous. Thy can also install continuous baseboards.
Good luck.
Hi again Rita,
The baseboards that have been installed are very nice looking. The reason he has not changed out the ends is it would require new door casements around the house. And if not new, then seaming in new material t the bottom when the old trims are removed. This will eventually crack down the road.
I would have to see the construction with my own eyes to confirm this. but I can think of no other reason for him to have done this. And if I am correct, to go the other route will cost you a lot more money.
Now in addition, if you have someone come in to do it. They have to seam the new ends into the existing new baseboard that has been installed. Again, not great looking.
If you casements are all square and matching the style of the old sections of trim, I would live with what he has done.
Again my comments are based on what I think is there. I can't look at it myself.
Again....good luck.
James Fram
From the picture I can see why he put the plain blocks on the ends. First is the height differance between your old floor and the new tiles. The new floor is proabley about 3/4" higher than the old. So the new baseboard will not match up with the old baseboard around the corner.
Second is the old baseboard is not the same profile as the new. It can be fixed, but to look correct, then the rest of the old baseboard in the house neeeds to be replaced, so it all will match and is at the same height.
I would not recomend hiring someone to fix this while he is still there. You will just be asking for problems.
You have hired a guy who does not have carpentry skills or uses a lousy carpenter. That pic is just sad. Tell him to fix it properly or do not pay him for the work and hire a proper contractor/carpenter.
Again I say this over and over..."you get what you pay for". I charge min. $75/hr. for a carpenter but they are real tradesmen and my jobs result in "references not complaints".
Good luck.
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