The kitchen ceiling, part 1

When last we left the kitchen, we had discovered that the roof was rotten (because it was the 100 year old STABLE) and our handymen-cum-roofers had replaced the entire structure of the roof. So much for patching a few shingles. While they were working on the roof, the ceiling had begun to crack, so they jerry-rigged a brace & told us not to worry too much. Here's a picture (the sock hanging from the ceiling was my attempt to keep the bats out - yes, tape would have been more aesthetically pleasing, but the sock was available and I was worried):


And here's a picture of one of the cracks that made the ceiling a wee bit unstable:


And I bet you thought that discovering that the kitchen was actually a stable, that the whole roof was rotten and that the ceiling was falling would be the end of the story, didn't you? So did we until...

We hired a different contractor to do the interior work because I had some reservations about the handymen. For example, we suspected that our roof was the biggest job they'd every done - didn't help that the invoice was #027 and that the guy who took our check was seriously worried about it bouncing (not because he didn't trust us but because he didn't know what they would do if it did). Oh, and one of them told me twice that I was spoiling Thomas. Don't mess with a mother and her baby: I didn't take kindly to his observations.

So our new contractor, Justin, showed up early this week and, with his younger worker Josh, began to demolish our kitchen ceiling. Sure enough, within minutes I could hear the exclamations. Josh was seriously impressed with our stable. True to form, they found hundred-year-old wood & nails and a ceiling being held together with plaster and the thinnest of drywall so that it really was about to fall on our heads. Josh did most of the demolition work and then he stopped. He showed up at the front door and said, "did you say you just had your roof re-done?"

This is not the question you want your contractor to ask.

SO. It turns out that the original contractors were more handymen and less roofers. First, they had cleverly installed the rafters in two parts and then failed to support the joint where they met. Turns out rafters are supposed to be one long piece - who knew? Second, they had attached all these rafters to one of the old beams (remember the old, rotten wood?) - and that beam wasn't even supported on one end!

(Notice how the beam coming across the photo is actually resting above the joist that should be supporting it - oops! This just kills me - I mean, did they not notice that the beam they'd chosen to support the ENTIRE roof was not attached to anything? Sheesh.)

There were all sorts of other construction no-nos, too. (When I asked Josh to take pictures of the problem areas he didn't even take the beam picture - how scary is that?) So Justin suggested that they needed to a) brace the roof so they could finish demolishing the ceiling and b) re-structure the roof in order to continue.

DIDN'T I JUST PAY A LOT OF MONEY FOR SOMEONE TO REBUILD MY KITCHEN ROOF?

Apparently that was for naught. Needless to say, I called Contractor #1 (aka the handymen) and asked the big boss to come and explain. He came on Thursday and said it wasn't nearly as bad as Contractor #2 said, but that I should put them in touch and they could work something out. Not likely. No way was I going to pit one contractor against another. I called the new contractor and asked what needed to be done.

Then I cried.

Then I called the old contractor and told him what the new contractor said and asked for some money back. And shock of the century (granted, the century is not very old yet): he said yes.

I figure they must have done a pretty awful job for him to just agree to give me more than 10% back without even thinking. Maybe I should have asked for more...

At any rate, now Justin, Josh & gang are going to rebuild the roof structure AND re-do the ceiling and one wall. And since they have to re-do the roof anyway, it looks like we're going to have a cathedral ceiling - after all, why re-build a flat ceiling if you're already up working on the roof? And we may get nifty new lights - and we might even put in some windows - assuming that we just want to get deeper in debt. But I'll let you know all that next time I write. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with two pictures:

The one below is the door to the former hayloft. The one on the right is the beautiful wood we discovered between the level of the old ceiling and the top of the roof (the roof on that side is about 20 feet high!). Oh, and the new wood in the right-hand picture is the massive brace Josh put up so the ridiculous roof wouldn't fall on him.