Gloria and I got to work on the sheathing during the week. Ray came home and also helped. It didn't take too long to get it done. Here are a few photos:
Gloria pounding a few nails
Our results after one evening
A job well done!
Note: the rest of this post recounts my frustration with buying stuff at Home Depot, no house content
This past weekend Ray and I got to work on the windows. I already had two of the windows that we bought when we got the initial load of wood. We wanted to see them and figure out how we would mount them before starting on the framing. The entire design of the wall was based upon the one size of windows that Home Depot stocks that would fit the space. Turns out you can get just about any size window you might ever want as long as you don't mind waiting 4-6 weeks for your order to come in. The big box stores do stock a handful of sizes including ours. The online inventory showed that they had 9 in stock before we started the project so it shouldn't be any more difficult than heading to Home Depot and getting them right? Wrong! It turns out to not be quite so easy. We quickly found one window that was readily accessible and loaded it on our cart. We searched around for it's 8 buddies and finally spotted 3 of them up on a shelf 10 ft. off the ground. Time to find some help. I spotted the guy that works in the window area. He was struggling to load a huge patio door set onto a cart. I helped him get that loaded and then asked for help with the windows. He was grateful for the help and promised to help me out after he took the patio door to the front for a customer pick up. After about 10-15 minutes he did in fact reappear. He had to track down a helper and then climb a huge rolling ladder to get the window down for us. When we got the windows home we noticed that the one that was up on the shelf said "Hold for Mike" on it.
Fast forward a long time, we finally have a wall up with sheathing ready for windows. Ray said I think we should do what Mike did and order these for pickup. Good idea. Ray checked the online system, they still have 7 in stock. We order 4 more, should be ready by 2:30. We work on some other stuff. Gloria gets a call on the home phone from Home Depot saying that there was a problem and they only had two windows. We head over to Home Depot to get our windows and more supplies. First stop the "Pro Desk" where our windows that have already been charged to my debit card are supposed to be waiting. No sign of the windows, but I do find a man behind the counter. I ask him about my windows but he informs me that he Pro Desk was closed (despite it being manned) you need to go check with customer service. Great, trod across the store to customer service remembering why I hate going to both Lowes and Home Depot. My knees seem to only be good for a few hours of standing per day. Every trip to one of those places seems to take over an hour which is an hour that I won't have latter in the day to work on things without unbearable pain.
Arrive at customer service there seems to be a pretty short line. There are two ladies working, one is sitting down talking to a customer on the phone the other is handing the guy at the front of the line some money. Good deal, only one more customer and whoever is on the phone between me and finding out what the deal is with my windows. Well not so fast. Turns out the lady on the phone is apparently dealing with a rather unhappy and talkative customer. The lady in front of me has an entire shopping cart full of stuff that she is returning. I quickly find that it gets better. This isn't one purchase but several, many of them internet purchases. Each order has to be dealt with separately. Each item needs a reason why it is being returned. The reasons could have been summed up by "because I don't want it" but instead a full explanation was provided, "the light fixture just didn't work in my kitchen". Finally as the lady was down to her last of what turned out to be five different orders of stuff the lady on the phone finishes up. Things are looking up which is good because by now there are about five more people behind me. The phone lady apparently doesn't deal with customers in person so she picked up her phone and called for reinforcements to the service desk.
A skinny young kid with "Daniel" written in marker across the front of his apron shows up. He asks who is next, I step up and explain the situation. He thinks about it for a minute and asks
"So what do you want to do?"
"I want my two windows and I want to know what is going on with the other two."
He then asks my name and pecks away at his computer for a little bit. He finds the order, still seems uncertain what to do next. He then informs me that they should be at location "PR". Great. I ask:
"Where is that?"
"Humm, I don't know"
Noticing that I don't seem to happy with that explanation he asks a co-worker "What does location PR mean?" They inform him that means "Pro Desk" He then turns to me as if I didn't already hear this news flash at the same time he did and tells me
"They are over at the Pro Desk!"
I can imagine that at this point he is thinking "problem solved" I tell him that I have already been there and that they do not appear to be there. Some more nervous pecking away at the computer followed by some more consultation with a co-worker who tells him to have someone go get them up there where they are supposed to be.
OK, so we have a plan on the two windows that are in stock. What about the other two.
"Yeah I don't know about that, maybe check back in a few days and see if they come in?"
I don't feel like that is really a plan. I have already checked the Home Depot inventory and know that in addition to the 5 windows that the web site is now confident that this store has there are only two other "nearby" stores that have these windows. Crawfordsville show 2 in stock and Hamilton OH has 3. After explaining that i need a better answer he checks some more and determines that they should be able to order them. At this point i have no confidence that this is going to work. I tell him that since Home Depot has already charged me for them maybe the best thing to do is get them removed from the order, get my card refunded and I can try to find them somewhere else. His response was
"That certainly sounds plausible but I don't know how to do that".
By now I can't help but notice that the five people behind me are all gone and everyone at the service desk seems to be working on helping Daniel The lady that sits in a chair and is probably the manager offers to check with Crawfordsville and verify that they have the two windows. If they do she will have them shipped to the store tomorrow and have someone deliver hem to my job site. Great thinks are looking up. Daniel then completes something on his computer terminal and asks me to sign the key pad acknowledging that I picked up my order. Before I can act out of desperation to get out of Home Depot, Ray looks at the fine print I am supposed to sign and notes that nowhere on this does it say I am only getting some of my order. Daniel assures me that is what his computer shows. Eventually he turns his monitor to let me see it.
I ask if I will get a receipt that shows this and he says yes. I sign and a couple of papers print out. He hands me the first and tells me it is for the entire order as it shows me buying and paying for 4 windows. He then shows me the second paper which does in fact show that I am picking up two of them today. Perfect. I start to take the papers but then Daniel tells me I need to give him back the one that shows me only getting two windows because that is their copy. Some more discussion with Daniel who tells me that it is impossible to print out a second one. I notice that there is a copier right behind him.
"Can you just put it in the copier and make me a copy?"
You could see the gears turning, eventually he does seem to recognize that this is a plausible solution to our joint problem because I am sure he was looking forward to seeing me leave almost as much as I was. Armed with the paperwork and assurances from chair lady that they would find me two more windows Ray and hiked back over to the Pro Desk where the windows in fact had magically appeared, loaded them up in the Burb and headed out. By then it was late, my knees and back were killing me and we didn't get any further than unloading our two windows and calling it a day after of course retelling the story of Daniel to Gloria who was already over at the homestead.
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