An entire week was spent prepping the house so we could get to moving in and enjoying the fruits of our labor. The before shots were taken, as to document this process and when it is complete, ideally next week, I will start a series about the transformation. And it was certainly transformed, not without many difficulties. But here we are, now in our new home and loving every second of it. We were able to go and do the easy stuff, the shopping for things like decor items and appliances. That was the easy part.

The first day of deliveries came, and soon I was watching my olive-green refrigerator from the 1960’s being hauled off. Then it was time for the stove, to which they said “sorry, it’s plugged in. I cannot help you. Where you do want your new stove?” When he saw my obvious displeasure being hidden by my friendly spirit, he assured me the install guys would haul it away and I wouldn’t be stuck with a stove sitting in the middle of a room. I pointed to my dining room that was still full of boxes, sighing that nothing was going to be easy was it. If I only knew…

The next morning, the installers called at 6:30am to tell me that I should be expecting them soon. At 7am on the dot, they arrived and lasted in my house for about 5 seconds to inform me that my gas shut off for the stove was illegal and not to code. I flashed back to the inspector that looked over that same area and said nothing. Seriously? I thought to myself, and luckily my husband walked in to hear the same exact words as I did. We found a plumber, and called him up and he appeared at my house a few hours later. Not only did he confirm what the Best Buy contractors had told me, but also let me know that the gas hook up for my 1960’s gas dryer was also illegally not to code. I narrowed my eyes and grew angry with the situation. He emailed me a quote for about $1200 to fix everything and install my stove and haul it away. I sighed, but I knew I had to suck it up and get it done. But what about that inspection I forked $450 over for?

Isn’t that why you pay for an inspection? It was mechanical and structural, so shouldn’t someone have seen it? I know he saw it because he pointed out where the gas shut offs were. What now? Could I get my money back for the inspection? Would his insurance cover this and I could recoup at least some of that $1200? We are trying to look into all these options. We emailed our realtor, but no response. This time of year, she’s probably on vacation anyways. Hopefully soon we’ll find out something, anything about this. If not, at least a rule about whether they should have warned us about it. Until then, “Welcome to Homeownership: where the most expensive things will always go wrong, with other expensive things”.