*cries*
i am sad, i am mad & i don't know what to do next...
this is gonna be kinda long... apologies in advance. i don't expect too many of you to actually read all of this.
so here goes... our kitchen has been ripped up & under construction since the very first of the year. we actually emptied & readied it the end of december.
loads & lots of ongoing issues, migraines & stupidity, but i'll spare you all of that...
anyway, finally it was looking like a kitchen again... until the granite countertop CRACKED! yes.
in the very beginning, our contractor told us that he would be out himself to install the anderson bay window for us because his little subcontractor had never installed one before & it was too big of a job for a rookie.
well, the day comes to install the bay window & the rookie is the one putting it in.
i had originally asked for the underneath support with the stucco, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but the contractor says, "no, we hang them from the cables all the time & just put a finishing board beneath. trust me, we do this all the time. it'll look fine." so, our window was hung without the underneath beam supports.
then the nearly $12,000 worth of beautiful granite gets installed.
then the rookie comes & installs the weight bearing roof, which then stretches the support cables. that caused our windows not to open.
so then... the contractor comes out & says "we'll just jack up the window & put the underneath support & then it can be stuccoed in." (which i repeat was what i wanted in the first place).
i said to the contractor, "now isn't this going to crack our granite??"
contractor says, " no, i assure you, it will not crack your granite. we do this all the time. trust me."
i'm still trying figure out how he thinks granite has the tiniest bit of flexibility, but he says they do this all the time & it'll be just fine. i held my breath.
so rookie guy comes out & jacks up the window. tightens the cables & places the underneath support beams.
next day: i'm on the phone in my kitchen & look at the counter to see the horror. yup, CRACKED!!!
so, the granite people get sent out to see it they can cosmetically make it better. nope. made it even more noticeable.
then the bosses from the granite place come out to look. they determine without my telling them how it all came to be, that the window installation is what has caused the granite to crack. it's obvious since all the other unpainted stucco repairs has been done, but the support area has not been stuccoed that this was indeed an afterthought.
the contractor calls me up yelling at me & asking who told them the window was jacked after the installation? blah blah blah... i reminded him that he assured me that the granite would not crack & that he had said HE would be the one to put in the window, but he sent rookie instead.
he finds out they want seven grand to replace the granite. he is furious & says he will not pay that.
he calls the following day & says he'd talk to several people & concedes that it is indeed his fault & he will replace the granite, but he will not pay the price that the original granite people are asking. he says by law he is entitled to get a 2nd bid.
so a few days later he brings out an independent granite installer (this was last wednesday). he says we'll receive a price from him in a couple of days. today we still have no price or no further contact with the contractor or his granite dude. it's now 5 days later. i know he doesn't want to pay to replace this & he he going to drag this out as long as he can. and that's where my biggest concern is... the longer this is drug out, the more difficult it will be to match the granite. it might even already be too late to match it.
also, we cannot lock our bay window, because when we do we cannot open the window as they both stick in the top corners, BECAUSE the window sill is still NOT LEVEL. i just had this fact confirmed today, because i had the window vendor send out their service people to see if they could adjust the window at all. they cannot without & removing the underneath support & beams to adjust the cables, which is a huge risk to further cracking the granite. that'd be the way to go IF we were indeed getting the granite replaced with a perfect matched stone. if we're not going to be able to match the stone, then it's best to leave the crack & the ill fitted window as is. *sigh* otherwise, the entire kitchen's granite will need to be replaced, which means, some of the cabinetry will have to be removed (not to mention emptied again).
i am just sick to my stomach. i've lost countless hours of sleep over this. i wake up worrying & thinking & then can't go back to sleep.
this is a once in a life time ordeal, which we took out a huge loan to be able to do.
we intend to spend the rest of our lives in this home, so we want to fix it up as best we can. we're doing the major stuff once & only once yknow. such as a complete kitchen remodel.
any suggestions or ideas for what i should do next?
should i get a lwayer involved? we've never had to use a lawyer & would prefer to keep it that way, but...
should i just live with the cracked granite & ill fitted window & move on?
should we report him to the contractors board? what kind of repercussions will we have to face if we do?
what if a matching granite stone cannot be found? do we, should we demand the entire kitchen's granite be replaced?
my head & stomach hurts...