Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

i feel your pain, @Cincydawg .. the guys doing the construction/re-construction started in again about an hour ago... this is all from the hurricane damage early last fall.  the wife is taking the opportunity to uprgade things.. for instance, they're working over the master bath right now.  I ordered a 'redi-tile' shower pan/base that ran me in excess of $900... a freakin shower insert from lowe's or homedepot would take a fraction of the effort as it's sans ceramic tile and done once you mortar the base and tack it to the studs.... as you may guess i'm function over form by a wide margin... 

this is a sore spot, this next bit:

the insurance works like this: adjuster arrives and takes notes- then they issue a check, which is refused when compared to contractor bids, which means the adjuster comes back out- and then issues a check in the neighborhood of what's required.... then... you 'get' the check, and send it to the mortgage company who sits on it long enough for it to expire, so you gotta go back to the insurance company and get another and send it to the mortgage company... they then sit on it until you present receipts for work done, and if you're lucky it'll only take a week or so... if not, you'll have a pissed off contractor who may or may not do any more work for you as he has (due to the storm) literally a hundred people lined up for work.  better to have cash in hand and bill the mortgage company after the fact, which is the only way to ensure repairs happen in a timely manner- and by timely manner i mean within a year of when it happened.  

it's killing me.  

and, i've GOT to use a contractor even though i can do as good a job as they can myself.  seriously. but i don't have time to do so.  every day (and rainstorm) expounds on the damages already done, which means you've got to go BACK to the insurance company and it all starts over again.  furthermore, they won't 'pay' me for the work... let's say there is $10k worth of damages as bid by a contractor and supported by the insurer.. let's estimate $3k of that is material and $7k labor.  If I do the work, they will only pay for the receipts and will keep the other $7k- it WILL NOT be taken off my note.  SO- where is the incentive to do it myself? ..... it ain't there, that's where.  

i've still been doing a lot myself, though.  it's either that or live in squalor, which i can't bring myself to do.  but that's okay- the 'insurance' is going to pay me back whether they know it or not.  i've got a deal worked out with the contractor that's perfectly legal, as reviewed by my wife (an attorney).   

I might remodel my kitchen in the next 3 - 5 years or 10 if I don't sell and move south next to Utee.

$25K seems like a bargain w/o appliances, and my kitchen is small

something from Menards or Lowes

I'm looking forward to the granite slab countertops, I'll splurge on those

I recommend quartz. I've got granite now, in the rental, but I miss my old stuff. Very nice stuff. Could put a red-hot cast iron skillet on that stuff with no worries. Granite not so much, and it also requires a lot of upkeep.


The stuff we had was black and looked like slate.


From our Zillow pictures:


Master (same stuff, only in white)

Badge,

Thanks for the recommendation on the quartz.

This is the local shop I'll get my countertops from.  https://haberltilestone.com/gallery/

Looks like they have done a bathroom for UNL.  Maybe I'll go BIG RED.

The kitchen is now gone with the wind, at least the cabinets and molding is gone.

That was probably the dirtiest part of the job and we didn't get much dust.

plenty of good Husker fans around these parts

but, yes, I'm more conservative on my colors and patterns

and I might die in this place, unless I move in next to Utee