The Call

I got The Call yesterday - a week from tomorrow a big truck arrives, and a huge number of large boxes invade my not-very-large condo. They can't deliver the boxes to the garage, because it's downstairs, so, yeah, this is going to be interesting. We are about to get serious about this remodeling shit, and I have only a vague idea of how it will all happen.

I wrote the first of the two checks for the flooring - second check will be written when the flooring arrives. Yes, in the end it was more expensive than the Home Depot option, by nearly $1000, but it is so insanely wood-like, there is a visible bump in quality, as well as an installer who laughed at the idea of it being a problem to install. So far, I've been totally pleased with the people at the store and the installation guy, and I think I made the right choice. We'll see how the next month proceeds.

True Funny Story about the flooring saga: Today one of our property managers visited the office, and talk turned to needed updates, including flooring. Our new manager is a fan of the vinyl plank floor, because he's seen it used before with great results. Our head of construction is a very, very smart guy, been there, did that, twice, seen it all - but he was insistent that there was no vinyl product that wasn't glued down, and when I told him I was buying a floating floor, he didn't believe me.

I happened to have the sample in the back of my car tonight, planning to stop by and return it to the store, and we happened to be leaving at the same time, so I told him to take a look at it.

Now, I like the man, he's very, very smart, he's my go-to guy with construction questions and he's a good egg, so I'll tolerate sexism and mansplaining from him more than I will from some young stranger flooring guy turning down my installation job, but still, I had a nice laugh tonight. I showed him the flooring I was using, and he took one look and said, "No DEAR, that's LAMINATE!" I said no, actually it's vinyl. He launched into mansplaining mode, prepared to prove it (what, I didn't actually know what I was buying?) and grabbed the sample and started to demonstrate to me how it was obviously a laminate flooring product, and stopped, because...oh...wait.... I said yeah, it's vinyl. Cool, isn't it?

He didn't concede that he was wrong, but turned around and argued price: "Well, that stuff is way too expensive to use [on the project we had been discussing earlier]!" I said yeah, the stuff I'm using is, but there are cheaper commercial alternatives, and they have amazing warranties - and he retreated to his car. As I said, he's a good egg, but he's rarely in the position of not knowing all there is about a subject, and he doesn't take it very gracefully. :-)