Kitchen War... The Fear Factor

Well, once the new cabinets were set up and secured, and the dishwasher hooked up, it was time to tackle the kitchen sink Saturday.

Like many of the walls in the house, the sink had been beat on and had dimples around the edge.  The faucet was a cheap one I had picked up last year just so we could have running water in the kitchen; the handles were broke off the old one.

The biggest fear about working with something which has continual exposure to water is how much hidden damage is there.  Because the countertops were not standard width, the sink was right up against the wall and the caulking job wasn't all that great.

It was just nasty and I was afraid what I would find when I pulled the sink out, particularly since there was a perceptible sag in the middle of the back of the sink.

In the front of the sink cabinet, holes had actually been drilled in a cross piece so water wouldn't collect.



It actually wasn't as bad as I feared.

...with most of the damage limited to the particle board to which the laminate was attached.  It was relatively easy to beef up the back support

...with a piece of 2x4 and 2x2 secured to solid wood in the wall and cabinet back. 

Once I had the back bracing in place, I starting working on the tile surface for the old countertops.  Originally, I had planned on using Bondera to attach the tiles directly to the laminate. 

However, if you remember from my last post, I had to square the corner cabinet up against the spacer I had attached to the side of the old cabinets using a wedge.  When I did that...

The  new countertop, whose height I had measured several times, was now 1/4 inch higher than the old countertop.  I was not happy.

But, all things considered, it was probably for the best.  I was fortunate that it was exactly 1/4 of an inch so I planned on using 1/4 inch plyboard to get the entire counter surface on the same plane.  This has the side benefit of providing a better surface for the Bondera Tilematset.

Off to Lowe's to get the 1/4 plyboard which I had ripped to the 22 inch width (about 3 inches less than standard) of the old countertop.  With the sink out, I was able to mark the areas that had to be cut out.



First cut out marked was for the small drawers on the left side under the cabinets. 

Once that was cut out, I slide the plyboard into place.



And I was able to crawl under the sink opening and scribe the opening on to the underside of the plyboard.  (I planned on replacing the old sink with one of the same dimensions.)

Our mantra for the house has been, "Never pay full price.  Recycle / Reuse whenever possible."  So, for the past week, Robyn has been searching Craigslist for a kitchen sink in good shape that was 33" wide by 22" deep.  She found a white cast iron one, in near perfect condition, for $100.  Nine inches deep with the faucet and soap dispenser included.  Her find saved us $300 or $400.  The old one went into the back alley and Robyn posted on our neighborhood forum that it was available; it was gone in a couple of hours.

The next challenge that I had was fitting the new sink into the old hole.  While the nominal dimensions were the same, the sink parts that would be under the counter weren't.  The bowls on the new sink were bigger area-wise as well as deeper (9 inches versus 7 inches).

Here was my first attempt to fit the sink...

Out came the red felt pen and I marked the areas which were hanging up and went to work with the jig saw.

...and then with the sawsall.

...and again.

...and again.

...and again.

Two or three hours later, the old front of the cabinet was gone.  A new front brace was in place.  And I had a rough, very rough, opening.



... I had lots and lots of saw dust and small chunks of wood.

But the sink fit...

So, it was time for a break.  After a shower, Robyn and I went over to Swede Holow Park to check out "Art in the Hollow."



And then had an awesome dinner at Yarusso Brother's Italian Restaurant

After a 2 or 3 hour break, I was back at it, cutting and fitting tile.  First thing, I had to do was rebuild the front of the cabinet.

The front of the cabinet had to come out far enough so I would eventually be able to put a cover on the heater / ac vent.  I plan on putting while 3" x 6" tile on the cabinet extension so that it will look like the apron on a country sink.

As soon as it was up, I started putting the sink rail and border around the sink opening.  Rather than using small pieces of tile, I used 3"x 6" tile cut down to size.  I wanted bigger pieces of tile to rest the sink on.

Day 1 of no kitchen sink ended around 8:00 pm.  I had to wait for the adhesive to dry before I could cut and fit the rest of the tile which would go around the sink.  Once I have the entire countertop set and grouted, I'll update my blog with that work.

Kitchen War... Not on the level

The past 2 weekends have been consumed with getting the garden tilled and planted while we've been dealing with some unseasonably warm weather.  Robyn, the Pinterest queen, found a purpose for some of the rocks that we've dug up... row markers.

She painted them last weekend and then coated them with spray polyurethane and put them in the garden this weekend along with the cages for our 15 tomato and 2 tomatillo plants. Our corn and some of the beans starting poking up through the ground as well this week.

With a three day weekend, we were very busy.  Sunday was spent over at Tino and Mary's cutting down a hugh willow tree whose trunk was half dead and in danger of falling into the power lines.

But Saturday and Monday was spent working in the kitchen.  Earlier in the week, we temporarily set the corner cabinet and the dishwasher in place.

I needed to do this so I could see where to set the outside cabinet...

... And figure out measurements for the electric, water and drain.  But before I went any further, I finally put up the track lighting above the stove.

The additional light was helpful when I started building the frame for the cabinets and dishwasher, starting with a spacer to account because of the ledge of the old cabinet under the existing laminate.

I had to add a cleat along the wall as a spacer because corner cabinets aren't as deep as standard cabinets.

Once the cleat was in place, I slide the cabinet back in place.

And of course there was a gap.  Because there is nothing in this 110 year-old house that is on the level, sqare of perpendicular.  While I lifted the cabinet up, Robyn slipped a wedge under the cabinet so the joint would match up.

After I got the back of the cabinet and dishwasher framed up, I drilled the hole for the dishwasher drain. 

I drilled two before I figured I should go down to the basement to see which direction the floor studs ran. 

Because of the distance the dishwasher was set from the sink and the challenges of drilling holes and running service through the old cabinets, I decided to tap into the tub drain that ran from the 2nd floor.

Where the connection came through the floor, I put a P-trap with a drain plug.

Home Depot only had supplies for the connecting of a dishwasher to an existing sink drain, so I had to improvise on the drain to the connection.  Inch and half PVC pipe was run from the floor to the sanitary T.  Above the floor...

There was an adapter connected to a standard drain connection, which was connected to a 12" extension, which was connected to another 1 1/2" adapter, to which was attached a short piece of 1 1/2" PVC which was connected to a female adapter in which was screwed an air gap to prevent the dishwasher from siphoning sewage back into the dishwasher.

While I was working on the framing and the service to the dishwasher...

Robyn was sewing the sink skirt.

Yes, those black floors do get dirty very easily.

Once the frame was up, I was able to install our under-the-countertop waste and recycle bins.

Yeah, I know they're both black but I couldn't see paying $30 more for the kit with a blue bin.

Sunday evening after we finished with the willow tree, I connected the dishwasher to the power.

After a year without a dishwasher, it was good to see those lights come on and hear the swish of water in the dishwasher.

Monday morning, I finished framing the back of the cabinets and dishwasher.

And then it was off to Lowe's for plyboard to cover the back and some suitable material for the countertops.  I like that Lowe's not only does crosscuts of panelling but will also do the longer rip cuts.  All I had to do for the plyboard back was...

Cut a hole for access the drain and water connection.  Given our cat's perchant for exploring new places, I covered the hole with a piece of scrap laminate until I could fashion a permanent cover.

For the countertops, I chose two sheets of 5/8" inch particle board.  Two sheets would exactly span the 1 1/4" distance between the top of the cabinets and the existing countertops.  I measured multiple times to make sure I had the correct measurement.  Unfortunately, I didn't measure at the correct time.  (more on that later.)

I used a chalk line to mark when I needed to attach the countertop to the cabinets.

Once both sheets were attached to the cabinet, I trimmed all but six inches off the backside using a 2" x 2" as a guide.

Here's what the raw countertop looks like after all the trimming and screwing is done.

Next phase is to install the tile that we picked out.

While I was busy inside, Robyn had the unglamourous job of cutting grass.

And finally putting the sun she got at the Home and Garden show up on our maple tree.

Kitchen War... No cracker for Polly

While it might not seem like Robyn and I got much done this weekend, we were busy the entire time, more so outside than inside.

We got started off at Menard's where we picked up a corner cabinet for the kitchen.

Later in the weekend, I brought the dishwasher in from the garage where it had been for the last 12 months sitting on a pallet.

Saturday morning, we were out with the rototiller extending the garden by another 20 or 25 feet.  I took a bit of a different approach this time, rather than digging down to the depth I wanted on the first pass, I just dug deep enough to loosen the top layer of sod.

Next I made two passes for each row across the sod-busting pass.  Both passes were at the final depth with the second mixing the sod up finer.  Robyn helped with the second pass.

Just as we finished 'tilling, a gully washer came.  It only took a couple hours the next morning to get the rest of the plants and seeds that we had on hand into the ground.

One final task remained for the outside for the weekend.  While 'tilling up the garden, I dug up about a 1' foot square chest wrapped in a garbage bag.  While I didn't think it was the time capsule that George Iverson had told me about because there were no plastic garbage bags back in 1958, I did think I had found another capsule.

The rototiller tore it up pretty good.  But I called Robyn over as I excitedly removed everything from the box.  It was all wet; the garbage bag hadn't ensured water-tightness.  Slowly, I unwrapped a red slipper, a bracelet, some charms for a bracelet, a color photograph of a young girl, a paper cross and some beads.

Inside the chest was another little plastic box.  I opened it last.

And as I did, Robyn went, "Ewwww!!!" 

Wrapped in a terrycloth sleeve with some dried flowers was a dead parakeet.

I re-buried everything in a corner of the yard where it wasn't likely to be disturbed.

Kitchen War... Blackout

It's amazing how quickly a black floor can get dirty.  Not just on the surface but also down in the gaps between the flooring.  In retrospect, I should have gone through and filled in the gaps between each piece of wood flooring with wood putty before I did the final sanding... Oh well.

The primary source of dirt other than construction dust appears to come from the basement.  It probably has 30 years worth of scrubbing that is in arrears, plus it's where the cat litter box is.

The basement stairs are covered with ancient linoleum which does nothing to catch any of the detritus.

Most of the pieces of linoleum weren't even glued down any longer and all I had to do was lift them off the stair.  Some were tacked down and I just pounded the nails back in.

I had gone to the Building Material Outlet store the other day to check out corner cabinets (they didn't have any I liked in my price range) but I did see 2' x 2' carpet tile squares for $2.75 a piece.  Even with their 12% up charge, that works out to about $.75 a square foot.

I cut 9 inch strips from the squares (steps ranged from 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches wide), and after I lifted off the old linoleum, I glued to strips to each step using Liquid Nails (I didn't feel like dealing with mastic for such a small, out-of-the-way project.)

After the glue has time to cure, I'll go back and trim the edges.  I also need to finish up the landing where I have a small rug currently.

Once the basement stairs were carpeted, I cleaned up the kitchen floor.  Two damp moppings plus 13 Swiffer pads later, it was clean enough to start laying down the coats of water-based polyurethane.

In addition to the easier clean-up and lower VOC, the water-based polyurethan has a milky color when it first goes on so it's easier to see where it was applied.  The downside is it is recommended that four coats be applied with no more than 2 in a 24 hour period.

The directions also recommended using a fine textured roller.  However, I had some issues with bubbles towards the end of the first coat because I was a bit too agressive with the roller in the pan.

Angel and Lucy, our cats, weren't happy because I banished them to the front porch until all of the coats were applied and dry.  They had been previously accused of jumping over the gate and the fence before.

It might have been a false accusation.  As I came back inside the front door after painting myself outside the back door, I found our dogs, Copper and Gumbo, in the kitchen.  They'd knocked down the gate and were in the middle of the wet kitchen floor.

They were sent to their room to reflect on their misbehavior.

I'd been debating whether to add that fourth coat of polyurethane.  There were already 3 coats of black paint and 3 coats of poly.  The floor looking good.  But the footprints settled it.

One more coat and this morning, Robyn and I got up to a floor looking like this.

Only a couple of dog tracks were still visible and the cats were happy to return from their banishment.

Next major item... corner cabinet and dishwasher.