Episode 11: Trench Warfare- Part Deaux

Lake Eduard is no more. This past weekend I pumped the water out and then dug a trench for the plumbing before the water could come back. All of the dirt from the trench was deposited in the void that was the lake. Now, there is no lake.

I cut the hole through the footer for the drain line to the laundry room. I got the new PVC connections tied into the main waste line. I still have some more lines to run, but the worst part is over. I am going to have to break up part of the bathroom floor, after all. The toilet tied into the main line where I originally thought it did, so that means moving up the bathroom renovation. I didn't really want to do that, yet, but until I do the drains to that bathroom are not connected.


I've got another 4 day weekend coming, so I plan on getting a lot of items crossed off my list. I really want to be starting on the drywall next week. I hope to be pouring concrete on Thursday. We'll see. It'll be another working weekend.

Episode 10: Let There Be Light!

Busy day for me. I've probably made more progress today than I have in the past couple of weeks. I gave up on trying to get the plumbing done anytime soon. Lake Eduard is still at respectable levels, although it is now sporting a canal that helps to drain some of the water off. I decided to work around it for now and run the electrical to the laundry room. Hopefully by the time that is done I'll be able to get that waste line run. I spent the day crawling through the attic and pulling wire. I wired the light and switch to the laundry room, as well as the new dryer and washing machine outlets. Then I installed the new breakers and tied in the lines. I am pleased to say that the light in the laundry room works, as do the outlets. I followed that up by running a new line to tie into the family room. All of these rooms were originally wired on the same circuit. I had a pretty scary mess to work with in the old electrical box. I started by pulling out all of the wires that were not connected to anything. Then I pulled out the lines that were running to fixtures that would be moving, or just removed altogether. That cleaned things up quite a bit. I just have to run new lines to the upstairs bedrooms, and then I can wire the kitchen. I have not really added new lines to the panel, since I removed some in the demo. I feel better, though, knowing that now we have some new wiring that has been correctly wired. There was some scary stuff in that electrical box, even more than I originally thought.

Here are some of the first views of the new laundry room.

This view is looking in from the family room towards the back of the house. The plywood is covering the old doorway into the former storage closet. The plumbing will be run up into this space, and a small sink will be installed. There will be a window put in as well as some base cabinets and counter top space. I will be replacing the exterior sheathing, since it has rotted at the bottom. The patio had been raised up so high with all of the concrete that water was able to get up into the siding. Since the patio has been busted out (half of it, anyway) the water is no longer getting that high. We will be buying the front load dryer to match our washing machine so we can stack the two units to save space.

Another view from the family room doorway. It looks like a decent space, now, but once cabinets start going it it will fill up quite quickly. The brown line on the floor is where the original wall stood. We will be tiling the floor.

This is a view from the old doorway. Not much to see, here.

OK. So that is my report for today. For this coming week I hope to have most of the electrical work completed, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to work on the plumbing next weekend. I want this kitchen finished! As helpful as Meggie is, she'd be more help if she'd actually do some work...like digging the ditch for the plumbing. Oh, great. There she goes with the glowing eye weirdness, again. I'll leave you with that image. Excuse me...I am having trouble ordering my thoughts for some reason...

I don't need the dog to dig a ditch...These aren't the droids we are looking for...She can go about her business....

Episode 9: Blame It on the Rain (or; Who Will Stop the Rain?

I am having a tough time deciding on the soundtrack for this episode. "Blame it on the Rain", by Millie Vanilli came to mind , followed closely by "Who Will Stop the Rain" (Asia), and "Here Comes the Rain Again" (Eurythmics) in third. I had pumped the water out of Lake Eduard on Tuesday evening, but the Rain struck again the next evening. It rained all day today. The lake (soon to be re-christened "Loch Mess") quickly overcame it's shores and engulfed several small towns. When I opened the door this morning, Project Manager Meggie leapt from the door, but soon realized the greatness of her error. She then leapt back into the house, having executed a flawless Scooby-Doo scramble across the surface of the water, barely getting her paws wet (Meggie-Meggie-Roooooo!!).

These are the views that greeted me when I got home from work. The pictures just don't do it justice. Needless to say, I didn't get much done, this afternoon. I couldn't even get out the back door without the use of a floatation device. No, I have not bought any more bubble gum.

That depression you see in the upper right hand of the picture is where a pool was once located. That is full of water, as well. Below you can see one of my walk boards floating in the water. It's about 10 inches deep in the center of the lake. There was a lot of concrete down there.

I have spent much of the evening revisting the meditation pond plan. Some koi, a few waterlillies, and a fountain...It could be a right relaxing little spot. The good news is that when the rain stops, I have a pump ready. The other night I dug out a pit in the lake and sunk a bucket to use as a sump well. It worked great the first time, so as soon as it clears up I'll be able to pump out the water-- again.

This should be the end of any water restrictions in the area.

Episode 8: Trench Warfare

As I dug up more of the kitchen (yes, the kitchen) floor yesterday afternoon, it dawned on me that this is no longer a mere kitchen renovation. This has gone beyond simple paint and replacement cabinets. This has evolved into something more dramatic and sinister.


This is war.


I wanted to just put everything back where it was and give up, but Project Manager Meggie would hear nothing of the sort. So, under her slave-driving guidance I have broken up a little more of the floor in order to have room to install the new plumbing. Meggie decided that while I was at it I should pull up part of the bathroom, as well. I told her that she was out of her mind and refused, until she threatened to bite me in the butt. Fortunately for me, Dad came over to give some guidance, and I liked his plans much better.




Here are a couple of views of the damage. I have cut out part of the chase wall in order to access the plumbing a little more easily. I have removed some of the pipes and wires that were left in the wall from previous renovations. I will need to continue digging and removing the dirt to the yard. I will be backfilling with gravel when the time comes.

Lake Eduard still has a lot of water in it. It was iced over this morning. I had attempted to pump out the water on Thursday evening, and I was able to get most of it out, but it filled up again overnight. There must be a lot of water in the ground. It came up from the ground in the trench I dug in the kitchen, as well. I'm going to have to dig a sump well to help drain the water. I'm hoping to be able to have everything ready to replace the wastelines by Friday. If I can start it sooner I will. The only problem is that both bathrooms run on the same waste stack. I can't have them disconnected for too long, so anything I start will have to be finished the same day.


Another view of the carnage. It looks a little cleaner now that I've removed the outer framing and the old boiler pipes. There was also some electrical wiring that was not connected to anything. I still have to remove the old gas lines.

We had more snow, this evening. It was coming down pretty hard for a while. Some of it accumulated on the grass and on the cars, but nothing stuck to the roads or sidewalks. We might actually have a decent snow this winter. My kids would love to see that. With the hill in our back yard it would be nice to let them go sledding.

Episode 7: The TicketMaster

The TicketMaster. That is my new name. I don't know how I do it, but in the last year I have managed to get more tickets than I have over the previous 37 (did I say that? I meant 25-yes, 25 is a good number) years of my life. Last Thanksgiving, I managed to get pulled over by a State Trooper. I didn't know why he was after me, but I knew it had to be me because I was the only person on the highway!! Apparently I had failed to come to a complete and total stop at the stop sign before turning onto the highway. I don't make it a policy to argue with The Man, so I didn't point out that I had to stop before turning onto the highway. As I recall, I stopped, took my foot off the brake, and then turned, seeing as there was no other car in sight- except for the Trooper who was so far away I could only tell that he was a moving vehicle. It was a very brief stop, yes, but I did stop. He was so far away that it was a little more than a minute after the turn that he caught up to me. I blame my capture on the fact that I was doing the speed limit. But enough of that. Ancient history. I paid the $30.00 fine and the associated $45.00 processing fee. Of course, since that time I have stopped at every stop sign and made sure that it was for a noticeable period of time. I know that I have been able to do this successfully due to the number of tailing drivers who honk their horns to let me know I am preventing them from running the stop sign themselves. I once had a city transit bus honk it's horn at every single stop sign. I was in downtown Richmond and went through six or seven blocks of 4-way stops. I received a honk for every stop I made! I thought I was running through them pretty quickly. I was stopping long enough to make sure there were no law enforcement vehicles in stealth mode, waiting for me to slip up. You know the bus would've broken the speed limit, run the signs-without coming to a complete stop- and there would've been no flashing lights in sight. Me? Well, let's just say that due to previous experience I'm extra cautious.

I am a careful driver. I use cruise control so I don't thoughtlessly drive in excess of the posted speed. I take an extra second at the stop lights and stop signs before I continue on. Every police car I pass is tracked in my rearview to make sure they aren't coming after me. When they do pull up behind me, I wonder if I've been doing anything that might result in another roadside discussion. I'm ok most of the time, however I admit I am a little paranoid.

Enter today's episode. I am about 3 minutes from my house. I am going the speed limit. I am at a stoplight waiting for it to turn green so I can turn into my neighborhood. I notice a police car pulling up behind me in the rear view mirror. The lights aren't on, so I think that maybe I'm ok, but the car seems to be holding back a little bit, so I figure they are running my plates, or something. I haven't hit any banks, run any toll booths, or kidnapped anyone recently (like-never!!), so I'm not too worried. The light turns green, I turn onto the street, and the lights come on. So now I'm wondering what the heck I could've done to deserve this. I turn off the car, roll down the window and put my hands on the steering wheel. From what I remember from my Criminal Justice courses (taken a million years ago when I wanted to be a cop) it's always a good idea to show your hands. The officer walks up and informs me that they pulled me over for my tinting. I had no clue what she was talking about. I thought she said "tenting". I was wondering if I had somehow left a tarp hanging out of my trunk. She must have noticed the idiotic look I gave her, because she tapped my rear window and said "your window tinting. Have you ever been in trouble for this before?" I must confess that I have not. I have owned this car since June of 1999, and I have never been pulled for this. The car has passed two annual Virginia safety inspections and it has never come up. Of course, I'm feeling like quite the hardened criminal as the officer explains that they have a "Zero Tolerance" policy, but since they have a lot of people that have moved in from out of state they are having a special, where I can take my car in and have a legal tint put on (at my expense, of course) and then I can go to court, where the judge might then waive the $51.00 fine and the associated $15.00 processing fee (which made a heck of a lot more sense than the last fine and processing fee). The officer puts a "reader" on my window which shows that the tint is too dark, and explains that the reading must be higher than 50%. Mine is at 22%. I have to say, the officer was very polite and helpful in answering my questions, but it sure would have been nice to know this sooner!! I bought the car this way. Who knew?

I'm afraid that I have developed a driving complex. I may be seeking professional help in the near future. At least I haven't been ticketed for a really serious offense. Although I might feel better about it if it were serious. Ok. That's just sad.

Look for me on the evening news.

Episode 6: Demolition Men

I finally have some more progress to report. I haven't had as much time spent on the kitchen as I would have liked, this last week, however the Thanksgiving holiday has provided the opportunity to do some serious demolition work. As usual, I do the work, and project manager Meggie makes sure I don't slack off.

Here she is using her Aussie mind control powers to get me to give her a treat for managing the job so well. The whole glowing eye thing is starting to freak me out. Every once in a while I have this uncontrollable urge to let her use the reciprocating saw, but I've managed to fight it off, so far. The force is strong with this one.

Here is the kitchen as it appears, so far. I have most of the drywall down. I've started to pull down the ceiling, but I've been a little hesitant to go too far because of all that nasty blown in insulation that's above. I hate that stuff. I wish people didn't use it. I will not be repeating that mistake.

Here's a couple more views of the plumbing nightmare I am facing. This will all be coming out. What you don't see is the cuts in the concrete floor that I have made since taking this picture. I have to bust out some concrete to move the drains to the new sink location.

Yikes!

This is the electrical nightmare I am facing. I still have the sheet metal covering the junction box. I don't want anyone accidentally coming in contact with the wires. This box will be moved to the overhead storage space on the 2nd floor. There will be a corner cabinet and a tile backsplash in this location. The box cannot stay.

A shot of the open kitchen ceiling, showing the shower and toilet drains, and a couple of the A/C vents to the kitchen and the bathroom on the other side of the wall.

I had help today. The missionaries from Church really wanted to tear something out, so I saved a wall for them. This is the former storage room that was accessible only from the outside of the house. I don't have any pre-demo pictures of this room. I had already pulled down much of the drywall months ago, but have saved tearing out the old wall until I was ready to put the plumbing in. I have built a new wall in the house to make the room bigger, and today we pulled down the existing wall. We now have a room that is roughly 8x10 feet for a laundry room/pantry.

Here you can see some of the blown in insulation floating around. It was so thick in the air we could hardly see. It had settled a bit by the time I took this picture. The old wall has already been torn out, and you can see the plastic covering the new laundry room door in the background. What you can't see is the demolition "weapon" the missionary is using. Last year for my birthday my wife bought me the Stanley "Fubar". When I first got it, it looked pretty cool, but I couldn't figure out what I'd use it for. The first time I was on the demolition part of a job out in Farmville, I finally realized it's full potential. So did the guys I work with. They all think I have the most awesome wife in the world. "I wish my wife/girlfriend would buy me tools" they'd say. I should take a picture of the thing. It's fun to use. The missionary using it couldn't stop laughing (maniacally) as he was using it. It has that effect on the most peace-loving of people.

One of the missionaries hurt his knee yesterday. They had decided to play it safe yesterday and not participate in the customary Thanksgiving football and basketball games. They played tennis, instead. Guess the hurt found him, anyway. He pulled down the aluminum siding on the outside of the planned laundry room. I will be closing in that doorway and installing a window. Previously, this room had only been accessible through this door. Now it is open to the interior of the house.

Here are some views of the laundry room after we had cleaned up the mess. Here's the new doorway.

We've pulled down all of the drywall on the walls and ceiling. The existing drywall on the ceiling was severely water damaged on the storage side of the old wall, and the bonus room side had that popcorn texture all over it. This room will be getting a new ceiling light and an attic access door. I'll be building new cabinets for the laundry supplies and some pantry shelves when the room is ready. We still need to run the plumbing for the washing machine, and the new electrical lines.

Just another view looking toward the back door. There will be a window where the door is currently located.

A shot of the ceiling and a whole lot of nothing in the space above.

All of that supervisory exertion has taken it's toll on Meggie. That and the shower I made her take. She was due for one. No, the vacuum in the background was not used to clean her, although the thought did cross my mind. Wouldn't it be great? Someone could invent a sort of "Carpet Fresh" product for dogs. Just sprinkle on and vacuum off. Oh yeah, Meg would love that. NOT!!

Episode 5: Freezin' My Asphalt Off!!!!

Today was my first day back at work in a month. No problems with the hands, so I think I'm good to go. I started out my day cleaning up in the shop and trying to make some room for the lighting for the office addition. Around noon, I drove the backhoe to one of our jobsites. Boy, did I wish I had some more layers of clothes. When standing in the parking lot at the office, it's not that cold. In the open cab of the backhoe, once you get on the open road and that wind hits you, it's freezing!!! One of the guys lent me a full face hood. Thank goodness he did. With the hood and my sunglasses, the only exposed part of my face was my mouth. I kindof had to keep my lips sucked in to keep them from freezing.

I got back to the shop around 12:30 and had lunch, then back out into the weather to spread some asphalt in the road across from the boss' house. The road was shaded, and it was windy, so once again I was much chillier than anticipated. We were waiting for about an hour for the dump truck with the asphalt to show, so we got a little cold. Once the truck arrived, however, it warmed up plenty! The temperature of the asphalt is about 1300 degrees, according to my supervisor. Working with that warmed us up, for sure. By the time we were done with that, it was time to go home. Tomorrow I will have a hooded sweatshirt with me.

I pulled down some more drywall in the kitchen. I'm trying to determine where all of the electrical lines are currently running. That mess will need some cleaning up, too. I want to have all of the drywall pulled down by the weekend, so I can start working on any framing I need to do. I still have to dig a trench for the washing machine drain, but Lake Eduard is still at a high. Maybe there will be ice on it in the morning.

Then the dog can skate across.

Episode 4: Talk to the Hand

"Ed!! Your dog has dandruff!!!" No, that's not dandruff, that's just the first snow flurry of the year for our area.

We had several scattered snow showers today, with the heaviest snow in the early afternoon. The ground really isn't cold enough to hold any snow, right now. Not to mention that each time the sun came back out it would all melt off of the cars and patio furniture.

I had the stitches taken out of my hand on Monday, and I've been given the all clear to go back to work on Wednesday. I've been warned to use common sense and not push my left hand too much, so I don't tear the scar back open. I have promised that I won't be doing any more bleeding anytime soon. My injury quota for 2008 has been met.

I tried to catch one of the heavier flurries from this afternoon. You can see some of the snow. Ignore the pile of cabinets that have been ripped out of the kitchen. They've all been busted up and tossed in the dumpster, now.

Here is the picture that Heather took on Sunday night before I started to pull down the cabinets. I started with the top bank of cabinets first, then the lower.

Here's the view after the doors have been removed from the upper cabinets.

The last of the upper cabinets to resist removal. It refused to come out in one piece, so I took it out in several pieces.

The base cabinets are in the process of being removed. You can see spots where there has been either wallpaper, brick veneer, or formica backsplash over the years. Leaning away from the wall is the latest attempt to cover over the old walls. It looks like the last renovation had laminated the wall with 1/4 inch drywall.

The cabinets are all out, now. Check out the plumbing nightmare where the sink used to be. We won't be having any of that mess when I'm done.

Here is the kitchen at the end of the day. I have started to tear down the drywall. This all has to be removed to make it easier to run the new electrical lines and plumbing, and to deal with some water damage from previous years.

Episode 3: Man Overboard!!

It's been a wet couple of days. We had some rain on Thursday and Friday, but early this morning the heavens opened with a vengeance. I stepped out the back door this morning only to find myself at the mercy of Lake Eduard. I surely would have perished, had I not been able to fashion a floatation device out of bubble gum and safely make my way to shore.

With Lake Eduard at record levels, the only thing I could do was go fishing.

Surprise!! I caught something!!! Wow!!!

We've got all of the cabinets emptied out. I was going to pull out some cabinets today, but it appears that I'm going to have to either build a bridge across the lake or get a pump to drain it.

The displacement phase of renovation is my least favorite part. Everything is in boxes and stacked up everywhere because it has nowhere to go. At least when the kitchen is done there will be a home for everything.

I need a towel.

Episode 2: That Sinking Feeling...

Oh yeah. I am so ready to tear out this kitchen. I've been attempting to wash the dishes, but it seems to be leaking. The darned sink started leaking sometime last year. I have re-sealed the drain on it several times, but it always started leaking again. A few months ago I pulled the whole sink out, removed the drains, cleaned and re-sealed them and put everything back together with new gaskets and all. That bought us a few months. Last week it started leaking again. I've been doing dishes today and all of the water is leaking out into a bucket I have underneath the sink. I'm all hopped up on Super Bubble bubble gum because I've chewed probably 80 pieces of it, today. I blame it all on the post Halloween 50, 75, and 92.533 percent off candy sales. I made the mistake of buying a couple of bags of the stuff because I like to chew it when I work. Today I started chewing and just couldn't stop. In fact, I'm chewing the stuff now. I no longer blow bubbles, though. I just like the taste. Blowing bubbles while you work is never a good idea. Gum is prone to attract things like- oh, let's see... Sawdust, drywall dust, and all manner of dusts. And small insects. I don't care if they are a source of protein. They're nasty. I know, you don't have to tell me... I know.

I have been doing dishes and preparing for the switch to paper and plasticware when I pull out the cabinets, counters, and yes- the sink. I'll be setting up a temporary kitchen in the family room. We'll have to live off microwave cuisine for a little while. That should be interesting. It will be worth it to have the kitchen all finished.

Excuse me, but I have to get back to work. Besides, this piece of gum has lost it's flavor. It's a good thing I still have another bag left.

Episode 1: The Calm Before the Storm

Today I was actually out skimming some drywall with my right hand. It wasn't a big job, but it was a good test of how my hand was doing three weeks after the surgery. It didn't hurt much, although it did get tired. I still have until next Monday before the stitches come out of my left hand. I think that tomorrow I will start moving stuff out of the kitchen so I can get to work on the demo. I hope to have the cabinets pulled out this weekend.




Here is the tile we picked for the kitchen floor. It is 18x18 natural stone. We found a pretty good deal on it.










Here is the granite counter top we selected.




Below is the cabinet we picked. They are cherry with a chocolate glaze. We will have under cabinet lighting and a light color granite counter top.


Here are some views of the planned kitchen layout.


This is the inside wall of the kitchen, looking towards the living room and dining room. There is a pantry cabinet currently in the refrigerator space, and the stove is where the pull out pot drawers will be.






This is the outside wall looking into the back yard. The refrigerator is currently by the sliding doors to the patio, and the washer and dryer are next to that and under the window. There currently are no cabinets on this wall. I like how they made the view of the back yard look so nice. In reality, this view is and will always be occupied by the EdCave.

This is another view of the back wall and corner. The washer and dryer are currently under the window, while the sink is where the Stove/oven will be located.







This is the inside corner showing where the stove will be. There are the pot drawers where the stove is currently located.

Here are some more recent views of the destruction that has been visited upon my back yard. The level of Lake Eduard has lowered as a result of the decrease in rainfall. I was about to install a fishing platform.

I can't wait to have full use of my hands so this work can proceed forth in earnest. I want Heather to love her kitchen! Her love of the kitchen will lead to her spending more time within it's confines. More time in the kitchen means a desire to bake again! A desire to bake again means Chocolate chip cookies! I must have chocolate chip cookies!!!

I am one motivated dude.

Prologue

We're getting ready to remodel our kitchen and add a laundry room to our house. I have actually started it, but just recently had surgery on both hands to fix my Carpal Tunnel problem. Yes, it is a legitimate problem and no, I did not do it just to get out of working on the kitchen.

I have already busted up part of the patio in the back yard so we can dig the trench for the laundry room plumbing, but I still have to get all of the concrete pulled up and into a dumpster. Over the years a lot of concrete had been poured in the back yard. I busted up the patio to find another patio underneath. Therefore there is a lot more to pull out than I originally thought. I just had one dumpster pulled today, and an empty one dropped off. Won't take long to fill that either, once I get these stitches out of my hand.

I get frustrated by the fact that I now have all of this free time, but not the hands to do the work. I am calmed, however, by the soothing patterns of light reflecting onto my ceiling from the recently formed Lake Eduard. The hole where the patio once was has filled with water from the recent rains, and the reflections show on the ceiling inside the house. I had to build a gangplank so the dog didn't have to swim to the other side whenever I let her out of the house. I may have to get a pump in there if it doesn't drain.

We've picked out our cabinets and have found a cabinet place that gave us a really great price on installing the cabinets, the granite and the sink. No complaints here. One of the conditions when we bought the house was that we'd re-do the kitchen soon. I could install the cabinets myself, but figured that in the interest of saving my marriage and sanity the price was perfect to have the kitchen finished quickly. All I need to do is demo the old kitchen, run the new plumbing and electrical, install blocking for the cabinets, and install the drywall. After that, I can hand it over. I'm still on the hook for the laundry room, though.

Can't wait to have it all done.

The Beginning

Here are a few pictures of what the kitchen, dining room, and patio looked like when we bought the house. The kitchen looked so big but it really wasn't once we moved in. We knew the moment we saw it that this kitchen would not work for us. Plus, those who know me know I HATE the black and white stove look. I feel like I am sharing my deep dark secret by showing the kitchen, it is something I like to hide. It is worse now that the refrigerator and washer and dryer are in there. Those pictures will be posted soon.

P.S. The neighbors car didn't stay there, it isn't that kind of area.

-Heather

Time to Renovate!!

When we moved from Florida to Virginia I swore we would not buy another house that needed renovations but............here we go again!!! We bought our house for the size, it was a house that we could afford and still get the space we needed. Going from 900 SF to 2300 SF has been wonderful but we knew we would need to do the kitchen in this house. As we have lived here we have found other projects that need to be done. Feel free to check in on our renovations. So far we have painted most of the house but that was for color preference and decorating but as we change we may add some pictures. My mom helps decorate from a distance so this helps her see what we are doing. Our current project is the kitchen which also requires the new laundry room that requires work on the family room and demo to the back patio that will then lead to the regrading of the yard and it goes on and on. As we move forward we will document more of what we are doing. Enjoy, we won't be until it is done!!

-Heather