Plumbing, Pipes, and Pops Helps!

Oh man.

The water pipes under the kitchen floor were a mess. We had a mix of copper and galvanized pipes all spliced together and looped around for no reason. It reminded me of a roller coaster: point A and point B are pretty close, but the loops you go through to get their are CRA-ZY! 

We basically pulled out about 30 feet of pipe and replaced it with one 8-foot section.

Look at all this junk we pulled:

Yeah, all that was hanging out under the floor. Yikes!

And get this: the galvanized pipe was so old and corroded that our water pressure was awful. See for yourself:

Gross! (Sorry to have to show you that.)

With the new pipes soldered in place we had a nice straight shot for the hot and cold ready to go.

Thanks to some planning (Father), the right tools (Father), and some know-how (Father), we ran the copper up through the floor and into the new cabinet. Now the dishwasher can be hooked up when it's time.

New braided water lines were attached and a new drain line had to be run for the sink.

Oh yeah, we are excited about the new sink. There were so many fancy ones out there, but we didn't need all that. Since our kitchen remodel is including a dishwasher, we just wanted a standard stainless-steel, single-bowl sink.

Cabinet Guy cut the hole we needed for the sink, so all we had to do was drop it in, fasten the clips, and caulk it like our lives depended on it.

There were about 100 options for faucets, but only four that I was willing to pay for. But I wondered: What would Pops do?

I really wanted Wife's dad, Pops, to weigh in on the decision, so I texted a picture of my favorite faucet right from the nationally-recognized, home-improvement megastore.

The verdict: Pops approved!

And now, we've got water!

Thanks Pops.

Welcome to the Hood

Have you ever busted a hole in your wall all the way to your neighbor's house?

I have. Welcome to the vent hood.

Installing this house's first vent hood was a big job; having it vent to the outside was even bigger.

Father brought his arsenal of power tools, The Squirrel (brother-in-law) brought his energy, and I brought enough worry about possible disasters for all three of us.

We started by making shims with a saw and a hunk of wood I found in the shed.

Turned out to be cedar! The shims leveled the bottom of the cabinet so we had something flat to mount the vent hood to.

We marked the new duct hole on the wall, found the center, and drilled a hole straight through EVERYTHING. The drill bit emerged perfectly in a mortar joint on the other side.

Using that hole as a guide we drew the duct pattern on the outside of the brick and used a grinder to cut the edges deep.

Then, we perforated the edge with a hammer drill...

...and chiseled the brick out.

After cutting the inside wall and dropping power from the attic we were ready to dry fit the duct piece.

Wow, there really is a hole in my wall!

The rest of the installation took a little while, but went well.

The outside is really nice! A good and clean job, and well caulked too!

I'll show pictures of the finished product a little later.
Right now, I have some plumbing to take care of...

Crazy Light, Fan, and The Squirrel

Cabinet Guy came and did an excellent job, but I'll show those pictures at the end of the project.

Time for lights!

Check out this crazy sink light Wife and I picked out:

(I know what you're thinking: "Not as crazy as your awful point-and-shoot photography skills!")

Installation was pretty easy and clean looking.

The warmth of this type of light is just what we were hoping for.

In celebration of our first light switch, we keep turning the light on and off just for fun!

SO, in case you feel left out...

Turn my light on!
On	Off

Admit it: You tried it. And you liked it.

I'm not going to lie: I installed the fan twice. I didn't notice that the first fan was bent, so it wouldn't level properly and scraped the housing. I troubleshooted (or is it troubleshot?), uninstalled it, exchange it, and re-installed. Blah!

Father used his powers to plan the best rafter brace approach. For crawling around in the attic I took my brother-in-law, The Squirrel, up on his offer.

The Squirrel can navigate any crack, crevice, or attic, and he has a good head on his shoulders for building supports and helping me with wiring.

Super happy with this! A huge "thank you" to Father and The Squirrel!

Man, this is really starting to come together...

Primer, Paint, and Cabinet Guy

Blah! I've been sick and have fallen behind!
I had better get on with it.

I thought it would be a lot easier to paint before the cabinets went in so I would not have to tape around them and be so careful.

But first, these walls needed some serious priming.

I put two coats of primer on EVERYTHING:

Then I used a ceiling white for the ceiling, and a two different colors for the walls (daring, I know).

Why paint behind the cabinets?

The colors Wife and I picked are sort of a cream color (same as our living room) and a blue from the slate or country family.

It's working out great so far! We used the cream on two facing walls and blue on the other two facing walls. From the living room looking into the kitchen you see continuous cream that blends nicely. You don't see any blue until you enter the kitchen, so it feels more contained and doesn't clash with the rest of the house.

Now that painting is done Cabinet Guy can come anytime!

"Cabinet Guy? You mean you are not hanging them yourself?"

Correct. I like saving money and doing things myself, but that is too much. Cabinets are not cheap, my plaster walls are hard as a sidewalk, and I am not in the mood to experiment!

We bought our cabinets in an off season for remodels, so they were discounted several times over. Free upgrades, free hardware, free lots of stuff. The labor costs were low and the work come with a warranty, so I jumped on it.

Cabinet Guy it is!

Subfloor and the Shinja

Before I start painting and stuff, I had better get some subflooring in.

I ran into the Shinja the other day at a gas pump. He said he has been keeping up with this kitchen project on 88caprice...
...then he mentioned something about a picture being worth 1000 words...
...and then he vanished.

Well, thanks Shinja! And in your honor I will let the subfloor pics do most of the talking.

I'm really proud of how this thing turned out.

Custom cut.

Undercutting the door jams really worked out well.
Fitting nicely.
Air compressors, staple guns, and power cutters. Muwahahaa!

Well, that's worth several thousand words, I assure you!

Patching Holes, Caulking Cracks

It's time to tackle wall patching and the one mega area of disaster.

Popping the old back splash titles off left me with a big nasty mess of glue. It WOULD NOT come off without taking the top coat plaster with it...

...so I chiseled the whole mess off.

Redneck Friend took the lead on rebuilding that section of wall. We consulted Mr. Darker for advice, and then got to work.

Redneck Friend came by five or six different times to slowly build it layer by layer.

Then he covered the old plumbing holes with a screen-like patch.

More layers...Ready for sanding!
Thanks Redneck Friend (and Mr. Darker)!

In the meantime, I had a hole in the corner to work on...And a problem with the wall separating from the ceiling...Uncle Biker Chef told me that he had used some paintable caulk to fill in cracks, so I looked into it. Sure enough, it worked great!
That caulk smoothed out beautifully! Thanks Uncle Biker Chef!

With the walls coming together, I feel some painting coming on...

Shrimp Smoothie w/ Robin's Egg

If I could locate a color card or a paint swatch that matched our walls, it would probably be called Shrimp Smoothie. You know, a little shrimp, a little coral, a little peach.

Shrimp Smoothie commits several bummers:

1. It isn't cute
2. It covers both wall AND ceiling
3. It's high gloss painted over older high gloss, so it's peeling right off

So! You're going to peel off, eh? Then I'll peel you ALL OFF!!

Enter Robin's Egg Blue:
While I'm thinking about it, Wife (aka Dear) is awesome. Everyone should have a wife like Wife.

Anyway, I scraped as much Shrimp Smoothie off as I could, then I sanded the rest--gave it a good scuffing so the next coat would adhere better.

And then, PATCH TIME!


I was able to squeeze some joint compound into just about all the cracks, holes, dings, and dimples, except for one. This area was SO BIG and SO BAD that I dared not tackle it alone. I needed someone with redneck skills, redneck ability, and pure redneck power...

...I needed Redneck Friend.