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11.15.08
Now that I am starting to get settled into my new home,
I am starting to pretend that I am on This Old House
and repairing and remodeling everything in my house.
Now my house was really move in condition when I purchased
it, but you know a handy engineer always wants to tear
something apart and rebuild it. So I started with a
few things to get my house more energy efficient and
a few conveniences.
My first project was putting in a garbage disposal.
This was a good starter project. For some reason the
previous owner put in the electrical for a disposal
but never actually put in a disposal. So I went to Sears
to get my disposal of choice (the Kenmore Consumers
Reports best buy). And I got it home and started to
work on installing it. I quickly notices I would have
to do a fair bit of plumbing to get this in and working
correct. So I took apart all the drainage piping for
the double basin sink and installed the disposal in
the sink. Next I took about 15 minute and measured everything
about five times and made a list of the about a dozen
pieces of PVC piping I needed and headed to Lowe's.
I came home and to my amazement I had purchased everything
I needed and had a functional disposal in about 30 minutes.
My next project was to put glass doors on my fireplace.
So I started by cleaning out the fireplace to take measurements
for the door. Well this opened up a can of worms. Once
I got firebox all cleaned I now noticed that there was
about a five inch diameter piece of the cement floor
right under the grate that was missing. Then in my picking
at it noticed the whole base of my fireplace was cracked
and all just sitting loose. Well I can't have that so
I started pulling it all up.
So now I needed to figure out how to do
the repair for this. I had never seen a fireplace that
had a cement base without firebricks laid down. So I
went to every store in town that has anything to do
with fireplaces, and to my surprise not a single person
in Peoria knows how to build a masonry fireplace. So
I have done some research on the web and I have come
to the conclusion that I have two options. I can break
out enough of the very poor quality concrete to be able
to lay in a layer of firebrick, or I can get quite a
bit of castable refractory cement. There is a chance
that my fireplace base was made with mostly poor quality
concrete that was poured into the red brick base and
them skimmed with a thin layer of refractory cement.
I think I am going to go with the option of filing it
with new castable refractory cement. It isn't the cheaper
of the two options, but it will leave a smooth surface
that can handle 3000F temperatures and should last a
good 100 plus years. Also in the process of removing
the broken pieces I broke two of the tiles on the hearth.
I am pretty sure I am going to replace the hearth surface
too. I am looking at my options which will be limited
to some type of tile. I am hoping to find a nice slate
tile to put down. I would love to find some nice slate
tile from Canada but I don't think I am going to get
that lucky.
My next project is putting in a dishwasher.
To do this I had to remove one of my kitchen cabinets
next to my sink. Well this sounds fairly easy, and I
fully expected it to be a pretty easy job. I removed
all the screws holding the cabinet in place and cut
through the layers of paint holding it to the wall on
one side and the cabinet on the other and started to
pull. Well the top moved easy enough but the base just
wouldn't slide out. So I looked for my screws in the
base that might be holding it in place, there were none.
Well I pulled back the vinyl flooring (every thinks
it is tile, shhh don't tell). Well that is when I figured
it out, there are a good three layers of vinyl flooring
with thick backing producing a thickness of about a
quarter of an inch. Well this made it so I couldn't
slide the cabinet out as lifting it that much would
make it catch on the counter top. So a little work with
the reciprocating saw and a demolition blade and the
cabinet was no more.
Well I have the place for my dishwasher
now, but now this has opened a whole can of worms too.
I only have about 19 inches of flat floor before the
flooring. I don't think that will be enough level area
for my dishwasher. So I could bring that level up to
the level of the flooring and there would still be enough
height for the dishwasher. But after I had the cabinet
out I noticed something interesting. Under the cabinet
to the left was the same hardwood flooring that was
in the rest of my main floor. Now I am toying with an
idea I shouldn't be at this point. I am very tempted
to rip up all the vinyl and refinish the hardwood. There
is only one thing, it looks like there might be a bit
of water damage to it. Which would make it unusable.
So I think i am just going to bring the floor up for
the dishwasher and deal with knowing I might have good
hardwood under all my vinyl. I am intending on putting
in all new cabinets eventually so when I do that I will
tear up the floor and if the hardwood is rotted put
in some nice REAL tile at that time.
Now many of you might look at these projects
and think, "wow that is alot of work that doesn't
look like fun." But I am absolutely loving it.
I wish I had purchased a house a while ago so I could
do all these projects. I will keep you all posted on
the progress I make on my projects.
Also I have put some pictures of my house
in my pictures link at the top of this page. Take a
look and I will post pictures as I change things.
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