LESLIE: Barbara in Texas, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
BARBARA: We’re restoring my mother-in-law’s 130-year-old home. Not that she’s 130 but this home is.
LESLIE: OK.
BARBARA: And I’m having a problem with the carpenter. I want to put in pocket doors and for some reason, he keeps telling me not to do that. He doesn’t want to do it. It’s not structural; it’s just he doesn’t want to do it.
TOM: Yeah. And you know what, Barbara? I mean a pocket door is a lot of work. And maybe that’s why he’s trying to talk you out of it. It will be far more expensive than a normal door to install because, essentially, it’s not just a door; it’s a wall, too. You have to put in the pocket side of it in addition to the door side of it. And that means that you have to kind of re-drywall that whole section so that it truly is a disappearing door.
That said, I’ve got a pocket door in my office and I love it because I don’t have room for the swing. And we’ve got a full-size, 30-inch by 72 or – I’m sorry, 30-inch by 80-inch door in this pocket that swings into the wall. But I remember the process of getting this thing in and it is a lot of work. So that might be why your contractor is a little reluctant to take it on.
BARBARA: Do you have some words of wisdom I can share with him to encourage him to do that?
TOM: Yeah, tell him to expand his horizons, that the customer is always right and you want your pocket door and you’re willing to pay for it, pay him to do it. And he’s probably working by the hour, “so stop whining and get to work.”
LESLIE: And phrase it exactly like that. No, don’t.
TOM: Just like that. “Stop whining and get to work.”
BARBARA: I like it. That’s great.
TOM: Alright, Barbara. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply