moveing right along

despite an apparent need to sleep in we managed to kick some ass on the kitchen demo this weekend.. 8^)  The dumpster showed up on Friday morning and by the time I got home the back room was already more or less gutted.  By the end of saturday the kitchen was one big bare room.  By the end of Sunday the floor was mostly out.  Leading me to the first real decision.  THe origonal subfloor is not in that bad of shape.  Should I keep it a slap a this layer of plywood over it to level things out or, take it down to studs and put in nice new 3/4 inch.  The origonal subloor is installed at an angle.  This has the advantage of tying the whole house together at the subfloor level.  But then again, if we rip it all out it will probably be easier to level everything out.  But if we leave it in we will save a boatload of time.  Right now I am thinking that saving time will be more savings.

Of course what would a project be without some holy crap moments.  The plumbing was as expected there to provide them and then some.  First there was the relocation of the sink.  Then the house was new the kitchen sink was on the inside wall.  Why?   Because the builders did not have drap for brains and knew they would have freezing pipes if they put the sink on the outside wall.  Since then some moron came along and decided that the sink should be under the outside window.  8^P weak, so very weak.  To make this work they had to do some very very creative re running of the drain vent.  To be creative they chopped the heck out of the 2×4’s that are the support wall between the kitchen and the back pantery.  Weak!   I am suprised the upstairs bedrooms floor is not more warped than it is as there is nothing holding it up.  Fortunatly I knew all along about the importance of that wall and had planned to replace it with a beam anyways.  Then there is the outside wall and the winder freezing pipes.  To run the last bit of vent they cut a channel into the outside wall’s drywall.  Even with insulation on that side of the house on a windy -10 day in January there was no way they the plumbing was going to stay unfrozen.  8^P

Bleh!

Then there was the floors.. Or should I say floors..

Bottom layer, 1/4 sawn oak toung and grove.  Oddly enough they changed directions of the toung half way through the room.. Why?  I do not know.  Above that there was a very 70’s lineolium job held down with looks to be liquid nails.  One the the previous owners really loved that stuff.  Apparently he got tired of his half assed linolium job and slapped a layer of ugly ass early 80’s brown stick on viynal over the top of it.  The interm owner reconized that that was ugly so got some more ulgy 90’s stick on viynal and 1/8 inch plywood.  The plywood coverd all the old stuff and the new stick on bits got slapped on top of that.

Needless to say yaning out the floor was kind of a pain in the ass.  Also, the aprt where it was very warm and humid was less than helpful.  Still by this weekend we will be worried about the new wiring, and the subfloor.  8^)  We should be well on our way to tileing and plumbing next week.  I still need to visit the window store and see if there is anything good for a new kitchen window there in the overstock / returns bin.  By the end of next week I should be ramping up to get the new cabinetry squared away.  In theory the kitchen phase only has about three weeeks left, probably a week or two to finish off the fancy enclosed porch and the two hallways.  Then we can start worrying about the attic, one of the backyard trees, all of the misc repair cracks and paint projects the bedroom windows, and selling the place.

At least the list is shrinking fast that it is growing.  8^)

Ivan!