Stage 3.7 The Bathroom and Hallway

After getting the kitchen basically finished, I was ready for a major break from the construction, but of course, that wasn't to be.  My brother Rick and his family were on their way Friday night with their Daughter-in-Law and and grand baby.  It was going to be a couple of very long nights again...oh joy!

It was pretty quick to get the old flooring pulled up. I first had to remove the engineered hardwood that was remaining from the original flooring that was damaged in the great flood.  That came up pretty easy once I pulled the pedestal sink and the toilet (oh how I love a good toilet pulling!).  The linoleum that was still under the engineered hardwood came out next.  I love the way they install it these days with only perimeter gluing.  That makes pulling it out so much easier.  I put the toilet into the front dining room on the carpet.  I know what you are thinking..."why in the world would you put a toilet in the front room?  It will ruin the carpet".  Now I can understand your concern, but keep in mind the carpet is being yanked out as well to receive hardwood and the extra seating in the dining room is always nice (that will sink in).

 

The next chore was to start installing the hardwood. This was a small area compared to the kitchen and family room, but it turns out that putting flooring in a hallway and into an adjoining room is quite difficult with all of the doorways cuts and cuts along the walls.  You see when you starting installing the flooring you have to cut around each door opening with a piece.  Then you have to continue to floor into the bathroom and then install flooring behind the course you are on to fill in the gap between the piece that was fitted into the doorway and the wall.  That required ensuring that everything was perfectly straight and ripping down a set of boards to the width of the gap, which in this case was almost exactly 2 inches.  Those pieces then need to be fit,  but not secured before you continue the course at the doorway.  Once the doorway course is in straight, you then ensure that ripped down coarse fits into the groove correctly and secure both courses before continuing on.  Then on the other wall you have to rip down boards to fit the margin left from the last full course on that wall.  Oh, and you also need to use your jig saw to cut the boards that will fit around the toilet flange.  By the way, teak is very hard, so a regular wood blade in your jig say may not be adequate to cut it correctly.  Having a variable speed jig saw and using a metal blade (more teeth in a finer pattern) is your best option.

With the flooring in, it was time to reset the sink and the toilet.  Let's start with the easiest (or so it would seem) the sink.  I relocated the pedestal sink brackets up as the flooring thickness would make the sink about 1/2 inch higher on the wall.  These brackets hold the bulk of the weight of the sink along with a large screw on each side of the sink that goes into a stud.  There is also a piece that goes from the base of the sink to the floor. With the weight of the sink being carried by the brackets this piece is merely camouflage for the hoses and drain pipes.  I placed the sink onto the brackets and secured it to the wall while making sure that the sink drain met up with the P-trap pipes when installing.  All looks good so far!  I then re-attached the hot water line to the water valve...no problem.  I then went to attach the cold water line only to find that it was about 1/4 too short and all the grunting in the world wasn't going to solve that problem, but of course I had to try!  I yanked and I pulled and I grunted, and I nearly broke out in tears as I finally came to the realization that it wasn't going to happen...so off to Home Depot I went (trip number 1)!

I returned from Home Depot with an extension hose and connected the sink. After tightening all of the fittings, I turned on the water and looked for leaks. I saw a hint of water around the hot water fitting and with the yank of water pumps it was finished! The sink was done!

I now turned my attention to the toilet.  I cleaned up the remaining wax from around the toilet flange and the base of the toilet.  I went into the dining area and heaved the toilet base and tank and carried it into the bathroom. I placed the new wax ring purchased weeks earlier and set the toilet in place, and of course sat on it to ensure the wax ring was evenly distributed.  Wow, was this all going to be easy!  I grabbed the cap spacer, washer and nut and began to install the nuts onto the bolts that are inserted into the channels in the toilet flange.  Using my ratchet box wrench I began to tighten the nuts.  A little on this side...a little on that side to ensure that it was going down level. I was almost done when I took a turn on the wrench and all of a sudden I felt the pressure on the bolt relieve.  Ugh!  I would have to remove the toilet and figure out what had happened.  With disgust I loosened the nuts, removed the washers and pulled the toilet.  To my horror, I could instantly see that the plastic toilet flange had broken.  Now what was I going to do. I would have to replace the flange, or at least do something to repair it, so off to Home Depot I went (trip number 2)!

I arrived at Home Depot and began searching for a solution to my problem. I found that I could purchase a new toilet flange that had a metal ring rather than plastic, so that is what I decided to do. Now what size.  It seems they come in 3" and 4"...of course I didn't measure before I left the house!  I wasn't about to drive home to measure so up to the counter I went with a 3" and a 4" flange and a new wax ring.  I got home with my new purchase and got to work.  This would be easy, just remove the screws holding the flange in place and viola I would be done.  Not so fast big boy!  That flange is not only secured to the floor with screws, it is also secured to the waste pipe with PVC epoxy.  Man, I hate pluming!  I was in the basement surveying the waste pipe and trying to figure out what I would need from the store to replace the pipe as I thought I would have to cut the waste pipe and rebuild the top of the stack.  I had just finished my measurements when I sat there looking at the new flange with the metal and realized that I could easily remove the metal ring an fit it to the existing toilet flange.  With a snip here and a pry there I had the metal flange off and attached it to the floor and existing flange with the original screws that secured it to the floor.  Problem solved!  

I once again heaved the toilet back into the bathroom, and set it.  I carefully tightened the nuts and this time everything held!  Whew!  The next step was to reattach the water line and make sure everything was tight before turning on the water.  I gave the valve a turn and listened as the tank filled with water...flush! But wait, where is that water coming from. After verifying that it wasn't the water line, I looked under the tank and to my horror there was water coming out around the bottom of the tank. Way too much water to just be a loose connection between the tank and the bowl.  I looked into the top of the tank and could see a crack in the tank that went from one bolt that held the tank to the bowl to the bolt on the other side.  The tank had cracked!  I don't know how or when, but it was certainly cracked!  I would be headed to Home Depot again (trip number 3), but this time I measured the triangular bolt pattern for the tank to ensure that I had the measurements before I got to the store.

I got back to Home Depot and found the toilet aisle.  I was excited to find that I could just buy a toilet tank. I looked at the tank and was disappointed to see that there was no way to see the bottom of the tank without removing the packaging for the tank.  I couldn't open the package in the store because that would be wrong, so I purchased the tank and an upgraded handle (brushed stainless) and headed out of the store. Now this is where an intelligent home improvement expert would have done things totally differently.  An intelligent person would have opened the tank packaging in the back of the Jeep before driving off from Home Depot.  I am not that intelligent person, so like a Lemming headed for a cliff, off I went with a song in my head toward my next disaster!

I pulled the tank off the bowl base and carried it outside to the ever growing pile of debris on the side of the house.  I then opened the packaging that was around the toilet bowl only to discover that the bowl only had two holes, and not three as the old toilet, which meant that the new tank would not align to the old bowl. I couldn't believe it!  I was off to Home Depot again (trip number 4).  I can only imagine what the people of the store thought each time I returned..."Oh here he comes again...we sure are getting our money's worth out of the Copeland household today"!  I purchased the bowl base that went with the tank purchased earlier and now a third wax ring and headed home.  Surely this would be my last trip of the day (I ran through a $60 tank of gas doing all this)!  

I pulled the old bowl and added it to the garbage heap.  I then assembled the new toilet and wax ring, and heaved it into place.  I gingerly tightened the bolts; attached the water line; and turned on the water supply.  What do you know everything worked without leaks!  Finally, what should have been an easy job turned into a two-day ordeal with one night going into the wee hours of the morning.  I really hate plumbing!

We have now completed all of the work associated with the flood damage.  That should be all that is needed to get the inspection done for the bank.  I plan to call them this week and see if they can come inspect so I can get them to release their death grip on the insurance money. We then will only have the dining room and living room left to complete the flooring.  I can finally see the horizon....stay tuned!

Stage 3.6 - The Stacked Stone Backsplash

It is hard to believe that we are in the final stages of getting our kitchen back in order.  We still have a ton of work left to get the hardwood floors installed in the hallway, bathroom and two front rooms, but it is finally looking like our kitchen is nearly complete.  With that said, I was very worried about this next stage of the project. I have installed floors before.  I have helped with cabinetry in the past as a laborer.  The one part of this entire job I had never attempted before was stone masonry.  If I messed this up, everyone would see it immediately and it would be totally obvious that we had messed up.

The Vision - Can we Create it?

We had purchased our Centurion Stone over a month ago and it has sat in the garage.  I had passed it many times thinking about how in the world I was going to be able to successfully install it.  I had read that I should lay out the pattern first before attempting to put it on the wall. I took a large cardboard box and laid it out on the garage floor.  I measured and outlined the shape of the vent hood onto the cardboard using painters tape. I had cut the box to be the same size as the wall behind the cook top.  I then spent a couple of hours fitting pieces of stone onto the cardboard to look as natural as possible.  It is very difficult to get a natural looking layout and to keep it level when none of the pieces are uniform.  I finally got something that looked like it was going to work.  I was trying to ensure that I had very few pieces to cut as I felt they would not look good in the mosaic that I was creating.

The first step in the process of installing the stone is to do a scratch coat.  A scratch coat is a thin layer of mortar that gets applied with a trowel to the wall.  This coat enables the stone to adhere to the wall when the pieces of stone are buttered with mortar.  I pulled out an 80 lb bag of mortar mix and placed it in a 5 gal bucket.  I added the 4.5 quarts of water the instructions called for and then used a long beater I purchased at the big box store to begin mixing the mortar.  I used my drill to turn the beater, but it was more than the drill could handle and with a puff of smoke the drill gave its life for the renovation.  I loved that drill!

I used a drop cloth to cover the cook top and floor, and then used a roll of tape with plastic attached to cover the cabinet that is adjacent to the wall and to cover the range hood.  Putting on the scratch coat is a messy job and I was glad that I covered everything.  One piece of advice I can give you if you are ever going to do this is that you need to give the scratch coat plenty of time to dry.  I didn't do that and my stone kept falling off.  Oh, and a second piece of advice is that your mud needs to be just the right consistency. Too wet and the stone won't stay attached.  Too dry and it won't adhere to the wall at all.

I started bringing in the stone and placing it in the same pattern on the drop cloth.  I was able to get a couple of courses at a time onto the drop cloth.  I would use my trowel to butter the backside of each piece of stone and then press it onto the wall. I would use the level to make sure that I was staying as level as you can be using random sized pieces.  I was able to get about 6 courses installed when I noticed that some were coming loose.  This was due to the fact that I hadn't given enough time for the scratch coat to dry and my mortar was way too dry.  The bottom half of the scratch coat was not drying fast enough. I left that alone and moved to the area above the range hood.  I would need to cut angled cuts on the stone to match the contour of the hood.  I was able to do this because I had an angle finder in my toolbox.  It is always good when you have the right tool for the job.  I used a wet saw to make all of the cuts.  What an awesome tool to have available.  Thanks to our neighbor Dave for letting us use it!  I finished the top on both sides, and then waited for the bottom to dry.  

 

Cassandra came down, took a look at my progress, and made a face and tried to act as though it was OK, but I could tell something was wrong.  She pointed out that The left side of the bottom courses of stone were sticking too far out.  I hate it when she is right!  After loosing my cool and acting like a big baby, I removed the stones, and she went back upstairs.  Of course, she was right, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that!  I went and sat on the couch hoping that the scratch coat would dry so I could finish the job that night. At 1 AM the scratch coat was still not dry so I went to bed.  I kissed my "right" wife goodnight and went to sleep.

The next morning Cassandra and I had early appointments for a health screening.  I was sure that my Cholesterol and blood pressure were going to be terrible, but I was surprised to find that both were in the normal range.  Small miracle!  We grabbed coffee at the store and headed back to the house.  I was ready to get going and get this finished. I mixed up a half a bag of mortar and began the journey.  It only took about an hour to finish up the bottom section.  When I reached the bottom of the range hood, it was a great feeling to have a perfect margin between the top of the stacked stone and the bottom of the hood.  It was level!  I stepped back from my work and took a look.  Wow! It looks awesome! It was exactly as I imagined it would be and had rendered in the drawing.  I was very happy at this point that God had graciously helped make this project a success. 

It is nice to finally have the part of the vision I most worried about implemented.  The rest should be smooth sailing...or at least I can hope!

Stage 3.3 - The Granite Arrives!

Wow! Four months without any counter tops, a kitchen sink, a stove top, and a dishwasher (not a big deal for Cassandra and I, but the girls are hating that part!). The date has finally arrived for the Granite to be delivered!  What an exciting day this is! 

Just a couple of weeks ago Cassandra and I went to the stone yard to pick out two slabs of Granite that would become our counter tops.  We arrived at KBR to meet with our stone consultant.  They had us dawn some very stylish safety gear and out to the yard we went.  I was hoping to get a tour of the factory, but all we did was walk through a part of it to the back lot where rows and rows of stone slabs were set up and organized by material and color. After having finding the first slab that we liked and having them use a fork lift to remove a second, we finally had our stone!  We found a special slab that had a ton of character in it.  The veining was beautiful and there was a lot of variation in the material (e.g. quarts deposits in the Granite).  The consultant marked where we preferred to have the peninsula cut from and what to avoid on the slab.  It was such a rewarding day.

I woke up this morning with a lot of anticipation. The installer had called and said they were on their way!  They arrived at the house at around 8:30.  It is always comical to see delivery people when they get their first gaze at the mountain that is our driveway.  They were unable to get their truck up the drive without scraping so they parked at the bottom of the drive and began their work.  They lugged the stone up the drive and into the house.  They would bring the main counters into the house in three pieces.  The hole for the sink was already in the stone as it had a complex curve in it.  They hadn't cut the hole for the stove top as the slab would have surely broken during transportation. They had pre-cut four small holes at the corners of the cook top, from which the installers would complete the cuts to expose the remainder of the opening. 

        

The installers set the stones in place, and then used some shims to make sure it was absolutely level before mixing up some special epoxy that would join the stone pieces.  It was an awful smell!  They got everything perfectly level, and then pulled the pieces apart to squeeze the epoxy between the joints.  They then pushed the pieces back together and adjusted until they could run a razor blade across the seam without catching.  One of the workers used markers to color the epoxy with the pattern of the stone around the seams.  He made the seam appear to be a natural part of the stone.  It was interesting to watch him grab one color and put a spot here, and another to match a color there.  

The next thing to go in was the sink. They put some fast drying epoxy on the rim of the sink and pulled it up from under the sink hole and held it with clamps.  They placed some braces under the sink for support and it was done. The under counter mount Granite composite sink was in place.  I would have to wait at least two hours before plumbing and installing the garbage disposal.

The installers then placed the other slabs on the coffee station and the butler's pantry. The last task for them was to cut the hole for the cook top and drill the holes for the faucet and soap dispenser.  They pulled out a water cooled stone cutter and went to town.  In just a few minutes they were done!  They placed the stove top in the opening and packed their equipment.  It seemed like only an hour or so.  They were fast and very meticulous!  Great job KBR!

Cassandra and I just stared in awe!  We had counters!  I was working so I had to try and keep track of them while coding fixes to software.  I was dying to get the plumbing in and wire the cook top, but I had to wait.  At lunch time, I connected the wiring for the stove top.  It was awesome to see the lights on the cook top for the first time in months!  I also placed the faucet in the hole and connected the water lines.  The drain plumbing; however, would have to wait until after church. I needed a electrical connector (not included) for the garbage disposal and I had conference calls right up until 5p when I needed to pick up the girls.  It was killing me to wait!

After church I got right after it.  I wired the garbage disposal and connected it to the flange that I had installed earlier.  I connected a series of PVC pieces that when correctly connected is supposed to drain water.  It was like putting a jig saw puzzle together.  I finally got all of the pieces in the correct configuration and tightened it all down.  Now was the moment of truth.  Turn on the water and look for leaks.  I turned the Hot and Cold water one and waited for water to fly...nothing...no way! That can't be...there is no way I put this together without leaks the first time. That just doesn't happen.  And of course I was right!  Under the dishwasher I could see the slightest drop of water forming on the connection.  I turned off the water; removed the fittings; re-wrapped them with plumbers tape; reconnected the fittings; and tightened but not too tight (causes leaks).  Then I turned on the water again.  Viola!  No leaks!  

It was time to check the water.  I turned on the faucet! What a beautiful site! The water looked awesome flowing from the spray nozzle into the deep basin sink.  There were no drain leaks either.  The garbage disposal worked like a champ too.  Another small victory on this journey!  It was then time to check the dishwasher.  I turned it on for a normal cycle and started it going.  In the mean time I just wanted to see that faucet go one more time... 

I pulled up on the handle and heard the horrible sound of water spraying under the sink!  Ugh!  What have I done?!?!?!?  I crawled under the sink to see that the sprayer hose had become disconnected.  Hmmm....i must have missed something.  A quick review of the install guide revealed that I had forgotten to attach a little clip that kept the sprayer hose from disconnecting from the water supply under pressure.  I placed that part in the right position and all was good.  The dishwasher had completed it cycle with no leaks. I buttoned up the cover on the bottom of the dishwasher and declared that job done...what a long day...time for bed!

We still have a lot of flooring to complete and the stone work behind the cook top so stay tuned!

Stage 3.2 The Bases Go In!

I didn't think the day would come that the base cabinets would go in.  Cassandra and I had finished all of the upper cabinets with the help of her Dad to heave up the last set.  Thanks Dad!

Friday night the uppers are in...
   On the bases it is time to begin...
      The in-laws are here, oh what do I do...
         I have to entertain no cabinets boo hoo...
            So off to the city with family in tow...
               I have to take a break, but it isn't something I know...
                  The cabinets will wait a day or two...
                      I guess I can wait, couldn't you?
                          So today or tomorrow I know it'll get done...
                             No matter when I know I'll have fun!

So with a day of rest I was able to begin healing up all of the bruises and bumps from all of the days of flooring and cabinets.  It looked as though a herd of junior soccer players had had their way with my shins!  On Friday evening Cassandra and her Dad helped get all of the base cabinets into the house.  The corner cabinets had to be pulled out of the boxes on the porch and carefully maneuvered into the doorway as they were too big to fit through the door in the box.  We got the bases all in place and it instantly started to look like a kitchen.  I jumped right in and placed the bases for the butler's pantry and secured them to the wall.  It was nice to have that done.

On Saturday we got up and went downtown and ran a bunch of errands with the girls and the grandparents.  It was a good day even though the rain was on and off all day.  Saturday evening I got started shimming and adjusting the base cabinets and getting them level. Getting them level is so important as the counter top company will not measure for cabinets until the cabinets are secure, squared and leveled.  I got them all leveled and secured and verified that they were square.  I then began cutting out the bracing on the cabinet base that would hold the stove top so it would fit in the enclosure.  Finally!  done with the cabinets!  Installed, leveled, secured, square...all is good!

I contacted the counter company, Kitchens by Rutenschroer who scheduled a technician to come out and measure.  The guy showed up and made some drawings and took measurements from every angle.  He then pulled out a laser contraption and proceeded to set up little targets for the laser to reflect off of.  These were set along the edges of the base cabinets and walls.  He then turned on the laser and with a hand held used a stylus to take shots of the laser hitting each of the targets.  This sent precise measurements to the computer that will be used to layout and cut the stone.  It was really interesting to watch him do his work.  When he finished he said they should be calling us to schedule our trip to the stone yard to pick out our specific counter top stone.  This will be exciting and the topic of our next update.

Stage 3.1 The Upper Cabinets

The upper cabinets, not to be confused with the upper room where they broke bread, were anything but a spiritual experience.  What a pain!  I am always learning, but this whole experience has taken it to a level that I never dreamed of or wanted!  Enough already. 

I began this process, with a coaching session from Jonathan, who has a vast amount of knowledge in all things home construction.  He said things like "find the highest point along your floors where the cabinets will go in", and "strike lines"...huh?!? After a lot of stupid questions like "uh, how do I find the highest point on the floor?" I am sure Jonathan had no hope of me being successful, but with the greatest of patience he informed me that it was as simple as using my level to find the highest point.  Duh!  I knew that!  I guess it was simple to see that I had become intimidated by the thought of damaging these expensive cabinets.  I knew what I was doing, but my confidence was in shambles.  You would think it would be high after the floors went in so well.  I think it is because everyone will be focused on the cabinets.  The floor is cool, but it is only window dressing compared to the cabinets.

I devised a plan!  I would first start with the oven wall as it had two freestanding cabinets that would be the base for all of the other cabinets.  There was a cabinet that housed a very heavy oven and microwave, than a new cabinet that was a tall pantry.  But before I could implement my master plan, I would need to get the cabinets into the house.  I wish each of you could have been there to see the comedy that transpired.  It was like some Charlie Chaplin skit from the silent movie days!  I got the brainy idea to strap the tall cabinet to a hand truck that my neighbor Dave let me borrow (thanks Dave!).  The box was so big that I had to string two smaller straps together to get them to fit around and attach to the hand truck.  The box was over 9 foot tall, so reaching the top of it to gain leverage was almost impossible.  I finally jumped high enough (hey baby, 2 in vertical leap) to grab the box and get it tilted back toward me. Ugh! This thing weighed a ton!  I maneuvered the box out of the garage and onto the side walk.  For any of you that have been to the house, you will know that he sidewalk and drive way are steep!  You need lamas to go get the mail!  I was to the first set of steps when gravity decided to take over and the box, hand truck and all took a dump on Cassandra's rose bushes (the red ones, not the yellow...sorry Honey).  In the impending struggle to get the beast off of the roses, the straps came off...I took some thorns for the team...and I just hoped that the people that were passing in their cars weren't laughing too much.  I finally wrestled the box into the house, and went back for more.  Thankfully the rest were a breeze!

I spent the next day off and on installing that first set of cabinets.  The plans called for 3 inch spacers between the oven cabinet, the upper cabinets, and the pantry cabinet.  I didn't want to install them because it would change the footprint of the original cabinets and get too close to the hallway wall.  So like the intelligent person that I am (mainly a stubborn man child) I eliminated them from the plan and off I went.  I installed the one spacer that was staying in the plan the upper cabinet, and then to the pantry cabinet.  I got Cassandra to help me lift off the floor as one unit to install.  Well, I think lift might be a little off.  We grunted, and cried, and with sheer will we heaved those cabinets into the air and not so gently slid them into place.  I love it when an well oiled plan comes together.  It was only after we slid them into place that I realized that the cabinets came out further than the wall to the built in pantry, so I had to take off the 3 in spacer and reinstall it.  What?!?  No, that was absolutely a part of the plan all along!   I verified the level and plum of the cabinets and attached them to the studs in the wall.  I was able to attach them to the studs because I had paid attention during my coaching session and had struck a line along each of the studs.  It was a simple as measuring from the edge of the cabinet to the line and then transferring that measurement to the inside to pre drill and attach the screws.

Over the next day I installed the oven cabinet.  I thought it would be a good idea to install the oven before attaching it to the wall as I could get easier access to the wiring.  I stood there and looked at the oven when I realized that the hole in the cabinet seemed smaller.  Uh Oh.  I grabbed my trusty tape measure and confirmed my suspicions by measuring the old oven cabinet that now resides in the laundry room. I would need to cut the cabinet! I measured and marked the lines for the hole in the new cabinet, and re-measured at least 5 times before putting masking tape along the lines to prevent any scratches.  I then had Cassandra come down and confirm my measurements.  It wasn't that I didn't trust myself, I just wanted someone else culpable in the destruction if it all went bad!  I am such a giving and good husband!  I pulled out the saber saw and cut out the hole.  It was now time to install the beast of an oven.  I put it on my furniture dolly and rolled it over by the hole.  There was no way we were going to be able to lift this bad boy with any precision.  It was then that I hatched a scheme.  We would use the floor jack to hoist it into position.  I do live in Kentucky, so this of course seems like a reasonable strategy.  Plan made...action taken!  We lifted the stove on the jack and Cassandra pumped the jack while I guided it into place.  It was about 3 inches too low so I used brute force to get the oven into the cabinet.  One huge challenge down!  I secured the cabinet to the wall and viola!  We could at least bake again!

The only part left to do on that wall was to install the two base cabinets and one small upper that spanned the space between the oven cabinet and the pantry cabinet.  It went in very easily...a little too easily!  I secured the base cabinets and was getting ready to secure the upper when I realized that there wasn't enough clearance for the doors to open. Now I understand why they wanted me to stick in those spacers I had previously deleted from the plan.  I had to take down the upper; remove the base cabinets; and then take out the screws holding the oven cabinet.  I attached the spacers to the upper and base cabinets, only instead of laying them with the 3 inch width exposed, I laid them on their side so the space was only 1/2 inch.  This would ensure the cabinets didn't expand beyond the corner.  Problem averted!  I got it all put back together with only a couple of small hiccups.  The last thing to do was to install and wire the under cabinet lighting.  Very simple wiring system, but very challenging to work in that small area.  I would pre wire the rest of the lighting before I put the cabinets up. 

Over the next two evenings Cassandra and I put up the other kitchen upper cabinets.  Now all that remains are the bases, and the butler's pantry cabinets (upper and lower) to be complete.  Cassandra's parents are in town so that will have to be a part of the next update.

Stage 3.0 So Now the Work Begins!

As of today, September 19, 2011 it has been 3 1/2 months that we have been without a kitchen.  What an experience!  I haven't blogged in a while, because not much has been going on. Things have been quiet since the big problems with the flooring and cabinet guy.  We did go pick out and purchase some Centurion Stone for the back splash behind the range hood.  We patiently waited for our flooring and cabinets to arrive.  Right after we submitted our online order for the flooring at Lumber Liquidators, I received an email informing me that the flooring was back ordered and wasn't scheduled to be shipped until no earlier that the 3rd of September.  KraftMaid had also called to confirm that they would be delivering the cabinets to the house on the 14th. 

I kept getting this sinking feeling that the cabinets would get here before the flooring.  This was going to be a major problem as I would need to keep the cabinets in the garage, and put everything that normally lives in the garage along the side of the house.  This was a great concern because my baby (2009 Harley Davidson, Rocker C) would have to be kept outside. What a travesty!  Oh yes, the lawn mower and snow blower would also need to spend some time in the rain, but the Rocker?  Say it isn't so!  With this thought in mind I kept checking the Lumber Liquidator site for the status of my order willing the status to change from Back Order to Shipped!  I checked in the morning...I checked at noon...I checked in the evening...no change!  

I was scheduled to leave for Chicago on the morning of the 5th, and Cassandra and I would be in Boston over the weekend for a wedding.  It would be just my luck for the flooring to show up while I was out of town, leaving Cassandra to deal with a major problem again.  Of course, on the 3rd I received an email informing me that my flooring had shipped. OK, so now I need to plan on the flooring getting there sometime during the week.  What to do....what to do?  I have it!  I will call my buddy Casey!  I am always amazed at the true level of friendship that my friends display toward me!  They are absolutely the best!  Casey didn't even blink, he said no problem even though he thought he would have to drive way up into Cincinnati to pick up the flooring. He was pleasantly surprised to learn there is now a Lumber Liquidators in Florence, KY.  On Sunday night the 4th, I received another email saying the flooring had arrived at the local store and was ready for pickup.   Cassandra was working all week and couldn't get to the store before Thursday.  She was also flying out to Boston that day, so this was a lot for her to coordinate.  Casey met her up at the store early and helped get the flooring home.  It took two loads on his trailer to get the flooring home...In the rain!  They had to carry the extremely heavy boxes into the house and stack them in two locations due to the extreme weight of the boxes.  Thank you Casey!  You are the man!  Cassandra then got on her flight, but had to have help getting her bag into the overhead compartment on the aircraft as her arms were completely shot!

We got back into town on September 11th (great day to fly! we felt very safe).  I would be working from home for the next couple of weeks so a great time to get started working on the floors.  The first couple of days during the week, Cassandra and I spent finishing removing some of the flooring that the water abatement company had left behind.  We both worked full days so we only had a short time in the evenings to focus on getting things ready.  It was a lot of work to hammer in all of the old staples left over from the old flooring.  I also knew that there was no way to put in new flooring without a precision saw.  I had a cheap saw that I had purchased 10 years before.  It was good enough to build a deck, but would not make precision angle cuts.  As with any big home improvement project, one must buy a new tool!  This was my chance!  I purchased a great Dewalt 12" compound miter with a work stand.  An absolutely essential tool for a successful installation of flooring.  I would also make a run to Harbor Freight Tools to pick up a flooring nail/staple gun.  It was actually cheaper to purchase to the tool than it would have been to rent the gun for the multiple days that it would take to get the flooring installed. Oh shucks! Another tool for me!

The cabinets arrived right on schedule Wednesday morning.  I thought it was funny that one of the delivery crew made a comment that while they were driving in he was thinking about how nice and flat all of the driveways were.  Then when they came around the corner he saw our drive and could only ope that it wasn't the house that they had to deliver to. Oops! They were very quick getting all of the cabinets out and into the garage in less than 20 minutes.  

 

It was Thursday before I could start laying out the flooring.  The first thing I would like to say is...WOW, this was a ton of work!  Cassandra and I worked Thursday evening, Friday evening, and all day and late into the night on Saturday to install the floors in the kitchen, breakfast area, family room and entry area.  I could barely walk when we finished.  Up and down...up and down...I felt like someone had taken a hammer to my hips.  I looked like someone had taken a hammer to my shins!  Oh wait, that was me.  I missed a couple of big swings right into the leg. Ouch!  I was so proud of Cassandra!  She jumped in and did her part. She would lay out the boards so that our patterns and board lengths were random.  She would also jump in and take her turn driving the staples into the tongue of the boards.  She was a real trouper!  Peyton and Paige also helped carry flooring boards and picked the best looking pieces for the best areas of the floor.  I gave that new miter saw a real workout, as well as my small table saw where I needed to rip down pieces to fit along the walls and in the closets.  

We were able to recycle a few of the cabinets that weren't damaged.  Most went into the basement for possible future use as storage, but we were able to move three uppers and the oven cabinet into the laundry room to become storage for cleaning supplies.  I will be adding shelves to the cabinet where the oven was once I get everything else completed.  We are going to paint the cabinets white so they don't distract from the Kaffe color cabinets going into the kitchen.  It is good to reuse!

The second major point I would like to make is how important it is to start out straight.  I have installed flooring before so I knew this was extremely important to ensure that you have an excellent result.  I took my time and made sure that I had a very straight line to start my first course from. It was also beneficial that the paper had lines to help keep you straight. I measured and re-measured each piece of the first two courses to ensure that the floor was absolutely straight.  Once the first course was confirmed to be absolutely straight it was just an exercise in setting an individual piece straight and then repeating that about 1,000 times!  I was so happy when we arrived at the opposite wall and where the flooring me the tile to find out that after all of that flooring we were less than 1/8" off end to end.  That was a blessing and a relief!

 

We only ran into a couple of issues during the entire installation of that flooring.  The flooring nailer jammed once (my fault), which required me to break it down and get the pieces of staple that jammed out.  The second issue was one piece of flooring that wasn't aligned perfectly, and had a tiny gap. That gap was going to cause a problem with the subsequent courses of flooring.  Unfortunately, I had put the next course on and didn't notice until I was trying to place the next overlapping course.  I was able to fix it by trimming off the tongue and a portion of the offending flooring.  When I fit the next piece you couldn't even tell that we had done anything.  Whew!  I thank my wife for keeping me calm!  I was not a happy camper that I had made such an error.  She just kept telling me we were giving the floor character.  What a jem!

Sunday I only put the last couple of pieces of flooring in that section that required me to rip down some pieces, so we held off on Saturday night because we were tired and prone to error.  We cleaned up the sawdust and waste pieces from the cuts.  It was amazing how little waste we had.  We did a great job of utilizing the flooring.  We now have only the hall, bathroom, dining and living areas to do flooring on.  We will finish that after we put in the kitchen cabinets.  The next area of focus is to get the cabinets installed so we can have the counter people out to measure for the granite.  Cabinets will be the focus of our next blog.  I can't wait!  Oh wait! Yes I can...I am really nervous about installing them.  I don't want to mess them up...time to phone a friend...Oh Jonathan!