The Kitchen Ceiling

Last post we built a privacy fence down the newly exposed property line on the north side of our property. We stopped the fence flush with the front of the house as we’re considering bringing a fence from the house over to the new fence to enclose the back yard. After living with it for a week or two, we decided we wanted to extend the fence further. We laid it out and opted for about another 40′. That would still keep the fence back from the road a touch which makes visibility easier when backing out but it also blocks the view of the side of the house and the A/C unit as you’re driving down Lake Byrd Blvd.

More holes to dig

I fired up the flatbed truck and headed over to Bagwell. I got loaded up with another pile of material and headed back home to get after it. 40 feet was 5 more sections of fence. That means 5 more fence posts. I strung a line from the existing fence to the pin at the front corner of the property and then laid out the location of the fence posts. Sand digs easy enough except for the holes that you encounter roots. I got the posts plumbed and set in concrete.

Finishing it up

Next, I popped off the last fence picket on the end of the original fence. This exposed the 2x4s that were screwed to the 4×4. I cut the 2x4s back so that I could tie in new 2x4s for the new section of fence. Once they were cut back, I ran the new 2x4s all the way down to the last fence post. Next up, the pickets. Evidently I got the bottom of the pile this time as most were bowed and not straight. I did my best to make them work and nailed them into submission. Done. I like it. It seems more fitting. Also, there’s a handful of palms between the end of the fence and the road that will create a natural barrier once they grow back (they were cut down with the land clearing).

The kitchen remodel continues

With the fence done, we opted to continue on with the kitchen remodel. The other option is to do something about the dock, which is literally in pieces and being held to the pilings with dock line. But the kitchen takes priority. The next kitchen project is to finish the ceiling. We’ve already installed the insulation, wiring, ductwork, and plywood. The only thing lacking is the tongue and groove cypress to match the living room and dining room. So I took the flatbed truck back to Bagwell’s and got loaded up with some tongue and groove cypress.

The installation

Sunday morning, after it warmed up a bit, we got to it. We started off at the dining room and worked our way towards the kitchen window wall. Board by board it went up. We glued the boards to the plywood as well as nailed the tongues. Some of the boards that were bowed got beat and nailed and then beat and nailed until they were as tight as I could get them. We made progress across the flat ceiling and then turned down the sloped ceiling towards the kitchen wall. The last few boards were a bit tough working over the top of the makeshift countertops but regardless, we got the boards in place.

Paint prep

Oceana handled the next part – paint prep. She bondo’d all of the major holes and cracks, of which there were more than I would have preferred. She then sanded the whole ceiling with 5″ random orbital sander. Many of the boards would have been fine without sanding, but there were rough spots on enough of them that it was worth doing. Lastly, she spot sanded in the V-groove joints to clean up any fuzz on the boards. Done and done. Next up, primer, caulk, and paint. Then we can finally get lights on in the kitchen. That’ll be nice since it’s been a while since we’ve had lights on in the kitchen.

That’s all, folks

That’s all for today. Thanks for following along our journey!