A lot has happened in the past week. After last week’s sledge hammer and pry bar party, we got down to business in a hurry. The electrician started last Monday and rewired the entire kitchen in about three days. We are now ready for such amenities as under cabinet lights and refrigerator that actually resides in the kitchen (and not the utility room), all under the glow of 12 new 4-inch recessed lights. I even ran wiring for in-ceiling speakers. Giddy-up.
We passed our electrical inspection with ease on Thursday, and the drywaller came on Friday. He hung most of it that day, and then returned yesterday (yes, Sunday) to complete the hanging and tape/mud it. He’ll be back tomorrow for some more mudding and the final sanding.
This weekend, Pat (aka “Manimal”) and I put the hardwood floors down (3-inch red oak planks). We were lucky enough to have have Pat’s father-in-law help us on Saturday. We completed the entire kitchen, hallway, entry and dining room. There were a lot of cuts that slowed us down a bit, but I’m really happy with how far we got. Even thought it is unfinished, the floor still looks better than the cheap vinyl that we removed. This coming weekend we’ll work on the pantry, hall closet and bathroom, before we sand it and put the first coat of sealer down. Rock and roll, baby.
As for the family, we are all dealing with being without a kitchen quite well. We set-up a temporary kitchen in the dining room, and have since relocated it to the family room. We aren’t starving, yet, which is good. We do, though, have to suffer through cold showers. Ever since the great flood last weekend, we have had no hot water… I think shutting off the water main did something to the water heater’s flow switch or circulating pump. We have a buyer’s warranty which should cover it, but they have not been too helpful yet. It has been a week already, and they still have not found someone qualified to come fix it — apparently, because we have a demand heater and not a regular tank-style heater, we are on the cutting edge of technology and no one in the entire Southeastern United States has clue on how to fix this. C’mon people, get your act together.
August 15, 2005 at 10:45am
Jordan
The little kitchen update that turned into a massive remodel and total disruption of life as we knew it began this past Saturday. With Anne and Jonah safely out of the house enjoying the comforts of normal living conditions while staying with Anne’s friend Carrie, my friend (and Carrie’s husband) Pat and I started the job by ripping cabinets off walls. For some reason, the installer of the cabinets thought it would be a good idea to NAIL these cabinets to the wall, making our job much more difficult. We resisted the urge to smash them, and ended up saving them. We gave them to Carrie’s Dad, who is building a barn and will use the cabinets in the barn’s “lounge.”
The cabinet de-installation was not without drama. In one swift surgical-like movement, Pat cut through a hot water supply pipe with his reciprocating saw. With Niagra Falls emptying into my kitchen and garage, I dove into the crawl space and scrambled to shut off the water main. Fortunately, disaster was avoided. Unfortunatley, we lost a few hours cleaning up, shopping for plumbing supplies and soldering a new supply line. Oh well.
We ended Saturday with sledge hammer and pry bars. We knocked out the drywall (walls and ceilings), took off the pine “wainscotting” (ugly pine boards), and called it a long day. We took the cabinets to the barn and spent the night at Pat and Carrie’s house.
Sunday started bright and early with clearing all of the drywall and pine board debris, and loading it into a trailer. This went quickly, so we moved on to removing the top two layers of vinyl flooring. We kept the original vinyl down, because the entire back of it was glued to the sub-floor — not just the edges/seams. Next was the window above the kitchen sink … it once looked into the backyard, but since the garage was added on to the house 15 years ago, it has been overlooking the staircase to the bonus room above the garage. Don’t ask me why. So, we removed it without a hitch, and framed the empty space. Because remodeling one room just isn’t enough, we took the toilet and vanity out of the half bath — these were kept for the barn. So, with all of the debris loade on the trailer, we went to the dump (that wasn’t really a dump… just a collection area) and shoveled all of the trash into a compactor. The last big task for the day was to pick-up 32 sheets of drywall from Lowes and drop it in the garage. I rounded out my second 14 hour day in row pulling nails out of the studs and joists.
Today (Day 3), I met the electrician at 7:20 am to review the electrical plan. He has been hard at work (I hope), and I am told by Anne that he has all of the recessed lighting up. We shall see…
August 8, 2005 at 02:23pm
Jordan