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English Sara & Fredrik’s home modifications, part 2
Here’s the continuation of the tale of our home modification. When I last wrote, dear readers, it was nearly Christmas, and we still, after one and a half months, had no functioning kitchen or bathroom.
We had been running around all autumn to the various DIY stores, looking at all the brochures and choosing materials and colours. Fortunately we didn’t have to visit too many DIY stores; we never would have had the energy for that with the small children. In the spring we devoted a half day to visiting a place called "Byggtjänst” (the Swedish Building Centre), where we feverishly collected all we could find in the way of brochures. Then came many meetings with my father and our carpenter, who was also the main contractor for the entire modification of the kitchen and bathroom. He, in turn, had quite a job with coordinating the other workmen (plumbers, electricians, floor layers, tile layers, painters etc.) Then it was just a matter of crossing our toes and hoping that the promised delivery times would be kept to. As a curiosity I can mention that one of the suppliers, with whom we placed a big order, had a delivery time of 11 weeks.
The last weekend in October I fled the scene and took the children with me out to my parents’ country place. Fredrik and his father were going to start tearing up the floor in the kitchen and install the pipes for waterborne in-floor heating. As we had gotten the in-floor heating in the bathroom approved as a modification, but not in the kitchen, we felt that if we didn’t get this done then, when the whole floor was going to be torn up anyway, we would regret it later.
On Monday the workmen came and tore out the bathroom and the rest of the kitchen. In order to minimise the dust in the rest of the house, we closed off the children’s room, hall, guest toilet and bathroom. We still had to walk through the kitchen when we went from the back door and the laundry to the living room, the bedroom and the upper floor. Oskar was moved up to the upper floor, and Emma was still sleeping with us. The living room was transformed into a playroom. We moved out the microwave, the coffee maker, and a borrowed hotplate to the laundry. If we hadn’t had such a big laundry, with shower and extra toilet, we wouldn’t have been able stay at home during the remodelling.
The work men all turned out to be nice guys, and very pleasant to work with. The children quickly made friends with the carpenter, Jonny. He soon got used to having an audience of two small people. Oskar and Emma were at day care every day of the week except Friday, when I was at home. Fredrik has his own business, and has his office on the top floor. You could say that he works at home three days a week. So most of the time there was someone at home during the week. There was a big advantage to being there, because then we could deal right away with questions and problems that arose. It doesn’t matter how good your plans and work descriptions are – there always seem to be problems and confusion. By being home we probably avoided some mistakes. Fredrik was very happy to talk to the workmen, loan them tools, and even act as a helper. When we look back at that period, though, we can see that his own work suffered.
One week before Christmas, late one Friday afternoon, something happened that really deflated us. The floor was done, and all the upper and lower cupboards were in place. We suddenly decided to unpack the specially-ordered kitchen counter and try it in place. We were curious! As soon as Jonny and Fredrik lifted it into place we saw to our great dismay that it was 6 cm. too short! The counter was a special order, 12 cm. deeper than usual, so that we would have a bigger work surface. What had gone wrong? It turned out that they had read one of the measurements wrong in the plans. I’m not going to name any names, but it was just a matter of putting in a new order and waiting another month. The company that was making the countertop had to stand for all the additional costs. It wasn’t just the material and work, but also the extra cost to Jonny, as he was late in starting other jobs.
The kitchen was almost ready by Christmas, except for the too-short counter, which nonetheless could stay where it was provisionally. We even got the tiles laid three days before Christmas, as long as they were sure that changing the countertop wouldn’t harm the tiles.
The next thriller is about the shower. We had chosen a shower with touch-control buttons in order to avoid soap-slippery faucets. The best thing about it was that an extra touch-control, which I wanted to have at floor level, could be connected to the shower panel itself. I should mention that it is manufactured by a German firm. The shower is also mentioned in EX-Center’s tips and idea database. Other Swedish Thalidomide Society, NGO members had also praised it warmly. Father and I made a trip to ”Badrumsspecialisten” (Bathroom Specialist) here in Stockholm to try it and confirm that it could be ordered with the extra control panel. It shouldn’t be a problem. I took some brochures and the order number. Although this kind of shower might well be seen by an uninitiated agent at the municipal office as a luxury, our choice was never questioned, thanks to the EX-Center occupational therapist’s medical certificate.
When the shower finally arrived and was to be installed just before Christmas, neither the workmen nor we ourselves could figure out how the extra control panel should be connected to the shower panel, as there simply wasn’t any socket. We thought the supplier had just sent the wrong part. There followed several conversations with the supplier, in which we explained the problem, and they promised to send us a new one as soon as possible. When the new one came we hurried to unpack it. It was exactly the same as the first one! After a lot of shilly-shallying, it was discovered that the model with the extra control panel was no longer being made. The retailer in Sweden didn’t know that, and the firm had made a proper mess of things. It all ended with the firm down in Germany making a special product for us.
When the correct part finally arrived, the control panel had another shape, so that the hole that was cut in the tile at floor level no longer fit, and had to be re-done.
All that remained of the home modification was now to install the code-locks on both doors, and replace the old overhead door in the garage with a new motorised door with a remote control. That sounds relatively easy, but the neighbourhood alarm system gave our locksmiths a great deal of trouble. We are four houses that are connected together in a common alarm system, and of course we wanted to stay in that system. The alarm was to be turned on and off with a code lock at the back door or with a little box in the car. Before the home modification the alarm was activated with a seven-lever tumbler lock installed at about eye-level. The problem was that our locksmith had never seen this kind of alarm installation, and that in the years since the alarm was made, the company had gone out of business. But after a great deal of thinking, figuring, and hair-pulling, the problem was finally solved.
We felt that we needed an insulated garage door. The municipality granted us only the cost of a new uninsulated door, as our agent thought that our heavy old insulated door, which was quite leaky, could be equated with an uninsulated one. Unfortunately there were mistakes in the estimate from the lock company; it said that the estimate was for an uninsulated door. At this point both Fredrik and I were quite tired of it all, and didn’t discover the fault. We signed the estimate, and the municipality granted the funding for. One day when we came home from work, our locksmiths had installed an uninsulated garage door. We quickly understood that we couldn’t have that; it would be freezing cold in the garage. Fredrik raced for the telephone and reported the mistake, and believe it or not, he managed to convince the municipality to make up the difference between an uninsulated door and an insulated one. Afterwards the agent was reported to have commented wryly to EX-Center’s occupational therapist that Fredrik was a tough negotiator.
We were lucky enough to have been given a sensible municipal agent with whom we could reason, and who in fact understood what it was all about. He said several times that he thought it was both pleasant and instructive to be able to meet us. The results were brilliant. We are really very pleased. The modifications make my daily life much easier, and I feel that I’m saving my body as much strain as possible. It felt good to have EX-Center behind us. They can give suggestions of new, useful devices that come out onto the market, about what one has a right to in a home modification, and also about what one should not waste time on. It’s good if you are conscious about what you’re getting into when you apply for home modification funds, and what a huge job you’re getting into yourself. Looking back, and seeing the results, it was absolutely worth it several times over.
Oh, how nice it felt when it was all finished! We had lived with the workmen for about five months. Every day for about a week after it was done, Emma asked at breakfast if Jonny wouldn’t show up soon. He had become like an extra member of the family!
Sara & Fredrik
Tillbaka till toppen
The last weekend in October I fled the scene and took the children with me out to my parents’ country place. Fredrik and his father were going to start tearing up the floor in the kitchen and install the pipes for waterborne in-floor heating. As we had gotten the in-floor heating in the bathroom approved as a modification, but not in the kitchen, we felt that if we didn’t get this done then, when the whole floor was going to be torn up anyway, we would regret it later.
On Monday the workmen came and tore out the bathroom and the rest of the kitchen. In order to minimise the dust in the rest of the house, we closed off the children’s room, hall, guest toilet and bathroom. We still had to walk through the kitchen when we went from the back door and the laundry to the living room, the bedroom and the upper floor. Oskar was moved up to the upper floor, and Emma was still sleeping with us. The living room was transformed into a playroom. We moved out the microwave, the coffee maker, and a borrowed hotplate to the laundry. If we hadn’t had such a big laundry, with shower and extra toilet, we wouldn’t have been able stay at home during the remodelling.
The work men all turned out to be nice guys, and very pleasant to work with. The children quickly made friends with the carpenter, Jonny. He soon got used to having an audience of two small people. Oskar and Emma were at day care every day of the week except Friday, when I was at home. Fredrik has his own business, and has his office on the top floor. You could say that he works at home three days a week. So most of the time there was someone at home during the week. There was a big advantage to being there, because then we could deal right away with questions and problems that arose. It doesn’t matter how good your plans and work descriptions are – there always seem to be problems and confusion. By being home we probably avoided some mistakes. Fredrik was very happy to talk to the workmen, loan them tools, and even act as a helper. When we look back at that period, though, we can see that his own work suffered.
One week before Christmas, late one Friday afternoon, something happened that really deflated us. The floor was done, and all the upper and lower cupboards were in place. We suddenly decided to unpack the specially-ordered kitchen counter and try it in place. We were curious! As soon as Jonny and Fredrik lifted it into place we saw to our great dismay that it was 6 cm. too short! The counter was a special order, 12 cm. deeper than usual, so that we would have a bigger work surface. What had gone wrong? It turned out that they had read one of the measurements wrong in the plans. I’m not going to name any names, but it was just a matter of putting in a new order and waiting another month. The company that was making the countertop had to stand for all the additional costs. It wasn’t just the material and work, but also the extra cost to Jonny, as he was late in starting other jobs.
The kitchen was almost ready by Christmas, except for the too-short counter, which nonetheless could stay where it was provisionally. We even got the tiles laid three days before Christmas, as long as they were sure that changing the countertop wouldn’t harm the tiles.
The next thriller is about the shower. We had chosen a shower with touch-control buttons in order to avoid soap-slippery faucets. The best thing about it was that an extra touch-control, which I wanted to have at floor level, could be connected to the shower panel itself. I should mention that it is manufactured by a German firm. The shower is also mentioned in EX-Center’s tips and idea database. Other Swedish Thalidomide Society, NGO members had also praised it warmly. Father and I made a trip to ”Badrumsspecialisten” (Bathroom Specialist) here in Stockholm to try it and confirm that it could be ordered with the extra control panel. It shouldn’t be a problem. I took some brochures and the order number. Although this kind of shower might well be seen by an uninitiated agent at the municipal office as a luxury, our choice was never questioned, thanks to the EX-Center occupational therapist’s medical certificate.
When the shower finally arrived and was to be installed just before Christmas, neither the workmen nor we ourselves could figure out how the extra control panel should be connected to the shower panel, as there simply wasn’t any socket. We thought the supplier had just sent the wrong part. There followed several conversations with the supplier, in which we explained the problem, and they promised to send us a new one as soon as possible. When the new one came we hurried to unpack it. It was exactly the same as the first one! After a lot of shilly-shallying, it was discovered that the model with the extra control panel was no longer being made. The retailer in Sweden didn’t know that, and the firm had made a proper mess of things. It all ended with the firm down in Germany making a special product for us.
When the correct part finally arrived, the control panel had another shape, so that the hole that was cut in the tile at floor level no longer fit, and had to be re-done.
All that remained of the home modification was now to install the code-locks on both doors, and replace the old overhead door in the garage with a new motorised door with a remote control. That sounds relatively easy, but the neighbourhood alarm system gave our locksmiths a great deal of trouble. We are four houses that are connected together in a common alarm system, and of course we wanted to stay in that system. The alarm was to be turned on and off with a code lock at the back door or with a little box in the car. Before the home modification the alarm was activated with a seven-lever tumbler lock installed at about eye-level. The problem was that our locksmith had never seen this kind of alarm installation, and that in the years since the alarm was made, the company had gone out of business. But after a great deal of thinking, figuring, and hair-pulling, the problem was finally solved.
We felt that we needed an insulated garage door. The municipality granted us only the cost of a new uninsulated door, as our agent thought that our heavy old insulated door, which was quite leaky, could be equated with an uninsulated one. Unfortunately there were mistakes in the estimate from the lock company; it said that the estimate was for an uninsulated door. At this point both Fredrik and I were quite tired of it all, and didn’t discover the fault. We signed the estimate, and the municipality granted the funding for. One day when we came home from work, our locksmiths had installed an uninsulated garage door. We quickly understood that we couldn’t have that; it would be freezing cold in the garage. Fredrik raced for the telephone and reported the mistake, and believe it or not, he managed to convince the municipality to make up the difference between an uninsulated door and an insulated one. Afterwards the agent was reported to have commented wryly to EX-Center’s occupational therapist that Fredrik was a tough negotiator.
We were lucky enough to have been given a sensible municipal agent with whom we could reason, and who in fact understood what it was all about. He said several times that he thought it was both pleasant and instructive to be able to meet us. The results were brilliant. We are really very pleased. The modifications make my daily life much easier, and I feel that I’m saving my body as much strain as possible. It felt good to have EX-Center behind us. They can give suggestions of new, useful devices that come out onto the market, about what one has a right to in a home modification, and also about what one should not waste time on. It’s good if you are conscious about what you’re getting into when you apply for home modification funds, and what a huge job you’re getting into yourself. Looking back, and seeing the results, it was absolutely worth it several times over.
Oh, how nice it felt when it was all finished! We had lived with the workmen for about five months. Every day for about a week after it was done, Emma asked at breakfast if Jonny wouldn’t show up soon. He had become like an extra member of the family!
Sara & Fredrik
Tillbaka till toppen
Published by
03
Aug
2009
Kajsa Holm
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