|
Post by gipsy on Aug 20, 2022 14:44:55 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Aug 21, 2022 14:40:25 GMT -6
30
The guys made good time and got into Lynchburg around 2:30PM. Matt was texting with Tanya and she’d said she’d not get home until around 6:30. He told her they’d go to her place so he could show Merv the house and to see what they wanted to get done that weekend and see what might be realistic and to see if they needed any other things before they went to Home Depot. She said she’d grab some stuff to bring home to do on the grill if they thought they could wait to eat till a little later. He told her no problem.
As they pulled into the neighborhood Merv thought it looked to be a nice area. The houses were older, and the few people they saw outside looked to be older retired types or younger women that looked to be around their ages who were out for walks with strollers and little kids. From the designs and styles of the houses Merv guesstimated they’d probably been built in the early to mid 80’s. “That’s Tanya’s place.” Matt said, pointing out the driveway to a small faded blue single story with a bay window on the front. He thought it looked cute enough and Tanya looked to have kept up nicely with the outside and had some flower beds overflowing with color. The outside was definitely in need of a powerwash and a paint job to change the color to a more modern palette would really improve the curb appeal.
They got out of the car and left their stuff in it for now. Matt went and unlocked the front dor and led the way inside. “I’ll give you the nickel tour and show you the things she’d really like to get done first. I mean if we get the toilets knocked out this weekend she’ll be ecstatic.” They kicked their shoes off at the front door before walking thru the small, tidy living room. The house had a pleasant spice smell, not quite apple cinnamon or pumpkin but it was inviting. Matt led him down a small hallway.
“Here is the guest bath. It’s one of the ones high on her list as the toilet runs so bad she has it shut off. I’m thinking we should be able to do this pretty quick but you’ll need to tell me what you think.” He reached in and flicked on the light. Merv stepped in and his first thought was “Ouch… definitely an 80’s decor, maybe even late 70’s.” The cabinet was a sort of pickled white with the door having scroll designs cut into it with gold paint inlays. The cabinet looked to be a pretty low quality one made out of some sort of pressed fiberboard and the ‘paint’ might even be some sort of vinyl applique. The corners and edges of the door and the cabinet base looked to be flaking apart.
The sink top was an equally hideous faux marble with a sort of metallic bronze gold colored basin with an ugly bright brass plated faucet that had more corrosion than brass on it. Around the sink drain was the evidence of a long term faucet leak that was still dripping. It had things stained, corroded and the bowl material itself was eroded and rough from years of the drip. Above the sink on the wall hung a mirror that had a similar white and gold color palette. It had a stenciled border around the outer edge of the glass, apparently trying to look like a leafy ivy frame.
He looked inside the base cabinet and could see that at some point there must have been a pretty bad leak from either a supply line or the the drain. It looked to be old damage but there was a lot of the bottom warped, split and delaminated. He wondered if the damage continued underneath to the sub floor. The are was now dry but the damage was done. He looked at the bathtub faucet, drain and shower head and cringed; all of them were corroded and rough looking. Matt broke Merv’s stunned silence. “So she found a toilet she likes at Home Depot and they have 2 on hold for us like you had said. She also picked out a faucet but what do you think, just replace the seals in this one?” “Tell you what, let me see the rest and then we can talk once I know the entire scope.”
Matt walked him back to the bedroom “Welcome to the behind the scenes view of the love palace. Normally you have to buy a ticket, but…” “But what, it’s only a two minute show?” Merv laughed. “Hardly at least a five minute show.” “You wish. Lead on Dudley Stud Right.” “Here’s the master bath. It's a little bigger and has a soaker tub and there’s the separate, dungeon-like walk in shower. It doesn't have a double vanity in the same lovely decor I already showed you. Though you’ll note someone made the lovely contribution of replacing one of the gross bright brass faucets with an eye-catching chrome one.” “Oh it’s definitely eye-catching.” “Oh and the toilet is there in the corner behind that short wall.”
Merv glanced around, looking at the floor,in the corners and under the sink. He also looked up at the light and ceiling vent unit. “Oh here, for the exclamation point of our tour, there is this lovely, soothing tune to set the mood.” Matt reached over and flipped on the ceiling vent fan. They were quickly greeted with a horrible grinding noise so he quickly turned it off. “Ahh yes the melodic sounds of rocks and broken glass in a blender, what better sound to relax too while enjoying a hot soak.” “Umm can you get up into the attic or is it closed off?” “Yeah you can. Step into the master closet.” As they stepped in Matt pointed up and Merv could easily see the pull down access door. “Why?” “Ohh I’m just being nosey” Merv quipped.
“Let me ask you a question. I know she wants the toilets and a few things like a faucet if she can swing it. But how much money does she have to put towards all of this?” “Well she told me right now she has about $1,700 she can spend. But I want to do what you think is best and not just do enough to make do. I mean I want her to have something nice while she’s still here and replacing all these old gross things can only help her renting it out or selling it once she moves. I hate seeing her living with this mess. Let’s do whatever you think makes sense and that we can. I have money to cover the difference.” “Before you say that maybe listen to what I’m thinking.”
“So those are the two big urgent areas, at least in my mind. There is the kitchen too, but I don’t think it’s to the same level. It’s more cosmetic issues than functional ones. It looks to me like it was at least partly redone at some point. Let me show you.” After seeing it Merv agreed with Matt’s assessment. “Yeah looks to be maybe a late 90’s update. I mean appliances are newer. The cabinet bases look to be solid wood which is a plus and those ugly cabinet doors, well you could replace those and the handles and hinges, sand everything and paint them. We could swap out the dead hood vent with a new one or possibly even take out it and the cabinet above it and replace it with a microwave hood. The countertop isn’t terrible but we could swap it out or try something new I’ve never done and make a concrete countertop. Swap out the sink and faucet and maybe a new light and light fixture over the breakfast bar. And boom, you’ll have a very new looking kitchen”
As they were standing there quietly Matt noticed Merv seemed to be thinking through things. Matt realized another key thing he’d forgotten to mention. “Oh another issue I almost forgot that is a high priority for her is that no matter what faucet or shower or if she’s doing laundry, she only gets a few minutes of semi hot water and then it drops off to barely lukewarm. Obviously there’s an issue with the hot water heater so do you think it needs to be replaced?” “Do you know if it’s electric or gas?” “Electric” “Well then maybe, maybe not. It probably is one of the heating elements, likely it’s burned out or one of the thermostats died. If the tank isn’t leaking we might be able to just pop in new heaters and thermostats for now. Sort of a quick rebuild to get some more life out of it before having to drop five or six hundred dollars on a new one.”
“We’ll, that’s about it. What are your thoughts?” “Well…. I have some ideas but for sure it’ll be more than $1,700, at least double, more likely triple and we’ll have to hustle to get a lot done this weekend. I’m not even sure we can knock it all out this weekend so she might be living in a construction zone for a couple weeks till we can get back down to finish it up. We might have to come down another weekend. You two or even just Tanya are going to have to do some stuff while I’m not here.” “OK, I know that look, you already have 90% of a plan in your head so out with it.“
“Well I’m thinking more than the toilets. I think we do a total overhaul of the two baths.” “What? In a weekend? Are you nuts?” “Hear me out… we get the toilets, but we gut the hall bath. Let’s go back there as we talk.” “OK, everything except the tub surround comes out. It looks to still be in good shape other than the hardware. We’ll replace all that. We yank the toilet, vanity and that mirror; replace all of that. We have her pick some vinyl plank flooring and some colors she likes and we put down a new floor, we get a pre-built base cabinet, preferably a pre-finished one but if not you all can paint one if she wants. We drop in a one piece sink top, new faucet, add new supply lines and drains. Where the ugly mirror and even uglier light bar are, we put a medicine cabinet that matches or compliments the cabinet and add a new light bar. That also adds some storage for her. We change out the light/ fan combo with a new one that doesn’t look like it’s from 1979.”
Like I said, the tub faucets, shower head and drain will all be new and match the sink faucet. The only thing that worries me is if everything is all corroded together, it can become a pain but if we’re gutting and replacing it’ll go pretty quick. Biggest pain we could hit is if as we get things out we find issues behind and under, like that hall sink, cross your fingers the subfloor isn’t rotted. We do all that and to make it easier we could leave the medicine cabinet and light down till she can paint. Poof… flipped bathroom. I need to grab some measurements and some pics for when we’re at the store. And I’ll make a list in my phone. Sound good?” “Yeah but it sounds like a lot.” “Oh it is but it’s mostly simple, we’re just going to have to hustle and use every minute.”
They walked back to the master bath. “Pretty much the same here. But, what we could do, if we can get to the attic easily, is to add a small waterproof, recessed LED light over the shower to brighten it up and make it look modern. Then up to her but we can do dual matching medicine cabinets, probably the same as the hall bath or we can try pulling the mirror down and scrape that decoration off with razor blades. Then we either put it back up or try cutting it into two smaller pieces and build frames around each one. It’s more work but less money since we reuse the old mirror.” “Oh, obviously both toilets get replaced once the floor is down. I’m not sure we’ll get both floors done, so you may have to learn on the little bath so you can knock it out. It’ll be easier if we do it now though so we can have it down under the toilet and cabinets. We’ll need to grab a rebuild kit for the hot water tank to knock that out and a few fittings and probably some PEX and a few fittings as I’m sure we’ll end up needing to plumb something. Oh a small spool of 12/3 wire and wire nuts. We aren’t going to have time to touch the kitchen this weekend.”
“So you really think we can do all that? I mean we can’t leave her in the middle of a house with no bathrooms till who knows when.” “No, of course we wouldn’t do that. Honestly if we start on the hall bath today, assuming we can get everything we need we could have most, if not all of it done by late tonight or early tomorrow. Excluding painting.” “Seriously? I mean if we get thru both the bathrooms this weekend that would be huge. I think she’s thinking things will take weeks to do what she had in mind.” “I do and nah doesn’t take that long. I mean if we were replacing the tubs or trying to do tile or something, then yes. For the most part it’s like Legos, we’re just swapping one out for another assuming we don’t find any hidden gems. It’s not bad though but we are going to be hustling. So it’s already 2:50 so let’s finish up the shopping list, get some pics and more measurements and get our butts headed to Home Depot.”
“I think we should start in the master bath. In fact we’ll do that floor first as it’s bigger and more difficult with more cuts. So if we don’t get the hall bath done I’ll be here to help you on the harder one and show you what you need to do on it. Now the flooring is going to add time and money but if we’re doing it, now is the time.” “Well then that’s what we do. And I mean so long as we have the majority of things done and functioning, if it was just some of the cosmetics needing finished, that wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
“OK then, we’re wasting daylight, let's get going.” “OK let me grab my tape measure and get some measurements on the cabinets and the flooring. We shouldn’t tell her totally what we're doing…” Matt grinned “Agreed” “But crap, we need her to OK colors and stuff.” Matt smiled “Maybe not, go grab your tool box and I’ll grab something to show you.” Merv was back in a few minutes coming in the front door. “Hey, in here.” Matt called from the kitchen. “Take a look at this. She calls it her ‘house ideas’.” Matt had a three inch thick, three ring binder that had pages overflowing from the edges. “So when she sees designs she likes she cuts them out and puts them in here. She was kind enough to even add tabs to break it up by rooms and items and she was also telling me a load of her ideas last weekend when we were talking thru all this.” Merv smiled. “Let’s get busy!”
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Aug 21, 2022 14:48:45 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by motherhen on Aug 22, 2022 1:45:01 GMT -6
CountryGuy, thanks for the update! Really enjoying this story 🙂
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Aug 23, 2022 19:57:37 GMT -6
31
It took about twenty minutes for Merv to get the measurements and sizes he needed and then they were off to Home Depot. As they were pulling in Merv saw something that he’d forgotten about. “Shit!” “What” “We’re gonna have to rent one of their trucks to get all this stuff back.” “You're right, I hadn’t thought about that. No biggie, as the side of it says, ‘Only $19.95 A Day’.”
When they went in they made a beeline to the empty customer service desk. They told the lady there that they were there to pick up two toilets that should be on hold for them. “Oh yes, they are back here on a cart. Let me grab it and I can check you out if you like.” “Oh thanks but we have a bunch of other things to get. Could we maybe see them to see what design is that she picked. That way we have an idea on what we need to try to match.” “Well rather than opening one of these, how about I show you the display model that’s all put together?” “Great idea” they told her.
Matt grabbed a shopping cart and Merv grabbed one of the flatbed carts before they followed the lady back to the plumbing section. As they walked he asked her about the truck rental. She told him they’d just need his license and credit card and that it’d take 5 to 10 minutes to do the paperwork. Merv thanked her and told her that they’d see her once they got done with the rest of their shopping. As they got to the toilet display she pointed out the one Tanya had picked. And then she said she’d see them when they were done shopping and she headed off back in the direction of the front door.
They agreed it was a good looking toilet. Sort of a classic style without being modern nor looking like an antique. Merv could see more of the tastes that Tanya had between this style and the ideas from the binder Matt shared with him. He could see that his and her tastes ran pretty close. Once they’d saw the toilet they headed straight for the plumbing area and Merv started grabbing things, tossing them into Matt’s cart. There new supply hoses, toilet wax rings, sink supply lines for the sinks, some pieces of PEX and Sharkbite fittings, teflon, plumbers putty and more. As they rounded the corner to the faucets display they hit their first decision. What fixtures would she like? Matt pulled out his phone and showed a faucet she’d sent him a pic of earlier in the week saying how much she loved it. It was a nice more ‘modern’ country look in an oil rubbed bronze. The guys agreed it was a nice looking choice. They found the one on display, saw where the tag said they should be and then they grabbed three of them. “Dang… $125 a piece” Matt said. “Fashion and remodeling are expensive.” Merv said with a smile. They were lucky enough to find the matching design for the tub and shower set, the soaker tub set and the stand alone shower. Merv pointed out to Matt the matching towel bars, toilet paper holders and towel hooks. Matt looked at the prices and shook his head. Merv just grinned. They added everything they’d need to the cart and moved on.
“Damn that’s almost $750 right there just for all the faucets and another $300 something for the towel bars and such.” “Yeah and don’t forget three fifty for the toilets, I probably have 300 in the cart with the supply lines, fittings and things. We haven’t even looked at cabinets, sink tops, medicine cabinets, lights or flooring!” “That’s what I said, it won’t be cheap. If you want we can back things down and not do some of the things if you want. I mean we don’t have to change the lights and We can just get the stuff to do the Master for now, we can skip the flooring, we could paint over the existing cabinets instead of replacing the old ones.” “No, it needs done right and this will give her a nice place to enjoy in the short term and will definitely add to the value. I want to take advantage of having you here.” “Well you are right, kitchens and baths are where to put your money for the most return.”
They continued on their shopping spree, turning down another aisle, they found the kit for the hot water heater and grabbed one along with the heater element socket and Merv grabbed a replacement anode rod. Next they rolled on towards the back of the store where the cabinets were. They parked their carts and made a quick scan of what was available. They had the option of white painted ones, a medium honey oak, a reddish cherry look or unfinished ones ready to be sanded, stained and poly coated. They also found a double bowl sink top and a single one that they felt would complement well and went with some of the pics she’d had. They were out of second matching one to the small top they’d need in the hall bath. Matt took a couple pics and sent them to Tanya telling her they’d made it and were at Home Depot. He played stupid, telling her they walked by the cabinets and he saw this color and style and thought it looked like what she’d been describing to him the other weekend. She said yes and when he sent a pic of the sink top she confirmed she liked it alot and agreed it looked like it went well with the cabinet. Bingo, she made the decision without realizing she was making one. They were able to grab a HD worker as he rounded the corner and asked him if he could get a lift to pull down the larger double sink base cabinet they needed along with the smaller one and the double bowl vanity top. When they mentioned they wished they had the matching smaller sink the guy said that they might actually have it. They told him they hadn’t seen one on the shelf and he said he’d check the inventory system as it would show if they had any. He disappeared and was back in five minutes. “Well the computer says we’s to have two in stock so I’m betting they’s up top.” He went and grabbed one of their lifts and dug thru the stack up on the top shelf. “Here we are” he said as he pulled it out. “Well shoot that’ens got a busted corner. Let me look at this other’n. Yeah this is good.”
As the guy brought down the good one Merv asked what they’d do with the broken one and the man said probably scrap it. “Well could I maybe have the broken one too if they’re just gonna trash it?” “Probably not, they’re funny about giving things away, even if they are broke. But they’d probably sell ya it for a very deep discount.” “Well what if I offered $10? I mean they’re getting something for it at least?” “Let me go ask my manager and see what he says.” “OK well that’s all the stuff we need from back here so we'll get this on the cart and wheel it up front.” “Tell you what, save you dragging this thru the store, I'll get it all on a bigger cart and take it up front for you while you all finish your shopping.” “That’d be great….” Merv looked and saw the man’s name on his vest “…Timmy. And tell you what, if your manager approves my offer on the broken one, add it to the stack. OK?” “Yes sir, I can do that for ya.” “Great, we really appreciate it Timmy.”
Merv turned to Matt as they walked away down the aisle “Well that’s a big chunk of what we need. Let’s go hit the electrical section, lights and then see what they have for medicine cabinets or mirrors, which I think we passed a couple aisles back and then flooring.” The medicine cabinet for the hall bath was quick. Matt wasn’t sure which she’d want for the master. Merv said no biggie they can easily be put up later and that maybe Matt and Tanya would want to run over the next day after the cat was out of the bag and let her decide. The combo ceiling light vent fans were a quick grab as were the LED light cans for over the shower. Matt had grabbed the second one to possibly also add to over the hall bath’s shower.
Merv looked at his watch, it was pushing 3:45. “OK, down to flooring, think you know what she wants?” “I don’t know man, she shows me these different ones and goes on about how she likes one and not the other for the way this or that color ‘pops’. They all look about the same to me.” “I hear that” “I think this looks real similar to the one, this gray vinyl plank that looks like wood.” “So send her a pick of those two that are sort of close and play stupid again, that’s not hard for you, and ask if that is the color she was talking about and then send a third that is totally off base and be like or was it this shade.” “Worth a shot.” Matt texted her pics. It might be a few minutes till I hear back if she’s busy. So what else do we need?”
“Well, I didn’t get a chance to dig thru my tools in storage and I have limited stuff in the tool box I brought. Does she have any?” “No other than a cheap screw driver set and some cheap pliers and slip pliers I picked up at Harbor freight.” “Well we’re going to need some tools. Since you are laying down a load of money on this, I’ll get the tools. The ones I have in storage are old and most were cheap brands. So between this work and whatever we get into at Edna’s the investment will be worth it. So come on, time for a tool binge.”
Merv had always been a fan of Black and Yellow but he was hearing more and more good stuff out of the red guys. As they were looking though the aisles he almost choked on his tongue at the price tags. He looked around at what they had, some were just total junk but he saw some of the Rigid stuff and it looked pretty well built. He knew some guys he had worked with had some and they never seemed to have issues with them. He would like a sliding compound but the prices were almost double for them and he didn’t see where he’d need that feature for now. He found a Rigid combo set that came with a 10” plug in compound saw and a 18v cordless jig saw. “Score, two things I’ll need for this job.” He set the box on top of the cart.
He pulled out his phone and quickly scanned the HD website trying to sort thru the loads of drill options. He ended up finding a Milwaukee set for $150 that came with two 18v/ 2AH batteries vs the Dewalt with two 20v/ 2AH that were $70 more. A square, a small level, wire strippers, side cutters and a few other small things like utility knife, blades and a rubber mallet. Other than for the flooring, they were ready to head for the check out.
“Man I’ll just pick the one and we’ll go with it, I’m pretty sure that’s it. I think it’s this first one.” “OK, it’s your funeral. For both rooms and with all the cutting and scrap, I think we’ll need 10 boxes and a couple transition strips for the doorways.” They had 7 boxes on the cart when Matt’s phone chirped. “Damnit!” “Let me guess, you picked A and she said B.” Merv got a single finger salute and they unloaded the boxes and got the prize behind door number 2.
Next stop was the register. They told the young girl they should have a cart with a bunch of cabinets and things. She didn’t look overly happy at that revelation. She said she’d go see where it was parked. Merv told Matt he’d run to the service desk about the truck. Merv started to head for the desk but asked the girl if it’d be OK to park in front of the door to load. She pointed vaguely at something and grunted something unintelligible. Yep, fine customer service. Merv headed to the counter to see the woman from earlier.
He was back in 10 minutes with the keys and Matt was still waiting on the girl who they could see on a slow walk back up thru the store. The guy who’d helped them with the vanity tops was behind her pushing the cart. “Dude, she still isn’t back?” Matt gave him a very displeased look. “Naa, apparently she doesn’t care about anyone else's time.” As the guy got there the girl went around to the register and slowly started to ring things up. Merv stepped over and asked Timmy if they had rope or twine to tie things down but He said no, they’d been out for a few weeks and were waiting to get some in.
“Hey, I’ll be back in a minute.” Matt looked at him, then to the girl and back to Merv “OK, I’m sure I’ll still be here.” Merv walked to his car and opened the trunk and pulled up the floor and from the well around the spare he grabbed four 1” ratchet straps. He closed the trunk and walked about halfway across the parking lot to the rental truck. He walked around and snapped pics of every side and then of the interior. No way would he get blamed for someone else's damage. He jumped in the truck and pulled it around in front of the exit doors in the loading zone. He kicked on the four ways and headed back inside. As he was coming back thru the main door he saw the cart with the toilets still at customer service. Yep gonna need those too. He grabbed the cart and wheeled it over to the pile at the register.
As he walked up he saw Matt and Timmy standing there waiting as the girl slowly hunted thru and scanned the items. The guys all looked at each other and did some eye rolls. Timmy shrugged his shoulders. “Hey I appreciate you helping us with that sink top. Did you get to talk to you manager about the broken one?” “Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to mention that. He said seeing how you’re buying all this other stuff he could let you have it for a dollar. Something about with our inventory system he has to charge something.” “Oh awesome. I appreciate you doing that. Do you think you could get another guy to help us load those cabinets, tops and toilets? I rented one of your trucks and it’s sitting outside” “Let me see.” With that Timmy headed towards the customer service desk.
By the time the girl had finished ringing things up it was pretty apparent to the guys that she was doing it out of spite or something, like she was pissed at them for coming to her register. Mind you it was the only one with a clerk. By the time she was done Timmy and another guy, Don, were standing there to help. The girl was still dragging feet and it was clear it was being done on purpose. Her coworkers weren’t looking at her to kindly either.
Merv had had enough of their brat clerk and grabbed the tools and a couple of the other things and took them to the self check outline. He was rung up and cashed out in less than 3 minutes and he could see she was still pissing around. He was headed towards the door to put the paid for stuff in the truck as a guy with a manager tag appeared near the door. He said he wanted to thank him for shopping at Home Depot today. “How was everything today? Did you find everything you needed Sir?” Merv looked at him “Well until check out everything was great. But that girl over there needs either a serious attitude adjustment or a change in employment.” “Oh is there an issue?” “Well she seems to be going excruciatingly slow checking my buddy out, he’s been there at least 20 minutes, if not longer. Is that the sort of speedy check out your team strives to provide?” “Ah no Sir.” “Please do. Now Timmy there, he’s a beast, you need to clone him. He helped us find the sink tops we needed, drug them off the top shelf for us, helped us find a top we didn’t think you had and helped with getting the cart full of cabinets and the countertops up here. Then when I asked about help to load everything he got Don there and now they’ve been standing here going on 10 minutes while Princess Pokey there takes her sweet bippity boppity time.” “I apologize for things taking so long. I’m glad to know Timmy helped, and you're right, I wish I could clone him, he’s always here when he’s scheduled, never gives a problem and busts his butt the entire time he’s here. Some of our younger employees are still learning what is expected of them in a customer service role. If you’ll please excuse me, I need to go speak with her and see what the issue is.”
“Oh, could I please have your receipt for the things you just bought?” “Sure here, it’s all paid for.” “Oh, no Sir I know it is, nothing like that. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” The manager, Mike, walked up behind the girl, who apparently was unaware she’d been being watched. He said something Merv couldn’t hear and suddenly her pace sped up 10 fold. Mike then headed in the direction of customer service.
A couple minutes later as it looked like she was finally finishing up with scanning everything, Mike reappeared and had her step to the side as he got on the register and was doing something. When he was done he had her take Matt’s card and finish checking him out. Suddenly seeing she was done, Timmy and Don were pushing the cabinets for the door and Matt was pushing the flat cart for the door. Matt looked at Merv with a question on his face that seemed to ask ‘what happened?’ Just as Merv was starting out the door after the convoy of carts, Mike hailed him. “Mr Cole.” Merv turned and saw Mike approaching and holding out his receipt. “Please, it’s Merv.” “Well Merv, I’m sorry for the less than perfect experience here today. As a way of apologizing I’ve taken 15% off of your and your friends' purchases today. I hope you will please come again when your home improvement needs arise.” Merv held out his hand and Mike shook it. “Thank you, that is very gracious of you. The young nurse whose house we’re fixing up will greatly appreciate that.” “Well again, thank you and I promise I’m going to have a discussion with my young cashier.” Merv shrugged his shoulders “I hope it sinks in, good luck and thanks again.” Mike turned and headed towards the clerk and her register.
Merv got outside and Timmy was on the truck and Don and Matt on the ground lifting the big vanity up. While they worked on that Merv loaded the tools into the cab of the truck. The big saw box barely fit in the door and onto the front seat. The other bags went on the passenger side floor. Merv grabbed the ratchet straps off the seat and headed to the back of the truck. The guy were working on getting the toilets heaved up on the truck bed. Merv paused and pulled a $20 and a $50 from his wallet and folded each in half and then in half again. As they finished Timmy hoped down off the bed. “You fellas be careful with that stuff not being tied down.” Merv held up the straps “I had these in the car so they should be enough.” He smiled. Merv reached out his hand to Don, “Thanks for the help getting this loaded.” As Don shook it, Merv out the $20 in his left hand. “Please take this, I really appreciated the help.” He then turned and shook Timmy’s hand “Hey man, big thanks Timmy for busting ass today and getting all that stuff down and loaded.” Merv handed him the $50. As Timmy looked at the bill in his hand “Are you serious?” “I am, good help should be rewarded. You went over and above, unlike our young cashier in there plus you helped us out with getting that broken sink.” “Well thank you, I can really use this.” “Glad to help.” “Next time you're in let me know if we can help in any way.” “Will do, you guys have a good weekend.” With that Timmy and Don gave a wave and then wheeled the carts back in the door.
As Merv unrolled the straps Matt looked at him. “What the heck just happened, she took 15% off the order.” “Yeah, I don’t know what he told her, but he is not happy with her, having seen how she was dragging ass checking us out, I got a feeling her employment might be short lived. He did the same for me. That’s where he went when he walked off initially. He went and re-rang my receipt and gave me a 15% discount, I mean it took like $75 bucks off.” “Yeah well it took almost $480 off of mine.” “Awesome! Well let's get this strapped down. You take the car and I’ll follow you back to her place in this. We’ll unload everything into her garage and then I’ll follow you back to drop this off. The easy part is over, now for the work to start.”
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Aug 23, 2022 20:35:25 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
|
|
ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
|
Post by ydderf2 on Aug 25, 2022 8:30:16 GMT -6
Thank you
|
|
|
Post by texasknt on Aug 25, 2022 11:28:47 GMT -6
Really enjoying the story. Keeping you in my prayers. TexasKnt
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Aug 27, 2022 19:27:36 GMT -6
32
Less than an hour later the things were unloaded, the truck returned and they were back at Tanya’s ready to tear into things. Merv parked his car in front of the garage door to block it. It was about 5:15 o’clock so they’d lost some time but he felt good that they should have most everything they needed to get going. At least he hoped they did. They had brought the flooring in and set it on the floor of the master closet to let it acclimate in the time they had. It was supposed to be 24 hours but it wouldn’t get that long. As they were in the garage and Merv was getting his tool belt out and loading it up he looked to Matt who was just sort of standing there waiting for direction. “OK where is the water shut off and the electrical panel?” “The panel is over there in the corner behind you. I’m not sure about the water, I’ll have to send her a text.”
Matt’s phone rang and he looked at it and then answered “Hey babe, how are you doing?” “Crappy. Margie called in sick so they asked if I could stay 4 hours into her shift to cover and then Helen is going to come in 4 hours early before her shift to relieve me and to cover the tail end of Margie’s shift. So I’m not going to get home till probably closer to 11:00. I’m sorry baby but I won’t be able to make you guys dinner. Do you think you guys can get yourselves dinner?” “Yeah no problem babe, we do it most every other day all on our own so we’ll be fine.” “Smart ass” “Yes Ma’am, and you love it.”
“We’ll be fine Babe, I’ll just order us some delivery. You just be safe and call me when you’re leaving, OK?” “Yes Daddy” she replied sarcastically. “Hmm I like the sounds of that…”LOL “You perv…” “Yes, yes I am and I don’t hear you complain any other time.” Matt chuckled. “Oh hey, before you get me too distracted and I forget, do you know where the water shut off is for the house?” “Umm… there’s a box in the ground out by the street but there is also a valve inside the house. If you open the crawl space door that is around back, it’s not far inside the door coming out of the wall. Why?” “Merv just wants to make sure it’s off in case he has a problem with the faucet shut offs under the sink when we fix the drip on the faucet.” Matt winked at Merv as he smoothly tossed in the bit of misdirection. “Oh OK babe, I have to run.” “OK sexy, I’ll see you when you get home.”
“OK, well since we're in the garage, let's get the hot water heater ready to work on later. You go shut off the breaker, I’ll close off the water valves on the heater. While you're over there, open that hot faucet on the utility sink to let off the pressure and let it drain if it wants. Then go find that water shut off and close it.” Matt was back in 5 minutes and found Merv checking thru the bags from their HD haul. Merv glanced up at him “Man look at you, dirty already and the work hasn’t even started.” He had to laugh as Matt had cobwebs on his shoulders and back. “Yeah it’s nasty down there, freaking spider webs everywhere.” “Oh just wait, odds are you’ll be back under there a few more times but far under and we’ll definitely be up in the attic.” “Oh that is awesome… note my tone of sarcasm…” “OK, so with all that off and the tank off, we’ll let that sit a while to cool down, otherwise those heater elements and the water will be hot as hell right now. Let’s go in and see where to start. Grab those couple HD bags, I’ll get this one and my tool box. Might as well take what we can now and not waste a trip.”
They headed straight back to the Master Bath, once they were in the bathroom Merv laid out what he wanted to do and in what order. “We’ll yank that mirror, then you can disconnect the lines for the sinks, the drains and the faucets. Actually the faucets can stay since it’s all coming out. While you’re under there look and see if you there is any sort of clips and screws attaching the top to the cabinet. While you do that I’ll kank the toilet and plug the drain hole to keep sewer gas from coming back up.” It took them a few minutes to get the mirror down. Merv showed Matt how to run duct tape around the edge and then in a couple big X’s in case it broke. They pulled the small mounting clips and then slowly tugged at it till the mastic adhesive on the back popped loose. They carried it straight out and leaned it against the outside of the house against the garage wall. “Well that went best as could be hoped, let’s hope the rest does.”
When they went back in Merv got busy with the toilet. While Matt got under the sink shutting off and disconnecting the water lines and drains. He shut it off, flushed till the tank went dry and then grabbed one of the throw away Dixie cups and bailed the remaining water from the bowl and dumped it down the shower. “Matt, can you grab out one of those big contractor trash bags from the box we got.” “Yeah sure, give me a sec, just need to plug this drain pipe.” When he came back in “Can you open it up and sort of roll it down and lay it out flat on the floor. I want to set the toilet in it and pull it up around so we can carry it out and not worry about it leaking.”
As Matt had things ready Merv lifted the toilet up off the flange and hobbled over to the bag and sat it down. He then took a putty knife and scraped up some of the remaining wax seal from the mounting flange so it was ready for a new one. He grabbed a wad of the Shop Rag paper towels and balled them up and stuffed them into the open sewer pipe to keep the gases from coming up. “Give me a hand with carrying this out, would you?” He pulled the bag up around the toilet and he grabbed around the bottom of the tank and Matt around the base and they walked it outside and sat it next to the mirror.
As they went back in Matt told him “Everything should be clear to remove the top other than it looks like they used some caulk to fasten it down. I left two screws in the cabinet where it’s fastened to the wall. I figured it’d help us pullin the top free if it was totally loose” “Good thinking. Yeah and no problem, we'll shove the putty knife under it and work our way around till it comes free.” Two trips and about 15 minutes later they had both the top and then the cabinet free, snaked out of the bedroom, down the hall and outside.
“What do you want me to do next?” Matt asked. Well do you want to go ahead and work on the fanlight? I mean being an EE I’d hope you can handle that.” “Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence Buddy.” “No problem, the least I can do. While you work on that I’ll work on the shower and then the tub. Tell you what, why don’t we order supper as soon we’ll hopefully have these few smaller things done and we can start putting things back together. That’d be a good time for a break. And being Friday night it’ll probably take a while for it to get here.” “Sounds like a plan. Thinking Chinese, that OK with you?” “Yeah for sure. I’ll do General Tso with fried rice and a shrimp roll.” “OK I’ll order then get working on the electrical stuff. The shower faucet and drain actually went very quick and made a big and fast improvement in the look. Next he swapped out the tub faucet and filler but that tub drain looked like it was going to be a problem child.
Matt came in from ordering their food and went to the closet and pulled down the attic stairs. As he headed up in Merv heard him say “Damn!! It’s hot as hell up here and dark as hell too. There’s two light switches here but it looks like both lights aren’t working. I wonder if it’s just the bulbs are burned out or something. I don’t know if she even has a flashlight.” “Go out to the car and in that car kit in the trunk you'll find a headlamp, a yellow LED mini work light and a bright yellow stick light. Those should give you enough light.”
Matt headed out to the car and found the little kit and the lights were on top and easy to get to. Just as he shut the trunk and was going to head into the house a small car whipped into the driveway. A young asian guy hopped out with bags in hand. “Perfect timing and damn that was fast” Matt paid him and gave him a good tip for how fast it came. He grabbed the food and went into the garage and grabbed two beers before heading out back to set everything on the patio table. He walked back in and down the hall before he yelled in “Food’s here, come out and wash up, I got it out on the deck.” Matt was just getting things out on the table as Merv walked out the door drying his hands on some paper towels. “It’s not as good as what Tanya would have made but it should fill your belly.”
They talked as they wolfed down their food. “So how do you think we’re doing so far?” Matt asked, washing down a bite of his beef lo mein with a swig of beer. “Honestly I think it’s going pretty well. I started messing with the tub drain and I think it’s going to be our first challenge. It’s really corroded so it might take a bit to get it unthreaded or to tear it into pieces to get it out. I have to be careful so as to not break the actual tub. How’s the fan and light going?” “Well I didn’t get to far with no lights.” “duhh… that’s right, sorry I forgot” “Well I don’t think it’ll take much from what I see but I’ll need you to help me with how to put in the new recessed light.” ”No problem, it should be easy so long as the ceiling joist all work with us.”
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Aug 27, 2022 20:29:06 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
|
|
ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
|
Post by ydderf2 on Aug 29, 2022 19:03:32 GMT -6
Thanks
|
|
|
Post by iamnobody on Sept 10, 2022 10:23:14 GMT -6
My MOAR hound is wasting away to skin and bones and can barely lift his head from the lack of being fed.
|
|
ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
|
Post by ydderf2 on Sept 11, 2022 13:29:23 GMT -6
Any way for us to send you muse food?
|
|
|
Post by accountant on Sept 15, 2022 13:46:50 GMT -6
CountryGuy,
Thanks for all you've written. Didn't think this is where the story would go when I first started reading it, but it's coming along nicely.
It's been a while, any chance you can drop a couple three chapters on us? I know I shouldn't be asking considering how sleepy my muse has been. LOL
Thanks again, A.
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Sept 16, 2022 12:45:45 GMT -6
Sorry, work is going full throttle right now as is kids with Scouts starting up so not as much time towrite. I have another chapter or 2 done but need to rewrite some choppy and overlap spots. Worse yet, I'm not even getting time to read the wonderful stories here.
I'm sorry MOAR Hounds.. trying to get you your next fix ASAP
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Sept 16, 2022 16:39:13 GMT -6
CountryGuy,
Family comes first.
Whenever you have a chance to catch your breath and post more story, we will be here waiting and anticipating. Until then, enjoy your kids before they grow up.
|
|
|
Post by 9idrr on Sept 16, 2022 17:53:42 GMT -6
CountryGuy, Family comes first. Whenever you have a chance to catch your breath and post more story, we will be here waiting and anticipating. Until then, enjoy your kids before they grow up. Yeah, what he said.
|
|
|
Post by phreddagg on Sept 30, 2022 16:39:29 GMT -6
Country Guy. Looking forward to reading more of your story. I only found it yesterday and have already read all 32 chapters.
|
|
|
Post by diybuilder on Oct 14, 2022 20:17:17 GMT -6
This here is a fine story. I am really enjoying it. I worked in hardware/Home Improvement for 35 years and that girl would not have lasted a day any place I know of.
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Oct 30, 2022 9:32:08 GMT -6
Hey all, Sorry for the absence but things have been crazy with work and the family. I love fall but it always seems to be so busy and hectic. I need to get some time to do some more writing and if I'm honest I'm gonna have to go back and reread my own story to remember the details... I guess that's one negative when you're just writing as it comes to you, I don't have any sort of outline or storyboard to work off of.
I appreciate all the likes from you who are reading it and following along.
|
|
|
Post by iamnobody on Oct 30, 2022 9:37:05 GMT -6
1 VERY large box of time headed your way. Its in the mail, honest.
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Oct 30, 2022 16:54:50 GMT -6
Well that box is lost in the great unknown if you sent it through the mail. Next time try UPS
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Oct 30, 2022 20:14:05 GMT -6
Well that box is lost in the great unknown if you sent it through the mail. Next time try UPS FedEx might get it there, but it would be mangled and crushed.
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Oct 31, 2022 8:06:26 GMT -6
FedEx if you're not in a hurry. I had some LiFePO4 cells that were "delivered" and "signed for by MM" - the only "MM" I know is a niece about 400 miles away so I filed a claim on that which was denied but there was a record of the non-delivery. That order turned up on the porch three weeks later - about the same time the second set I ordered arrived. I wondered if someone thought the package cops might be watching the second order more closely and decided to put the original package on the porch ;-) At least I have enough cells for my current projects...
|
|
|
Post by CountryGuy on Dec 10, 2022 20:50:01 GMT -6
Sorry for the long, many months delay due to work, family things and then seemingly weeks of sicknesses making the rounds thru our house. Finally a little time this evening to refresh the next session I wrote months ago. If I'm honest I spent the last few evenings rereading the chapters posted here to refresh myself on where they'd been and where they are headed. I have several paths for them to go down and also some on how the paths might cross or intermingle. Guess we all have to wait to see what the voices say. I'm hoping with the holidays here and some much needed vacation time I'll have time to write down the story the voices tell me.
|
|