Monday, January 28th, 2008
Ever since I went out this past Saturday and purchased a new dishwasher, I have been preparing for its delivery and installation. The appliance store will be doing the delivery and I will be doing the installation.
Setting everything up is actually pretty fun. This post is about the plumbing part of it. Here are a few photos to get things kicked off. It’s simpler than one might think…
The first thing I did was to drill two holes in under the sink in the wall facing the dishwasher. In this photo, you see four holes. That’s because I drilled the two upper holes first. Then, I thought for a little while. I figured that I had no idea what the back of this new dishwasher was going to look like and how tight the fit was going to be. Those two first holes may be too high and go right into the side of the dishwasher “tub.” I then thought that it would be a better idea to drill two holes in the floor of the sink cabinet and then out the side down below. I know the tub part sits up a few inches, so this should clear everything. For now, these two hoses don’t go to anything, since the dishwasher isn’t here yet, but just in case you were curious, the fat hose is the drain hose and the braided one is the hot water feed.
This next picture is of the drain hose hooked up to the sink drain. This was pretty simple to install. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell these pieces of pipe with the drain spout sticking out. All I did was to remove the existing pipe and trim the new one to length. Then, I popped it in and hooked up the hose with a hose clamp. On the inside of the pipe is sort of a “shield” so the water will only go in one direction. Pretty nifty.
This is a photo of the hot water feed that is currently connected and the new braided hose with the “T” connector. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell these connectors especially made for this. I am going to connect the white hot water hose in the back to the top part of this T. That will also give that white hose some slack.
That’s about it for the plumbing part of the dishwasher preparation. All that’s left is the electrical and the actual dishwasher installation. I will share when they are finished.
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Friday, January 25th, 2008
So today was all about getting the kitchen sink working again. That has really been the pain in my side this whole time.
There is actually a funny little story that goes along with today. As you know, we installed the old sink and faucet in the counter top last night. I was trying to save a few bucks…kill me. The sink is white and I wasn’t sure if it would match the rest of the kitchen. The faucet is aged brown. After we installed them, they actually did match pretty nicely. Tim, next door, called me cheap because I was using the old stuff. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw a perfectly good sink in that big garbage island in the Pacific.
Anyway, I took a trip down to Lowe’s this morning to pick up some plumbing stuff for under the sink as well as a range vent. I needed the vent for the light above the oven. I like to turn off the main kitchen lights at night, but keep the small ones on. I got the stuff from Lowe’s and came home to hook it all up. I hooked up the vent first…
The reason I got this new vent is because the old one was 36″. This new kitchen only offers a 30″ space. I think it looks pretty good. I even got extra small CFLs as lighting.
One other thing about lighting…I finally found CFL candelabras. Can you believe it? They were right in Lowe’s. I got four of them for the ceiling fan lights.
Ok, back to the sink. I hooked up all the plumbing beneath the sink and was very excited to see the water running in the kitchen once more. I stood up and moved the faucet lever backwards. You know the little sprayer thing that you can pull out? It’s the thing attached to the hose. Well, it decided to spray all over me. Actually, the handle was cracked in half and that’s where the water was coming from. I was a little ticked off. I guess there was water in the system when I stored the whole sink and faucet system out on the porch for a month and a half (during Winter). The faucet wouldn’t work. I checked under the sink to see if there was anything I could do. Apparently, the only option I had was to buy a new faucet. I priced out what was already installed and it came up to $218. That ticked me off even more. I found a great looking “Peerless” replacement at only $62. I ran back down to Lowe’s (which ticked me off) and got it and put it in.
Here is a nice photo of the plumbing job I did under the sink…
Everything works beautifully now. Tomorrow, I am running over to a neighboring town to buy a dishwasher. They deliver for free, so they are my kind of people.
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Saturday, December 8th, 2007
I set a goal for myself today…to finish the kitchen. That didn’t happen. It almost did. All I have to do now is to sand the joint compound, reapply and then sand again. Then, I paint…and all done for me. Well, I still have to do some prep work for the floor, but that’s fun.
I have amassed some tips for drywalling. These are from my brother, Jeff and my neighbor, Tim. There are only three…
1. Mark the ceiling and floor where the studs are. This will help when it comes time to screw.
2. Hang the drywall vertically. This will help not have “mounds,” since you will be butting the beveled edges together.
3. Start in the middle of the wall. This helps the cut edges stay in the corners.
See, that helped me in my drywalling endeavor, and I have never even done this stuff before. I am a little proud of myself for kicking ass today.
So, do you remember those before photos? Well, I have some “in the middle photos” for you now.
This was today after Paul came over to pick up the cabinets. I had to single-handedly unhook the sink piping and cut apart the wood underneath. That was a real pain. Then, I had to cut the counter top and unscrew them (from being screwed together). Then, I had to unscrew them from the floor. I am not sure why they screwed to the floor. Did these people think the cabinets where going somewhere? Maybe that’s the norm. Anyway, I finally got everything away from the wall so I could work. I finished taking down all the sheetrock and was ready to put it back up.
For the rest of the afternoon, I hung sheetrock and taped. I really like taping and am glad I got the five gallon bucket of joint compound. I fly through the stuff and it’s nice not to have to worry about running out.
So as I said above, all I have to do is finish up the walls and paint. Then, prep the floor for the tile guy and my job is done. All Laura and I have to do at that point is to wait for the kitchen guys to show up with the cabinets (in a very messy house).
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Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Today was a pretty busy day for us.
I think one of the most fun things about me is that I have no plan. This morning, while I was sitting at my computer, I decided to call Lowe’s to make an appointment for Laura and I to head down and meet with someone. I had my measurements all set. I called and made the appointment for Wednesday at 7PM. I kept pacing back and forth, because the woman I spoke with on the phone had no business designing kitchens, much less answering a telephone. I wasn’t at ease.
I was talking to Laura about it when I decided to give the local place a call, just to talk. We talked and they sounded good. He invited us up for a visit. At 11AM, we pulled in the parking lot of the showroom. We walked in and were impressed with what they had. Everything looks so damn good in those places. We talked for a bit and we told the guy what we wanted. The room is fairly simple, so there really were no curve balls.
Ok, let’s get to the point. At the end of the visit, I found myself writing a check for 5% of the project. After Laura and I left, we headed to the tile place and picked out some really nice 13″ tile for the kitchen floor. We also scheduled the tile installation for the first week of the new year. Then, we got some food at the food store, but that’s not important.
Ok, here is the shnazzy design he created for us, based on what we said we wanted.
This is the window wall that faces the backyard. We went with the darker brown color. The wood is solid maple. We are getting a dishwasher, so that is going to be a nice addition to what we have. The upper cabinet all the way to the right is going to have glass in the doors. The corner cabinet is going to go all the way to the ceiling and have glass, but different than the others. This one is going to have panes in it. The bottom corner is going to have shelves, not the lazy susan thing. We vetoed that. All the cabinets are going to have crown moulding. We already have a nice sink with faucet, so we are keeping that.
This is the continuation of the “L.” I guess this is pretty self explanatory. Nothing new here, except that we are keeping the same refrigerator and oven. They are both new and stainless. From what I have been hearing, stainless is the cat’s meow for this half-year. Next half-year, I’m sure it’ll be something different.
This is the wall heading out into the hallway. This is a great new feature…a pantry. This piece comes with five adjustable shelves. We are most likely going to take most of them out, so we have somewhere to keep the vacuum. Also, the counter top to the right is a nice place for the cats to eat.
We are using them to install everything, except for the floor. Their price as a whole, is higher than Lowe’s, but believe it or not, the installation is less. We did get the least expensive counter tops. Whatever it is, it will be fine, I’m sure. We have another appointment next Thursday to go back to the showroom and finalize any colors or designs. Also, we have to pick out the color of the counter tops and choose what hardware (handles) we want.
I feel pretty good about this. I like the way I know who is taking care of the ordering, shipping and installation. That is what was making me nervous about the other places. Also, now that I have the designs, I can only fix the portions of the walls that need to be fixed. That is going to save a heck of a lot of time.
I really didn’t plan on doing this today, but I am glad we did. At least things can get ordered and we can have the project done early in the new year.
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Monday, November 5th, 2007
I just got back from Home Depot. I bought a “Super Ring” to place over the exisiting closet flange (part of the toilet drain pipe). I am not sure I needed this part, but I wanted to have it on hand, just in case I notice a problem when I remove/replace the toilet after the tiling is done. As I mentioned before, when I was unscrewing one of the mounting nuts, the bolt kept on turning. I am thinking that perhaps the closet flange is cracked in that area. Someone most likely tried to over-tighten the toilet mounting bolts.
Along with the “Super Ring,” I also bought some brass mounting bolts. It’s my understanding that the steel mounting bolts decay due to moisture and the brass ones don’t. In the package were traditional mounting bolts as well as bolts that have half machine threads and half wood threads. So basically, these are about 2 1/2 inch rods. I am still at a loss of why I can’t just drill holes through the floor and slide bolts right through the whole thing. I mean, everything is easily accessible down in the basement and there is just a piece of plywood between floors. This stuff isn’t rocket science.
I suppose I will just use the wood threads and tap into the plywood sub-floor. That is probably the easiest route.
It is becoming apparent to me that many things having to do with household repairs make no sense. People make products that are way too complicated for what needs to be done.
Oh, by the way, I also saw flexible sink drain hose. It just clamps on. Someone out there is thinking.
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Sunday, November 4th, 2007
I thought I should take a few pictures to show you what I was talking about in the last post when I mentioned that I was having difficulties with moving the vanity, due to the water feed pipes.
From my previous post…
Well, then I hit a snag. I opened the doors to get under the sink. I removed all the stuff under there and noticed that there was a drain pipe (PVC) and two copper water feed pipes. Well, the two copper pipes were poking up through two holes drilled in the thick wood base of under the sink. I started to think how the heck I was going to get the sink pulled out, when there was no way to do that with those pipes the way they were. I had to drill, grind and cut a chunk of the wood base away. I must say, the first time this vanity was installed probably was a snap. Removing it wasn’t. That took a few hours, I’m sure.
Do you see what I am talking about? I had to cut away that big chunk. I have to admit that I sat there for a few moments scratching my head, wondering how I was going to do that. I began by using my new Dremel, but later moved on to my reciprocal saw. The really hard part was getting to that board in the back, going down the wall. After I cut that, things were a little loose. I had to ask Tim next door for some wood. He gave me a chunk, which I cut and screwed in underneath as a brace. It’s good now.
Also, the drain pipe was leaking a little. Let me ask you a question…but first, take a look at this picture -
Who is the genious who thought up the idea of having 15 different pieces of PVC for about 12 inches of pipe? I mean, cars, buses, trucks and airplanes use nice, flexible pieces of hose all throughout their engines. They are under all different types of stress…temperature, movement and wear and tear. Those hoses last for years. Now, we move over to under a sink. The distance is less and the stress is much less. Yet, we need all different pieces to go one foot with a bend. WHOAAAA. A whole bend. Couldn’t we just use a flexible piece of hose with a bend in it with two hose clamps? I guess not. I went down to the hardware store this morning with this idea in mind. Nope, I came back with two packages and six different pieces. Oh yeah, by the way…can you think of a sink drain pipe that has ever leaked? Yeah, that’s a hard one. They leak too.
Sooo, I put that back together and we can use the sink again. Now, just waiting for the flooring guy to get here.
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