Demo Day Deux

Day two has already been completed, can you believe it?  I took pictures throughout the process yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to post last night because I had to work.  So here we are, day three, and I'm going to talk about yesterday.

Yesterday the Rabbits tackled the kitchen.  I have to say that I'm probably the most excited about this room.  Of course, to get something new, they had to tear out the old.  One of the biggest challenges with this room was the floor.  Over however many years this house had been occupied, the kitchen floor has been slowly bowing in, creating a veritable bowl in the floor.  When we first looked at it with our untrained eyes, Jared and I noticed some very unique (and ridiculous) aspects of the floor.

  Firstly, the vinyl tiles were super ugly.  The salmon colored stick on's just HAD to go.  The second bit of weirdness came to our attention when we noticed that underneath the vinyl, there was a layer of sheet rock and plywood.  Someone obviously thought that would fix whatever bowing occurred.  Thirdly, underneath the sheet rock and plywood, there was a layer of cracked ceramic tile.  Of course it makes sense that when the floor started to sink, the tile cracked, leaving a rather unsightly mess (what better way to cover it up than with sheet rock?  Jared STILL can't get over how stupid that was).  Then underneath the real tile, there was the original wood floor, which was in sad, sad shape.  To investigate the reason for the deformed floor, the Rabbits determined that they needed to go even farther than the original floor, so they tore that up to reveal the sub floor.  I don't know if you're counting, but that makes a total of five layers.  That also made one deadly trip hazard (my toes have learned their lessons; look before you walk).

Of course the floor investigations only took place after they tore out the entire kitchen, so let's back up a bit.

First, they moved my kitchen gear to the living room.  I haven't been able to use the stove anyway (the outlet doesn't work), so no big loss there.  The fridge is plugged in, so that worked out fine.

They then started on this wall, removing the old vent hood and funny little cabinet that contained the panel box.  We discovered during our home inspection that having the box in such a small cabinet was not code, due to the fact that it made it nearly impossible for anyone to properly work on it.

There's really no better use for paneling than using it to keep the dog out of the way!  They pulled this sheet down in preparation for the pass through we're enlarging.  That funny little window is going to get bigger to allow more light and communication through to the family room.

After a lot of tugging, the dry wall came down, and there it is, ready to be changed.  We discovered that the silly little window was put where there used to be a doorway, though we can't figure out why there was a door from the kitchen into the bedroom, when there's a door right around the corner in the hallway.  We also discovered that the doorbell outside the kitchen door works sporadically. 

While Pete worked on the kitchen, Jack worked on the hallway closet.  This closet used to contain the exhaust chimney from the old furnace.  Jared took a weekend or two tearing out the brick from above the roof all the way down through the attic and into this closet to prep for this project.  Why?  This closet will be the home of our stack-able washer and dryer.  The hookups are currently in the "utility room," but we're going to turn that into a third bedroom or office.

Next on the to-do list was the other half of the kitchen.  This was pretty straightforward.

First the counter tops came off.  They were ugly and unfinished, so I'm not sad to see them go.

Then the cabinets came out.  They're not the greatest cabinets in the world, but they're not bad either.  We're thinking of seeing if anyone would take them off our hands by putting them on Craigslist.  You never know.

They also had to disconnect the old dishwasher.  We're not sure if it works, and it's pretty old, so we're getting a new one.

Poof!  No more upper cabinets!  During this phase, they took apart the soffit, a task that Jared deemed unnecessary, but one that I thought WAS necessary.  Also contained behind the sink area was another surprise waiting to be discovered...

But first the Rabbits started on the floor.  Layer by layer, the old floors came up.  The original wood floor was in such bad shape, you couldn't even tell what color it was.  I'm already dreaming of new tile...

Then they started on this wall.  This led to an unhappy discovery of more water damage.  Over the years, the lack of a drip edge or gutters on the roof plus improper sealing of the window led to a whole lot of water seeping in through the cracks.  We're hoping that this doesn't become a regular discovery, but based on what I've seen, I'm not holding my breath.  Luckily, we have contingency fund for this kind of thing, so I'm hoping it helps us through these little uh-oh moments.

So now I have even less of a non working kitchen!  Now that it's gone, I'm ready to see what the finished product is going to look like.  However, while on the phone with my mom yesterday, she told me that, "Your house will never be done."  Not mine specifically, but that when one owns a house, there's always something to be done to it.  There's always a chance to improve on something, and I can definitely see that becoming a reality for Jared and I.  I'm just glad that I haven't reached the point of "Oh no, what HAVE I gotten myself into???" yet.  Through all the dust and noise and chaos, I am determined to remain optimistic!