The kitchen remodel – Part 2 – More Demo

Last week we started on the kitchen remodel. We relocated the fridge and the oven into the dining room and then tore out most of the cabinets (except the sink). This week, the demo continued. The next item to come out was the ceiling. I was dreading this part because there was a bunch of the old and super itchy insulation above the drywall that would fall on my head when I tore the drywall out. But, it is what it is. I suited up and put on a big hat, respirator, glasses, scarf, coveralls, and gloves. I got the ceiling ripped out and made quite a mess. I got the mess cleaned up just in time to catch a flight to Philly.

Goodbye cuz

Oceana and I caught a late night flight up to Philly to celebrate the life of my cousin, Derek, who left us all too soon. Derek and his brother Dane were the same age as me and my brother Josh. We lived 3 hours from them growing up, but we always had great times when we got together. As we got older, we’d take guys trips to Niagara falls and NYC. One of the times in Niagara falls, Derek went to the high roller blackjack table. He proceeded to lose all of his gambling money in under 5 minutes!

Then there was the night where we learned about tree bending. Tree bending is when you climb up a small sapling high enough to where you can bend it over. Like this:

We devastated the woods behind Derek’s parents house. We found one tree that the three of us couldn’t get to bend. So Derek made the climb and showed the tree who was boss. As he was bending it, the tree snapped and he dropped about 10′ and landed on a root on his side! At least we had drank A LOT of beer that night so it didn’t hurt too bad. But, that fall messed up his hip enough that it still bothered him 20 years later. As we grew older and married, Derek was one of my groomsman and I was one of his. Rest in peace, cuz.

While it is a trip that I wish we didn’t have to make, I’m glad that we were able to be there with his family and to see most of our extended family again. It’s rare that we all get together so it was really nice seeing everyone again.

The demo continues

The next item on the list to come out was the wall between the kitchen and the master bathroom. This wall was pieced together and not worth trying to salvage. Oceana cleared out space in the bathroom and then put up a sheet of plastic to keep the room clean. We tore out the wall, the siding, and the two layers of drywall all the way up to the sink cabinet. To finish the demo, the sink cabinet would have to come out so that we could take out the window (which will be reframed and replaced with a new impact window) and to remove the drywall for running mechanicals. We tore it out and then tore out the drywall to find yet another pieced together wall. Looks like it’s going to have to come out too.

In the interim, I rigged up an old laundry sink to a garden hose so Oceana could use it for washing dishes.

Floor demo

The floors were wavy and way out of level. This is not ideal for setting cabinets. There is a layer of hardwood floors on top of spacers on top of another layer of flooring. My thought was to go down to the bottom layer and then shim/flatten the floor. Well, we started tearing out the top layer of floors, and I didn’t like what I saw below. So we kept going. We tore out the bottom layer of flooring to expose the floor framing. I’ll bet you’re surprised, but we didn’t like what we saw. So, we kept tearing out. We tore out all of the kitchen floor framing. Now we’re all the way down to the sand. I think we’re finally able to stop going backwards and start going forwards.

New floor framing

I brought out the trusty laser level and shot a level line around the room. I aligned the level with the height of the new pine floors that we had installed in the dining room. As I checked the level, I found that the worst area of the floors was off by around 3″. That’s pretty bad. First up, I installed a main beam that runs across the kitchen. I set this beam on the existing piers. Next, I set up the rim joist (the floor framing member at an outside wall) under the sink wall. I had to cut this piece on a taper so that the top of it was level. Next, I slowly but surely filled in the floor joists. On the dining room side, I cut off the exposed and rotten part of the original floor joists but left the remainder underneath the dining room as the subfloor is still fastened to it. I then installed new joists right next to them. Lastly, I added joist hangers where the joists met the beam.

Subfloor and wall frame

After the framing was done, it was time to install the subfloor. I installed the subfloor on the new joists using glue and screws. I don’t expect any squeaks out of this floor. Once the subfloor was in place, I got started on rebuilding the exterior wall. For the time being, this roof was just being supported by a couple of temp supports. While building the wall, I plumbed up all of the parts and pieces that I could. I was even able to get the roofline pretty level. I laid out for our new window (which we ordered a year ago and it should be arriving at the end of this month) and then framed in the window opening. Once the framing was complete, I installed the sheathing on the outside.

Happy birthday Oceana!

It’s Oceana’s birthday today (Friday 3/4). I did a little decorating for her. Teak even joined in the celebrations.

That’s all, folks

That’s all for this week. Thanks for following along on our crazy journey.