when i first looked at my house back in 2012 when i was house shopping i knew that 100% the kitchen was a complete re-do needing to happen. it is a super cramped 10x11 foot space that was being terribly utilized when it came to arrangement of cabinets. see below:
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| oooh, sexy almond laminate -- and check out that linoleum! |
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| wasted wall space |
i saw a kitchen on a favorite decor site and was inspired! i decided to start planning my imaginary kitchen renovation. that was 18 months ago... i had a plan, a design, a budget, and two voluntary workers (read: mom and dad). i knew i would need a professional plaster guy to fix the ceiling in three rooms due to the water damage from a leaky roof issue (let's not get into that drama here, this is a positive space) and an electrician to bring the kitchen up to code and get me needed outlets for the magic i was planning. other than that, it would be all me (and my parents).
let the gutting begin!! August 2nd it began -- me and Mama Sue
first thing worth mentioning: it is ok to *think* you have a plan when you demo, but it probably won't work. for instance - the cabinets were caulked to the walls (not joking) and the screws were ALL STRIPPED, so they had to be ripped out of the wall and not backed out properly with the screwdriver. the cabinets were caulked to the floor as well. basically they got smashed to pieces. messy messy and unnecessary. oh well. second! i turned off the power to the kitchen but still shocked the CRAP out of myself because it turns out the garbage disposal line was connected to the outside electrical box and not the breaker located inside. lesson learned. this took a full day (11am-7pm). then we found this:
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| blurry -- but that is mold. cringe. |
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| mild claustrophobia + respirator mask = stress |
i knew there was a high risk of mold and water damage under the linoleum because the leak in the roof before i moved in was significant and it reared its ugly head again my first summer after purchasing. however, i had no idea it involved the majority of the subfloor. it smelled. we packed up the cats, dog, and basically my entire life and i moved into my parents' house (love them!).
oh! and there is this other detail -- where the water shut off at the street wouldn't shut off the water completely, so the tiny leak at the compression fitting on my cold water supply kept spraying water. charming. that was fixed by hacksawing the compression fitting and replacing both with new stop valves (they were super corroded anyhow).
on the way home i cried on the inside and started attempting to figure out how the heck i was going to remove three layers of linoleum and vinyl tile that has melted into a chunk of plastic goo adhered to subfloor..... more on that in the next posting.
i'm incredibly excited about this -- i am hoping to cry no more than twice and say less than a thousand cuss words ( we are already far, far into that reserve). yay home ownership! PS bagster bags from waste management are amazing! pile it full of crap ($29.99, i think) and then you pay about $140ish for them to pick it up. magic.
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