1950s Kitchen Renovation: Phase One

The Basement Flood caused our fridge to defrost, which curled our linoleum tile flooring. At this point I made the executive decision to renovate our kitchen (though I would later learn that the tiles dry flat and re-adhere themselves like magic).

Our plan was to remove the bathroom at the back of the kitchen, push out the wall and turn it into a butler's pantry with a sink and our microwave. Then, we will add a dishwasher, standard range, and some extra cabinets.

To get started, we picked GE Artistry Series Appliances to respect the time period of the house.  We're going with unfinished cabinets from Home Depot (which are always in stock at the store), and using a rustoleum kit again to finish them once they are hung.  We found a crazy cheap laminate that we are going to use until we want to invest in something more permanent. Finally, we rented a dumpster from Greenway Dumpsters, a local company that offers smaller-sized roll-off dumpsters.

Just before we started tearing down the bathroom wall, we had a change of heart and decided to hire a contractor. Because we could not take time off work to dedicate to the project, we were worried our timeline would stretch beyond our comfort zone. Unlike an office or spare bedroom, this wasn't something we could put off mid-project. We wanted to ensure it was done well, and were confident that we would have 100% return on anything we spent on our 60 year old kitchen.

The contractors found two surprises: Our walls were a drywall / plaster hybrid, and there was a cast iron vent stack running through the wall we wanted to remove. We decided to leave the wall where it was, and just update our plans on the fly. Matching the drywall to the plaster hybrid took a lot of extra coats of compound, which pushed the contractors from finishing on Thursday to the next Tuesday.

 
We installed the cabinets from the pantry to the stove, and installed the sink and countertop. We messed up the countertop a bit on the install, but we intend to replace it with some kind of solid surface in the future. When the plumber came back to install the vent under the sink, we decided to pay him to finish connecting the drains and installing the appliances. This was work we could have done ourselves, but it had been 12 days without a kitchen, and our one bathroom sink was backed up. With so much work ahead of us, we decided it was better to get this knocked out before the weekend.

We only have about 1/4 of the kitchen done, but that includes the range, sink, and dishwasher. We're taking a short break to catch up on other housework before starting Phase 2

The Basement Flood

I take pictures of everything, but there are no pictures of the Basement Flood of June 2016. We actually had two floods back to back - a small flood that was manageable, and a larger flood that was anxiety inducing. Both of these happened just days before our vacation, which we had been planning for over a year.

The first flood was due to clogged gutters and an open window well during a rainstorm. The window well quickly filled with water, which leaked in through the window. This has happened from time to time, but one of our pumps was not working properly, so a fair amount of water entered the basement. We were able to move things out of the way and get the water pushed out to the other pump. We also replaced the faulty pump.

Then, we had another major storm, which knocked out our power. Foolishly, we did not get battery backups for our pumps after the first flood, so the basement flooded again. We hauled out furniture and got everything up off the floor as the water continued to rise. All in all in was only a few inches, but a few inches across 1600 sq ft of basement is a lot of water.

We tried to call Servepro, but there is nothing they can do while the power is out. We bought extension cords and a small generator so that we could run the pumps. That generator leaked oil, so 12 hours later we bought a bigger generator that could run both pumps at once.

When we left for our trip the power was still out, but we had a family friend stop by every few hours to start the generator. The power was out for a total of 53 hours. Nothing important was damaged, but between the new pump, the generator, and other miscellaneous expenses, this flood costs us a fair amount of money.

This is the status of our basement post flood:

It's easy to take passive conveniences like power for granted. This flood made us realize that there is no point in investing not one dollar into our basement until we get a subpanel and backup generator installed.

Sharpening the (metaphorical) Axe

A year ago, we imagined that we would have many of our renovations done by now. Instead, we have done next to nothing.

There were certainly other life projects and events during this time: We started living that Thug Kitchen life, Aaron got a new job and lost 60 lbs, and we've helped friends and family with their minor renovations needs. We've also started a tabletop gaming group called Variant Hex with some friends of ours. We learned about the life-changing magic of tidying up, and as a result better identified what we want our house to be.

We feel discouraged by how little progress we have made, but we're trying to refocus on what we have gained in this time as we push forward with renovations. We've been "sharpening the axe" throughout this time, and should be able to execute more efficiently.

We are currently in the middle of our kitchen renovation. This is our first big project, and we've already had a few surprises. Because we took time out to sharpen the axe, we have been better able to tackle problems that arise and adapt to what needs to be done.