Time for another round of kitchen updates - glass shelves installed!

[Brent Dowell]

What are you doing with the old cabinets? Were you able to save them or did they bite the dust as part of the demo?

 

[Darren Wright]

What are you doing with the old cabinets? Were you able to save them or did they bite the dust as part of the demo?

Other than the cabinet above the microwave (30" x 12") they've all come down unscathed, other than some 3/4" holes where the screws were stripped.

Since my daughter doesn't want them, I'm thinking I'll make use of what I can up in my shop. I currently have several tools on a folding table in one corner that was a "temporary" solution, done about 7 years ago.

 

[Darren Wright]

Got home late, but managed to get the floor where the island was patched in.

Yesterday I got a few tile removed. The front wall has some insulation issues and need to run some low voltage wires, so I'll just pull and replace the drywall. Will be minimal mudding to do and a good time to fix the insulation and draft issues.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

That flooring patch sure disappeared.

 

[Ted Calver]

Nice job on the floor patch and the tile removal. Looks like the tile popped off without tearing up the drywall too much. Do you think you can prep some of it for new tile or are you replacing all of it to fix the insulation issue? Good on you for tackling such an ambitious project.

 

[Darren Wright]

Thanks guys, my knees hurt from kicking the shorter pieces out to weave full size pieces in. Luckily I was able to re-use all of the pieces I kicked out.

Nice job on the floor patch and the tile removal. Looks like the tile popped off without tearing up the drywall too much. Do you think you can prep some of it for new tile or are you replacing all of it to fix the insulation issue? Good on you for tackling such an ambitious project.

One really weird thing I found about my house is that they framed the exterior walls with 2x4 studs, insulated, added vapor barriered it on the interior, then they nailed 2x2's over each stud to make the full width 2x6. This leaves an 1 1/2" gap with no insulation on the wall.

Only reasonable reason I can see they did this was they ordered windows and doors for 2x6 walls.

For most of the house, this has not been an issue, other than I've got R13 walls rather than R19. However in the kitchen where the soffit meets these 2x2's they didn't stuff in any insulation, so cold air in the attic just falls down and exits through all the outlets and the bottom of the drywall.

I'll eventually get some insulation blown in up there, but it's got several layers of batt insulation. Also, since we've got an addition planned, I've held off as it will just make it more complicated since we'll be re-drywalling the garage area and need to make some wiring changes in the main part of the house.

 

[Darren Wright]

BTW, I do plan to fill all the voids where the old cabinets sat and raise the new ones up to full height using 1/2" ply in the voids. I'm planning to have some of the same counters put on the black cabinets, they have plywood tops now, but will cut those out and to matching height of the new cabinets to make the transition the same height.

 

[Darren Wright]

Last night I finished filling up the trash barrel with the rest of the wall tile. It's a good thing the trash truck has one of those hydraulic arms on it, not sure the trash guy would have even tried lifting it otherwise.

Tonight was disconnecting the dishwasher and sink to remove the rest of the cabinets. Due to the water lines coming in from the crawl space, I opted to sacrifice the sink's cabinet. I'll have to redo the valves anyway since they aren't sealing shut, but just didn't feel like messing with plumbing tonight. I have a large cup catching drips from the dishwasher connection, a 5 gallon bucket for the two sink connections. I was thinking I may hook the old sink back up, but I think we'll just make do until I get the walls done and put the new sink after.


I also found some, what looks to be old, termite damage under the counter in the window. Again, I'm already planning to open up the drywall and do some insulation and wiring, will check for any other damage and go from there if it's too extensive or has a live colony.

 

[Ted Calver]

...I also found some, what looks to be old, termite damage under the counter in the window. Again, I'm already planning to open up the drywall and do some insulation and wiring, will check for any other damage and go from there if it's too extensive or has a live colony...

Let's hope those critters didn't do too much damage. Nothing worse than unexpected project creep. Are you going to replace the valves with the same kind, or are there better options that would make it easier to fix on down the line when the inevitable leak happens?

 

[Wayne Eikenberry]

...I also found some, what looks to be old, termite damage under the counter in the window. Again, I'm already planning to open up the drywall and do some insulation and wiring, will check for any other damage and go from there if it's too extensive or has a live colony.../QUOTE]

Let's hope those critters didn't do too much damage. Nothing worse than unexpected project creep. Are you going to replace the valves with the same kind, or are there better options that would make it easier to fix on down the line when the inevitable leak happens?

Quarter turn ball valves are a much better option. I've installed many of them as replacements for the old style leaky valves.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Quarter turn ball valves are a much better option. I've installed many of them as replacements for the old style leaky valves.

Be sure to 'exercise' them occasionally. Over time, they tend to stick a bit - even requiring pliers to turn them. DAMHIKT! Once 'broken loose' though, they work like new again.

 

[Darren Wright]

Let's hope those critters didn't do too much damage. Nothing worse than unexpected project creep. Are you going to replace the valves with the same kind, or are there better options that would make it easier to fix on down the line when the inevitable leak happens?

Yeah, I'm hoping there isn't much damage. I've done some ground treatments around the house annually, so could have been from some old damage that never was found. I haven't seen trails in the drywall like I've seen in the past where they ran out of wood to eat and moved on to the paper at least.

As Wayne suggested, I'll be putting the quarter turn valves on. I need to lower those pipes anyway as the new farmstyle sink sits much lower in the cabinet.

Quarter turn ball valves are a much better option. I've installed many of them as replacements for the old style leaky valves.

 

[Darren Wright]

Be sure to 'exercise' them occasionally. Over time, they tend to stick a bit - even requiring pliers to turn them. DAMHIKT! Once 'broken loose' though, they work like new again.

Good advice, thanks!

 

[Darren Wright]

Got back to working on the kitchen today and removed the drywall from the sink wall. Didn't find any visible termite damage, only that from crappy carpenters, electricians, and plumbers.

,

So I already knew from other projects that my house is framed with 2x4 exterior walls, which are insulated and have vapor barrier installed, but then have 2x2's nailed over each stud to make the walls 6" (but with an air gap). I'm really not sure why the exterior walls are done the way they are. I have two theories, 1) they ordered the wrong size of exterior window and door jambs (6" vs 4") or 2) they were trying to save costs on the electricians drilling studs and plates to run electrical. The second would explain the gaps that are about 16" off the floor, leaving a chase for wires and such to run. They still didn't use them in this case. The actually didn't even drill holes in the top plate to drop the wires down, they are just squeezed between the 2x4 wall and the 2x2 on top.

Either way, most of the longer strips are only nailed on with 2 or 3 nails and have lots of wiggle in them. Not something I want to hang a cabinet full of dishes or glasses on. so will be replacing several with full length studs and others will be secured with more screws. Also plan to clean up the wiring a bit and insulate more before re-drywalling.

I needed a better idea of how the kitchen sink cabinet was going to assemble, so went ahead and got a start on it. The company didn't make a cabinet for a farm style sink in 30", but the store manager had come across this issue before. He basically sold me the 30" cabinet and a pair of 18" doors to replace the ones on this cabinet with. I'll need to cut out the frame for the drawer and build a base inside for the sink to sit on. I'll most likely re-attach one of the rails I remove lower for trim, not that it will be seen as the doors are just below the sink. More to come on this later though. The materials used to build the cabinets is birch plywood, the fasteners leave a bit to be desired. I'll be using some glue and the brad nailer to firm things up as I assemble more. This one will come back apart to do the same, but they are decent quality for something that has to be assembled.

 

[David Johnson]

Quite a project. The surprises you find on taking someone else's work apart scares me to even start such a job.
David

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

I agree with David. It's often entertaining to see what others leave behind in hidden spots of a job. I'll be looking forward to seeing more about your experiences with the assemble-yourself cabinets. If ours ever get replaced, I suspect that's the way we'll go.

 

[Ted Calver]

I would think that if you replaced the 2x2's by adding the flat face of 2x4's centered on and screwed/glued to the existing studs (essentially making a T shape), you would give yourself a much wider surface to attach cabinets to and significantly increase the column strength of the existing studs.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

I would think that if you replaced the 2x2's by adding the flat face of 2x4's centered on and screwed/glued to the existing studs (essentially making a T shape), you would give yourself a much wider surface to attach cabinets to and significantly increase the column strength of the existing studs.

That sounds like a good idea. Wouldn't cost a lot, either.

 

[Darren Wright]

I would think that if you replaced the 2x2's by adding the flat face of 2x4's centered on and screwed/glued to the existing studs (essentially making a T shape), you would give yourself a much wider surface to attach cabinets to and significantly increase the column strength of the existing studs.

That sounds like a good idea. Wouldn't cost a lot, either.

I somewhat went that route, replaced 6 of the 2x2's. I mostly the ones that were going to support cabinets. The corners are dead corners, never is a good use of storage space anyway. All the remaining 2x2's were secured using 3" cabinet screws. Also ran them every 16" on the studs on the wall that I didn't open up. I haven't had draft issues on that side and didn't have any major wiring changes, so opted to leave it be.


I also changed out the flanges on all of the outlet boxes to support duplex outlets since there was room, all the counter level outlets will have room for 4 plugs now. probably will put in a couple of the usb charger outlets while I'm at it. The switch box to the right of the window was converted to have 2 switches, the original for the overhead light on the sink, the new one will switch the under cabinet lighting. Also added the low voltage wiring for the under cabinet lights to each section of upper cabinets, did some expanding foam around the window cavities under the upper counter, and added insulation in the 2x2 spaces.


I also did some exploratory digging into the termite damage, I pulled the piece out that was at the front of that upper counter top. I found no other damage in any of the surrounding wood. There was water staining in the cavity below that counter, but we've had rain lately and I found no moisture, so guessing it was old damage prior to the windows being upgraded and vinyl siding being added to the house. I did some insect treatment in the cavity and closed it up, replacing that one damaged piece.

Tormorrow I'm hoping to get some taping and mudding done, may start hanging cabinets by the weekend.

 

[Brent Dowell]

Wow, Plugging away. Great progress Darren!