Oogies Kitchen Remodel Nightmare

[OogieBoogie]

Recently Ms. Oogie and I decided to renovate our condo by tearing out our old 1964 kitchen and making it more modern. So 2 weeks ago we went kitchen shopping, found a cabinet style and design that we liked, found some great granite countertops, some new lights, and some new appliances (under cabinet microwave, electric stovetop / oven, and a new sink). The grand total for all the cabinets and appliances came out to a little over $7,000 thanks to the Ikea kitchen sale and a very nice employee discount. Adding in the cost for new lighting, some paint, some backsplash, extra materials, and electrical work and plumbing, we figure we are looking at about $10,000.

Our former Kitchen:





After much discussion on whether or not we wanted to do this (we are doing most of the remodel ourselves) we broke down and started work on it yesterday. Thanks to 3 friends of mine who came out to help, we managed to get the whole kitchen ripped out in just a few hours. That’s when we found a few problems.

The first problem we found is that whoever built our building did not use any kind of back board to attach the tile to. They just applied it straight to the drywall, so we are going to have to redo the drywall for most of the wall space.

Second, one of the shutoff valves on the water line doesn’t work. We can’t disconnect the dishwasher now until a plumber comes out and puts in a new valve.

Third, we found a LOT of mold in the drywall where the sink was and the electrical outlet that was under the sink is tinged with black mold.

Fourth, we found some PVC pipe behind our old pantry cabinet. It comes up from the floor and forms a large ‘L’ before going up through our ceiling. Further investigation revealed it to be the Comcast cable for the 2 units above ours. We now have to pay to have Comcast come out and move it.

Our 'Current' kitchen:






Ms. Oogie and I will be working on this a little each day. Stay tuned to see what happens next and to see if we can reach our goal of having this done in 2 weeks.

[SusieP.]

I wish you all the best. I have friends who just did an Ikea kitchen and they love it. We considered that, too, but found our contractor's wife's uncle could build us the cabinets for about the same price, so no allen wrenches for us. My husband did the demo himself, and I was scared to think what we might find behind our old, original cabinets, but so far we've been really lucky.

Ours is gonna be about 4 weeks. Granted, we are having someone build our cabinets for us, so a great chunk of that time is waiting for the cabinets and then waiting for the counters. We are just over a week in and our kitchen/laundry/downstairs bathroom floors are done. Recessed lighting is set. Wall prep starts tomorrow, and then some painting. We also had them scrape the ceiling... and now in the meantime we are also having a drop-down ladder installed for attic access.

You are far more ambitious than me. I hope you can make your 2 week goal. I'm excited to watch your progress!

[Stitchy]

you poor thing! I know what you are going through. My parents bought a house that had been repossessed by a bank when I was in third grade. With all that that implies, it took years of hard work and lots of unexpected surprises. But, everything they did turned out well worth the effort. Their house is now worth double what they paid for it...and they love it.

So, keep your head up....try to stay positive. Remember to take deep breathes, and dream about how good it'll look when it's done!

I can't wait to see how everything turns out.

[penguinsoda]

Wow! What a massive undertaking! But its actually a good thing you found the mold now and can get that taken care of! The apartment my daughter was in last year was full of mold, and she was sick for months until they moved!

Be sure and take lots of step by step pictures as you progress through your work! I want to see everything and see the finished product! I know it will be cool when you get done.

[Barbossa]

My sister remodeled her kitchen this summer, and put in new flooring in the dining area along with some tile. Did you say you want to get this done in two weeks? *laughing evily* Hahahahaha... My sister started her project in June, and the majority of it got completed in September. She still has to get her backsplash finished in the kitchen.

[OogieBoogie]

Update: We hit a couple of snags last night. Ms. Oogie started drawing on the walls where everything was going to go only to find that the vent we bought for over the oven won't match up with the vent in the ceiling. The vent that we bought is going to be about 6 inches to the left from where the hole in the ceiling is. Also we discovered that our dishwasher is hardwired, so we're going to have to have the electrician cut the wires on it so we can move it, then reconnect it (or have him put a plug on the end of it).

Some people complained about the wood and nails from our old cabinets being in the street, so I had to move the wood last night and remove the nails from it. The pile of wood isn't that big (about 8' x 4' x 2' high), so there wasn't a lot to move, it was just time consuming. Once the wood was moved though, I was informed that having it on the sidewalk was a $900 fine in Oakland, so I moved it back out to the street. My whole body is just one big ache today.

Today we're expecting delivery of the cabinets. All 150 boxes of it. I'll post pix tonight of the living room / storage room / building room tonight.

[amanda.collishaw]

Wow! I anxiously await pictures of the progress. Hope everything from here on out is smooth sailing for you though.

[SusieP.]

Exciting!

[OogieBoogie]

Thanks to my sister in law (Ms. Oogies Sister), a lot got done today...


The pile of wood that was once our kitchen cabinets finally got hauled off. A friend of Oogies father in law came in and took it for free. Other people we were looking to hire to haul it off were going to charge us $200 +




My sister in law vs drywall...





Because of all the dust that was kicked up from doing this, the kitchen is now sealed off from the rest of our place.



Around 2pm, our new cabinets were delivered...




Along with our new appliances.




We were able to get all the drywall out that had mold on it and expose the plumbing. The left most pipe in this picture is going to have to be moved about 2 feet to the right for our new sink. We have already arranged to have a plumber come by on Thursday.




This is the wall where the stove and microwave are going to be. The 2 thick cords are electrical (which are going to be moved next week), the pipe on the right is the Comcast cable which we haven't called Comcast about yet. Just to the left of the Comcast cable are 2 thin black cables which we haven't got the faintest idea what they are.






There are times like this I feel like we've gotten in over our heads.

More to come tomorrow.

[I Heart Disneyland]

WOW! That's a HUGE undertaking, but, I applaude you for doing it. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Timekeeper]

You Can Do This!

Timekeeper

[OogieBoogie]

No new construction last night. We did have the plumber come by however. He fiddled around with the broken valve and caused it to spring a leak. He couldn't fix it til this morning however, so we had a bucket under it (which we had to empty every hour on the hour) until he came back this morning.

I haven't heard what all chaos happened today, but as soon as I do, I'll post it.

[OogieBoogie]

After taking a weekend off from doing the renovation, Ms Oogie and I started up again yesterday. We had the plumber come to move our water and drainage pipes and to fix the valves that were busted. We ended up having to replace almost all the pipes in the wall. The cost wasn't that much though, only $800.





We also finished putting up the base for our new wall which will close off the kitchen and give us more counter space. (pictures to come soon). We didn't think we were going to be able to get this installed last night due to a fire in our condo complex (that took 2 hours only to discover it was a false alarm. They were welding in a unit on the 3rd floor. When they set off the alarm, they decided to just shut the door to the unit instead of telling everyone that it was a false alarm).




Today's project is with the electrician. He showed up today to help us move over some electrical lines, install 2 new jacks, make all the outlets GFI, disconnect the dish washer, and hook up our new oven and Microwave. As soon as he gets there (which was at 7am) he finds a problem. The wiring for our appliances is from the 1960's when everything was running off 40 volt lines. The new appliances run off 50 volt lines, which means that all the wiring in our kitchen needs to be redone. The total cost to rewire... $1000, PLUS the $125 an hour that the electrician is charging us. I'll post more later on tonight on how it all went.

New Plugs..




Lots of new jacks..





And to redo the wiring... lots of new holes in the drywall...

in my closet..




In the hallway ceiling..



and the kitchen ceiling...



It kinda reminded me of the old cartoons where someone grabs a wire that sticking out of a wall and it tears out the drywall.

[Stitchy]

you poor thing! Sounds like this "simple" renovation has turned into something MUCH bigger.

[SusieP.]

Originally Posted by OogieBoogie

The big surprise came this morning

:raised eyebrow: