Kitchen Guts

I was so naive in my last post. We were so not close.

This weekend we completely gutted our kitchen down to the concrete foundation. This was an unexpected step, we didn't plan on removing the flooring. But while trying to remove our range, we realize it was caught on old linoleum flooring. We also realized that there was a smell under all that flooring. The smell of dampness and mold and all kinds of nasty bacteria.

And we discovered the source of it all, evidence of an old leak that had a clamp with screw... and scorch marks on the stud all around the copper pipe. That explains the horrible smell under the sink! Who fixes a hole with a clamp? Did I mention that all the plumbing was running through the old cabinets. That made for lots of holes through cabinets, unusable cabinet space, drainage noises, and unsightly drain pipes - I will not have that in my new beautiful cabinets. And I will not have smells under my floor.

We purchased some copper piping, learned how to weld, and created a new route for the drain pipes (through the half wall behind the sink). So in addition to being electricians, we are plumbers now.

And the fun doesn't end there. The next surprise was removing the adhesive from the linoleum flooring. That stuff is thick and bonds to bare concrete really well. It was instense labor. We tried all 'green' methods such as boiling water, wet towels, a blow torch, and old fashioned manual labor with a floor scraper. Finally, we resorted to chemicals. And when it comes to chemicals, this stuff was hardcore and highly effective.

On a side note: welding is fun, we encourage you to try it.