What Happened with the Walls? – ¿Qué pasó con las paredes?

On Tuesday, I had a mini-meltdown. It was not a good day. I just had a feeling in my gut that the walls were not going to be fixed to my satisfaction. Just the fact that the boss seemed to think that it would only take a couple of hours to fix the damage concerned me. I know how long it takes to patch drywall and skim coat, and nobody was paying attention to anything that I was saying.

El martes sufrí una crisis emocional; no fue buen día para mí. Tenía la sensación desde la semana pasada de que los de la compañía que había instalado el aislamiento en la casa y destruido las paredes no iban a querer arreglarlo bien. El hecho de que el jefe pensaba que sólo tardarían un par de horas para hacerlo me preocupaba. Yo sé cuánto tiempo se necesita para reparar la tabla roca y poner unas capas finas de compuesto para juntas encima y nadie me hacía caso cuando lo mencionaba.

Cracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone bad

Another concern was that it didn’t seem to me that they were not planning to replace the drywall. Every time I asked, I was told that it would be taken care of, but no one would say that they were going to put in new dry wall. I thought that perhaps they would listen to a man better and asked Douglas to call and reiterate my concerns. He did, but they did not pay much attention to him either. I guess at the very least, I could say that they were not being sexist.

Otra preocupación era que no me parecía que estaban planeando poner tabla roca nueva. Cada vez que lo mencionaba me decían sólo que iban a reparar las paredes, pero no que iban a reemplazar eso. Pensaba que harían más caso a un hombre y pedí a Douglas que llamara. Llamó, pero no le hicieron caso a él tampoco. Para ser justa, puedo decir que por lo menos no son machistas.

Cracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone bad

On Tuesday morning, the office manager called to tell me that someone would be at the house between 11:30 and 12:30. That morning, while I was waiting for them to come, I took everything off of the walls and moved the furniture into other rooms. Unfortunately, my nerves were on edge, and every little thing that could go wrong did. I decided that the best thing to do would be to start fighting with Douglas via text and end up in tears. Today I can tell you that was not a good strategy.

El martes por la mañana, la secretaria llamó para decirme que alguien estaría aquí entre las once y media y las doce y media. Mientras los esperaba por la mañana, quité todo de las paredes y coloqué los muebles en otros sitios. Desafortunadamente, estaba sufriendo de nervios y cada cosita negativa que podía haber ocurrido pasó. Decidí que lo mejor sería empezar a pelear con Douglas por mensaje de texto y acabar llorando. Hoy te puedo decir que no fue buena estrategia.

Cracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone badCracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone bad

By 11:30, the entire house was in disarray, but we were ready and waiting for them. The minutes seemed to slowly tick by. I forced myself to wait until 1:00 to start calling. Then, I began calling every five minutes, but nobody was picking up. I thought I was going to lose my mind.

A las once y media, la casa entera estaba en caos, pero estábamos listas la casa and I, pero nadie llegaba. Los minutos no parecía pasar. Me obligué a esperar hasta la una antes de empezar a llamar. A esa hora, empecé a llamar cada cinco minutos, pero nadie contestaba. Pensaba que me iba a volver loca.

Messy houseMessy house

Finally, someone showed up, but it wasn’t the guy that was supposed to fix the walls. It was another guy that wanted to run the test to see how the energy efficiency of the house had improved. I would not let him run the test until the job was done. It did not make sense to me to do it when they were about to make changes. Instead of doing the test, he helped me by calling to see where everyone was. He was told that they were supposed to be there at 1:30. It would have been nice if someone had given me the updated time. He also wanted to take his own pictures. I guess the boss didn’t trust mine. It annoyed me that they had not sent anybody to take pictures or look at it earlier, but fine. At this point I realized just how badly the walls were bowed out. These pictures were taken holding the camera up to the window trim. It is hard to see in the picture, but that is the wall extending way out past the window trim.

Por fin alguien llegó, pero no era él que iba a reparar las paredes. Era otro que quería hacer una prueba para ver qué tan eficiente energéticamente estaba la casa después de haber instalado el aislamiento. No dejé que hiciera la prueba porque me parecía ridículo hacerla antes de haber terminado todo el trabajo. En vez de hacer la prueba, me ayudó por hacer muchas llamadas para averiguar dónde estaban los otros. Le había dicho a él que el trabajo iba a empezar a la una y media. Me habría gustado que me llamaran a mí para decirme del cambio de horario. Él también quería sacar fotos. El jefe no confiaba en las mías. Me molestaba que no habían mandado a nadie a sacar fotos o investigar antes, pero bueno. En ese momento me di cuenta qué tan destruidas estaban las paredes. Tomé estas fotos con la cámara al otro lado de la moldura de las ventanas. Es difícil ver en las fotos, pero esas son las paredes extendidas más allá de las molduras.

Cracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone badCracks in drywall resulting from insulation gone bad

The two guys set right to work once they finally arrived at 1:55, but they did not have any drywall with them. However, as soon as they had arrived, they sent the other guy to the hardware store to buy some things, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited to see what would happen.

Los dos hombres que mandaron empezaron a trabajar inmediatamente que por fin llegaron a las dos menos cinco, pero no tenían tabla roca con ellos. Sin embargo, habían mandado al primero a la ferretería para comprar unas cosas cuando llegaron, así que decidí darles el beneficio de la duda y esperar a ver qué iba a pasar.

Repairing cracks in the walls

They started in the bedroom, since it was worst. First, they cut the drywall along the cracks. Then, they pulled out the superfluous insulation. They filled an entire industrial sized trash bag just from this side of the wall.

Empezaron en la habitación porque había más daño allí. Primero, cortaron la tabla roca por las fisuras antes de empezar a sacar el aislamiento superfluo. Llenaron una bolsa industrial para la basura sólo con el aislamiento que sacaron de este lado de la ventana.

Repairing cracks in the walls

After that, one of the guys started screwing the pieces of drywall that he had just cut off of the wall back on. That was when I lost it. I tried to stay calm, as I explained that was not the way to fix drywall, while one of them insisted that he could make it look good. I argued that it might look ok, but that the first picture that we tried to hang on that wall would come crashing down on our heads.

Después, uno de ellos empezó a fijar otra vez con tornillos las piezas de la misma tabla roca rota que acababa de quitar. Eso me sacó de quicio. Intentaba mantener la calma mientras explicaba que así no se reparaba la tabla roca y uno de ellos me insistía que él podía hacer que se viera bien. Yo argumentaba que podría ser que se viera bien, pero que una vez que intentáramos colgar un cuadro se caería encima de nosotros.

Repairing cracks in the walls

What followed were a lot of phone calls and mild hysteria on my part. Nobody seemed to be able to contact the boss, and nobody could do anything without his approval. Ironman and Spiderman were coming to spend the week with us, all of the front walls were on the brink of exploding, and one of them was an even bigger mess. There was dust and insulation everywhere and now everyone was packing up to leave because I refused to allow them to continue if they were not going to do things properly.

Lo que siguió fueron muchas llamadas e histérica leve por mi parte. Nadie podía ponerse en contacto con el jefe, y no podía hacer nada sin la aprobación de él. Ironman y Spiderman venían para pasar una semana con nosotros, todas las paredes de la frente de la casa estaban a punto de estallarse, había polvo y aislamiento por todas partes y todos estaban preparando para irse porque yo no les iba a dejar continuar si no lo iban a hacer correctamente.

Repairing cracks in the walls

Come back next week to see how the saga concludes. If there is a conclusion to give you!

Vuelve la semana que viene para ver cómo se concluye la saga. ¡Si es que haya una conclusión para darte!

Repairing cracks in the walls

Happy Homemaking!

¡Espero que todos tus sueños caseros se cumplan!

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About

I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com

6 Comments on “What Happened with the Walls? – ¿Qué pasó con las paredes?

  1. Well, you might be outdoing me in the unpleasant projects department! Maybe I should take you up on your invitation to do something fun and distracting after yours is over.

  2. OMG!! If I were doing this job, I would neatly cut the drywall along a stud on either side, floor to ceiling, and replace the entire piece! These jokers are trying to do as little as possible. Sure, they could screw the pieces back in, but they’ll have to do a lot of patching to fill the holes. Poor work! nd poor insulation work, too! I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this … I hope they fix it right. Be sure to give them a review on Angie’s List!

  3. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for you and how I can relate, having had many problems during my renovation. All I can say is that it’ll get better at some point, but it might take time. What worries me most is that you fought with Douglas. You’re kind of my dream couple – a proof that it’s possible to find love after a broken heart… It’s obvious it was the walls you were actually trying to pick a fight with 😉

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