Day 257: Singing the dishwasher blues

Belated post ..  The countertop was delayed - so my posting of its install is also delayed.

This weekend's challenge was to finish off the countertop, get the cabinet doors installed and to get the dishwasher put in place. The first is a high difficulty task but the last 2 are relatively simple for the average DIY'er. Except my dishwasher just chose to be difficult once again. I don't know if it's me or that we just picked a dumb model - in either case, it's been much more of a challenge than expected.

First the countertop joint. Not to bore everyone with details but the measurements were extremely tight. Either I got the cuts correct or I put another 3m length on order for a few hundred £££. But needless to say, I gave it my full attention and made sure it worked.

[TECHNICAL SECTION]  (please feel free to skip) .. the gap for the main part of the countertop was 2400mm, the countertop was 663mm wide and 3000mm long. The corner cut needed to be 1265mm from the wall. So I cut the countertop to 2400mm and shaved off the back to get a 630 depth on the main sink portion. The extra 30mm were from the dishwasher not cooperating with the pipes. With this in place, I needed to use a heat gun to get the edging off the front to make the corner joint. Pro's use a router and a special jig - I have neither. So I use the factory cut edge and a heat gun. For the other side of the corner the 600mm piece that I cut off would have been too short, so I flipped the piece 90 degrees and used the depth of 663mm to get my length. It was so close that I didn't even need to cut this piece. The edges butted up nicely together and used some old plaster bags as weighting while the wood adhesive set. Always make sure to use waterproof adhesive on counters in case any water makes its way down a joint [END OF TECHNICAL SECTION]

Next onto the dishwasher. As described above, we had to move the entire countertop out 30mm to accommodate the silly thing. Next I needed to build a frame around the d/w to support it and the countertop. I used spare end panels, screwed to the sink carcass on one side and free standing with feet on the other.

Why feet? 2 good reasons here: 1) so that we have something to fix the kicker panels to and 2) to allow better routing, positioning of hoses and cables. On the right side, this involved fastening a couple of blocks to the panel to hold the feet. I also kept a 200mm gap between the d/w end panel and the boiler filter and plumbing to allow for servicing (Tom you're welcome)

After getting everything in place for the first time, I realised that the d/w door didn't fit into the opening (it did, but it wouldn't open), so I had to move the panel 1cm to the right. Put the d/w back in again and once again the same problem except at the bottom - there needed to be clearance here too. So off came the panels once again (getting good at it now) to notch the bottom. Do all people with in-build d/w have these problems - seems like they are more trouble than they are worth. I better not see a dirty dish on the countertop after all this.

Finally, a little gloating on the countertop. Find the joint - I challenge you. 

The bags are there to keep weight on the countertop



Spot the joint .. go ahead ..

Day 239: Masters of plaster

To put things into context, these walls have seen through 2 world wars and been metres away from German bombs (literally dropping on the doorstep). No surprise that they've seen better days. But no worries, things are looking up for our kitchen walls.

A little TLC and they will look great once again.

First the corners around the door frames, if you can still call them that since there was little corner left in them. I needed to strip them back to pretty much brick to get a straight edge. I used some rough corner beads to build back the corner shape - being careful to keep the edge straight and plumb. Given that the door jam was somewhat slanted, I don't think it would have been geometrically possible to get all sides even - or that's the story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, it's close and I challenge anybody coming over to tell me otherwise.

I even managed to get Care getting her hands dirty. Stripping away wallpaper. This time we had a textured floral print both in the natural and pastel blue forms .. and some nice ducky wallpaper.

I also tackled the back wall where the 900 range is going. Turns out, that was where the original range was before somebody had the bright idea of relocating it. (shaking head). Anyway, the wall was completely uneven, part un plastered and part poorly plastered. No problem for the masters of plaster. A little bonding coat to get the surface even-ish. And some finish coat to get a nice smooth finish. Well nice enough to be hidden by tile later on :)

Day 253: Weez a plumbin'

Had a half day off due to a teacher strike so thought I'd do some people plumbing in the kitchen and teach Caitlin a trade. 

Today's task was to get the sink hooked up. First I finished up the waste pipe outside. The old pipe was held together by duct tape so it had to go. Once the outside was done, I then fitted the inside of the cabinet. I used a B&Q kitchen sink kit which worked really well. I managed to get everything neatly tucked away into the back of the cabinet.

Next was the copper feed pipes. Again the goal was to get everything neatly arranged (and not leaking of course). Caitlin helped de-burr the pipes. 

The final result was good. All the water managed to stay in the pipes. The extra inlet/outlet is for the dishwasher which will be the subject of a future post.

Day 250: A top counter

Now that the countertop finally arrived, it was time to get started mounting it. Luckily the counter was 665mm deep and not the standard 600mm - good thing as my dishwasher-pipe issues forced me to move all the cabinets out an extra 30mm. The other concern was the length - 3m. This causes 2 issues - it's both very long and yet not long enough. 3m is a right PITA to move around .. the fact that it's 45kg also doesn't help. But importantly, it's just long enough to use for other side of the corner unit .. and I mean just - we're talking mm's to spare.

 

So first, I needed to build a frame to support the countertop. As there is only a 500mm base unit - it doesn't provide much support. I built a frame into the wall on both sides of the space. The pipes were a bit tricky to work around and it took a few pieces of 25x50 softwood to get it right. The wood was drilled into the brick, so it's plenty secure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, I enlisted the help of Carolyn "Pipes" Braendli to help me lift the countertop onto the saw horses. She did most of the lifting, I did most of the moaning. In order to get a reasonable cut (no second chances here), I used a new 60 tooth fine blade in my circular saw and used some extra 25x50 wood as a guide to get a straight cut. First cutting the end off and then paring the down the back of the counter to give a nice 40mm overhang from the front of the carcass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And with a little more huffing and puffing, "Pipes" and I fit the counter into place. And it fit! and it was level! I would normally say "of course it did" but given the wall has more twists and turns than British politics, I was a bit happily surprised. I'll chalk it down to careful measurements and plenty of luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the counter in place, I was able to mark out the sink location and the high points to ensure a snug fit. More huffing and puffing and the counter was back on the saw horses for a little skilled cutting - this time using a jigsaw and a special laminate downward cutting blade.

 

A helpful hint that I learned on YouTube was to not fully cut out the sink hole (just realised the double meaning) as the counter could snap on it's way back in. No thanks! I cut out the difficult bits and left the rest for cutting out in-situ. And back the countertop went for hopefully the last time. Frankly, "Pipes" was starting to show off by this point, doing the whole thing in sandals and carrying the countertop with one hand.

With the counter back in place, I needed to cut back the carcass to allow me to fasten the retaining clips and ensure enough clearance. Finally, it was time to mount the sink. A little silicon on the underside and clips fastened in place and it was ready to go.

























The last photo shows the finished product (well finished for today) with the new taps mounted. Plumbing, we'll that still needs to be hooked up. But Rome (or its kitchens) was not built in a day (or on a single blog post) so plumbing will need to wait.

Day 221: The long road to cabinets

CAUTION .. THIS POST CONTAINS LANGUAGE NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES

 

How long is the road you may ask .... long enough to warrant multiple (expletive) posts. This is one of many.

 

So, on the Sunday before Care and kiddies arrived back from Canada, I find myself once again without a floor. Seemed like familiar ground after the ordeal with the bathroom.

 

This time, I was replacing some old (probably older than me) chipboard under the kitchen cabinets. Chipboard is great because it's cheap. It's also not so great because it's cheap. Do not under any circumstances use it where it would ever come into contact with water. So you can imagine what it was like in the kitchen...

 

So after lifting the chipboard, I was less than pleased to find one of the joists performing some kind of balancing act upon 3 bricks. Slightly less than the stable floor that I was looking for. This was quickly remedied by making a new joist across the sleeper walls (top one in the picture) and adding an additional noggin for lateral support. After this was remedied, it was time for the new floor - 18mm ply. Sturdy and much better around wetter areas.

 

Finally, came the cabinets. As you can see from the photo, our office is a warehouse of flat pack craziness. First, always good to start with the corner units. Particularly this one as I had to notch it to fit around the support post. Notching is not the easiest task for cabinets, and took a bit of trial and error but I finally got it to fit where I wanted it. Then came the washer - which was (expletive) heavy. And then the sink cabinet, which was a breeze to fit after the corner cabinet ordeal.

 

Finally, I fit the dishwasher. And (BIG EXPLETIVE), it didn't clear the pipework at the back. Why on earth, do they design a d/w that doesn't have clearance at the back. Not like you need to run it close to pipework or anything (sarcastic expletive).

 

So, everything needed to come out from the wall by 3cm. Fine for the sink cabinet. Not so fine for the (expletive) corner cabinet. This needed to be cut back yet again. I'm unfortunately becoming an expert at notching cabinets.

 

That all finished, I was ready to start on the countertop .. except there was no (expletive) countertop. The one item that didn't ship. Not a bad thing as the original one would have been too shallow after everything was shifted 3cm. A call over to B&Q and the countertop is on order - why the call was necessary in the first place, who knows.

 

So there you go, the first entry in the long road to cabinets .. and apologies for the strong language. I've started to adopt builder lingo ...

 



 

Day 234: Skip be gone

Skips look really large when they're empty and really small when they're full ..

 

2 weeks worth of demo and my 8 yarder had little room to spare. Bye-bye old kitchen.

 

Stay tuned ... I'm sure the skip will make an appearance sometime soon when I start my next "project"

 

 

Scott starts the kitchen renovation so Carolyn goes on holiday!

Over the May half term, our kitchen was being gutted, every window replaced and the radiators relocated.  Best not to have the kids in the house.  The solution?  Carolyn to take them on holiday to Canada!

So...while Scott was slaving away ripping out ceilings and walls and floors we were lounging poolside, hiking, dining and having a great time with family and friends. 

Seem a bit unfair?  Well, as you can see from all his posts, Scott loves the challenge of this project and I don't think he would have wanted it any other way.  Plus, I'm confident he was happy to work on this stage without the distractions from us, and I had our neighbours keeping their eye out to make sure he didn't impale himself with some random tool. 

We returned to a kitchen in progress (as was fully expected) but I can honestly say Scott's done an incredible job in a short amount of time.  As always, his work is of the highest standard and we're really proud of all he's achieved so far!