Ask Audrey: What NOT To Do in a Home Renovation, Part 1
Ask Audrey: Have there been any big fails you've seen or done in renovations that you learned from? Would love to hear what not to do!
For all the things not to do in a renovation, we could practically make an entire series of posts. But I’d like to start with an example that happened during one of the first projects I did on my own.
I was looking for high-quality engineered wood floors that could be installed over radiant heating. Nowadays, this is a common installation, but at the time, it was still a pretty new idea. When the client and I finally found the perfect flooring, the foreman of the job wanted to clarify how the floors would be installed: “We do not want to install the wood floors using nails, correct?”
Without hesitation, I responded, “Correct!”
The next day, I visited the job site to see the beautiful wood floors in their new environment. Walking into the classic Victorian home we were renovating, I immediately noticed a bounce in my step...but not from excitement. I kept walking and kept feeling the bounce. That was when I realized what I’d done wrong.
When the foreman clarified that we were not to use nails, I agreed. What I forgot to do was mention that I did want to use glue. Since I didn’t think to mention that, the foreman went ahead and had the floors installed without nails...or anything else.
Keep in mind that I was working with high-end contractors that always provide the highest level of service. And on top of that, what they did wasn’t as weird as it sounds. To not use nails or glue is to do what’s called a “floating installation.” Floating installations are not something I prefer, but a lot of clients and designers like them - both for the feeling when you walk on them and for the noise mitigation. However, that was not what I intended to do for this project.
Neither of us did anything wrong in this situation. He asked the clarifying question he needed to know (nails or not) and I gave him the right answer to that question (not). It didn’t occur to either of us to dig deeper. Classic miscommunication.
Renovation or not, a miscommunication like this happens because of context. The foreman’s context was, “Do I need nails or not?” It didn’t occur to me to say, “No to nails, yes to glue,” because, in my context, the alternative to no nails could only be glue. To the contractor, the obvious alternative to no nails was nails.
When you’re working on a project, especially one with lots of moving parts like a renovation, your head easily gets stuck on what matters most to you at the moment. That makes it really easy to forget that everyone else on the project has different priorities (you as the owner, me as the architect, the foreman, and so on). We all have squeaky wheels that need to be addressed first, and they’re not always the same thing. That leads to contextual differences and miscommunications like the one above.
It’s lucky that we made a site visit on the day of the install. The contractors were able to quickly uninstall the boards and then reinstall with glue, only setting the project back a day or so. The mistake wasn’t without consequence (if you partake in a renovation, you’ll quickly learn that labor can often be more costly than material), but we were able to make a quick save.
If you find yourself in a renovation and your contractor (or architect or designer) asks you clarifying questions like the one above, don’t assume they know what you’re thinking. Always clarify. When they answer, repeat back to them what you think their methods will be. That will give them an opportunity to either correct their process or get more clarification they wouldn’t have known they needed otherwise. Then, make sure you’re visiting the site during important installations, such as flooring. A picture is worth a thousand words, but being there in person is priceless.
Remember: clarify, clarify, clarify.