There is an older posting of the America's Cup dated August 11, 2013. Click here to read it.
Los Gatos Townhouse
We closed on the new place in the first few days of August. I did offer a six week rentback but the seller vacated by August 15. My first tour of the place was with my contractor as I described how we wanted to expand the kitchen and update the rest of the home.
One major thing that bothered me was the 'popcorn' ceilings. I told my contractor to remove them. He said ok, grabbed a step stool and proceeded to scrape some popcorn into an envelope.
"What is that for?" I ask.
"It has to be tested." says Steve
"To scrape it off? Just get rid of it!" I reply.
"Well, this place was built in the early 70s, its highly unlikely but still possible there is asbestos in the popcorn. I have to have it tested before I can remove it." is his answer.
A week or so later the test comes back positive. You would think they had discovered Saddam's weapons of mass distruction in this place once asbestos was confirmed. All of a sudden, the place looks like a scene from ET. Plastic sheeting everywhere coupled with big warning signs to not enter unless properly covered in hazmat suits. The scary bit was opening the door from the garage and discovering a double zipper set of plastic sheeting with skull and crossbones warnings plus a very formal declaration of the imminent death of anyone who enters without proper protection.
I don't get it, it was there for 40 years. Why is it a big deal if you want to remove it?
But, we follow the rules, I sign documents confirming I have none of Saddam's WMD or additional asbestos hidden in the property and (drum roll please) I am promised a written clean bill of health so I can move into the property after the removal and the final "recleaning" which is needed to clean after the Hazmat folks have done their cleaning. Now if you have signed the documents, you'd expect the work to begin posthaste. You'd be wrong, very wrong.
I learn that Hazmat time lines are several times worse than hospital time. As we exit August, we are still waiting for the clean bill of health. Heck, we are still waiting for the Hazmat guys to show up for the initial removal of the asbestos. Turns out, Hazmat removal is a precious resource so my contractor invokes some ancient sorcery of the saw and hammer and gets an expedited team assigned because its a new purchase and we need to move in. As we exit August, we are still waiting for a commitment for the expedited team to show up.
Turns out the guys who hang plastic are low skilled and jump into action immediately upon confirmation of asbestos. The actual, high skilled removal folks are rare and booked for months in advance. If we had been trying to live in the place, we'd be living in the ET decor for weeks and weeks waiting. Thankfully, we were not living there.
Oh, and it does warm the cockles of your heart to have the state and county Hazmat folks place warnings all over about the imminent danger and near death condition of your just purchased property. Makes one wonder if, perchance, it was not exactly the best expenditure of your hard earned money?
We leave August wondering about the plan to have Stephanie move to the bay area in early October. Ah, no problem, we can live in the one room studio in San Francisco. With a dog. An old, diabetic, blind dog. Oh, this is not sounding too cool.
Actually, I do not have pictures of the Hazmat condition of the place. I couldn't get in to take them!
St Paul Condo
Now this is totally under control! Early on to save money, we withdrew our request to remove the popcorn from the existing ceiling. This saved me, as I learned later from the California experience, not only money but also a formal invitation to meet the Minnesota Hazmat folks. Whew! I guess if you paint over it, its ok. But if you want to remove it to create smooth ceilings, out comes the ET team.
The plan was simple. Our St Paul contractor, Ron, would charge us extra to strip some additional sheetrock so the electrician could charge us extra to remove the old wires. The electrician would then charge us even more extra to run the new wires. That was followed by the sheetrock guy who would then charge us extra to replace the sheetrock that we had just destroyed. My pocket was feeling very light. Ron then offered, and I accepted readily, that because there was no structural work needed after the initial demolition that he would not charge us for the removal and replacement of the sheetrock. The electrician, however, would get his full pound of flesh. Blood included.
All of this boiled down to the time window for painting of the place. Back in July, Stephanie and I decided we could save some money by painting it ourselves. After all, we had both learned how to paint from our respective fathers and we both enjoyed doing it. It turned out the America's Cup Louis Vuitton ended early in August as New Zealand defeated Italy's Luna Rossa team. We planned on a busy Labor Day weekend buzzing through and painting our new condo.
Well, Dear Reader, life throws curveballs. I recall, at the age of 17, my parents moving into a new home. I stripped wallpaper in three rooms and painted all three of them myself. I am sure this took no more than half a day each. At least, in my memory that is what it took. I thought Stephanie and I could accomplish the painting of a two bedroom condo in three, maybe four days tops. And, Stephanie agreed! Afterall, there was no wallpaper removal to deal with!
We were wrong. Big time wrong!
We worked our tails off over the Labor Day weekend. Sanding and priming woodwork, removing hinges and doorknobs prior to priming the doors, two coats of primer to cover the mauve and purple walls, carefully removing baseboard so we could reuse it, etc. We actually got the priming done--it took a bit more time than we planned, but it was done. And we started on the color palette we had selected.
OMG, what happened? Those little samples don't look like that at all once its on the wall! And now we were out of time. I was returning to CA for the opening of the America's Cup finals and Stephanie was joining me!
We did two things: First, we went to the same paint store and bought paint that looked better on the wall. And, of course, because our first choice was custom mixed, it was not returnable. Second, we asked our contractor to bring in his painters to finish the job.
Well, paying for twice the amount of paint one needs is never fun. Its even less fun to find out you cannot get rid of the stuff you don't want because its considered hazardous material! What else can go wrong? Turns out the painter's quote to finish the paint job was exactly the amount of money that was deleted from the estimates when we planned on doing our own painting. Wait a second, the priming is all done, the hardware and doors are all disassembled, the woodwork and baseboards are primed and ready to go. Why is the price so much?
Ah, now you need it in the next few days!
Ouch! Its sort of like airline pricing. If you want it in a year, its cheap. Tomorrow, we have a special price for you!
So we exit August with New Zealand winning the Louis Vuitton Cup which means they will sail in September against the defending Oracle Team USA under the banner of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
Our St Paul condo is running a bit late due to the added electrical work and the further slipped schedule due to amateur painters. What was that about an August completion?
And Los Gatos is still in the planning stages putting a September completion in a bit of doubt.
Stephanie to move in October? Not sounding too good.
Ciao!
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