Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
The #1 Rule of Home Remodeling
After I shared my frustrations at Home Depot last week, a chorus of people told me: Don't shop there! Try a local shop! (The problem last week was that they are unable to measure for Silestone countertops until our new sink base is installed, which would render us sinkless for 3 weeks.) The next day, we found a local place that told us they get lots of business because Home Depot doesn't provide good customer service. That store can give us the same countertops at the same price--but in half the time and without forcing us to go sinkless.
Today, though, we needed tools to unclog the sink, so we stopped off at Home Depot again. While we were there, I decided to see if they had the ecofriendly linonleum flooring I'd read about in several Earth Day articles.
An employee approached me in the flooring aisle an asked if I needed help. I asked whether they had linoleum tiles. He gestured at the shelve of vinyl tiles in front of me. "Those are all linoleum. That's what vinyl is."
I told him I wanted natural linoleum--not vinyl. He frowned and said again he thought they were the same. When I told him they weren't, he said, "Well, we do have this industrial-grade vinyl over here. It's used in places like schools."
I couldn't believe it. I know very little about kitchen materials, but even I know that linoleum and vinyl are not the same thing. (According to Wikipedia, "Linoleum is a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. Pigments may be added to the materials used. In modern lay parlance, linoleum is often incorrectly used to describe vinyl flooring.") I don't expect everyone to know that, but if an employee working in the flooring section volunteers to assist me, I hope he'd know his products. That's why my #1 Rule of Home Remodeling is now Deal with people who know what they're talking about.
As for the rest of our kitchen, I spent the past week wandering all over the St. Louis metro area with a cabinet door under my arm in a fruitless attempt to find a matching sink base. All I can say is that the next time we go house-hunting, I'm looking at the kitchen first.
Today, though, we needed tools to unclog the sink, so we stopped off at Home Depot again. While we were there, I decided to see if they had the ecofriendly linonleum flooring I'd read about in several Earth Day articles.
An employee approached me in the flooring aisle an asked if I needed help. I asked whether they had linoleum tiles. He gestured at the shelve of vinyl tiles in front of me. "Those are all linoleum. That's what vinyl is."
I told him I wanted natural linoleum--not vinyl. He frowned and said again he thought they were the same. When I told him they weren't, he said, "Well, we do have this industrial-grade vinyl over here. It's used in places like schools."
I couldn't believe it. I know very little about kitchen materials, but even I know that linoleum and vinyl are not the same thing. (According to Wikipedia, "Linoleum is a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. Pigments may be added to the materials used. In modern lay parlance, linoleum is often incorrectly used to describe vinyl flooring.") I don't expect everyone to know that, but if an employee working in the flooring section volunteers to assist me, I hope he'd know his products. That's why my #1 Rule of Home Remodeling is now Deal with people who know what they're talking about.
As for the rest of our kitchen, I spent the past week wandering all over the St. Louis metro area with a cabinet door under my arm in a fruitless attempt to find a matching sink base. All I can say is that the next time we go house-hunting, I'm looking at the kitchen first.
posted by Tess | 12:30 PM
3 Comments:
OK...That would REALLY piss me right off. He works IN the flooring dept? He wasn't just happening by from paints or something? SHEESH!!1
Sometimes I wonder what those "big box" home stores are good for. About a month and a half ago, right after I'd moved into my house, I went through ALL of them (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) looking for a snow shovel, and not one of them carried even one shovel--despite all the vast quantity of junk under their enormous roofs. I guess when the New Year rolls around, corporate HQ tells them it is time to stock spring gardening stuff, no matter if many parts of the northern U.S. still receive major snowfalls into April. One of them told me they hadn't had any on sale since December. They acted like I was the crazy one for thinking they would have room for a tiny little shovel display amidst the vastness of their interiors. I guess it doesn't bug me so much if a little store doesn't have room for everything, but if a huge, warehouse-style store can't stock things people need, then WHAT IS THE POINT?
The "big box" stores are good for convenience and consistency.... We were there in the first place because they were open on Sunday and most local places aren't. You also know pretty much what to expect (in terms of prices, layout, inventory, etc.) when you walk into any Home Depot around the country.
Of course, we've traded expertise, local knowledge/committment, and customer service for that convenience and consistency.
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