Kitchen Refurb

[Stanley]

I like the laser level. It would have been handy for erecting engines!

[PanBiker]

I took the architraves off from the living room door, pantry and stairs today, I will do the back door and window when the sink and base unit comes out. When the plumber comes I will get him to cap of the sink and remove the small radiator in the kitchen this will make re plastering a lot easier. He can replace it when he comes to plumb in the sink and sort the gas feed for the hob.

I did three runs to the skips with all the wood that we have taken out, smaller and loose bits first, then all the doors and the last run with the old worktop.

I left a message for my joiner on his mobile and he called to see me at home this afternoon, we now have a job sheet started. He will route the worktops in the corners and do the cutouts required. We will need a new windowsill making and possibly raising slightly, the main DG pane in the kitchen window has blown so that will need replacing. He is going to call in to the property at some time when I am down there. No panic for him at the moment as there is a lot to do before he is needed, good job, he has a kitchen install on his books for next week.

Next phase is plumber and electrician, I need a best way forward from this point from the latter. I have rogue sockets not on rings embedded in skirting that need isolating and three separate blocks of light switches amalgamating or disconnecting (some switches are redundant), the existing functioning switches will have to be moved as they are currently where the fridge/freezer will reside. Best bet may be to install the new consumer unit and work from there, need to have a chat.

Nothing to do now until I have rubble bags, a new disposal permit and the new materials for the ceiling.

Some time in among the kitchen refurb I have to make an appointment with the Physio, another for my dental checkup and a third for my eyes testing, busier than when I was working!

[Stanley]

It's always the way when you retire Ian!

[PanBiker]

I'm not officially retired Stanley, well, not in receipt of my State Pension anyway, I'm not old enough yet. Casual part time, 7 years since I had a full time job in IT so basically unemployable in that sector now.

[Sue]

YOUNGSTER!

[Stanley]

If you can take time off to build kitchens you are retired!

[Tizer]

Is he part of the `gig' economy?

[PanBiker]

I don't figure in the unemployment figures that's for certain.

Back on topic, all materials bought for the new ceiling, just having a bit of dinner before I go and unload it. I will probably have a clean up before I do though as I was knocking old plaster off yesterday (a lot more to do yet), I got some rubble bags and my Inert Waste permit came today so I can shift what I have produced so far.

[Big Kev]

Back on topic, all materials bought for the new ceiling, just having a bit of dinner before I go and unload it. I will probably have a clean up before I do though as I was knocking old plaster off yesterday (a lot more to do yet), I got some rubble bags and my Inert Waste permit came today so I can shift what I have produced so far.

I recycled my rubble sacks 3 times, I couldn't bring myself to throw them in the skip until they were well and truly worn out

[PanBiker]

I have done the same, only had two bags to take, the 10 bag limit should be enough hopefully.

[Sue]

We did too when we did the kitchen at the cottage

[PanBiker]

I rang my son in law yesterday to nail a date for someone to call to sort the lighting issues out and figure out the wiring for the existing sockets that we need to loose. Ant or Nathan will be with me at 8am on Monday. I'll get them to leave me with the materials that I will need for the new ring. I need to get all these in place before we get Glenn our plasterer in.

Jack texted me yesterday to say that Scott his plumber will also be with me on Monday, he is going to cap off the hot and cold to the sink so I can shift it. He will also remove the radiator in the kitchen and put in the gas pipework needed for the new hob.

I contacted Kev and called when he got home from work to pick up the laser level. So, on a straight start this morning I set about getting a level around the room for the new studding. I started on the first wall with the easiest access to get the first level on. I temporarily fastened a vertical baton to the opposite wall, just a length of 1.5" x 1" which I fastened with a single plug and screw as a temporary fixing.

What a belting device the laser level is, it is housed in a plastic cube roughly 2" on the sides. The bottom has a screw mounting for a tripod but Kev has a short universal bracket with ball and socket joints and clamp to attach the device to whatever surface you choose. The clamp will open up to about 2" so no problem in attaching it to my baton. The front face of the device has a sliding front cover which when opened turns the unit on. The scanning laser is mounted on a gimbal that allows it to self level, the laser will not energise until the unit is orientated to allow the gimbal free travel within the housing. In the 3M long room the scan extended the full width of the opposite wall. It's at that point that you can see how far out of true the original ceiling is. The scan projects both a horizontal and a vertical line at a perfect right angle. Once the laser is correctly set on it's gimbal and projecting it's easy enough to alter the height by adjusting the clamp on the vertical baton. I marked up the first line and then used a straight edge to pencil the level on the wall. The scan runs slightly round the corner, so gives you a marker on the next wall to align the next scan to, just a case of moving the baton and repeating the process for each wall. I worked my way round the room and was very pleased to see that on the fourth wall both ends of the previously marked up walls joined perfectly on the last scan. I took me just over an hour to get a level line on all four walls to work to for the new ceiling.

I started on the studding after a bit of dinner. It's here that you find out how far out of true the walls are as well! The 2" x 2" sawn timber is not the straightest stuff to work with, it's really a case of finding the best length that will fit the anomalies in the wall in each case and easing it with the plugs and screws to get it to match the level. I have managed to get the first two lengths up today. I'm using 2.4m length's of timber which as near as makes no difference matches one of the dimensions of the room. I started on this wall and then continued with the next length down the longer 3m wall. I am fixing the outer frame with 80mm frame fixings, I may get some 100mm ones for where the frame needs pulling up a bit further. I will continue down the other wall and then put some of the cross members in. I will end up with an odd 300mm gap which I have decided to have at the cooker hood end. I want to get all the framework up before Monday so we can get the cabling up for the downlights before fitting the plasterboards, so, more of the same tomorrow.

[Stanley]

The old builders didn't have lasers..... I once measured Hey Farm when I was considering a now roof. It's a fairly large building and I was surprised to find that there was only 2" difference in the diagonals.

[Big Kev]

A quick 'tosh' of paint on some of the kitchen walls this morning has brightened things up. Surprising how many mucky fingerprints won't wipe off of "wipe clean" paint, small boys have a lot to answer for.

[PanBiker]

Nathan called yesterday and we spent some time planning the new electrical installation for the kitchen which will also involve moving all the light switches and rewiring the front room centre light as there is no earth on the lighting side and all the new cabling into the consolidated switches will of course be to current spec, so it's a case of upgrading as we go. That will involve access via the bedroom floor. All switch points new ring main and switch fused points for the oven and hood extractor have been planned into the design. We will hide some of the isolation switches inside cupboards and base units. I will cut all the back boxes into their relative places once we have all the plaster off before cabling up.

We have had to redesign the ceiling studding to accommodate ducting to take the vent out between the kitchen door and window. We could not get enough spacing away from the boiler flu with the original design. This involves creating a 25cm wide clear trunking run 2m back from the chimney position and then a 90 degree turn to the outside wall. I have allowed enough leeway in the width of the duct over the hood to cater for final horizontal alignment of the units below as this in turn will depend on the finished size of the walls after plastering. Consequently we needed a few more lengths of 2"x2" and another pack of corner brackets. It also leaves part of the ceiling frame unsupported in relation to the rest of the studding as the cross members no longer run straight through from wall to wall. I can get round this by fitting a wood spacer above the floating bit of the new frame and existing ceiling, then screwing into a joist above. We are progressing well with this but ran out of light today when I had to take the existing lighting bar down to fit one of the stringers, we only have two more to fit tomorrow and arrange our skyhook and it will be ready for cabling for the downlights and ducting for the hood. I will need to rig a temporary single drop light, I have one somewhere that I used for my kitchen.

Jack will be doing his washing tonight as we need to get the machine out of the way tomorrow. The sink will be coming out on Monday and I can then crack on with stripping the rest of the plaster.

My mains powered Bosch hammer drill packed up today, luckily just after I had drilled the last frame fixing. I have had it for about 30 years and it has done a lot of work. I brought it home and pulled it apart tonight, a spade connector on one of the brush holders had corroded and broken off. Fortunately there was enough metal on the terminal for me to clean it up and solder the lead directly to it, I popped a bit of heat shrink over the newly made connection, rewired it back to the trigger switch and we are good to go again.

[Wendyf]

Col has a couple of short (2ft?)fluorescent tubes fastened to wooden mounts with long mains flexes....its amazing how useful they have been over the years, both in the house and beneath vehicles undergoing repairs in the barn.

[Big Kev]

There's a single drop fitting here you can use if you can't find yours, Ian.

[Stanley]

That's what I should be doing Kev.......

[Big Kev]

That's what I should be doing Kev.......

I only "toshed" the high traffic areas, I would have only done the bottom 4ft if I could have got away with it. Youngest grandson comes round every Wednesday and causes havoc for the day including wiping his mucky hands on the walls, the handprints will get higher

[PanBiker]

Finished off the studding for the new ceiling, managed to find a convenient joist above to anchor the floating section to. I sketched out all the back box positions as we drew them all up on the wall and the next job will be knocking all that off. We moved Jack's washer out into the living room, with all the flat pack units in there there's not a lot of room but that will get bigger as we start to build them up. The washing machine will make a good building platform, just about the right height. A way to go before then though.
Scott comes tomorrow to disconnect the sink and kitchen radiator, we need the cold stop tap that is under the sink altering as well, it currently sits side on to the wall and pokes through the side of the original sink unit. It needs turning round and actually raising a few inches as it also runs into the base of the cabinet. Scott wants to put the pipe work in for the gas hob as well so he will have plenty to do. I can't really get on with knocking the plaster off until Scott has done his stuff. I am happy though with how far we have got in the first week with part time work.

[Sue]

Impressive stuff . Sounds like it's going to be a long and involved job but worth it in the end

[Big Kev]

Finished off the studding for the new ceiling, managed to find a convenient joist above to anchor the floating section to. I sketched out all the back box positions as we drew them all up on the wall and the next job will be knocking all that off. We moved Jack's washer out into the living room, with all the flat pack units in there there's not a lot of room but that will get bigger as we start to build them up. The washing machine will make a good building platform, just about the right height. A way to go before then though.
Scott comes tomorrow to disconnect the sink and kitchen radiator, we need the cold stop tap that is under the sink altering as well, it currently sits side on to the wall and pokes through the side of the original sink unit. It needs turning round and actually raising a few inches as it also runs into the base of the cabinet. Scott wants to put the pipe work in for the gas hob as well so he will have plenty to do. I can't really get on with knocking the plaster off until Scott has done his stuff. I am happy though with how far we have got in the first week with part time work.

I had the benefit of putting the 'old' kitchen in the dining room as a temporary stopgap

[PanBiker]

Scott was with me by 8am and gone by 10am. He's not done the stop tap as it is in lead and it needs an adaptor and a coat of thinking about. He has reworked some of the pipework to make it a closer profile to the wall. Gas feed for hob is in and the kitchen radiator is disconnected and temporarily behind the settee in the living room. Sink base is out so I continued by removing the internal architrave from the back door and got rid of a surface mounted single gang socket that was under the worktop, for some bizarre reason this was surface cabled round the door in metal clad pyro. It was already dead so easy enough to get out.

Had a bit of dinner then called at Majestic Discounts to get a pendant drop, (still not found mine and thanks for the offer of yours Kev) but I needed it this afternoon, it was bit dark in the kitchen without a light, £3.20 so not going to break the bank and I get to keep all my fingers despite the big hammer and chiseling job now afoot. I knocked a couple more bags of plaster off and then called it a day. Mucky job so the shower was welcome when I got home.

Jack doesn't have the luxury of a dining room Kev, he is managing with his microwave on top of the fridge freezer and his kettle and steamer and George Forman on the coffee table. He always has the fall back of being fed at ours as well, he won't starve.

[Big Kev]

Had a bit of dinner then called at Majestic Discounts to get a pendant drop, (still not found mine and thanks for the offer of yours Kev) but I needed it this afternoon, it was bit dark in the kitchen without a light, £3.20 so not going to break the bank and I get to keep all my fingers despite the big hammer and chiseling job now afoot. I knocked a couple more bags of plaster off and then called it a day. Mucky job so the shower was welcome when I got home.

Jack doesn't have the luxury of a dining room Kev, he is managing with his microwave on top of the fridge freezer and his kettle and steamer and George Forman on the coffee table. He always has the fall back of being fed at ours as well, he won't starve.

Can't argue with £3.30. A microwave, steamer and a George Formby (for that authentic Lancashire taste), you can't go wrong. I have a twin ring hob in the cellar if he needs to fry an egg, it has a 13amp plug on it. I bought it to use in my temporary kitchen.

[PanBiker]

I spent about four hours yesterday knocking plaster off. It's a mucky job,especially with the old lime based stuff. Two sections of the kitchen have been sand and cement rendered, one section on the party wall can stay as I have taken the existing paint off it and the skim coat underneath is in good condition most of it will be behind the units with only a short section above the worktop, it only goes about half way up the wall. The bottom half of the living room wall is also rendered, there is a bit of a bow in the wall and I think this has been done to try and level it out, its not that bad that it's needed structurally or anything like that. Problem for me is that it is over an inch deep and it is this wall where I need as thin a skim as I can get away with so most of it will have to come off.

Jack is taking a couple of days off, tomorrow and Friday so we should be able to complete the stripping with two of us at the job. I can move on then to getting the back boxes in. As the new electrical installation will be to current spec, sockets above the worktop will be set at 1200mm from the floor and the new light switch bank will be set at the same height, Under counter sockets will be 450mm from the floor, I need one for the fridge freezer and one for the washer, a third for the boiler will be set at 1200mm on the window wall directly below the boiler. This area along with all the pipework under the boiler but above the worktop will be boxed in with easy access provided for maintenance, I don't think there is room to put a cupboard around the boiler as the pipework for the upstairs mains water runs up the side and there is not a lot of room, we will take another look at our options there at some point.

I need to make an exit to the outside wall for the trunking from the cooker hood. I'll see if Nathan has his core drilling gear next time he calls.

I have not been down today as I have to pick Sally and Ruby up from the station, they have been in York since Monday. I have used today as a procurement day, Briggs and Duxbury have the type of architrave that I want and will cut it to the lengths I need. It's in 4.2M lengths so I cant transport it very well as it is. Request is in for back boxes for the electrics, my son in law Ant's phone is on voicemail at the moment so waiting for a call back. Back box installation should not be too onerous it's all into brick.