Beneath My Feet...Someday

I like a little carpet under my feet when indoors.  That is especially true in the somewhat irregularly built houses here in Point Roberts where insulation may be a tad on the thin side.  So, when we are doing a little remodeling and need something new underfoot, we think carpets!  And we are at that point right now in the house that Ed has been fiddling with over the past five years. 

Carpets!  So nice to have done, so unpleasant to get done.  Years ago in Los Angeles we were inclined to put a new carpet in a study.  We went to a carpet store where there were approximately 32 thousand different kinds of carpets.  We looked around for about fifteen minutes and without further consultation we exited the carpet store and didn't mention the topic again for three or four months.  And then, three or four months after that, I saw an ad in the newspaper which told me that the carpet people would have a telephone interview with me and, based on that, would bring a few samples to my house.  I called them; we talked; they brought five samples; I picked one; they came within a few days and put the carpet down the way it was supposed to be done.  I was never very crazy about that carpet, but at least it was not stressful to acquire it.

Now, here in Point Roberts, the acquiring and laying of a carpet is yet a different kind of matter.  We did this once before, about 12 years ago.  And here are the tasks: 1.  In what country do you buy your future carpet?  If you buy it in Canada, they will not deliver it to Point Roberts and then lay it because there are border issues with the Americans.  If you buy it in the U.S., they will not deliver it to Point Roberts and then lay it because there are border issues with the Canadians.  We found some carpeting we liked in a big place in Bellingham and when they asked if we would like them to deliver and install it, we mentioned Point Roberts and they laughed raucously.  What a great and charming and audacious idea!  Delivering and installing carpet in Point Roberts!  What would we be thinking of next?

So, you need to find an independent carpet layer who will deliver and install your carpet.  And what you really want is an independent carpet layer who has dual citizenship so that he can help you arrange the purchase of your carpeting from a Canadian company and can then pick it up and deliver it to your house.  He can cross the border with your carpet because he is a U.S. citizen and thus can lay your carpet.  We have the name of such a person.  So we called him and he agreed to help us with the purchase of the carpet, the transfer of the carpet to our house, and the laying of the carpet in our house.  As soon as we were ready to go with this project, we were to call him.

And we did, and it worked pretty well.  We went to the store, they didn't have too many kinds of carpets, we had a sample of a carpet we liked, they showed us what they had that was more or less like it, we picked one of them, we paid for it.  And we called the carpet guy to tell him it was done and when could he start.

Let us think of that as Day 1.  On Day 2, the carpet company called to say that the carpet layer thought it would be better to have the carpet from a 15 foot roll rather than a 12 foot roll, which left us with two problems.  First, the 15-foot carpet had to be special ordered, so it would be an extra week or so before they could get it; and second, the carpet installer couldn't transfer a 15-foot roll in his truck, so we'd need to get somebody else to pick it up and deliver it to us.  But that was doable, because Point Roberts has services that will do that for a price, which is to say an extra price of sorts.

On Day 15, the carpet arrived, but by now, the carpet guy had gone on a week-long vacation.  On Day 21, we called the carpet guy, but he had extended his vacation for another two weeks.  On Day 28, the carpet company called to say that the 15-foot carpet roll weighed 640 pounds and was 48" wide and maybe we would need to make some special arrangements for its literal pickup, and also we'd better install a 48 inch wide door to get it into our house.  So, we talked to the carpet guy and as soon as he got back, he said he would go to the warehouse and cut it into the 3 pieces it would end up in.  And then the pickup people would get it to our house.  But that didn't happen because they had it in the wrong warehouse and another 5 days were involved in getting it cut.  We're now at Day 41 or 2 but now the delivery guys can't figure out their schedule. 

Finally, today, Day 44, the carpet shows up.  It is announced with a call that the truck will be here in 30 minutes and is there someone who can help the guy carry it out of the truck and into the house?  Well, there's me, a nice medium-sized lady in her 70's.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to be the kind of help the driver needs, but fortunately Ed arrives in time to help.  It is heavy lifting, he reports.

So now, there the carpet is!  Or, there the three carpets are.  But just before the carpet got delivered, the carpet layer announced that, what with the delay and all, he won't be able to start laying it until next Tuesday, which will be Day 48.  And I think longingly of those people in Los Angeles who talked to me on the phone and brought those samples and in three days it was all over.  I'm going to like this carpet better, I think, than I did that one.  But the process is one that you can probably get only in Point Roberts.