Pages

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Two weeks away from the walk through and locked out :(

I know I've been MIA but the end if the year is winding down for school and things are a little chaotic. We are two weeks away from our final walk through and I'm a little nervous. The only hiccup we have experienced so far that I consider kind of big is the stain on the stairs. When we first saw the stairs with stain I thought, "This looks good, but it will be beautiful once the second coat of stain goes on." The stain we chose was supposed to match our cabinets (espresso). One coat of stain was too light to match our cabinets and really had the "one coat" look to it. Well, I was told last week the carpet was going in. I thought, "Great they must have finished the stairs." I went over to see the house and found the stairs had not had any additional stain put on it. I texted my PM to ask him how many coats had they planned on putting on the stairs. I honestly didn't understand why they would put the carpet down without being finished but I thought I would ask. I guess they considered it fully stained by the response I got. He told me he would talk to the paint guy to see what they could do and get back with me. It's been a couple of days and no response back yet. I really don't see how they are able to fix this other than taking up the carpet, re-staining the stairs then putting the carpet back down. I have really followed everyone's blog and have seen many people comment on the "second coat of stain" for their stairs. The stairs are such a focal point to the house I can't help but want it done with the stain how we originally chose. Also, when is the polyurethane (glossy coat) put on? I figured this would also happen before carpet. Sorry for the long post. I know RH will fix this issue it's just hard not knowing what the plan is. Ugh!








11 comments:

  1. Love those direct set stairs!! I think we got two coats but yours looks great!! We had more issues with the stain showing through the bottom of the ballisters since they stained the stairs when ballisters were already in place...the stain continuesntonshow through the paint and repaint!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We also got the poly before our runner was tacked into place.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for letting me know about the poly. It's frustrating knowing the stairs were nowhere near being finished but the carpet was still put down.

      Delete
  3. It really irritates me when they say things like, "I'll talk to contractor X and see what we can do". RH is the boss and paying that contractor. If RH says put another coat on there, the sub might charge them, but they can certainly put another coat on!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I requested our railings be stained at least 2 coats, they are soooo light! And we got the midnight black, more like brown. I asked my PM to make them super dark, he said they will look darker after the poly, and if I don't like them when we close, he will re-do them. But, why not just put 2 coats on instead of sealing and having to sand and redo them after the fact! I would put the second coat on myself if they'd let me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh! When you choose midnight black they should know you want it dark. They are just making double the work for them. We chose ebony for our stain. Ebony is black so brown definitely doesn't work for us either.

      Delete
  5. that is frustrating! our handrails are supposed to be stained to match our hardwoods (we haven't even started construction yet though). our neighbor has the same hardwoods as us, and I noticed her hand rails looked like they only had one coat and were noticeably lighter than the floors...I am making a mental note to make sure they do 2 coats on mine. I can't imagine that is an easy thing to do after the fact with the balusters and carpeting in place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, definitely make sure your PM knows exactly what you expect. I wish I had done that but who knew they were going to try taking this shortcut and expect it to be ok.

      Delete
  6. We were told by our PM that there are three stages to the painting and staining. First, the first coat. This is the stage that we are at right now. The second stage will make it darker and clean up the splatters. The second stage should occur, for us, before they lay the carpet. The third stage happens after the carpet is laid and it is the very last step before closing. I assume this is when they apply the poly. I am not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the stairs. We went with cherry reddish something for the stain, but I like the color you selected. Very elegant.

    ReplyDelete