Getting closer...

Although the progress isn't visible, it is real.  The slabs for our counter tops have arrived in Baton Rouge!  Jenny and I went to check them out on Friday and choose how we want the counters to be cut from them.  The fabricator was happy, maybe even impressed, with the quality of the slabs.  We are now waiting for the fabricator to cut and finish the stone and then install!  I'm hoping that we can get them installed next week, but I'm probably being overly optimistic. 

Now it's time for a pair of rants and a rave.  

I hate plumbers.  No, really.  I am thoroughly convinced that plumbing is the single biggest rip-off in home renovation.  I got an estimate to run the gas line for our stove.  There are two different lines that can be tapped into that are easily accessible in our attic and don't require any long or complicated runs.  Yes, the line has to be plumbed down the wall.  It is not that big of a deal.  Guess what the estimate was.  Most people have guessed in the $500 range given the tone of my explanation.  $1000!  That's right, a grand for maybe $200 worth of material and probably 2 hours work.  He even readily admitted that this job was pretty straightforward. 

We ordered our sink from Amazon.  Jenny had a couple of gift cards that she had been awarded through work and their prices were reasonable.  We found an enameled cast iron undermount sink that we liked.  It shipped through a freight carrier because it was too big to ship via fed-ex, ups, etc.  I tracked down the carrier to schedule a delivery (long story - amazon was very helpful).  When the sink arrived, I opened it up to inspect it before signing off on the delivery.  Good thing I did, the sink was broken in two places.  That's special guys, you managed to break a cast iron sink, twice.  I sent it back and called Amazon.  Amazon said that since I had refused delivery, they could get another on its way immediately.  I asked if they could expedite the shipment, but because of the delivery method it wasn't an option.  Because they couldn't expedite it, they gave me $75 back (thanks!) and sent me another sink.  Lesson learned - Amazon rocks!

We ordered our hood vent from Homeclick.com.  It said "in stock" and probably still does on their website.  I called customer service because the ship on date came and went.  The guy said he would have to contact a vendor and get back to me.  (Isn't it in stock?)  He didn't get back in touch with me.  The following week I call again.  "The computer says it's in our warehouse.  That means it should ship out tomorrow if it didn't go today. Let me put you on hold while I contact our warehouse."  *hold*  "Uh, they aren't answering their phone.  It probably shipped out today or will tomorrow.  Sorry you didn't get contacted after your last call, the computer must have screwed up."  Doubtful.  Amazon sent me 2 sinks via freight carriers in the time it sent Homeclick to fed-ex me one in-stock item.  Customer Service - unsatisfactory.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND HOMECLICK.

Being without a kitchen sink and counter tops has been a bit annoying, but hopefully the kitchen will be usable soon!  After counter tops, appliances go in and then backsplash and we are done!  

That's when work begins on the nursery... :)

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!