Posted by jsexton – November 15, 2006 10:01 PM

There is a lot of progress taking place at the Sexton house. Plaster work, sanding, railings for the stairs and painting. But today is the day I want to talk about issues. In other words, unexpected problems. You should expect plenty of them; it's the norm for remodeling. Plan for them, budget for them and try not to get too worked up when they rear their ugly heads.

Every remodel is unique, and until you start ripping out cabinets and sheetrock, revealing your infrastructure and old electrical and plumbing, you don't really know what you will run into.

In our case, we've bumped into quite a few problems. No deal breakers. But here's a sample:

-- When the old cabinets came out, we learned that a large pipe was located against the ceiling. This was a problem because the new cabinets are floor-to-ceiling. This pipe was in the way. Solution: our plumber rerouted the pipe. This added cost and time to the project. Overall, our plumbing work cost 20 percent more than projected.

-- The electricians ran into old wiring that needed to be replaced, and other related problems. Solution: more money and time to get it right. Our electrical costs ended up being two-thirds higher than planned.

-- We discovered one of the load bearing walls in our house hadn't been treated as load bearing by the original builder. It had no support in the crawlspace. Solution: our crew added a cement footer.

-- The original plan called for two LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams to support the areas where we were taking out walls. Turns out we needed four of these support beams.

Here's a special one. Last night when I got home, our crew was parked in the driveway. So I parked in the street. Well, it was dark. My car is black. And it was raining. My neighbor is not used to having my car parked in the street. So she backed out of her driveway right into my car. Arrrgh! One more hassle.

Anyway, so much for our little problems. My advice to you is, plan for at least 10 percent of additional cost to cover unexpected issues.

The plaster ballet. Wes, Rob and Joe tape and mud the new sheetrock.