Tile!

Well, after one small headache, the tile is being finished up.  We ran short on tile yesterday which prevented them from being able to lay all of the tile in one day which is pretty impressive.  Since the tile was not something the flooring supply had in stock, I was afraid that we would have to wait until next week to get the two boxes (12 tiles) we needed to finish.  Thankfully, the salesman at Prosource was able to track down a distributor in town who had some on hand.  After being told that they didn't have any from the same lot as ours, it turned out that they did and we were back in business.

The tile masons are finishing up the grout right now and should (I think) be done by lunchtime.  Yay!  I can't express how happy I am to be done with the broken, peeling vinyl floor.  It was disgusting, ugly and a tripping hazard.  Hopefully I can get some painters out here next week to give me a quote on painting the cabinets and get the cabinet guy back out here to measure for doors.  Let's keep some momentum going!

Incidentally, I also had a small roofing repair which I was able to get done on Tuesday.  Some of the shingles on our ridge vent were damaged in a recent storm.  I probably wouldn't have noticed it if Jenny hadn't pointed it out.  Twenty bucks in materials and about 45 minutes or so of work to get it fixed.  Not too shabby.

Pictures of the new floor to come soon.

Cabinets are installed!

Well, the cabinet problem has been resolved and all three of the cabinet units we are adding have been installed. Yay!  I met the cabinet man on Sunday to pick them up.  I could not fit all three of them in the bed of my truck, but since we met here in town I brought along the trailer that I borrowed to transport the tile... with the tile on it.  Sure hauling around an extra 1500 or so lbs. doesn't seem like the best idea, but it worked out okay.

Jenny helped me install the cabinets on Monday evening.  Don't worry!  She didn't lift anything heavy or strain in any way.  She helped make sure that everything was aligned and made sure that nothing fell on my head.  No major problems to report with the install.  We are now better able to envision how our kitchen will work when we are finished and we are pleased.

The tile man is here right now prepping the slab for the tile installation which will begin tomorrow.  The vinyl flooring was installed using this nasty black adhesive to which other adhesives (like thin set, the stuff used to set tile) won't bond.  To rectify this they are using something called uniflex which will serve as the meat in a glue sandwich.  They claim that this stuff will adhere to anything and anything will adhere to it.  I will update again when the tile is complete!

First major delay...

Well, I guess it was bound to happen, we have hit our first setback.  Sure, we have had little bumps here and there, but this is a guaranteed, one-week set back.

When you are reflooring the spine of your ranch-style home, there are lots of things that you have to prepare for.  We will have to spend a couple of nights out of the house so that the tile can set.  We can't stay here because we wouldn't be able to get to a bathroom.  One of the other little things is that our washer and dryer have to be moved.  In preparation for this task, I did a massive amount of laundry yesterday so that anything we could possibly need would be clean and available.  There were a few other things to do before calling the tile mason to get him out here.  One of these tasks was installing a lower cabinet that we have had for a couple of weeks now.  When I went to set it in place, it was a half inch too short.  The cabinet guy didn't account for the overhang of the Formica (yes, it is technically a proper name) countertop when he measured the cabinets.  Now I have to get it back to him so that he can take the front face apart and make two new stiles and a new bottom rail.  Although this will probably not take more than an hour or two, it is not his main line of work, and I have to get it to Ponchatoula via Plaquemine (he's a coworker of Jenny).  I realized the mistake yesterday, will get the cabinet to him tomorrow, he will fix it over the weekend and get it back to Jenny on Monday.  This means the earliest possible day to start the tile is next Tuesday.

I guess I have to do another round of laundry.  Oh well.

In another matter, I also realized that installing the cabinet would cover up the receptacle that was previously used for the refrigerator.  After brainstorming a bit with Nathan over the phone, we realized that the refrigerator was probably on a dedicated circuit and that I could use that wiring to install two new receptacles in the backsplash on that wall.  I am really glad that this thought occurred to us.  That wall would have had no receptacles if it wasn't for that epiphany.  I also used the 220-volt circuit that previously powered the oven to create a 110-volt outlet for the new refrigerator, thus creating a new dedicated circuit to power the new refrigerator.  It blows my mind that so far Beau the electrician has fared better than Beau the plumber, but c'est la vie.

In other news, Jenny and I went appliance shopping (success) and countertop shopping (abysmal failure) on Monday.  Jenny gets a discount on Whirlpool family appliances through work, and we managed to get a locally-owned appliance store (which I have worked with in the past) to give us very competitive prices.  We will probably end up purchasing the appliances through the local guys because they have a good service department, the sales people have been very nice and helpful, and it never hurts to support a local business, right?  Here's our dilemma: we are looking at two gas slide-in ranges.  They are both good units that retail around the same price point.  The one that we both really like is the slightly more expensive one (obviously because otherwise there would be no dilemma).  The slightly less expensive one we can purchase for around $1500; it retails for $2049.  The one we really like is $2199 and there is no haggling or deal-making to be done.  The manufacturer forces its retailers to sell it for the price they set.  This means it is the same price everywhere (even on the internet).  So, if it were a matter of $150, it would be no contest.  $700 on the other hand, is a pretty nice chunk of change.  Advice/Donations are welcome.

Progress is being made

Sorry for two posts in one day, but they are pretty unrelated and occurred days apart but didn't get blogged about because things have been a little hectic.

Sunday afternoon Nathan and I set about modifying the cabinets to suit our new kitchen plan.  We will be installing a slide-in range where the cooktop previously resided.  In order to make this happen, we needed to cut the 30" hole in the cabinets where the range will go and then remodel the remaining cabinets on either side.  

I removed the cooktop right before Nathan arrived.  First, we set about removing some of the Formica countertop.  Nathan hates Formica.  I only included this because I think this fact came up about 2 dozen times.  It was removed pretty much without incident.  

The next step was to cut the cabinets.  We brainstormed a little bit and then came up with a system/jig to promote straight cutting and clean edges for our cuts.  The cuts were made with a circular saw, which worked well except that you can't cut all the way to the floor with a circular saw.  The front edge of the blade is recessed a few inches short of the front of the tool.  

As we had anticipated this problem, I borrowed a handy tool from Mr. James to help us out.  If you are into home improvement or tools in general, one of the new tools to hit the market is these little oscillating multi-tools.  You'll see commercials where they use them for cutting, scraping, sanding, etc.  The often have a little triangle-shaped sanding pad or other attachment affixed to the front.  This is one of those tools that is a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.  I dare say that there is a better sanding tool, scraping tool, and cutting tool out there, but this little guy is mighty handy.  He allowed us to cut pretty much whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted.  We used him to cut a lot of parts that were hard to get to.

We then set about building the end pieces for the new cabinets.  We used a table saw that I had been given a while back but never really used.  The next part is really a bit embarrassing.  The saw was not cutting very well and creating a bunch of smoke.  Twenty minutes or so into using it, Jenny rolls up and says: "Um, is the blade on backwards?"  Yes, yes it was.  It is really annoying when engineers do that.  90% of the time they make the job harder than it has to be, ask 1400 questions and provide little to no help.  This time, Jenny was absolutely right and we hadn't even considered that particular source of our troubles.  TO OUR CREDIT, the blade was installed backwards when it was given to me.

After flipping the blade around, the saw worked much better and without smoking us out from the burning plywood.  Ugh.

Anyway, after an hour or so of ripping down plywood on the table saw, we had the sides and stiles cut for the cabinet.  I have to finish nailing it all together since the hardware store was closed by the time we got to that step.  All in all, it was a very productive day and Nathan was once again quite helpful.  

I uploaded a few new pictures to the Kitchen Remodel album on picasa (link on the right.)

I hate plumbing

I will explain the photo above in just a minute, but first a little bit about plumbing.  There is a saying in construction: "There are only two things to know about plumbing: sh!t rolls downhill and payday's Friday."  This is not far from the truth.  Plumbing is very simple and uncomplicated.  It is, however, a royal pain in the butt.  As I was attempting to get some work done in the kitchen (removing the dishwasher in this instance) I realized there was water dripping from the hot water connection under my sink.  Because there is not a shut-off installed, I figured I would go ahead and kill two birds with one stone.  A shut off is that little knob that you will probably find against the wall underneath every toilet, sink, washing machine, etc. in your house.  A brilliant idea, this is intended to allow you to shut off the water supply to that fixture without having to turn the water off to the whole house.  This was not part of the building code in 1962.  (Was there even a building code in 1962?)

Unfortunately, due to the simplicity of the basic nature of plumbing, every joe blow handyman thinks that he can tackle any plumbing problem.  Apparently this was the case when it comes to the hot water supply to my kitchen sink and disposal.  The reason it was leaking is because the two fittings you see on either end of that T connector above are for natural gas.  As you might guess, natural gas and water have some slightly different properties.  Genius.

Having done one previous plumbing project in my house, the whole thing was galvanized pipe which is pretty helpful.  I say this because there are no special tools or knowledge required to work with galvanized pipe.  Since I couldn't see what was in the wall, I assumed that it was all galvanized pipe.  It wasn't.  I tried in vain to disconnect that T connector in any way that I could.  Note: underneath the kitchen sink is not the most comfortable place to work.  Eventually, I just tried to turn the whole thing.  The copper elbow you see on the left was happy to let go and the whole thing came out.  This is because copper is very soft and doesn't screw together.  

After a few unhappy words, Jenny showed up and we brainstormed a bit.  The most common way to connect copper pipes is by soldering them together.  This is the third thing that you need to know to be a plumber.  It is not all that difficult to learn, but it does require a blow torch.  There are some downsides to this.  When you are working inside a wooden cabinet, most things around you do not respond well to a high temperature flame.  I decided to go to the hardware store and purchase a brass compression fitting, the other way to attach copper pipe.  

Long story short, by the next day I had the thing sorted out and the hot water turned back on.  We still don't have hot water on the kitchen sink because the hardware store was out of the cap I needed to close off the dishwasher connection and I haven't bothered to find another one.

Here is why I hate plumbing: there is nothing difficult conceptually about plumbing, but it tends to be in the most awkward spaces to work, it never goes quite as you hope, you NEVER know what is behind a wall, and most importantly plumbers cost a fortune!  I despise this because there really is nothing particularly difficult about plumbing!

Kitchen Remodel Under Way!!!

All right, folks, the kitchen remodel has officially begun!  Make sure to check out the photos by clicking the link on the right-hand side.

Well, Jenny and I ordered the tile last Thursday and began our grand adventure into kitchen rehab.  Over the weekend we packed up all of our kitchen items setting aside what we considered the bare essentials to get us by until the project is done.  I will be setting up a temporary kitchen in the front room in the near future.

On to the project -- There is a good bit of work for me to do before the tile can be laid.  Our cabinet guy delivered our new lower cabinet (a three-drawer piece) that will go where the refrigerator was.  We needed this to get started because the tile will be laid around it.  I spent yesterday (Tuesday) ripping out cabinetry.  As with any renovation, there are always some small (or large) unexpected hurdles.  Since I wasn't around in 1962, I kind of assumed (before we purchased the house) that cabinets were built then as they are now.  Not so!  Most (read: all that I know of) modern custom cabinets are built modularly.  That means that each unit is assembled in a shop, transported to the house and then installed and attached to one another in place.  In the 1960's many cabinets were built on site, in-place.  What this means to me is that I can't just unscrew the cabinets and carry them to the curb.  They are all attached to each other with lots of 2" nails.  All in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I was pleased with my progress yesterday.

I still have some kitchen demo to do, but this stuff will be more tedious.  Yesterday mostly consisted of removing stuff that we were throwing away.  The next step is to perform surgery on the cabinets to remove what we don't want and preserve what we do want.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this, but I have a few ideas. I will be making a trip to Lowe's today to pick up some supplies and seek some ideas.

The next step prior to tile installation is removal of the old vinyl plank flooring.  At first thought this might seem an easy task.  Hell, half of it is coming up already.  Unfortunately, I must remove the base trim in the hallway and closets in order to pull up the floor in there.  Let's also not make light of the fact that we are talking about over 500 ft² of flooring including three closets.  Yay.  Also, the glue that was used to adhere this stuff is pretty nasty.  The tile guy will take care of the glue as long as I remove the flooring.  To keep from getting this stuff all over the bottom of our shoes and into other areas of the house, I will put down some type of floor protector in the meantime.

There are about 2 dozen more steps in this process and I won't bore you with all of the details yet.  I hope to keep up the blog on a daily (read, days I work on the project, not every day) basis.

As a side note, one of the camellias is dying.  The biggest one has struggled since being transplanted and is in dire shape.  On the other hand, the other two seem to be doing very well.  I will let you know what happens.