A significant amount of progress since we last posted...

It's been a while...

So, we've accomplished quite a bit since we last posted. Here is an attempt to catch everyone up on that progress.

In the midst of this:

We are also doing this:

Getting rid of the backing that was under the tile layer and under the vinyl floor in the kitchen. Meanwhile, while catching up on some sleep...

For that backer board, they used some staples to attach it to the sub subfloor


to hold it in place. Needless to say, those weren't coming out without a fight. So, we chose to leave them. They were coming out when we removed the next layer of sub-sub-subfloor anyway.

As we know, the kitchen had vinyl floor on top of a backer on top of other vinyl floor (the original to the house) because who doesn't like to put crap on top of crap?

So, when removing the refrigerator, there was this little gem. The new vinyl floor piece I pulled out is at the bottom, that's the backer board you see. Well, the water line to the fridge was plastic and had disintegrated into more than half a dozen pieces. Not sure how long this leaked, but it wasn't a great find.

Working through those layers brought me to this. Clearly the sub subfloor was water damaged, but was it damaged through to the subfloor? We'll have to wait to see. (SPOILER ALERT!!! Yes, it was a little)

Next, I took out the wire shelving in the laundry closet that we don't like. It was functional, but more than a bit crooked and not at all appealing to us.

Then, it was time to take a break. By that, I mean have to work a Friday, get sick, not do any work at the house, etc.

Now, it's late February and I've been able to get back to the demo work. It's time to take out the tile and all the layers in the laundry room. But, first there's a bit of lint to attend to.

You may wonder why there's so much lint under the washer. Yes, under the washer. Well, it's kind of everywhere. First, it appears that some water connection leaked (are we getting the sense of a trend here???). Then, you'll see they connected the dryer via solid ducting straight through the floor, like so:

There's so much to talk about with this picture. If only I could do it in under 1000 words... First, you see the hard duct going through the floor. They had the dryer connected via a 90 degree elbow and just set in place on that pipe. No clamps. No Screws. Nothing. Hmmm, wonder why it leaked a crapload of lint everywhere... Well, that hard duct is replacing the other, original flexible duct (wait for it) that's behind the square of duct tape, yes, duct tape, on the wall at the top of the picture above.  You'll also notice an outlet, with an oddly placed junction box, none of which is actually attached to the wall. Building code? What's that?

So, in keeping with the trend of quality repairs and high end finishes, you may wonder why someone would choose to put trim, vertically, in a corner from floor to ceiling. Here's why:

At this point, it is becoming clearer that the laundry room was original to the house. I found an old window that was removed when they put the addition on the back.

I was a little surprised they didn't just leave the window in place and drywall over it.

So, I continue taking down drywall. Now, why doesn't this bay of the wall have any insulation in it?

Simple. Mice. They love the pink stuff, kind of like the pink panther, only smaller and the chew on wires.



So, the rest of that room soon turned into this:

Once I had taken down the dividing wall drywall and framing formerly known as a closet.

Now, we're into the second week in March. Time is flying by. We still haven't selected a contractor yet. So, demo still continues, unabated.

Now, it's time to get back to the kitchen cabinetry demo and that sub subfloor removal, with a little help from the wife who's on something called spring break. Not sure what that is, but I hear it's some sort of youth craze. I took off a couple of days to take advantage of the extra pair of hands.

First, remove the dishwasher so we can get at the counter and all that wonderfully, hand-crafted, built-in cabinetry.

Yes, the top of the dishwasher is nice and warm and mice love it. Anyone want a dishwasher? I don't think any mice lived "in" it, so it should be ok, right?

In the meantime, taking out some of the sub subfloor that's not covered with cabinetry to see how it goes. It's painstaking, but goes pretty well. I used a circular saw and started in between nails and we pried that small piece out. Then, we worked our way out from there with pieces that were about 2-3' by 2-3'. 

We did a fair bit and then needed to tackle the cabinetry that was left to get at the rest of the sub subfloor.

So, now that that's done... is there anything related to plumbing in this house that hasn't caused damage? I haven't found it yet.



But, at least now we can get at that sub subfloor in the entire kitchen. Spent much of the spring break time getting most of that subfloor out and the remnants of the kitchen cabinetry

Then, we had a dumpster delivered.

And I loaded it with everything I wanted to get rid of... well, except for one thing.

 

Continued taking out the sub subfloor in the laundry room. At this point, it is obvious that it's original to the house. The vinyl flooring matches, it's at the same height as the kitchen floor, has insulation in the walls, an exterior door, a window... you see what I base my conclusion on.

Next, I put some caps on all those open pipes. Gas pipes and water pipes. I learned something about pipes. There are too many variations to plan on going to Home Depot once. Unless you know what you're doing. I'm clearly not a plumber, don't know what I'm doing, and, therefore, needed a second trip. Compression, flare fittings, straight thread, tapered thread, it's not obvious to me.

Gas Pipe that needed a cap to prevent the
leaking valve from filling the house with natural gas

One water pipe that was leaking because the valve wouldn't seal

I'm sensing a theme here... again.

Finally made it to the kitchen drywall behind where the refrigerator and dishwasher were. It wasn't pretty.

I was also able to tackle a good portion of the kitchen ceiling drywall that was going to need to be replaced.

And the drywall that was coming down for the beam to be put in and reworking the wall between the kitchen and the family room.

 Had a chance to get the drywall off the pocket door so we can dismantle that.

 Looks like I'll be getting some help today. Safety first. Where did those extra P100 filters go?

Since we're gutting the laundry room, the rest of the wall, door and door jamb had to come out.

It is now the first week in April. Time flies. So, we're about ready to sign a contract, have been working out the details with the kitchen planner and getting all the details of the scope of work finalized. We're looking at some significant insulation in that addition and laundry room, a couple of beams, some new hardwood floors and refinishing the old ones and plumbing and electrical as well as all the kitchen cabinets.

But, we still need to get a few more things done, like removing the carpet in the addition and one of the second floor bedrooms, removing ceiling drywall in the addition and laundry room for the installation of the insulation, access for the beams and lighting and electrical and we need to take out the rest of the half bath so we can redo the floors and possibly the vanity. Should keep us busy for a while.