Another weekend of renovation at the Duck.
My carpenter was scheduled to arrive Saturday morning to begin more renovation...so i went down on Friday to prepare. my job was to remove the doors and drawers from the kitchen cabinets so they would be easier to remove.
I did get the doors and drawers all removed.
That wasn't too hard. dirty and messy....but not hard. i carted them all out to the garage. i'm hoping i can re-use these cabinets somewhere. the top part is in better shape than the ones on the floor. the back and bottom of the sink section are rotted from water leaking and the side part is rotted from the bathroom leaking. but i can easily replace the 2x4s on the bottom that create the kickplate and the back is just a sheet of plywood.
These cabinets were built into the kitchen all in one piece. in the days when carpenters came to your house and built them there....versus today's cabinets that are built in a factory and mounted onto the wall.
Friday night the carpenter called to say he couldn't make it on Saturday because he was still stuck on the previous day's job and would have to put me behind schedule a day and come on Sunday. that was a bit disappointing but couldn't be helped. so....no problem.
Since i had planned on working on Saturday....i went ahead and went to the Duck myself to see what kind of trouble i could get into myself. LOL...not always a good thing.
I did take out the woodwork around 3 doorways...one into the pantry...where there won't be a door hung....and 2 where doorways will be closed up and become part of a wall. that was easy enough.
Then i decided to see if i could take the countertop off the kitchen counter....save Rick some time since he couldn't work on Saturday. couldn't be that hard...right? So, i started on one end with my pry bar and a hammer and went to work. i wasn't saving the countertop so wasn't worried about hurting it.
See....i got this part off ok. the skinny part around the sink area was rotted, so it broke easily.
Then i tackled the other end and managed to get it off, too. that section was separate from the middle section....so that made it easier.
Now...that middle section....yikes! i managed to pry it up all the way around except for 1 nail that was holding it back in the corner. i couldn't push it up high enough because of the top cabinets and my long crow bar just wasn't long enough to give enough leverage to pop it up. so, i thought about it for a bit and then got an idea. i remembered seeing Rick last weekend use a long 2x4 for leverage when the crow bar wouldn't work. so i went out to the garage and selected a nice long 2x4...stuck it in there as far as i could get it.....and sort of leaned on it and gave it a few bounces....POP....that last nail came on out. see...it pays to watch the carpenter....you learn things.
So, i win! last corner piece of countertop is off...
And the bottom is all ready to be removed.
I couldn't go any farther because even though the cabinet was not nailed to the walls and i could pull it away a bit....there were pipes sticking up from the basement on the sink side. so that was as far as i could go that day.
I spent about 5 hours on Saturday tackling all this and carting the trash out to the garage.
Sunday morning bright and early Rick came to finish the job. in no time they had the corner section with the lazy susan cut away from the sides. i didn't want that corner...so i trashed that. under the lazy susan i found a really cool flashlight that worked once i put in new batteries. and also found 2 packages of some kind of tuna mix stuff, a can of chili beans, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of tomato paste....all expired in 2004. LOL i won't even tell you all the rest of the stuff that was under there. suffice it to say i filled a very large trash bag.
It took 2 guys all of about 30 minutes to get the bottom and top cabinets out of the kitchen and into the garage. i hope to use the top cabinets again, too.
Then they began building my steps from the kitchen to the garage. what was there before was 3 steps...that were about 12 inches tall. i had much trouble going up and down...they were killers. we though we needed 4 steps but actually needed 5 steps. that put the new steps all the way to the garage door but i am ok with that. they only go from the kitchen to the garage. i love my new steps.
Now...i'll tell you a secret.....but you have to promise not to tell. you promise?.....ok. and also....promise not to laugh.....well, i guess you don't have to promise on that part. LOL
While Rick was building the steps.....i was taking the plaster off the kitchen wall that butts up to the bathroom. and the wallboard and insulation off the kitchen wall that had the sink. i had this whole pile of plaster, wallboard, and insulation in the kitchen....waiting for them to finish the steps so i could pick it all up and haul it to the garage.
Then i got a brilliant idea. UNDER the steps was an empty space.....all concrete..floor and walls. why cover that empty space up? so, i had Rick stop before adding the top 2 steps and i shoveled all that plaster, wallboard and insulation into that hole. it filled it up just right. LOL saved myself some work and some trash bags. the guys sort of just looked at me....but, hey....the customer is always right. LOL
See how nicely that all fit in there? Brilliant...even if i do say so myself. Thomas said he didn't see anything and he wasn't telling anyone. Rick said he would be talking about that for 20 years. LOL
Then he went and rebuilt my wall between the kitchen and dining room. i took out a bar/pass through area and made a wider doorway....and closed off the doorway that was at the end of the wall.
And he also pulled plywood off the walls and floor of an enclosed front porch for me and pulled the indoor/outdoor carpet off the floor that was underneath the plywood. i didn't have enough muscle to handle that myself. but Rick is tough and he got it all fixed up.
All in all...Sunday was a great day. 8 hours of work and everything done that i wanted done. I had been hauling trash out all day while they were working but at the end of the day that was still a lot more. so i just gave it up and went back to the Beast at 4 when they quit work and came back Monday morning and spent 3 hours cleaning up the rest of it.
So, now the next project is re-wiring the whole house. although cold doesn't seem to bother Rick....i don't work well in the cold. so, that project will wait until end of February after the snow and cold temperatures are gone.
For next year i plan wiring...insulation...and some more windows and doors.
Later
My carpenter was scheduled to arrive Saturday morning to begin more renovation...so i went down on Friday to prepare. my job was to remove the doors and drawers from the kitchen cabinets so they would be easier to remove.
I did get the doors and drawers all removed.
That wasn't too hard. dirty and messy....but not hard. i carted them all out to the garage. i'm hoping i can re-use these cabinets somewhere. the top part is in better shape than the ones on the floor. the back and bottom of the sink section are rotted from water leaking and the side part is rotted from the bathroom leaking. but i can easily replace the 2x4s on the bottom that create the kickplate and the back is just a sheet of plywood.
These cabinets were built into the kitchen all in one piece. in the days when carpenters came to your house and built them there....versus today's cabinets that are built in a factory and mounted onto the wall.
Friday night the carpenter called to say he couldn't make it on Saturday because he was still stuck on the previous day's job and would have to put me behind schedule a day and come on Sunday. that was a bit disappointing but couldn't be helped. so....no problem.
Since i had planned on working on Saturday....i went ahead and went to the Duck myself to see what kind of trouble i could get into myself. LOL...not always a good thing.
I did take out the woodwork around 3 doorways...one into the pantry...where there won't be a door hung....and 2 where doorways will be closed up and become part of a wall. that was easy enough.
Then i decided to see if i could take the countertop off the kitchen counter....save Rick some time since he couldn't work on Saturday. couldn't be that hard...right? So, i started on one end with my pry bar and a hammer and went to work. i wasn't saving the countertop so wasn't worried about hurting it.
See....i got this part off ok. the skinny part around the sink area was rotted, so it broke easily.
Then i tackled the other end and managed to get it off, too. that section was separate from the middle section....so that made it easier.
Now...that middle section....yikes! i managed to pry it up all the way around except for 1 nail that was holding it back in the corner. i couldn't push it up high enough because of the top cabinets and my long crow bar just wasn't long enough to give enough leverage to pop it up. so, i thought about it for a bit and then got an idea. i remembered seeing Rick last weekend use a long 2x4 for leverage when the crow bar wouldn't work. so i went out to the garage and selected a nice long 2x4...stuck it in there as far as i could get it.....and sort of leaned on it and gave it a few bounces....POP....that last nail came on out. see...it pays to watch the carpenter....you learn things.
So, i win! last corner piece of countertop is off...
And the bottom is all ready to be removed.
I spent about 5 hours on Saturday tackling all this and carting the trash out to the garage.
Sunday morning bright and early Rick came to finish the job. in no time they had the corner section with the lazy susan cut away from the sides. i didn't want that corner...so i trashed that. under the lazy susan i found a really cool flashlight that worked once i put in new batteries. and also found 2 packages of some kind of tuna mix stuff, a can of chili beans, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of tomato paste....all expired in 2004. LOL i won't even tell you all the rest of the stuff that was under there. suffice it to say i filled a very large trash bag.
It took 2 guys all of about 30 minutes to get the bottom and top cabinets out of the kitchen and into the garage. i hope to use the top cabinets again, too.
Then they began building my steps from the kitchen to the garage. what was there before was 3 steps...that were about 12 inches tall. i had much trouble going up and down...they were killers. we though we needed 4 steps but actually needed 5 steps. that put the new steps all the way to the garage door but i am ok with that. they only go from the kitchen to the garage. i love my new steps.
Now...i'll tell you a secret.....but you have to promise not to tell. you promise?.....ok. and also....promise not to laugh.....well, i guess you don't have to promise on that part. LOL
While Rick was building the steps.....i was taking the plaster off the kitchen wall that butts up to the bathroom. and the wallboard and insulation off the kitchen wall that had the sink. i had this whole pile of plaster, wallboard, and insulation in the kitchen....waiting for them to finish the steps so i could pick it all up and haul it to the garage.
Then i got a brilliant idea. UNDER the steps was an empty space.....all concrete..floor and walls. why cover that empty space up? so, i had Rick stop before adding the top 2 steps and i shoveled all that plaster, wallboard and insulation into that hole. it filled it up just right. LOL saved myself some work and some trash bags. the guys sort of just looked at me....but, hey....the customer is always right. LOL
See how nicely that all fit in there? Brilliant...even if i do say so myself. Thomas said he didn't see anything and he wasn't telling anyone. Rick said he would be talking about that for 20 years. LOL
Then he went and rebuilt my wall between the kitchen and dining room. i took out a bar/pass through area and made a wider doorway....and closed off the doorway that was at the end of the wall.
And he also pulled plywood off the walls and floor of an enclosed front porch for me and pulled the indoor/outdoor carpet off the floor that was underneath the plywood. i didn't have enough muscle to handle that myself. but Rick is tough and he got it all fixed up.
All in all...Sunday was a great day. 8 hours of work and everything done that i wanted done. I had been hauling trash out all day while they were working but at the end of the day that was still a lot more. so i just gave it up and went back to the Beast at 4 when they quit work and came back Monday morning and spent 3 hours cleaning up the rest of it.
So, now the next project is re-wiring the whole house. although cold doesn't seem to bother Rick....i don't work well in the cold. so, that project will wait until end of February after the snow and cold temperatures are gone.
For next year i plan wiring...insulation...and some more windows and doors.
Later
3 comments:
You are making great progress! I really enjoy watching this project. I dream that I could do something like this but I know I can't/won't!
Shirley, I am really enjoying watching your progress on this project! I love a good re-model, especially if I get to do some of the demo! Looking forward to what you come up with this spring!
I have read that doing a kitchen re-fit is second only to getting a loft conversion on adding value to your home!
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