Monday, August 2, 2010

Well THAT was messy.

And exhausting - it's taken me a week to get this post up!

There was destruction.

From Kitchen Reno 1

There were unforeseen issues.
From Kitchen Reno 1


And in there end, there were new walls.

From Kitchen Reno 1

There was also, as usual, a lack of good photos. Sorry, but I was BUSY.

So, the recap.
Day one - Dad ripped out plaster. I came home from work and shoveled plaster into garbage bags. Then R2 came home from the gym and carried said bags. Whew.

Day two - Dad created wall frameworks. I went to the hardware store 4 times (note - the open box is always missing something, and it doesn't matter how well you bungee 2x4x12's to a roof, they will bounce). Kaitlin came and ripped up the linoleum. Guess what was under there! Give up? Wood! Wood that will be nice all finished! Super exciting. In the process of removing the existing pantry wall skeleton, Dad noticed the ceiling dropped a little. Since he worries about knocking my house over, he decided a supporting header and some jacks to re-raise it would be a good idea. Small glitch - tin ceilings are not actually fastened directly to the ceiling. They are fastened to small strips of wood. Translation: there's nothing above the ceiling to push up against, thus the jacks didn't raise much.

Day three - I ripped out the rusted tin ceiling panel in the former pantry, while Dad continued to make walls. After viewing the tin ceiling construction, we went with brute force to get the new wall frame in, instead of trying to jack the ceiling back up first. After re-measuring and trimming (we all know measure twice, cut once - but we should all follow an amended version - measure twice, do math 3 times, cut once), we sledgehammered that baby in. Wall!
From Kitchen Reno 1
Then...we tried to remove the header and jacks. Note - next time, wait for Kelly to come home. Result - one dropped header, two spectacular bruises, and an adjournment for beers.

Day four - Dad went to Home Depot for drywall, since we needed to rent their truck to get it home (which requires you to already have car insurance, stupid Home Depot). Rubbish guys came and moved a ton of stuff. Casey came and showed spectacular electrical skills. Hobs came and showed excellent drywall screwing skills. I went to 2 different hardware stores. Then...there was a knife incident (3 stitches for Dad, drywall cutting can be dangerous), I used my new sawzall, and Kelly was a general all-round help and made us stop for dinner.

Day five - Dad took a well earned break and went to visit friends in LI. I went to the basement to turn the water on to water the plants. One would not think this was a dangerous occupation, except - plaster is heavy. And when you remove a lot of it, the floor rises up a little bit. Which means that the jack that was firmly against the floor and helping hold your floor level is suddenly no longer tight. And might unexpectedly fall on you when you breathe near it. Result - more bruising, plus a new fear of my basement.

Day six - Dad headed home. I cleaned. Then Kelly and I cleaned. Then I cleaned some more. And - it's still dirty. But at least it's now functionally dirty! Meaning, the most functional parts are clean enough...

So what'd we get after 6 days? Well, we got a LOT. Opened doorway, moved doorway, built what will someday be the new wall for the bathroom, got drywall up, got upper cabinets out, moved some electrical. What's next? I have one estimate for plumbing, and get another on Thurs. I also get the electrician estimates on Thurs. Then we schedule and get those moving! In the meantime, there's still a little linoleum to get up, and some tin that can be patched (though some has to wait until the plumbers are done). I could start removing the other paint. But really - I think I better get some cabinets ordered...

Slideshow:

2 comments:

Unknown said...

nice pic of the dog! lol

Animal Presidente said...

Great pictures, nice progress. Bet you're feeling good about that. Hope the rest goes well so you can enjoy your new kitchen in no time.