Sometimes a leak may be hard to detect in your kitchen. Unless you have something like torrent gushing from a burst pipe, it could be impossible to detect. But as of late, I’ve been meeting with more and more customers who didn’t know they had a leak—until it was too late. It isn’t unheard of for a leak to go undetected for months or years before it’s discovered. Unfortunately, the more time that passes, the worse the water damage can be to wood structure, drywall, cabinetry, and flooring. An undetected water leak can be a huge headache if not addressed quickly, not to mention the price tag that can skyrocket when the home experiences structural damage.
When our Canadian customers aren’t staying in their northern home, they spend six-months of the year in their doublewide manufactured home in sunny Florida. Mobile homes are extremely popular in Florida and are a wonderful place to call home. People are drawn to mobile home parks because you can have all the benefits of traditional home ownership — without the burdens of maintenance, plus a variety of amenities. Jim and Patricia are “snowbirds” and have a well maintained and beautifully decorated home, located in Harbor Isles in North Port, Florida.
The terms ‘manufactured home’ and ‘mobile home’ have been the subject of great controversy. A mobile home is a factory-built house built before July 1, 1976 before the HUD code became law. This law regulated many things about the homes: fire safety, insulation minimums, and construction regulations. Mobile homes built before this date did not meet these industry standards.
A manufactured home is a factory-built house that was built after July 1, 1976 and meets all the proper HUD regulations set forth for that year.
Unfortunately, last December the homeowners discovered they had a problem when they noticed a few damaged cabinets. Apparently, the dishwasher had a leak that went undetected. Jim suspects that this seepage went undiscovered, and may have been dripping for 2-3 years. Their wise grown son once told them, “It’s not a problem if you can solve it with money.”
So, the first thing they did was call a contractor. When the contractor came out to inspect the property, he took a look at the damage, how it happened, and wrote an estimate. Five base cabinets needed to be replaced, as well as the countertop and floating floor. The contractor was insistent that they install the new flooring underneath the base cabinets. But Jim knew better.
Can new kitchen base cabinets be installed on top of a floating floor? It seems like it would be easier to lay the flooring first and not have to cut it to fit against the toe kick or to cover up the gap with shoe moldings. It might be easier, but it wouldn’t be better. A floating wood floor has to be free to expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity, and it can’t do that with heavy cabinets resting on top of it. Jim knew the proper installation would be to install the cabinets first, and then the flooring. In fact, Jim is the one that installed the existing floating floor. So, they kindly asked the contactor to leave.
Next, Pat suggested they call the big box store. When the cabinet designer arrived, he gave them a quote for uninstalled cabinets. When the homeowners asked who will install the cabinets, the cabinet designer said he would arrange for a professional independent installer to come to the home to give Jim and Pat a quote for installation. Lo and behold… who showed up? The first contractor. The one they asked to leave.
Subsequently that’s when they decided to call Just Counters & other stuff, inc. After I arrived at their lovely home, Jim and Pat showed me the water-damaged cabinets. I said, “I’m very sorry this happened to you. I know this must be an extremely difficult time for you.” They asked me to take a seat at the table. They told me all about the extensive damage that had unfortunately occurred in the walls and underneath the home.
If you’re thinking about remodeling after a disaster, odds are you probably know a bit about how the project should go. After all, you’ve watched HGTV shows, your cousin’s husband is a general contractor, or your coworker tells you every detail of how his new dry bar is coming together. So, you pretty much know all there is to know, right? Not so fast.
As much as you may be able to glean from friends, family, coworkers, or HGTV, there’s no experience quite like personally getting down into the dirt of a disaster remodel. And what you don’t often hear about are the harsh realities of wading through insurance claims. I’ve had to brave a catastrophic remodel myself. I had a home destroyed by fire. But that, dear readers, may be another story for another day.
Simply put, I wanted Jim and Pat to know that I wished the best possible outcome for them. So, they decided to purchase new cabinets, countertops, and flooring from Just Counters. The homeowners watched the talented team: Tyler Mowatt, Ben Hanson, and Sam Zwack install the base cabinets. When it came time for the solid surface countertops to be installed by Aaron Shaffer and Tyler, the snowbirds were amazed because— whoa — it looked amazing!
Cindy Kohls-Brophy, the multi-tasked receptionist, was indispensable when it came time to coordinate all of the installations.
When I returned to take “after” pictures, Jim and Pat told that me that not only was I the only woman who came to their home to give them an estimate, but that I was the only one to offer them condolences for their leaky situation. No one had ever said that to me before. Oh how I love my job! I get to meet the best people.
See you next week.
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