Floor Install- should someone be home?

[disneychrista]

When you are having major home repairs or in this case having flooring installed, does someone (you, spouse, other adult) stay home?

It is estimated that it will take up to 4 days to complete the job. Should I make sure that I am home (or another adult) the entire time? Or is it okay leave them there alone? I work 5 mins from my house, so I could be there in less than 10 mins if needed.

 

[Buckalew11]

I think it would be a "yes" answer but I will tell you--at my old house we had flooring redone and we gave the ma key and turned the house over to them. These were people with a gret reputation and we knew the son (who worked with them) pretty well. I felt comfortable turning it all over to them.

In general though, I'd want to be around.

 

[JennaTX]

I would think that unless you personally knew someone who was doing the work you would want to be around. Since it is 4 days, I know that is a lot to take off. Maybe for the first day someone could be around and then if you feel comfortable with the crew go from there. Since you work so close, you could also do lots of quick check ups to see what is going on.

 

[Nancy F]

But that's just me. I've had family members who've had workers in their house when they had to work. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that.
Nancy

 

[disneychrista]

My feeling was that I wanted to be here but I wasn't sure what others do. I kinda felt like I might be in the way but then again this is my house and I am paying them quite a bit of money to do this.

 

[luvmythree]

We had floors installed for us when we went to Disneyland in 2001....and over 9-11 to boot. We were 5 days late getting home and it was the same as when we left except having new floors. I don't regret it at all. It was nice to be gone when all of the stuff was happening and the not having to deal with the noise and extreme mess was nice! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[disneychrista]

We had floors installed for us when we went to Disneyland in 2001... It was nice to be gone when all of the stuff was happening and the not having to deal with the noise and extreme mess was nice!

NICE...I know I can't be that "gone" since we have to move the furniture around for them to do it.

 

[wdwmom2]

We are having the whole first floor of our home redone starting November 15th. They have us booked for the whole week. We are using a flooring company that we have used in the past, they have been in business for a long time, and their employees have been with them at least 10 years. They are a local flooring store with a great reputation. Based on our past experience with them, I have no problem letting them in my home and then leaving. As soon as they arrive I will go to work. I feel comfortable doing this. And, I really don't want to burn a week of vacation time just to sit around and watch them.

I will enjoy coming home each day to see the progress that they have made!!! We are getting hardwood floors in our living room, media room, and long hallway. Two bedrooms will be carpeted. Our kitchen, small hallway and downstairs bathroom, which are continuous of each other, will be vinyl planking. I am soooo excited !!

 

[wdwmom2]

NICE...I know I can't be that "gone" since we have to move the furniture around for them to do it.

I forgot. We are borrowing a friend's 24 foot enclosed trailer (the kind you pull behind a pickup truck), to store all of our furniture in. So our 1st floor will be totally bare. The only thing the installers will be moving is our stove and refrigerator.

 

[golfgal]

I forgot. We are borrowing a friend's 24 foot enclosed trailer (the kind you pull behind a pickup truck), to store all of our furniture in. So our 1st floor will be totally bare. The only thing the installers will be moving is our stove and refrigerator.

That's a great idea. We need to replace our carpet and one thing holding me back is what to do with all of our stuff.

 

[aprilgail2]

Sometimes I am home and sometimes I am not. When we had an addition put on the house we would leave the window unlocked and the workers would just open it and come in and work.
My neighbors just had their whole kitchen redone and they went away on vacation forthe 2 weeks the guys were there working- they knew they could come over here if they had any trouble with the alarm etc.

 

[scrapquitler]

In general, I would not want someone working in my home if I were not there.

Now that I said that, we are currently having work done on our vacation home (flooring in the master bath/master bedroom). The person doing the work is a friend of ours, well known to everyone in our circle of friends, and we trust him completely, so we gave him a key to the house and he has been doing some of the work when we are not there (this is not his full time job, so he is coming on his days off and after work). But generally I am there when he is there working so that I am ready to answer questions, etc.

I definitely would not want a stranger in my house all that time if I were not there, but that's just me.

 

[kirstenb1]

Our downstairs has red oak, and we did an addition a couple of years ago. I let the finish guys in the house, then left to run errands. They called me urgently, because they couldn't get the stain color to match exactly. I was glad I hadn't left town.

In general, I'm fine with letting people in, then running errands etc. I guess it depends on what type of work you're having them do.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We are having the whole first floor of our home redone starting November 15th. They have us booked for the whole week. We are using a flooring company that we have used in the past, they have been in business for a long time, and their employees have been with them at least 10 years. They are a local flooring store with a great reputation. Based on our past experience with them, I have no problem letting them in my home and then leaving. As soon as they arrive I will go to work. I feel comfortable doing this. And, I really don't want to burn a week of vacation time just to sit around and watch them.

I will enjoy coming home each day to see the progress that they have made!!! We are getting hardwood floors in our living room, media room, and long hallway. Two bedrooms will be carpeted. Our kitchen, small hallway and downstairs bathroom, which are continuous of each other, will be vinyl planking. I am soooo excited !!

That sounds nice!

Do you have a basement? Is it finished?

I ask because when we had our hardwood done they did not tell us to COVER everything in the basement. The dust is just ATROCIOUS. It falls from the 1st floor to the basement. At the time we had a house with an unfinished basement.

I think it took 6 months before every speck of wood dust was cleaned up.

The windows and the window tracks took forever to clean on the first floor. We had a ton of windows.

Are you removing your fridge and oven as well? If not I highly recommend that you do.

My dh supervised and me and the kids went on vacation.

 

[LuvOrlando]

You mention another adult, who is it? Is this 'other adult' someone else who would lose vacation time or not?

 

[Mimi1965]

In my second house I had vinyl flooring installed-GOOD thing I was there-they had ordered the WRONG flooring!

If I hadnt been there-big Boo-Boo!!!!!

I just dont want workmen in my house when I am not there-unless you can lock up all your jewelry-thAT is how i feel.

 

[wdwmom2]

In my second house I had vinyl flooring installed-GOOD thing I was there-they had ordered the WRONG flooring!

If I hadnt been there-big Boo-Boo!!!!!

I just dont want workmen in my house when I am not there-unless you can lock up all your jewelry-thAT is how i feel.

Our vinyl planking we bought from Home Depot. It's actually laying in our one bedroom right now. We just couldn't find anything that we liked as much as we liked what they offered. The store we are dealing with agreed to install it, but only because we are having them do the rest of the 1st floor.

The store also had us look over a final contract before the order was placed. This is to avoid any mistakes. Everything is spelled out to a T. We then had to sign it and pay 1/3 down.

All my jewelry is locked in our gunsafe. If I am not wearing it, that's where it stays. So this is a definite no-worry!

That sounds nice!

Do you have a basement? Is it finished?

I ask because when we had our hardwood done they did not tell us to COVER everything in the basement. The dust is just ATROCIOUS. It falls from the 1st floor to the basement. At the time we had a house with an unfinished basement.

I think it took 6 months before every speck of wood dust was cleaned up.

The windows and the window tracks took forever to clean on the first floor. We had a ton of windows.

Are you removing your fridge and oven as well? If not I highly recommend that you do.

My dh supervised and me and the kids went on vacation.

No, very unfinished basement. Our home was built in 1942. We have all DH's tools, table saws, etc, down there. We also have shelving with paint cans that have leftover paint in them. At times, if dust fell down there, it might be an improvement!! JK!

As far as the fridge and stove, we are having the installers move them. That is the only thing they have to deal with. We are lifting our toilet, and removing the bathroom cabinate. We are replacing the cabinate with a new one.

 

[FINFAN]

I would prefer to be home, if I couldn't be there I would make sure someone I trusted was there. Better safe than sorry. Besides, I would be so stressed it is all I would be thinking about anyway, and would not be that productive at work that day. Also, when our floors went in, when the guy was putting the baseboard on, he used too long of a nail and just happen to hit a pipe in the wall...which created a slow water leak...if I had not been home to catch it after they had moved on to the next room....all that hard work of the floor would have been lost...SO glad I was home!

 

[disneychrista]

You mention another adult, who is it? Is this 'other adult' someone else who would lose vacation time or not?

The other "adult" would be my 19yo daughter. She works varying hours, so she is home during the day sometimes.