Aberrant Prose

No stovetop, no faucet, no sink, no kitchen

Once more we are without use of our kitchen. We are back to cooking dinners in the microwave (in the living room again), and back to using Styrofoam dishes and plastic ware. So far, no TV dinners though, we still have lots of leftovers from Easter dinner!

Actually I shouldn’t say no stovetop, no faucet, and no sink because we actually do have all those things, it is just all of the old ones are on the patio or in the garage and all the new ones are still in boxes.

On Monday, having only one day to work, Robert and Chris took out the garbage disposal, the old sink and the stovetop, tore off tile and Corian, and ripped out plywood in readiness for templates to be made by our granite installer on Tuesday. The tear down couldn’t begin any sooner since we needed the use of our kitchen for Easter. Originally the expectation was to have two days to do all of this except the installer called the end of last week to ask to come a day early! I am sure if Chris hadn’t been willing to stay till Monday to help, Robert would not have said okay! Thank you Chris!

Fortunately taking out the old window and installing a new window was not included in all of this. Robert removed the old window April 4th and finished tacking the new window in place Saturday right before Tim, Kathy, and Rylan arrived, a job that would have been done sooner if he hadn’t had to reroute piping. Unfortunately the sink air vent pipes were in the way because of our decision to lower the new window to eliminate the sill and create a more open, airy space behind the sink. The challenge of redoing pipes definitely slowed Robert down!

  

Since Tim and Kathy were here through Monday evening they were able to see firsthand the kitchen tear down. They took it all in stride quite well and, with no kitchen to cook in; ran out to buy everybody pulled pork sandwiches for lunch! Even Rylan took a long nap without a care about all the noisy demolition going on.

Template day on Tuesday was interesting. Rich, from the granite countertop company, showed up around two. For more than two hours, he measured, double checked sizes and angles then hot-glued strips of balsa wood together to create a template for each countertop. For the backsplash areas and the outlet locations, he made detailed sketches on the templates themselves.

The next morning Robert and I drove over to the shop where the countertops will be cut so we could custom position the templates on the two pieces of granite we selected March 16th. We really didn’t have as much say as we thought we would. Since there is a certain flow as to how the pieces have to be positioned we pretty much had to go with Rich’s recommendations. At least we were able to ensure the darker areas in the granite will not be on the peninsula.

Next Wednesday, April 18th, Rich, and his crew, will return to install the countertops. We are hoping the instructions to wait a week after installation (for the caulk and joints to set) before actually using the kitchen is really not true. As it is, after only four days, cold cereal is getting boring, dirty dishes are piling up big time in the living room, going to the bathroom for water is a drag, and figuring out what to eat without using a stovetop is becoming more of a challenge with each passing day.

Phase two

We didn’t even know there was going to be a phase two. Not until we finished phase one (which wasn’t really phase one since there was not a future phase at the time) did we start talking seriously about taking our remodeling to the next level.

The tile, walls, sliding glass door, and new dining room light all look so modern they now make our countertops look quite dated in comparison.

After weighing the pluses and minuses of Corian, granite and quartz, we settled on granite countertops. Last weekend we found a granite countertop installer and Friday we drove down to Oakland to select two slabs of madura gold. We should have our new granite countertops installed by mid-April!

Of course with new countertops we had to buy a new window and a new sink. Said and done. The window will have the same look as our sliding glass door, with grills and white trim. The sink will be the same size and almond color as our existing sink, which makes you ask why a new sink? The one we have now is an over the counter installation. With granite, we need an under the counter installation.

With the new sink we will also have to buy a new faucet. Timing out of whack on this one. We just bought a new faucet a few months ago.

Plus, we need to purchase a new stovetop. Okay this one is a want to more than need. We could probably manage with what we have except the burners really do heat much less efficiently. After all, the stove is well over twenty years old. We plan to buy a flat top stovetop this time and are looking at one that even has flat controls i.e., touch sensitive. No knobs! No grime to clean up!

As you can see, we are well into phase two already! Next, the first phase of phase two: Demolition!

Toasty soles, painted doors

Today Robert hooked up the second thermostat for the electric mats we installed under the tile; this is the one that controls the dining area. The first thermostat is already in use. We have been enjoying warm floors in the kitchen area since Tuesday.

From the beginning, I didn’t think we really needed to warm the tile. Now that it is installed, I have to admit; it sure does feel nice on the feet!

Yep, that means our tile is done. It sure looks good! Our contractors worked on it while we were in Big Bear Valley visiting Kathy, Tim, and Rylan from December 27th to December 31st. We went down to enjoy the new cabin they and their friends Mike and Liza just bought. It was a great break from tiptoeing around the tile work. When we came home the tile was all done! Richard and Jim did a fantastic job!

Thus, our remodeling project is just about complete. Today I put a first coat on all the doors to match the ultra white colored trim I painted and Robert installed last weekend. Tomorrow I will paint the second coat and officially the project is complete. Tomorrow night we will move the table back into the dining room and enjoy our first meal on our new “warm” tile floor!

For photos of the tile and more, visit our kodakgallery page. Forgot the link? Email me.

“Roughing It” continued

Robert and I have been “camping” out in our living room for about a week and a half now. The week before last our tile contractors spent Wednesday and Thursday laying down backer board. On Friday the electric mats for the under-floor heating system were installed. When the contractors returned the following Monday they brought our tile. They then spent Monday finishing up loose ends on the backer board installation and planning out the best way to lay the tile given the challenges of our convoluted floor plan.

Tuesday the actual cementing of tile started. It continued through Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Because our hardwood, linoleum and old tile floors were different heights the contractors have had quite a challenge. Even using different thicknesses of backer board and plywood to attempt to gain a level plane, each tile has to be meticulously leveled by varying the depth of mud. By yesterday any tile that didn’t need cutting was cemented in place. Once all the whole tiles were set only then could customized cuts be started for all the special pieces that go along the walls and cabinets.

In the meantime, we have had to escort the dogs every which way to avoid freshly laid tile. Each day it has been a different route. Some days we have had to route them out the sliding glass door in the office and around to the back of the house through the door by the small bathroom. Other days we have had to set up barricades to keep the dogs away from certain areas. Up until yesterday we have had the living room closed off with a large sheet of plastic. This actually worked well to keep the dogs confined to the living room when needed.

Today is the first day, now that the main tile areas are set and dry, that we finally have had more freedom of movement. The plastic sheet across the living room is down and the dogs are allowed to walk through the house even though we still have to watch they don’t step on all the loose pieces positioned along the wall edges waiting to be cemented in place.

It appears it will be at least another day of work before the special cut tile pieces are cemented down. After that the grouting and sealing will be done. There will be a three-day period we will not be allowed to walk on the tiles at all. This is going to be our biggest challenge of all. Stay tuned to find out how we handle it!

All said, we are pretty sure it will be at least another week before the floors are totally done and we get our kitchen back. We are very anxious. We are getting really tired of TV dinners, paper dishes and plastic ware!

Latest photos are posted on our Kodakgallery page.

It’s kind of like camping

With the refrigerator moved into the living room, the dishwasher pulled out and now sitting outside ready to be hauled to the dump (dubbed broken because of an extreme leak), no hot water in the kitchen, bare wood in the kitchen, entryway and front hallway, boxes of cold cereal, paper plates, paper bowls, and Styrofoam cups stacked on the desk in the living room, the microwave sitting on the coffee table, the dining room table situated in the living room in front of the window seat, a dozen or so TV dinners stacked in the freezer, we are laying claim to “roughing” it.

Actually it is kind of cool we don’t have to wash dishes or do any “real” cooking. More than likely we will be eating out a few times as well.

A week ago we signed on with Richard, a local tile contractor. That was the cue to start tearing up old tile, linoleum, and hardwood. At the beginning of the week it appeared a week was plenty of time. By Friday with everyday things taking over (like doing work for clients) we started to feel pressured. There was still a lot of work left to do to be ready by Monday morning, the day Richard said he could start work. Robert worked very, very hard over the weekend to get all the linoleum and hardwood up. To take up the entryway tile Richard loaned Robert a Roto Hammer. To take up the linoleum Robert used the circular saw to cut 12 x 12 squares. There were no shortcuts for taking up the hardwood; it had to come up one piece at a time. I too spent an hour or so on Saturday pulling up hardwood and several hours on Sunday pulling up linoleum. The area where the hardwood came up now has planks (50+ years old) exposed making it look like an old dock. I feel like I am at the beach when I walk on it.

When Chris was here last weekend he talked us into adding heat to our new flooring (influenced by a Warm Floors employee but of course). This added one more time dimension to our overall project. After considerable coordination with Nuheat, a manufacturer of electric under-the-floor mats, the system will arrive tomorrow. Richard will be installing it for us.

Also while Chris was here Robert commandeered him into helping move the refrigerator. I am not sure Chris will be so willing to help with these kinds of things anymore. When pulling the refrigerator up the step into the living room, it fell over and landed right on him! His leg was smashed under the dolly and I feared for a bit we were going to need to seek medical attention. Fortunately, after resting, he was okay and able to help move the refrigerator all the way into the living room. Whew!

To add to the list of things to get done, earlier in the week Robert had to cut a hole in the floor by the front door to remove a very rotted floor beam. While he was at it he crawled under the house to cover the ground with plastic. He researched the Internet to learn this is a good thing to do to cut down on basement rot and mold. Later he will have to remove the front door itself and position it higher since where it is now is not high enough to clear the new tile. Raising the door is going to be one abominable project!

With the rain arriving a couple days ago, an additional challenge popped up. Since it is not good to get bare wood wet, Paris and Madison now have go to the master bathroom to find their “indoor” water dish. Paris figured it out right away. I have to keep showing Madison. Plus, every time they go outside and come back in they have to be directed to come through the back door to have their feet towel dried.

Amazingly, yesterday morning, except for a little clean up, everything was ready for Richard to start work. Yes, Robert was exhausted and yes, he did work late Sunday night taking out the last stubborn pieces of linoleum and hardwood.

Turns out, Richard wasn’t ready! Another job he is working took longer than planned because of a bad tile order. At least Richard did come by today to bring over equipment and materials and to report he plans to start our project first thing tomorrow morning!

Visit our photo section on our home page to view more “remodeling” pictures.

Remodel project eclipsed
by sunroom build, search for light

Remodeling our dining room isn’t all Robert has been doing! He is also spending a lot of time at his Mom’s house working with Gary to transform the back porch into a sunroom. With winter and rain setting in, he and Gary have been scurrying to get the project far enough along to endure inclement weather. This has included fixing an extremely rotted porch floor, building a wall, repairing a roof, shingling, installing two large windows and installing siding on the new wall. Although lots of work is left before the sunroom is totally completed, like a door at the end of the sunroom and linoleum on the floor, most of the remaining work can now wait, if necessary.

Meanwhile, not much is happening on the dining room remodel front. The weekend before last we did get some major painting done. Leave it to me to make the painting project more taxing by selecting too bright a shade of yellow for the dining room and kitchen. (Kathy warned me, she had done the same thing when she and Tim painted their kitchen). After trying to live with it for a few days, I “had” to buy a lighter shade and repaint!

Today a new light for our dining room arrived on our doorstep. This light was not part of our remodel plan (or budget). When reinstalling our old dining room light into the new location, it somehow slipped out of Robert’s hands, tumbled to the floor and broke a glass panel, a light bulb and bent the frame. We had no choice but to throw it away.
Finding a new light was a challenge. We spent most of last weekend looking. We searched all over Napa, drove up to Fairfield and Vacaville on Saturday. No luck. Sunday we spent a great deal of our day on the Internet before finding something suitable. It was disappointing to me not to be able to find something similar to what we had. Designs for dining room lights are so different now!

Our dining room remodel will still be a work in progress when our Thanksgiving guests arrive next Thursday. There won’t be trim around doors. Doors likely won’t be painted in the brighter whiter color yet. There will be no new floor tile (the contractor we hired can’t start work for at least three weeks). Plus, the old kitchen linoleum, the entryway tile, and the hardwood floors will be spattered with paint, caulk, and plaster. We aren’t taking a lot of care to keep the floors clean. We know they are being replaced anyway. Our walls too may well be barren of any décor because finding just the right pictures and frames is taking a lot of time and thought.

And we are still wrestling with what to do about chair rail going from the office door to the garage door. What we used twenty or more years ago appears to be no longer available! We have three options. We can buy new chair rail for the entire entryway, we can eliminate the chair rail altogether or Robert can craft chair rail as best he can to match the existing chair rail. Since we painted the walls for chair rail, eliminating the chair rail is pretty much out of the question. Replacing the entire chair rail is a lot of work. Duplicating the design is not easy either.

On the other hand, we now have a bigger dining area for our Thanksgiving guests! The ceiling and wall painting is essentially done. Our new French door is in place and looks fantastic. We also bought all new bright white light and receptacle covers to replace the old yellow-beige covers and to match those in our living room. And of course we now have a “contemporary” dining room light and, unlike our old one, it is high enough to keep Robert from hitting his head.

Robert and I had really hoped to have our new dining room remodel project completely finished in time for Thanksgiving. We know no one is really going to care though because, in the end, feast and family will eclipse everyone’s attention anyway!

Bring on the paint

Our walls are now all textured. For the mere cost of $150! Robert found just the right guy to do the job. On Tuesday he came over to look at what needed to be done. Today, he got it all done!

And we can paint tomorrow if we want. The tiling isn't going to happen all that fast though. Turns out lining up a tiler is proving to be a bit of a challenge.

Below are a few pictures which include us taking wallpaper off and the walls being textured.

More power, more power

With all the remodel work, it only made sense for Robert to buy more tools. Plus, with his son just buying a bunch of nifty tools, he wasn’t about to get behind!

The walls are now sheet rocked, ceiling too. Robert has been working very hard since Thursday to get all the sheet rocking completed. It is amazing how different the dining room looks now! Next will be tiling the floor, texturing the walls, and then painting!

Visit my kodakgallery for a complete set of pictures of our project from the beginning through yesterday.

Looks like a different house

Our new sliding glass door is now in place. What a totally different look!. Chris came down for the weekend and was a big help! He brought a bunch of new tools he just bought which worked great for taking the old sliding door out and installing the new one.

Below is a slideshow of the new flooring going in, the new walls going up, Robert and Chris taking out the old sliding glass door then putting in the new one. You can see it was a long day. By the time the sliding pane was positioned, handles added and the “inside” curtains lowered it was almost ten o’clock. Not only that, Chris and Robert also worked on fixing the leak in the back bathroom shower!

Progression

Of course the easiest way to show our dining room project is through pictures. Below is a slideshow of the project from the beginning up until yesterday.

Before the new walls go up, sills need to be placed and bolted to the garage cement floor. Robert will rent a rotary hammer for this phase of the project.

Today we plan to check out the local scene for tile to replace the flooring in the kitchen, dining room and entryway.

Monday our new sliding door (with the curtains inside) arrives!