A woeful tale with a (thankfully) happy ending.....

Our move three years ago was jinxed with many problems. Unfortunately, it was partly due to our hiring two companies who were not very good at what they do. This is something you never know for sure until the people are in your home working. We hired a small business floor company in Ede which had almost perfect reviews. This man seemed to know what he was doing while he was talking to us about the work. If you recall this blog post on my old blog, he said the floor in our home could not be renovated after all and arranged a new floor to be delivered.

Three years and a legal battle later, we now know that the man conned us into buying a new floor. More about that in a minute. We have had to become schooled in wood floors over the period of this dispute with this man. From days within the floor being laid, things started going wrong. Here is a sample of what we have had to deal with.

Floor laid too tightly in spaces even after he cut it out many times over to reduce the floor and he caught power cords between the floor and baseboard causing a fire hazard...

Floor shifting and causing pressure on heating pipes putting them as a risk of breaking and flooding the room...

Floor movement so bad that furniture could not be set straight and things like lamps would shake as you walked by...

Floor boards in the length were not sawed at correct lengths causing them to push into the walls...

Floorboards repeatedly springing up from the surface. It was sometimes impossible to walk in areas...

The solid oak floorboards had been nailed down but all the nails were coming up between the boards...

Floor not laid with proper lengths apart and movement causing a ladder-like shifts kept occurring in various spots on the floor...

Some gaps were so large, you could stick a finger in between...

We had to attend a hearing after our floor was inspected twice by independent experts. We won the case against the man. He has been very rude with us since we started to complain about the floor. Since then, he has refused to pay us leaving it up to the organization (CBW) he was associated with at the time we had the floor laid to give us the guarantee that they would pay out the funds he owed us when we had our floor redone. Due to their rules, the results of this case are kept private which means we are unable to get out there and warn others about this man. 

After the legal dispute was settled we found a one man company called Montfrans Parket in Nijkerk to install a completely new floor. 

We hated the idea of having to move all our furniture out again. We also had a major worry about removing the baseboards. In the end, Peter said the baseboards did not even have to be removed as the floorboards came away in most areas and could be sawed from areas that were not free enough to lift them from under. We were left with a gap though once the new floor would be put in. Jos painted some wooden beading which were fitted along the bottom of the old baseboards. 

As you see, the old floor exposed here looks fine...

But we had the new floor delivered and ready to be installed...

And when Peter sanded the beech flooring to be able to put in the new floor, he told us he could have even made this floor look like new again desspite the mess that the old floor guy made of it. It was obvious that the story that the floor was not good and could not be renovated was a lie.

In looking for colors of stain, I found a photo of a floor called Hungarian Point. It is the chevron pattern. Well, I just loved it and kept coming back to that photo. In the end, Jos fell in love with it too and this is our new floor...

It was laid through into our entrance hall and bedroom. We find our hall far too small compared to the overall size of our house but this has made it feel bigger...

The floor is solid oak and has been smoked. It then had a white oil applied to give it an aged grey look...

As you can see, the beading looks like it was there from the beginning.  And we love the old feeling it gives...our own castle. *grins*

We are a little over two months further and the floor is just beautiful. It is perfectly laid with not a single problem occurring. This proves there are also some really good craftsmen out there who are experienced in their work. I just wish we had found Peter Montfrans three years ago when we moved in.

Heidi

Old things.....

Old things can be good...like this old piece of stitching I did about 25 years ago. I was working on my bookshelves today. They are being removed to another room to create a separate library. Only one section remains in the living room waiting to be emptied and taken apart. I pulled out a stand and placed the stitching on my dresser in the bedroom. It has a summer feel with this colors.

The verse says...

We never really grow old it seems,

We keep in our hearts our fancies and dreams,

And in a corner all tucked away,

To the child we all were yesterday. 

One old thing I have not shared yet was an old piece of iron fencing I found at a brocante shop. I loved it right away but also found another I loved. In the end, Jos bargained for both of them. This one is laying now on the window sill of our bedroom. This window looks out into our front garden. It fit so perfectly here so I knew it had to be here instead of in the garden which is where the second fence, well actually a high gate, is placed. I like how this allows me to see well into my garden when I open the windows but also allows me a little privacy from the street beyond our hedge.

Here is the bad side of old things...I am in the midst of trying to declutter in a high tempo during the month of August. We have a box in the hall now where we are collecting items to take to the charity shop. But today, I decided to concentrate on old magazines. I tend to keep them far too long so I am looking through them and sorting them to give away to friends. The good thing about this kind of decluttering is that you clean up and make a friend happy by sharing too. Passing on magazines which will then again be passed on is a green way to declutter.

Heidi

There is a definite chill in the air.....

...and it makes me want to bake...like this new recipe for pumpkin gingerbread to have with our evening coffee...

...and change to our warmer winter quilt...

...oops!...I woke up Dagi who was sound asleep on my pillow...

...but the begonia plant in my bedroom window which I bought for its beautiful leaves seems to think it is spring as this is the first time it has bloomed since I bought it two years ago...

Have a great weekend and keep warm!

Heidi