Workbench Creations

Faux brick <shudder>
Nice to have the kitchen how you want it...I think it's often easier to rip it all out and rebuild than trying to redecorate someone else's ideas.

Del
_{BTW I love those Harem pants}

Thanks-- you should see my tropical hawaiian print ones! -_^ (Gotta love crummy work clothes)

I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to keep those beautiful green cabinets!

Well, for one, the lower left cabinet "drawer" turned out to be a piece of green-painted cardboard... -.-

Haha!

But I agree with Del, it is probably much easier to remodel the kitchen and be happy when you move in than to move into the house thinking "one day I will remodel this..."

I wasn't criticising, I was agreein with their approach.
I was thinking that what they were doing does qualify as re-modelling (with a little re-use of materials where appropriate).
It's a matter of degree I s'pose...the good thing is doing that work yourself which saves a shed load of money.
The prob of ripping stuff out is the horrors you uncover.
When me & Mrs Cat did our kitchen/diner which spans the house/extension I had to level the floor in the extension end...it took a whole barrow load of cement to level the sucker. We re-used a fair bit of carcasing but had all new work tops and cupboard/drawer fronts (and I repainted all the cardboard...joke)

I really meant it's the big strip out rather than the piecemeal which is worth while.
Oh dear I'm sounding like a nit picking pedantic old cat now.

_{I remember when I was a kitten...}
Del

You'll find no disagreement here-- I'm sure I would have been miserable living with the kitchen the way it was laid out! The only misfortunate thing was that it put our renovation timetable quite a bit longer than we originally intended.

The big advantage is, of course at the end of it, youll know were all the pipework wires, switches, junction boxes etc are and you'll be fully conversant with the 'little idiosyncrasies' of the heating, plumbing etc.
Which reminds me, it's the time of year to drain down my solar hot water panels.
Del

Mello,

Just finished reading your three blog entries, and I can relate. We bought a place about two months ago, and we're doing many of the same projects. Although not our first home, this one needs much more TLC than the one we're leaving did when I bought it. Our new kitchen cabinets are supposed to be delivered tomorrow, and it's going to be a complete redo on the layout, meaning electrical, plumbing, and wall demolition/rebuilding. We've also had to deal with pet-stained flooring and odors, and many other cases of shear neglect. It's hard to believe that a house that was built in 1985 could fall into such disrepair in the short time the previous owner had it!

We've done most everything ourselves so far, with me going to the place nearly everyday after my "regular" job, and then the wife and I spending a lot of weekend time there together. Unfortunately, no family close to call on for help! I wish I had done a better job of "documenting" our progress with photos and such, I just don't seem to think of it until after the fact. I guess I get tunnel vision when it comes to tackling a project like this, and all I think about is seeing it through to completion.

Perhaps we can trade more stories as we both go through this process, although I don't want to hijack your blog! Good luck to you and yours, and please do keep up the postings.

Tom

tdesmit,

Sounds like we're very much in the same boat! My schedule is the same: go to work, then head to the house for a couple hours, then have my hubby's help on the weekends. We may have gotten a lot done while my parents visited, but there is still SO much more to do.

I'm hoping this weekend we can get the drywall up in the bathroom so it will be more complete by the time my "Bathroom Remodel" blog comes out!

...and I totally agree-- how can homes that are only 20 or 30 years old have been neglected to such an extent?? I'm only now starting to feel like it's becoming a HOME rather than just the junk house we bought.

I worked on renovations and remodeling for eight or nine years depending on whether you count the time I was in the hospital and recovering from a story fall through an open stairwell onto a slab of concrete.

Several of the homes renovated, or remodeled, or put additions onto really ought to have been completely demolished.

You'd be surprised how many birds, snakes, or bugs live in your home.

The foundation and the roof, how water is controlled is extremely important, and they don't call it a "roof over your head" for nothing.

P.S. Wire snips are best for carpet staple pulls, along with scrapers. The Sawsalls are invaluable when doing demo. For breaking baths a sledgehammer is recommned. A digging bar is good to have around. The sawsall will cut up fiberglass shower stalls etc.

I feel your pain, what with my better half and I being 5 years into an almost total renovation! Good luck, and take lots of pictures. There will come a day when you look back and be amazed at how bad it looked in the beginning. By the way, be glad it was faux brick. My P.O. had installed real brick as flooring in almost the entire main floor. I took near 5 tons (9800lbs) of brick to the landfill. Then, of course had to replace all the doors because now there was a 2" gap at the bottom. Fun stuff.

Safety note: Go down to one of the Marts, K or Wal, doesn't matter, and spend $40 on a pair of safety shoes. An ounce of prevention is worth a couple of trips to the ER/urgent care for broken toes, nails in the foot, etc... Please????

Brick floor!?!? This had to be a "slab" house, built on a concrete slab. I don't see how a house with conventional floor joists and a basement could hold that weight!

Tom

You are correct, sir! Slab floor, indeed. The best part, in a purely masochistic way, was that when they did the floor, they rearranged the bathroom. Good thing, the layout was better. Bad thing, after the removal of the brick, I now had a cast iron toilet flange sticking up 2 1/2" above my floor. I was tempted to just build a pedestal around it, elevating the toilet to true "throne" status.

Wife wouldn't go for it.

Wow... brick floor? That's crazy! All that square footage lost in the height of the bricks, too. We're replacing a bunch of the doors just because they are in terrible shape (owner had a giant dog who apparently liked to scratch them).

Thanks for the shoe tip-- I'm all about "Safety first!"

I just purchased a fix er upper. Needs a new kitchen, and a rebuild on the one bath. Second bath could stay the way it is, if it was not burgundy and grey tiles. That bath has enough ugly for the entire neighborhood. House still has jalesey windows, and all of the original aluminum storm shutters from when th house was built around 1952. I want to put ceramic tiles down over the terrazzo floors. I need to install a central air conditioner, but will need to change out the lousy windows to keep the house cool. It may need a roof, and there are signs of termites.

There is a gigantic rubber tree in the back yard. It gives me plenty of shade while I clean out the eleven enclosed sheds. The PO had illegal immigrants living in them thirty five years ago. I have finally made it through the first shed. I am planning many trips to the scrap yard, along with a few yard sales. I still have not been able to get closer to the Renault Fuego in one shed. I will work towards that one next.

I still have not been able to get closer to the Renault Fuego in one shed. I will work towards that one next.

So you've come clean eh? This gem is why you've purchased this relic from a bye-gone era and toiled so hard.

I would remove the cabinets before the faux brick I think...

I was hopping to get the Fuego in with the Madoff items being auctioned, but it seems I am too late.

I will start removing the cabinets as soon as I empty them this week. As for the brick work, This house was occupied by Mexicans for the last 40 years. One of the ocupations they seem to have taken over in this area is the paver installation.

I have more varieties of pavers in the front and sides of this house than the paver factory.

I find removing the interior applied paver's and brick etc. easier by floating the area with a water mixed with muriatic acid solution. They come up much easier after the acid bathes the mortar a bit.

My paver install is outside. A curved drive with all types of styles and designs. Also an additional straight drive done in mixed sections. But the gaps were filled with concrete. Plenty of pavers, but how to make something decent looking without having to buy all new, and throw away all of the old. Thanks for your advice. Is it workable outside to separate the pavers?

Yes the acid will leave mortar in a very weak state. Use between 5 and 10 percent mix of acid to water.

When used on concrete it can make it look like new again

Thank you for the information. I will try it out before I pay for destroying these pavers. I feel I owe you one.

I myself have done some scrubbing on verticals around brick and stone fireplaces.

It was not a particularly happy job.

I did not find in my experience that the muratic acid was all that effective to my eye and forget the dilution.

I do suspect that for Bob C's application on the horizontal it will be effective.

I do wonder how long you estimate ought to be allowed between the acid "floating", or dousing, or mopping you would suggest required to degrade the mortar?

Wow-- good luck with the renovations and the major shed cleanups! Sounds like you have a lot of hard work ahead of you.