Sunday, November 30, 2014

Service Request IGNORED

Many of you are probably familiar with the back story to this, but for those who are not I will give a brief summary.  Back around the time of our 10 month post-settlement follow up, we had several contractors in our home to correct various issues.  One of the problems we were having was lots of squeaking, creaking, and movement under the resilient flooring in the kitchen, morning room, and foyer.  So the original installer was brought in to make repairs and with him came a helper.  Well the helper stole a bunch of cash out of my wallet, which the installer did make good on, after his helper made the news for a string of local burglaries.

However, his efforts to mitigate the squeaking and creaking were mostly futile and we were left with a floor that sounded like it belonged in a 100 year old house, not one that was newly constructed.

So RH agreed to bring in a different contractor to, once again, try to make things right.  This gentleman's solution was to hammer shims in between the floor joists and the OSB sub-flooring.  Initially it appeared to eliminate most of the noise, but within a couple of weeks, lots of squeaks returned.  Not only some of the old squeaks, but some new ones as well.  In addition to all the squeaking and movement, the repair method, which raised the sub-flooring off the joists by 5/16" or more in spots, created several lumps in the floor that are readily apparent now that the OSB has settled around the shims.  Some are so large they conform to the arch of your foot when you step on them.  I've seen our guests running their foot over the floor confirming what they just felt.  Not to mention there is a lot of movement around the problem areas.  A straight edge placed over the humps rocks all over the place.

A service request for this issue was entered into the RH web site on 11/21/2014 and we have yet to hear a single thing.

At the same time we also entered in a service request for the microwave exhaust vent failing to properly close and allowing cold air to enter the home.  This was something we received a recall notice from RH for.  Something they know is a problem and they did not respond to this either.

According to their web site they will respond to all requests within 48 business hours.  It's been almost 10 days.  Apparently we are not important to them.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Rooms Remodeled

After living in our home for over a year, we have grown very tired of looking at that cheap, flat, off-white paint they spray everywhere.  So after our 1-year drywall touchup was complete we decided to start painting some rooms.  We started in the dining room.  The color scheme we chose was a bright white and pale green combination.  On the lower half of the room we added chair rail and picture frame molding.  Crown was installed around the top and we cased out the door openings for a more finished look.  We were able to obtain the exact same moldings RH uses right at our local Lowes.




Next we painted the morning room.  This is kind of a teal color.  The official name is "Duckling".  We are pretty happy with it.  One bit of advice for anybody who hasn't starting painting yet.  You will not get 400 square feet of coverage that a gallon of paint usually provides.  The thin coat of cheap, flat paint on the walls is very porous and the walls will soak the paint up like a sponge!



Stay tuned for more pics of our family room upgrades and details on our latest service request that they have completely ignored!