There will be no pictures in this post and that's a shame if there ever was one! I have no one to blame but myself. So, let's just get that out in the open right now. I blame myself ... for not having pictures that is.
Let it be known that I do not blame myself for the birth of "The Truck Incident" since it was not my fault.
The Truck Incident -
I have always told the people at Lowe's that when it came time for the kitchen and bathroom cabinets to be delivered that they needed to get there via only one route due to the steep, 180 degree curves in all the other routes. In fact, I have been very adamant about it even though every time I'd mention it again they would tell me that it was the KraftMaid Cabinet Company that actually was responsible for the transportation and they would not take the directions until an hour before the driver was supposed to actually deliver the cabinets.
That never made sense to me, but all I could do was to try to give them the information. So, I made sure they had my cell phone number so they could reach me even if I was on the road.
Another thing to know is that I made sure that they knew that some 18 wheelers were capable of making it down to the house from the paved road and some could not so if theirs would not then they would need to either bring it in a box truck (short truck rather than an 18-wheeler) or prepare to rent either one of them or a flatbed trailer once they determined that the truck they brought couldn't get the cabinets down to the house.
You should know that the cabinets were made in Virginia and shipped to Atlanta where they are then delivered by drivers from the Atlanta area. KraftMaid assured Lowe's that they were prepared to arrange for whatever transportation methods they needed to use and they were to deliver the cabinets on Wednesday 5/7th. The Lowe's representative was to come to the house on Thursday (the day I'm writing this) to check them to make sure that none were damaged in shipment.
Well, on Wednesday May 6th at about 12:30 pm I got a call from the driver asking whether it would be OK if they delivered the cabinets that afternoon at 2:00 or 2:30 instead of the next morning. I told them it would be OK and I asked them where the driver was coming from (Birmingham) and asked if I could give them the directions on how to get there since they had always refused them before. He said the driver would call me when he was an hour away from the location.
I know you may be wondering how he could really know when he was an hour away if he didn't know the directions and our property address isn't on any map or GPS, it's a very rural location, so how would he know whether it was 5 minutes from the town or 25 minutes. However, that's not the reason for the story today so it's just one of those things that made me a little bit leery of the accuracy and reliability of their normal procedures.
Anyway, I left to go to the house in time to get there early. I got a phone call while I was on the Interstate saying that they wanted directions. I asked where they were and they told me. I gave them very explicit directions about the only way for them to get their truck to the house. I mean very detailed including how many tenths of a mile from one turn to another along the way.
They were about 45 minutes from the house at that point and I happened to be about a couple of miles from where they were and would be slightly ahead of them on the same Interstate. I suggested that I just get off the Interstate where they needed to exit and wait for them on the highway in front of a particular hamburger place and when they got there I would lead them up to the house. The guy taking the directions asked the driver and he was told that all they wanted were the directions. They didn't want me to lead them up there.
I told them that was OK, but if they needed further help to just call me. Since I didn't need to go the way they needed to go I had about 10 minutes or more to kill so I went into town to get our mail from the Post Office. Then I started toward the house the way that I almost always go in my Jeep since it's shorter although it has lots of turns and about 6 very sharp 180 degree turns that are also very steep roads in the turns.
I had gone up the first 3 or 4 turns when I rounded a corner and there to my amazement was an idiot in an 18-wheeler who was jack-knifed on the next turn. The truck rear tires were completely up in the air and he could get no traction at all. Then I realized that the idiot's truck said KRAFTMAID CABINETS on the side of the truck!!! This was no normal idiot. This was a world-class idiot who had been given specific directions on the only way to get his truck to my house and had somehow decided to go the way I don't even suggest to people in cars!
I got out and walked up toward the truck. There was a guy standing on the side of the ditch just looking at the mess. My first words to him were, "What in the HELL are you doing trying to go up this road?". He just pointed toward the cab of the truck and said, "He thought this would be a better way." You remember don't you that the driver is from the Atlanta area? It's not like he knows the roads here and knew that he could make it up that road based on vast experience driving up it in the past.
This road is intimidating to even those who live on the mountain and have to use it to drive to work in Birmingham or elsewhere down in the valley. Yet, a driver in an 18-wheeler decided it was a "better way" after being told there was only one way to get his truck up there.
The driver got out of the cab of the truck and walked back toward where the other guy and I were standing. I told him "You're an idiot!" I wish I had remembered to tell him that he needed a sign (an idiot sign), but I didn't think of humor at the time. I did ask him what his plan was. He said that he didn't have a plan since he'd tried everything he knew to try. I asked him what he was thinking going that way. He said, "Well, I managed to get up 3 or 4 turns just fine before I got stuck." I said, "Yeah, and you got stuck on this one and it's not nearly as bad as the ones up above you either because they are sharper turns and steeper than the one you didn't make."
At that point I was so mad at him that I didn't even want to be in his presence so I told him that I was going to have to turn around and drive back down the mountain (since no one could get past him going up the mountain or coming down) and go to my property the way I had told him to go and I would wait for him to call to tell me whether he was going to be able to deliver the cabinets that day or if it would be the next day. I then left him there to deal with it since it was his problem.
It was at this point that I should have remembered that I had the camera with me and for that I am at fault. The pictures would have been SPECTACULAR! But, alas, I was so mad that I didn't even think of it until hours afterward. Now, back to the story.
When I got up to the top of the mountain the other way I stopped at a convenience store to buy me some little donuts and a Yoohoo drink to try to calm myself down since I was still mad enough to bite the heads off of nails.
The cashier asked me how I was doing and I told him that I was getting some comfort food to relax because I was so mad at a truck driver I could spit. The guy behind me then said, "Are you talking about the guy stuck on Walker Gap Road?". I told him he was right and he told me that he and his grandson had just tried to get down the mountain that way and had to come back up because of that idiot!
I went to the house and waited with the builder to see what would happen. Eventually I got a call from the driver to tell me that he had eventually managed to locate some boulders (they were actually just a couple of feet in size) and a large board from the ditch and finally they got them under a wheel enough to get some traction so he could get the truck backed down from the place he was stuck. They then went back the way they came and were driving up to the house the way I had told them to go!
He found the house without any further trouble and (dare-devil that he was) did elect to back his truck down the hill and up to where the back end of his truck was about level with the end of the part of the driveway that turns into the house. He and his brother-in-law then unloaded 55 boxes of cabinet parts and put them in the basement awaiting the Lowe's people to check them for damage before they are then moved up into the kitchen and bath to be installed after the hardwood flooring is done.
The two guys were very nice and pleasant people (even idiots can be nice idiots) and I gave them a tour of the house before they had to leave. He had told me that he had been delivering cabinets for 13 years. On the way back out to their truck I asked the driver if he had learned anything from this experience. He said, "Yes, when the home owner gives you directions and tells you that is the only way to get the truck there, listen to him." So, I guess he learned a valuable lesson.
The man that Lowe's sent up there today to check the boxes for damaged cabinets was the next step in the process. Guess what, 2 of the pieces were damaged and will have to have replacements manufactured in Virginia and the process will have to be repeated! I hope they send the same driver from Atlanta because I don't think I'd have to "educate" him again on what roads he needs to take!
The man today didn't know how long replacing the 2 damaged pieces will take. One of them is a large piece and the other is just a board that is 12 inches long and about 7 feet long. He said that the woman at Lowe's would have to check on that and let us know.
I think (but I'm not positive) that both of the pieces that are damaged are pieces that go up above the counter level so perhaps they can go ahead and install the bottom cabinets so that the people who have to come out and make a template for the granite countertop can still stay on schedule and the upper cabinets that have to be replaced can be installed later. At least that is my hope. We'll talk with the woman at Lowe's tomorrow to see if I'm correct about where the damaged pieces go and how long it will take to have another adventure with another truck.
Polyurethane Perils -
I just used the above description because I like the alliteration and maybe you'll read it to see what it's about so I'll get on with it.
The painters (who were to be there today to start putting the sanding sealer on the interior walls before the polyurethane coat) turned out to be the "painter" as opposed to the "painters" since his helper failed to make the trip today! Then the one painter ended up leaving at 1:15 because he "ran out of product" meaning (I think) that he ran out of the sanding sealer.
The job was supposed to take 2 days. I'd estimate that he managed to get through with maybe 20 percent of the first coat today and I don't think he did any of the downstairs or any of the great room ceiling. In fact, I think that he actually only did the large bedroom upstairs and part of (or maybe all of) the loft. If that is right then even with help tomorrow they'll never get through with the first coat tomorrow so that means another day lost in getting the inside walls done.
Also, since the builder and the painter decided that the initial plan (to use 2 coats of a water-based polyurethane instead of the sanding sealer and then an oil-based polyurethane) was not the best way to do it there will be bad fumes in the house for several days after they finish the polyurethane and that might delay when the guys can get back in to start on the hardwood flooring next week.
The decision to use the sanding sealer and oil-based polyurethane was based on several factors. Those include the fact that the water-based polyurethane is very thick making it harder to spray on, it is used more appropriately on flooring than walls, it would have cost $1,200 more, and (perhaps more influential in causing the change) the builder said that he could not locate anyone who actually had enough of it in stock to do the job and if it were ordered it would take a long time to get here.
With all those factors involved it sounds like a reasonable choice to make. Hey, just the $1,200 savings alone would make me consider it. I did ask the painter which type he would put on his house and he said that it would definitely be the oil-based type even though it does smell for the first few days.
Now we just have to see how it all plays out in terms of scheduling and whether the events of the last couple of days hold us up!
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