I made a huge mistake. We are having our floors replaced due to a water leak and yesterday we went to see the almost finished product and realized the contractor put quarter round moulding around our baseboards when before it was flush. This is throughout the entire house. The issue is that the contractor called me (I’ve been handling everything, not by choice) and asked me about it. At the time I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about and to do whatever would look best. I honestly just thought he was talking about caulking type (yes, I realize I should have looked it up but this is my first home and we just moved in 3 months ago). I didn’t run this by my husband, because again I wasn’t really sure what the contractor was saying. My husband is absolutely livid. He hates it and told me "I ruined our fucking house" and that I cost us $40,000. I know I made a mistake, I should have done more to find out what the contractor meant and ran it by my husband but he’s been hands off on this entire ordeal and it’s just easier to make decisions on my own. I don’t know what I’m expecting, I know I fucked up but I don’t think I ruined the house. Now all I can do is cry about it because I know he’ll never get past this. Did I really fuck up that bad?
And just to clarify, the way the contractor cut the flooring made it to where we can’t easily fix this issue.
ESH
You made a mistake. Oh well. Mistakes happen…
…BUT no where in here do you describe how you took responsibility for it or what lessons you learned so that you don’t make this sort of mistake again. That’s why I am calling you an AH.
Your husband is blowing this way out of proportion and being cruel. That’s what makes him an AH.
OP says multiple times that they know they should have looked things up – that sounds like lessons learned to me. And like taking responsibility.
honestly, sounds like a classic case of miscommunication. your husband’s reaction seems a bit over the top, but hey, maybe he just wanted a quiet house instead of a quarter-round museum exhibit.
INFO: So, your husband has been ‘hands off’ – was he \*refusing\* to deal with the contractor, or was he \*unable\* to deal with the contractor?
For what it’s worth, quarter-round molding is not ‘ruining your house’. It can be removed, and it won’t cost 40K to do that. Even if it’s left in place, literally no one (other than your husband, apparently) will notice or care about it.
NTA
I doubt it looks as bad as as you think and even if it does…who cares? No one is going to be examining your baseboards.
As for your ‘hands off’ husband..he is definitely TA. It’s takes some nerve to leave you to make all the decisions and then piss and moan when he doesn’t like something. If this renovation was so important to his delicate sense of aesthetics, he should have involved himself.
NTA
Quarter-round molding won’t ruin your house. He may not be a fan of it, but it’s a classic style and no one will walk into your home and think “this is god awful”.
Take this as a lesson to be more thoughtful when paying for work. It’s okay to ask questions. It’s okay to ask for pictures of what the contractor is asking you about. This applies to so many things in life.
We cannot be experts in every field. Professionals are happy to explain because they know people might have zero idea what they are talking about.
And it’s okay to say “can I talk to my husband about it?”. Contractors doing this work would rather you be 100% sure you want it before doing all the work. Because they might be the one ripping it out if you don’t want it. No one wants to do double the work.
Your husband is overreacting a bit. He should have been more involved if he has such strong opinions about quarter round.
Anytime we get work done in our home I’ll tell my husband the things I want him to consult my opinion on and what things he can choose freely. It makes life much easier!
Most houses, you will find some version of quarter-round in front of the baseboards. This “hides” the edge of the floor cuts and also hides uneven floors as it is a bit more flexible. There are also more decorative versions that serve the same purpose.
If you didn’t remove the old baseboards, you would pretty much have to use it as you can’t slide the new floor under them on both sides. If you put new baseboards, you would be able to do it without the quarter-round.
exactly. She actually saved them money as no one is re-doing all of the baseboards to match the new floor for free.
NTA!! Husband, serious AH. “…he’s been hands off on this entire ordeal…” So he does not want to contribute, but reserves the right to freak out about the outcome, in an over the top manner no less. You did not fuck up at all.
Info: are you saying the contractor left a (big?) gap between flooring and the wall baseboard trim, then covered that gap with quarter round? Is it wood?
What was the contractor’s question?
My guess is that they were replacing the floor and installed quarter round to avoid having to replace all of the baseboards.