update

I'm home now. Don called me back, extremely upset, and said something about the HVAC guy and a hole in the wall and a general contractor. I couldn't get anything further out of him, so I came home.

Our kitchen is an addition, and to get the ductwork through to it, HVAC guy has to go through an old, previously blocked up window in the basement wall. Fine and dandy. Except that after he's broken through, removed the metal panel and insulation and whatnot that was sealing the hole before, he mentions to Don that "normally" a general contractor would go ahead and seal that hole up around the duct. Um, what? We don't have a general contractor. Apparently what he means is that it's not in his job description to actually fix this large hole he's just made in our house. Hence, the upset phone call.

I came home and convinced Don to call HVAC guy's boss, who kept saying "Well, we're not carpenters!" But eventually he agreed that at the very least they will put up some plywood over the hole. Apparently anything further than that is up to us, something which was definitely not explained until now. Fantastic.

So, HVAC guy is working away in the basement (we just heard him cutting out the old boiler -- at least I hope that's what that was), and Don is calmer now and studying for the test he has tonight.

It's looking like demo day might not happen. This took a lot of time out of the day, and Don needs to study, and we're not moved downstairs (the minimum that needs to happen for that is to get some temporary wiring in and fix the downstairs toilet and put up something to hold our clothes, plus the actual physical moving of stuff). I absolutely have to be at work tomorrow, so I can't stay home and help with anything. All that plus the total lack of response to our increasingly panicked emails to our so-called wrecking crew (except you Danielle!) are leading us to think that demo day may have to be canceled.

This has not really been the best week.