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Spent the holiday off (working for the feds has it's benefits) getting the major heaving lifting for a kitchen remodel done. We are replacing 8 existing cabinets with 12 of-the-shelf generic Home Depot cabinets and a couple of 8' solid walnut butcher blocks. We have a cookie cutter split level and the layout of the kitchen (and the whole house really) kinda sucks from a space utilization standpoint, so we've been working room by room over the last 13 years (I had to think about how long we've been married to figure that out oh god) to make it better. What we've already done: Put 2 cabinets along the back wall with a 4' section of counter bridging them (there's a floor vent underneath and it fits the trash can), and a fold-down extension from the rest of that 8' section of block that swings up to go across the back door. It's got massive barn door hinges on the underside and I'm still trying to figure out how to make a folding prop leg for it (locking hinges that fold flush, are long enough, and support the weight do not exist that I can find), but for now I have a countersunk hole on the underside that a table leg slots into. Had to cut out a slot for the doorknob and trim about 1" off the back to clear the door frame.   The outlet on the wall was below the level of the countertop and gave me fits as none of the 15A breakers would turn it off for me to move it. It's a dedicated 20A "appliance" outlet, presumably for a tabletop microwave. Stupid late 70's house.  After I gave up trying to seal it with mineral oil and beeswax and got some Emmet's Good Stuff poly. 3 coats, sanded to 400 in between, with a finish sand at 800. It's like glass.  Also already have the base cabinets, plumbing and sink done. I managed to cut the sink hole as a single solid piece with creative use of furniture clamps to stop it from falling out the bottom, and then shaped the scrap piece to fit over the sink as a massive cutting board slash serving tray (it's so heavy I had to put handles on it). You can see our old lovely cabinets as well, with my (at my wife's insistence) unfinished attempt to DIY Shaker the cabinet doors a couple years ago. We're reusing the hardware. There's a 15" cabinet and countertop section to the right of the range that got replaced as well. Bare wood  Hole cut and a couple coats of oil on  Glistening with boiled linseed oil. This might get used for food prep so no poly, just as much linseed oil as it would take then a 4:1 mix of mineral oil and beeswax as needed.  Handles!  So that bring us to today (next post)
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Nov 13, 2018 03:33
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So that gets us up to speed. We have a 7 and 11 year old and work opposite schedules for childcare reasons, so I've been doing things in bite-size pieces since mid August. Today was the first day we've had off together with no kids in I don't know how long, so major stuff happened. Saturday I emptied out the cabinets and pulled down three of them, then proceeded to knock out the drywall so I could fix some electrical eccentricities that have been making me insane since shortly after we bought the house. I also disconnected all the plumbing and pulled out the sink so I could put the gel poly on the 70" butcher block run. gently caress you cabinets  gently caress you too wall  Ah, that looks better  So, electric stuff. 1. The junction box at the top of the wall between the 2nd and 3rd stud is the bathroom light fixture. It is not centered over the 50" mirror because of the box placement. That got relocated between the 3rd and 4th stud. Which means I need to repaint part of the goddamn bathroom wall because SOMEONE (me) remove the fixture but not the mounting plate to paint when we remodeled that, and now there's late 80s bumblebee yellow showing. Oh well, at least we still have the paint from that remodel. 2. The junction box in the middle of the wall between the 3rd and 4th stud had a junction from one of the switches on the left to a light that was under the cabinets. I'm running undercabinet LEDs, so that is getting clipped and relocated to a box inside the cabinet that's going on the left for the LED controller to plug into. 3. The goddamn dishwasher. The switch in the outlet/switch box on the right is a cutoff for the dishwasher circuit. Why? Because fire code says you need an "accessible way to disconnect appliance electricity". The old one was hardwired in, but I put an outlet in the wall behind it when we got the new appliances last year (which meets code requirements), so I'm putting in an extra large single-gang box for the outlet and using the extra space to wire out the switch. 4. The loving microwave. gently caress the over the range microwave. When we bought the house in '06 it had a fume hood (with no loving vent, just blew out the front), and I didn't know poo poo about properly remodeling. The wire that you can see running from the switch box all the way on the left, all the way across all the studs and in front of the soil pipe is the microwave. I used the fume hood wiring to put an outlet in the cabinet over the range in '07 to hook up a built-in, but it's on the same 15A circuit as the kitchen outlets, the dining room lights, and the living room. Which functionally means that we have to turn off the TV to nuke something for longer than ~30 seconds. I'm pulling it off that circuit and wiring it into the 20A with the dishwasher when I remove the cutoff switch. They never run at the same time, so they have 20A all to themselves. So that all got done this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. Then the fun part started. CommanderApaul fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Nov 13, 2018 |
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Nov 13, 2018 03:59
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Yesterday was a bust, my parents came from out of town to bring the kids birthday presents, and they joined our usual weekend trip to the roller rink (since they got the kiddos both new rollerblades with lightup wheels). My 63 year old mother even skated, which was both hilarious and scary. Since I paid for her admission and skate rental I'm pretty sure I'd be partially liable if she broke a hip. So today started out with doing the aforementioned rewiring. Breakers off, no shockies, but several bandaids will attest to how sharp freshly cut ground wires are. I helped my dad turn the attic in their 100+ year old house from bare studs, rafters and insulation into a functional bedroom with a bathroom back when I was a teenager, and ever since then I can't loving stand the smell of drywall mud. So rather than dealing with that poo poo, I got 15/32" fire-rated plywood. Much easier to work plus if I miss a stud when I'm hanging the cabinets (I didn't, but hey, planning), it's still load bearing. The hard piece. Still got it right the first try. Measure twice, go sketch it on the wood, then go measure again to make sure. The wire coming out of the hole on the left is going inside the cabinet as an outlet for the LED controller. You can see the dangling electric for the microwave as well.  First two cabinets in, kindof. The 2nd one is actually the above the range cabinet. I forgot we ordered a 30" and a 23" and thought we got two 23". I momentarily had a vision of a wraparound spice rack or a coffee cup rack over the sink with all the extra space, but nope. I marked all the studs on the wall with a sharpie and that piece of baseboard on the wall is what I'm using to support the cabinet bottoms as I rotate them up. Got the electrical box in the first cabinet hooked up as well, it's controlled by one of the switches on the left (the other is the garbage disposal). It was about 1:30 at this point, I'd been working for 3-1/2 straight hours and the wife and I decided to go get some lunch.  That's better (both cabinet and hunger wise). Plus the final piece of plywood is in with the microwave circuit dangling down in all it's glory (I've been dreaming about rewiring that sonofabitch for over 10 years)  Over the range cabinet in, outlet wired in, and microwave test-fit. I couldn't find the wall mounting template and god loving forbid Samsung have it downloadable from their support page, or even the drat dimensions documented in the loving installation manual. Got the spacing right on the 2nd try.  Last one up and the range back in place. I was worried the microwave might be too low (it probably is per the manual) but it's much better than the half-rear end way I had it installed before. The old cabinets had about 12" of space between them and the ceiling, and I moved the previous over the range cabinet up by 8-9" when I put our original microwave in. It looked very stupid. And to make dinner, I ran the microwave, the air fryer on the 20A appliance circuit by the back window, entertained the kids with the TV AND ran the vacuum cleaner all at the same time. It was loving GLORIOUS.  Mess all cleaned up, at about 7:30pm. Not bad for a little over 8 hours work. Picture was taken from up by the ceiling to get a good view of the countertop, we're not midgets I swear.  The total cabinet run is 123". All of them are mounted to the studs with 2-1/2" star-head construction screws at the top, in the middle and the little lip underneath, and the faces were all forced flush, clamped and screwed together with countersunk screws. Still a lot left to do. We have 4x12 subway tile for the backsplash that needs to go up, and I need to change out all the outlets and switches to match the color on the door hardware and the faucet. I did test-fit the LED kit I picked up but I don't like it. Going to return it to the depot and order something online that I can cut to length as needed. I built a jig out of moulding scraps for the cabinet hardware, still need to get all that on. We also got a floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinet that already in place, but I need to get the above the fridge cabinet put in as well. And my wife is refinishing a door that we're going to mount on a track on the inside of the archway into the kitchen from the hallway that pockets behind the pantry cabinet and the refrigerator. The archway has an odd profile due to the wall behind the cabinet/fridge just being a partition, but the wall to the left of the left most cabinet also housing the cold air return, so there's a natural place for the door to rest when it's closed. All in all, it was a productive day, but holy poo poo am I sore. CommanderApaul fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Nov 13, 2018 |
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Nov 13, 2018 04:36
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Gettin in on the ground floor. I like how the countertops came out, looks good.
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Nov 13, 2018 14:48
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The countertops really do deserve some attention all to themselves even though there isn't anything really special going on there. They just plain turned out NICE despite my repeatedly failing attempts to seal them with 100% food-safe methods, AND they were relatively inexpensive to boot. $600 for two unfinished 8'x2' slabs, and we had them delivered to the store rather than the house to save on freight shipping. They weigh right around 100# dry and soaked up a good amount of weight in oil before I finally gave up fighting water spots and sealed them with poly. They make a 6'x3' of the same block that I'm working on convincing my wife would be LOVELY as a replacement top to her farmhouse style dining room table. Even though we ordered the same part number, we got two different styles of butcher block. We didn't realize this until AFTER I had already cut the 2nd one, but since they do not at any point touch each other and the finish is identical, it all works out as far as I'm concerned. The block on the rear wall/folddown is made of !1/2" sections, and the block on the main counter is made of ~1" sections.  vs  The back section is a 4' section mounted across two cabinets. The sole "hard" attachment point is an L bracket roughly centered on the right-most edge that is bolted through the side of the cabinet into the wall stud. For mounting to the cabinets themselves, there are 1"x4" crosspieces bolted inside the top edge of the front and rear of the cabinets with a 1" hole drilled through the center, and a 1/4x2" lag screw with a ridiculously large washer holds the countertop to the top of the cabinets through those holes. This is so the countertop can "float" through minor expansions from humidity and temperature.  The folddown is the other 4' section from that block, trimmed to just a hair under the cabinet height, and then a bevel on the edge to make sure it didn't scrape the floor. There are two 1/4" slots that I filed (filing the lovely MDF they make the cabinet sides out of sucks btw) into the top edge of the cabinet wall to keep the countertop flush with the top of the cabinets, and there are two hinges holding the folddown to the main countertop. 20x3/4" screws total, 5 per side of hinge. I had to trim 1" off the back edge so that it would clear the door frame, and the aforementioned cutout to clear the doorknob. The original plan was to get something like this, but while the weight requirement is certainly there, since it would rely on the strength of the cabinet sidewall AND it's a solid 2' of countertop past the end of the bracket, the hinges and a prop seemed to be a better solution. Temporarily, I picked up two (it only actually needs the rear one) handrail posts, trimmed them to the correct height and left about 3/8" of the peg on top in place, and a countersunk holes for them to slot into. My father in law is going to turn a custom post for us out of the 1" scrap piece I had to trim off the back.   The main countertop run is 70" with a hole cut for a 30" sink. Undermounting was discussed but top mount was decided on primarily for space concerns. I already had to cut some good sized sections of the cabinet sides out to fit the basins in, and cutting enough out to fit the lip under there was not really an option. Plus I don't trust my wordworking skills that much. PLUS the cutting board idea wouldn't have happened, so it all worked out in the end. I used a circular saw to plunge cut the 4 straight lines, then used furniture clamps to support it while I jigsawed out the corners. Nothing real special here, other than the jigsaw almost setting the wood on fire.  And lastly, the cutting board. I used the undermount template as a guide to trim the sink hole to fit around the faucet mounting, and then put some rubber bumpers on the underside so it doesn't scratch the top of the sink. The hole is to scrape scraps through to the sink underneath and is positioned so we can run the faucet through it as well. After the near-burning adventure with the jigsaw I decided to rough cut all the curves with the circular saw and then used a belt sander to shape it. All finished, it weighs about 25#. I put a pair of oil rubbed bronze drawer pulls on it as handles, and put the same handle on the end of the folddown countertop.  It's nice to have a decent prep space  The real star of all of this is the finish. Everything was sanded at 220 and 320 with a hand sander, and then two passes (against, then with the grain) with 400 by hand with a sanding block. All the surfaces, including the wall facing and undersides, were finished with boiled linseed oil. The exposed surfaces got daily treatments for a week to further seal and darken the finish. The original plan was to do a food-safe surface treatment for all the exposed surfaces, so after doing some research on butcher blocks and talking to my father in law, I mixed up a homemade batch of 4:1 food grade mineral oil and beeswax. You can buy small bottles of it for about $15, but I decided to make my own for about $10 in materials in an old crockpot.  Bonus shot of the old laminate countertop. Yuck.  It goes on as a paste that you let sit for a couple hours, then buff off. One a week for a month, then monthly ongoing. The idea being that the mineral oil absorbs into and seals the wood, and the beeswax stays on as a protective coating. Sounds good in theory, and in practice, had everyone in my house been as attentive as I am to wiping up liquids quickly, it probably would have been fine. Plus it smells loving amazing, like living inside a beehive. But again, in practice, didn't work out so great. The area around the coffee maker constantly had spots from water not being wiped up, and the same around the sink. I'd sand them out and reseal, but the final straw was putting a skillet on a trivet and getting a grain raise pattern in the shape of the slots in the trivet. So I took the sink out, resanded everything back to 220, 320, 400, and then recoated with the BLO to even out the water spots. Then we got this stuff. It says it's food safe, I'm not sure I believe it, so it's not going on the cutting board. That's continuing to just get sanded/oiled/waxed as needed (and I use a plastic cutting board on top of it anyways). Application is pretty simple, but messy. Wipe on, let it sit for a few minutes, then briskly wipe off with the grain. Let dry for 4+ hours, sand to desired grit. Repeat for three coats. I did 400 grit between applications and an 800 grit finish sand and it really does feel as smooth as glass.  Difference between the oil/beeswax finish and the poly finish  I'm putting on the hardware this weekend, and I ordered all the stuff we need to do the LEDs from SuperBrightLEDs, and that should all be here next week. We're hosting two nights of birthday sleepovers, so I'm going to have a very serious group of 10/11 year old boys having a Fortnight LAN party slash dance competition on Friday and a half dozen screaming 6/7 year old girls making glitter slime on Saturday. Then, which is the impetus for getting all of this done as quickly as possible this past weekend, we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house for my parents and my inlaws. My wife seems to think that we can get the backsplash up by then, but I'm doubtful, and from previous tiling experience I do NOT want that project to span multiple days. Sample Backsplash Tile  Dark grey or black grout, staggered pattern, like the below but wider: 
CommanderApaul fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Nov 15, 2018 |
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Nov 15, 2018 20:52
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Counters look good, Emmet's is good stuff that is food safe. You already moved on but if you wanted to do the Mineral Oil/Beeswax approach on the sink cutting board. Sand with a RO sander at 320 till smooth. Wipe down with wet towel to raise the wood fibers and let it dry, sand again with 320, wet wipe and let dry again, and then sand again. Let it sit over night then wet and sand one more time. Wipe it down with a tack cloth and rub in straight Mineral Oil, let it stand then add a thick coat of Mineral Oil and wrap it up in cling wrap overnight. Next morning if there is no excess oil to wipe off its still thirsty and give it more oil and wrap it up again. Once there is still oil to wipe off then heat your wax/mineral oil mix and wipe it on generously. Let it sit and then come back and rub it with a fine micro fiber cloth. You should at this point have a nice sheen and good protection from the wax. Once a month do the wax/oil part and it should hold up pretty well. General use kitchen counters shouldn't be food grade butcher blocks IMO, like you have seen people put cups, pots, pans, spills, and so on on it. You can have the look of a butcher block but the finish should be much a stronger general protection (like you have discovered).
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Nov 16, 2018 00:06
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Technically you still need gypsum board over that plywood to meet code but since it's already covered I assume you aren't having it inspected so 
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Nov 16, 2018 00:36
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Bibendum posted:Technically you still need gypsum board over that plywood to meet code but since it's already covered I assume you aren't having it inspected so This is not argumentative at all, but I assume it's for fire rating? OP mentioned that the plywood was FR rated or something so technically it should do the same thing. Again, I don't know anything about this stuff so I could be wrong.
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Nov 16, 2018 17:16
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dreesemonkey posted:This is not argumentative at all, but I assume it's for fire rating? OP mentioned that the plywood was FR rated or something so technically it should do the same thing. Again, I don't know anything about this stuff so I could be wrong. It's an interior wall in a single-family dwelling and doesn't separate a living area from a non-living area (e.g. attached garage to house), and it is not an enclosed living space, so as far as I am aware it doesn't require a fire-rated barrier. Considering the prior drywall had 40 year old unsealed holes for plumbing and electrical on both the wall I took down and the bathroom wall on the other side, it wasn't fire-rated BEFORE I took it down anyways, but it is 4-ply FRT plywood so if it DID need to be fire-rated, it would be if I sealed all the gaps. The drywall v plywood differences come down to cost, noise reduction and aesthetics, and none of those are a concern, especially since it's getting tiled. As for the electrical, while I am indeed not having anything inspected, it got an unofficial seal of approval by a retired electrical engineer who also is a licensed electrician before any of the work was done (my father was down on Sunday). Despite my ranting about the electrical issues because they have driven me insane, no major work was done other than moving the wiring for the microwave to a different circuit, everything else was just outlet relocations.
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Nov 16, 2018 21:10
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I guess I'm used to multi-family where firewalls are required everywhere, actually the only reason I was familiar with the fire rated plywood is because I wanted to make a removable surround panel for my load center to facilitate easier additions in the future. Sounds like you are on doing your due diligence so best of luck, it looks great!
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Nov 17, 2018 02:09
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Primed the plywood last night after the 11yo's sleepover ended up cancelled due to a firestorm of respiratory infections going through his class. Then this morning, his occupational therapist called and cancelled because she's sick, which freed up the middle of the day. So, with a rare weekend of my wife home, I managed to get the backsplash up. Decided to start at the top since I know 100% that the cabinets are absolutely level, whereas the countertop I'm pretty sure has a hair of raise from right to left (it's 3/16", .2 loving degrees). As luck would have it, the area above the sink is also exactly 3 tiles high. Centered above the sink seemed to be a good place to start the pattern. I marked the center of the pattern and marked the center of the tiles as I went along to make it easier to lay out new rows.   These T spacers were a lifesaver compared to the "+" shaped ones when I tiled the entryway floor a couple years ago. Cutting around the outlets was a challenge even with the wet saw. I considering using the tile breaker and then trying to glue the broken edge together after I cut the notch out, but the wet saw blade is pretty drat close to 1/16" and the gaps didn't look too bad once I got it laid out, so we rolled with it.  No more in progress pictures, was too busy trying to get it done before we had to run out and get supplies for our daughter's birthday party tonight, so here it is pre-cleanup.  And a few hours later after I pulled the spacers out. I mounted two of the LED strips from the crappy Commercial Electric kit just to see how the light was going to look. The tile is somewhere between white and almond (edit: It's is called "buff matte"), and the natural white temp on the LEDs look pretty drat good. I have a 16' strip of 4000K LEDs and a mounting kit coming this week. It's getting a charcoal colored unsanded grout, probably not before Thanksgiving. Depends on what I decide to do with the side tiles.  That's supplies to make glitter slime on the cutting board for a half-dozen 6/7 year old girls. gently caress my life. Stuff left to do: Cut tiles lengthwise between 1-1-4" and 1-7-16" tall to go along the bottom edge, and the same for directly underneath the microwave. Tile the side walls, maybe. We still have over 2 boxes of tiles so it's definitely doable, but I'm trying to figure out to make the existing pattern work without bullnose tile for the edges. Disconnect the drains so I can pull the countertop out a couple inches to avoid making a huge mess when grouting. Pick out some quarter round for the corners and possibly for along the countertop/tile edge corner. Still debating that or just a caulk bead. Probably depends on how close I can get the edge to the top of the countertop. Time to bust out angleizer the wife got me for Christmas last year. Edit: The pumpkins are for homemade pumpkin pie. So good. CommanderApaul fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Nov 19, 2018 |
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Nov 18, 2018 03:00
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Is the dishwasher GFCI protected? The way I accomplished having an accessible dishwasher disconnect was to mount a receptacle in the cabinet beside the dishwasher, then used a 15a appliance cord to plug it in. The receptacle was protected by a countertop GFCI, so if it tripped you don't have to go under the cabinet (unless it trips again lol) Also the microwave is supposed to have a dedicated 20A circuit but I guess it's a little late for that. The countertops are very shiny, and I like the prep board for the sink. Not sure if I'm a big fan of the hinged counter that blocks egress to the exit, but it's your house.
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Nov 21, 2018 00:10
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angryrobots posted:Is the dishwasher GFCI protected? Dishwasher (and now the microwave) is indeed GFCI protected. That was an inspection item when we bought the house, so we had a GFCI breaker put in the panel for that circuit as part of the inspection repairs. Requires a trip to the electric panel in the garage if it trips, but it also never has. The outlets along the wall are protected by a GFCI on the outside wall to the right of the microwave as well (also an inspection repair when we bought the house). When we replaced the hardwired dishwasher that came with the house back in '09, I did the same as you and put a box in the cabinet (new work box in the wall). When I replaced the base cabinets, I switched that out for a mounted two-gang box inside the cabinet (old cabinets did not have backs, new ones did). One outlet is the dishwasher, the other outlet is the dedicated circuit for the garbage disposal that was also previously hardwired. For the dedicated microwave circuit, my thoughts are that it's been on a 15A circuit with 1/4 of the outlets/lights in the house for ~12 years, it should be fine sharing a 20A with the dishwasher. I can count on two hands the number of times that we've run the dishwasher without using a delay to run it overnight. And if dad signed off on it knowing that if it's a problem, it could burn down the house with his grandkids in it, I think we're OK. It's not to code, but if we ever sell the house I'll get an electrician in to make it right. I never actually considered the egress issues with the folddown counter, mostly because of the layout of the house. There's a 3' wide archway to the left of of the sink that leads to the hallway/living room/stairs to the front door, and an 8' archway behind the kitchen to the dining room, that then also goes into the living room. But if the front door is blocked, yeah. Short term, we don't leave it up when we're not using it, and you can kick the leg out from under it to quickly collapse it (this happened once on accident and it is spectacularly loud), but still an issue now that I think about it. The next project (and one we've wanted to do since we bought the house but the money always goes to higher priority stuff, like a new driveway, or gutters, or a re-roof, or the kitchen, or the kids needing their tonsils out, etc) is to put a double french door in place of the window in the dining room that leads out to the same deck that the kitchen door leads to. I don't think I want to do that one myself since it involves cutting a hole in the side of the house. The frame for the back door was rotted out along the bottom (and judging from what I found when I opened it up, it was a problem before and the old owners pretty much papered over it) and I replaced the entire doorframe this past spring and that was a hair-raising ordeal that I do not want to do again. That should resolve the egress issue long term. Was hoping to get a little more done this week before both our parents come down for turkey day, but the sore lower back that I thought was from leaning over the counter putting up tile for two days turned out to be a kidney stone, so I'm done for a bit. Got the bottom row of half-tiles in on the backsplash without cracking open the third case of tile, so I'm happy about that. Figured out the pattern for the side walls, located the actual tile finish name and SKU from the manufacturer so we have matching quarter-round liner tile on order, and need to grout. Might replace the outlets/switches and put on the new outlet covers tonight, depending on how I feel after sitting all day. I also have a design in my head for a prop for the folddown that doesn't involve a leg, but I need to get it sketched out and see if it's something I can build from off the shelf parts or will need to hit up someone to fab for me. Finally got the wife's birthday present out (from freaking JULY) and it matches! 
CommanderApaul fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Nov 21, 2018 |
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Nov 21, 2018 18:43
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So the big rush on getting everything done as functionally as possible was that we volunteered to host Thanksgiving at our house for both of our parents and my sister and her daughter. 10 people for dinner doesn't sound like much, but in a smallish house with a tiny rear end kitchen, it was going to be a stretch. The extra counter space from the new rear cabinets/counter plus the folddown plus the over the sink cutting board were all used to some effect or another. 25lb turkey in the roaster, two crock pots going for different sides, plus everything on the stove and in the oven. It was awesome. Plus I got to carry on the family tradition and make turkey soup from the carcass.    Broth and meat from the carcass (simmered overnight in the roaster), onion that was stuffed in the turkey, add carrots and celery. Fresh basil, thyme, couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper. Egg noodles at the end. So drat good. We did have a leak under the sink that started dripping on the floor. I thought it was the dishwasher seal but it turns out the last time I took the sink apart, I only got 2 of the 3 lugs for the garbage disposal on. It had been fine until we had to use the disposal during mealprep. Easy fix and no harm done, just some wet cleaning supplies. Anyways, construction has been pretty much nonexistent over the holidays due to various holiday stuff and "eh, it's functional" laziness. But with the government shutdown came a stop work order on my contract as of Dec 28th, so I've had some spare time. Sidesplash has been tiled, and I got the area directly under the microwave that I completely flaked on up as well. The countertop overhang is cut to be flush with the bottom edge of the countertop so it doesn't interfere with opening the drawers. There's trim molding going on this corner so the 1/2" gap is intentional. The barn door is going to close against that doorframe once it's in.   And taped off everything for grouting   Used an unsanded cement-free quick-set grout. Said 15-30 minute setup time before wiping. Ended up needing wifely assistance with wiping the left side while I was still grouting under the microwave. It setup quick enough that we couldn't get any real in progress pictures, so here it is after (I think) 3 wipedowns. This is the 4th time I've done grout and while it's not hard, it's messy and I loving hate it, especially walls. I think there was more on the floor and the countertops than actually went between the tiles. But you can't argue with how it looks when it's done and done right (unlike the rear end in a top hat we paid to do our bathroom wall, there are spots in that I just stare at and seethe while I'm in the shower).   It also did not wash off my hands and nails very well.  And the finished product. Wife wanted an old fashioned style breadbox for Christmas, it fits in nicely with the color.    Also got all the switches and outlets done between yesterday and today. By happy accident, the wall plates we picked out to match the faucet share a name with our daughter, so they're "her" electric. I surprised her while she was at school today by replacing the switch in her room with a Decora rocker and an extra wallplate, she was thrilled in the way only a 7-yo girl can be and promptly threw a lightswitch rave with her ceiling fan. Still to do: Trim moulding where the cabinets meet the walls (there's a less than 1/2" gap on either end, old cabinets had this as well). Caulking (I hate caulk more than I hate grout, mostly because I suck at getting a good line even with a cordless caulking gun). Got a couple tubes colormatched to the grout shade. Undermount and topmount LED strips (this fell by the wayside, it's going to wait until I'm back to work to order, the one that's in there now is a placeholder) Pick out paint to cover up the taupe. Replace the light fixture in the ceiling (currently 4 fluorescent tubes, we have an antique/vintage/whatever pool-table style 3-light fixture that's going in it's place. Also the sliding door kit showed up yesterday.  Once I get that up I can finally get the over-the-fridge cabinet in place. Wife needs to finish refinishing the door we're putting up though. It's going to "pocket" behind the floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinet and the refrigerator, and will sit flush against the doorframe of the left hand wall. We had a bit of an adventure with the tile. We got the 4 boxes of tile for the backsplash at least a year and a half ago at one of the "donate your unused construction supplies" reuse centers around town. $30 for all four boxes, and still have 1-1/2 boxes left. I was going to get liner tile for the corners and the countertop-tile edge, so we drove down the manufacturer showroom to take a look and put an order in. With overage, we'd need 25 linear feet. 50 pieces, hair over $6/ea, with shipping and tax, almost $400. For little 3/8"x6" quarter round tiles. That would probably need to be caulked anyways, so yeah, not doing that. With the 1-1/2 boxes we have left I can tile the area around the back window where the new cabinets/counter are as well, but we'll see if we want to do that in the spring. Using the wetsaw when it was ~30 degrees outside was not fun.
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Jan 10, 2019 05:23
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