Kitchen Demo Begins (Saturday, April 26)

After months of planning and making difficult budget-busting/saving decisions and wading through minutia and compromising and encountering marriage-testing discussions, Tim and I have finally, officially and physically begun our kitchen rehabilitation.

Here are a few before shots to help paint the scene.

In August 2007, we made the easy to decision to renovate the kitchen. Ever since we moved in, the kitchen posed challenges and frustrations - from the ugly laminate floor and the easily-stained white ceramic countertop and sink, to the poorly placed, leaky dishwasher and the outdated appliances. Also, while we loved the buffet-style counter, especially for entertaining, we desperately wanted better access between the kitchen and the dining room. So we created a budget and a renovation plan. Tim's brother, Ian, a general contractor by trade has been and is our key source for guidance on budget, design, procurement, contracting and other kitchen rehab essentials. He is also a major force, with Timmy, on the labor side of things - a huge HUGE reason our budget could withstand a rehab of this size.

During the rest of the year, Tim and I embarked on our research mission - sporadic, though, until the first of 2008 when we kicked our decision-making into gear. Cabinets first, then appliances were purchased. Before we knew it, the cabinets were ready for delivery and we hadn't chosen a countertop or a floor. True, we were nearer to our decision on a faucet, but after four weeks of exhaustive research, you should be able to choose the right faucet - and we did. And soon after, although, painstakingly, we settled on the perfect granite countertop and porcelain tile.

So we scheduled demo for Saturday, April 26. Ian arrived at 9 a.m. with McDonald's breakfast - the essential launch to any major house renovation. A geyser-like pipe explosion, a few hidden treasures found inside the cabinet bases, a structural scare, and four hours of four layers of floor removal were some of the exciting snippets of the tiring eight-hour day, illustrated below.



Most of the cabinets have been removed. The major piece of countertop is yet to be taken out. Underneath this piece of countertop, we found a prayer card with Jesus on it. We determined this was a very good sign for a safe and successful rehab.









Removing the last of the cabinets uncovered a daunting discovery: The only structural "support" in our open-floorplan living area meant to hold up the ceiling and roof in that part of the house barely supported anything. We speculate that previous owners constructed the jenga-like post when they knocked down walls to open up the living space. Thankfully it never posed a problem, and now we have the opportunity to remove the miscontructed post and properly install a support structure that will prevent our house from falling down.










Close ups of the post. Notice how many different pieces of wood are used to build the post. Also, at the bottom, the pieces are stacked dangerously uneven.


































The kitchen floor was composed of four layers of laminate - from the ugly country floor we've been walking on for the last two years to what we believe was the original floor from 1952. And it took four grueling hours to remove it. Every layer had to pried up individually. At one point Ian crafted a pry bar from a 2x4 and hammered it underneath the layer of floor we were removing. It was the best leveraging agent we had, but didn't completely alleviate the challenge.






Most of the floor layers came up in wooden shards and plastic bits and pieces, creating a further challenge - not just in the removal but the clean up.











First hard day's work finished.