Buttoned-up part 2 - Unbuttoned

So we had been optimistic too soon. Meeting with the contractors late last week, we talked about some cracking in the ceiling, some scab boards that they had put on the joists for additional strength, the fact that our joists were 2x6 and not 2x8 or 2x10 to support the island cabinet configuration and some ceiling bowing in general. The options were to pull it all down and put up new drywall or to seam it together and hope that it didn't crack later - despite the progress we had made, we opted to do it right and get the entire new ceiling.

Of course the road to hell is paved with good intentions - and we found that the reason the ceiling was cracking was because of a couple of weak, and one completely cracked, joist - incidentally the joist that the cabinets would have been secured to. 

When asked, by my brother, what I would have done if we had gotten to the finish point and the ceiling had falled down, I told him that I just would not have had words for it. We're all better off having done the work up-front. Though our kitchen looked like a cellulose insulation bounce-house...

Buttoned up...part I

So our electrical was more of a mess than they realized and they ended up cutting conduit into all of the walls (in fairness - I warned the contractors that this was the case).

We were also very excited to have insulation back on our ceiling since our house had been bleeding energy for about a week or so with the gaping hole to the attic.

You can bury anything in concrete...

is what Daniel from Yoder Dame said. And that's a good thing. The drain pipe for the kitchen wasn't, at all, where I had expected it to be. It actually stubbed out in front of where the fridge was supposed to be places...and right after I had ordered cabinets! It's all good though. They had already planned to run 220 and 110 through conduit to the island anyway for the range and an outlet. This was just going to take a little more time...with a concrete saw...and a jackhammer. We live in a world of dust!

Three layers of flooring!

The guys uncovered 3 layers of flooring - not sure if we expected more or less...but there was also some moisture. Now that the floor is bare, nothing has resurfaced, so that is good.

K-Day - the start of the kitchen remodel - 02.12.13

After two weekends of heavy wallpaper stripping as prep, the guys from Yoder Dame construction showed up to begin work. After cutting a hefty check for half of the job, Daniel got the crew going on demo. In the next few days, the floors would come up, the soffits would come down and the guys would spend a lot of time "deconstructing" areas of the half-way to preserve the original wood and trim for us as replacements/in-fill as time goes on.

Catch-up post - Flooring with the Schindlers part deux

We're taking it back to the oldschool...
So this post is the post to catch up on floors which were done almost two years ago now.
MUCH credit and thanks go to Bryan and Amber Schindler.

Basically - we did it over the course of two days. Complete demo (there was some linoleum tile under the hallway), lots of vacuuming, some concrete filling and patching along the edges of the slab, vapor barrier and then floors. With many trips to the chopsaw and a lot of time on hands and knees tapping it together, the flooring looked beautiful. Trim needed to be done still, but with less than a week until Rory's debut (little did we know at that time) it came together right as it needed to.

Catch up post - FLOORS! with the Schlinders.

With Rory only a few weeks away from arrival, we were in high-gear trying to get some of the big items done. #1 item was the flooring and it was going to have to be a quick go because a house without a floor just isn't a home!
We had picked Home Legend Strand Woven Toast Bamboo in an engineered click-lock flooring (because our house is slab-on-grade - we need an engineered product with a vapor barrier below - Image courtesy of HomeDepot.com).

As a side note - when you order flooring: JUST PAY FOR DELIVERY. You have no idea how much the cases of this stuff weigh. I went to to our Depot with our Rav 4, because it had space for most of the product. It did not, however, have the suspension for it. I opted for a delivery fee instead of a new axle, shocks, tires - whatever would have given first.

Luckily - my Brother-in-Law Bryan took some pity on us and with promises of free food and beverage and "that this experience was going to be fun" we were able to persuade him and Tiffany's sister Amber to come down. How hard could it be afterall? 31 cases of flooring stacked on our hearth...let's go.