Here it is Monday again, after another great week of progress at the house. I know I left you off in the kitchen, so that's where we'll start again. My goal was to get everything in place so I could get the Corian counter top ordered this week from Home Depot, since it can take up to FOUR WEEKS to be installed. When I had this done at my other house, it only took two, so I'm hoping that will be the case here as well. I had to get all the cabinets set and have the stove on site to be ready for the estimator to come out next Tuesday...
I did get the last two cabinets installed (remember the one I cut in half?), which took a little work, and spurred me to begin work on the kitchen floor tile, a big project that I had been dreading. The tile that is there is a basic 16 x 16 sandy colored ceramic tile - but a few of the tiles had been popped up in order to do work on the walls, and there was a huge area where that funky staircase was, that had no tiles at all. I already mentioned that I removed the ones under the other cabinets, in order to have enough salvage to fill in the blanks.
In the area where the two cabinets would go, I needed to do some cuts, to avoid pulling up and breaking tiles that would have to be put down again anyway. I started off with a grinding wheel attached to my cordless drill, which worked fine on the grout but lousy when it came to cutting into the actual tile. I thought about getting a new, thinner, grinding wheel, but something told me there was a better solution in that mound of tools and materials making my dining room look like an Ace Hardware. Then I remembered that the diamond blade from my tile saw was a 7" just like the one in the circular saw, so I switched them and there you go! When set to the right depth, it's the perfect precision tool for cutting tile that's already installed on the floor. After I started , the sparks began to fly, and I remembered that you have to keep the blade wet when cutting masonry. So I filled a coke can with water and doused it every few seconds... that and the brown dust from the tile is what makes it look like a murder scene.
I then put the two cabinets in place, with a space for the stove in between. It took some shimming since none of the walls or floor in this house are level, but I got them just right. You'll have to wait until next week for a picture of that because I forgot. I did break down and purchase a new stove from Home Depot - I have been hunting everywhere since this whole thing began, for a decent used slide-in model, but it just wasn't happening and the time had arrived for a decision. Of course I'll love it - there are some things I can save money on, some things I can't, so I might as well enjoy it! PS did you know that when you buy a brand new stove it doesn't come with a plug?! That's what the installers do... and since I was "installing" (sliding it into place) myself, I picked up a plug as well. Right now it's in the living room, until the tile grout is finished and I can push it in to it's final resting place.
The next step was to remove all the old adhesive in areas where new tile would go. This picture shows the transition between the kitchen and dining room, where there is laminate wood flooring. The adhesive is really a pain in the butt to get up. I started with the grinder again, but quickly realized the amount of dust being produced just wasn't worth it, so I broke out the trusty hammer-and-paint scraper combo and proceeded to chip away. I used the grinder at the end for the final smooth-out. Over the next couple of days I cleaned up three large areas and a couple where I had removed one or two broken pieces for replacement.
The adhesive also had to be removed from the backs of the salvaged tiles, and then they were cut to fit. When all that was done I did a count and I did need a few more. Home Depot actually had three tiles from a discontinued color that were a near-perfect match (which they gave me) that got me almost through - I had to buy one box that really didn't match to fill in under the stove and dishwasher. One of them peeks out from the far side of the fridge, but hey - I dare anyone to complain about that!
While I had the tile tools out, I figured I might as well do a little job on the front porch. The porch tilts slightly away from the house, so any water will flow in that direction. The only problem is that when it rains, or I hose it off, all the water runs into that black crack you see there... and down INSIDE the foundation of the house. Not really an ideal situation. My plan is to seal that up when I do the siding inside the porch wall, but a drain has to be put in before that. Here you can see where I cut the tiles to fit a little 3" drain cap. I haven't put the plumbing underneath yet - I'll have to crawl all the way up under the house and put a drain out into the bushes... won't that be fun?! Wonder what kind of treasures I'll find in there... by the time I finish this house I don't think there will be one crack or crevice I haven't poked my nose into!
The last kitchen work I'll mention is the plumbing in the sink cabinet. I put the valves on the hot and cold stub outs that Don had installed before my trip. Each one needed an additional tee put on - the cold has an extra line to the fridge ice maker (you can see the white tube in the picture). There is a cap on the part that will eventually be hooked up to the sink cold water. The hot has an extra line that will go to the dishwasher, which hasn't been installed yet. Like the stove, it has to wait until I have the tile grouted, which should happen next week. The yellow wire you see is going to power the garbage disposal when everything is put back together.
Some very exciting stuff got done outside this week as well, but I decided to split this into another post ... I'll probably do that tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment