Tuesday, May 5, 2015

BREAK! DOWN! THE WALLS!

To preface, let me state that I know we already have a post entitled "Paint Down The Walls." And I don't care. This time the reference makes WAY more sense. So deal with it.

The biggest project of our DIY careers has officially begun. Our 1962 kitchen renovation. The tiny oven. The counter tops that never get completely clean. The drawers that won't open unless the dishwasher is open. The wood paneling. The "recently polyurethaned" wood paneling. Yeah, that was a selling point in the MLS listing. And that's where we begin.

WARNING: THIS IS GONNA BE PRETTY PICTURE HEAVY.
You've seen this before. But still. For reference.
All of this is going away or moving. Except the cat... unless you want a cat. Do you though?

If not for the ultra-mega-sheen of the polyurethane, we probably would've saved at least one wall of this stuff. My childhood bedroom was wood paneling, so there's a place in my heart for it. But there wasn't room for all that shine. So step one - take down enough paneling to make a bigger opening into the hallway. We had to move some wiring. Relocate the alarm system keypad. Take out the non-functioning intercom...

Let's be honest, I would've used trucker phrases like "that's a big 10-4" way too often if this worked.

Now, this is the main panel for the whole-house intercom system. There’s a smaller box in each bedroom.  We both really wanted it to work but alas, it did not. Sarah had a “lifelong dream” of yelling “TINA! COME GET SOME HAM!” into it and hearing it reverberate throughout the house.  (I find this hard to believe considering Napoleon Dynamite came out in 2004, but I love her, so I’m letting it slide.) So short of paying someone a lot of money to come help us figure out how to make it work, she conceded that it could be gutted from the wall. Anyway, it apparently still had power and was on a different circuit, because there was a big POP when I cut that wire. Thankfully no electro-shock therapy.

Papa at work.
This is a load bearing wall, by the way. It was going to need some temporary support while we cut for the new header. We consulted contractors, architects, and structural engineers. We weighed priced the options out, and went with the cheapest solution - which was also what the architects at work and the structural engineer OK'ed. Dad and I put up the temporary header, cut new jack studs, made the new header, and THEN we cut the wall out.

There's a 2x8 on each side of the wall, screwed in to each stud with 4 #10x3" screws. Except the studs on the hallway side we missed, which was most of them.
Me and dad building the new header. 2x12s with 1/2" plywood sandwiched between.
We built and cut perfectly. I cleaned and jerked the header up, then dad hammered it into place.
Day 1 clean up. 

Step two - take down the rest of the paneling. This was the easy part so naturally we called in the big guns aka Kenneth.
It's still beside the house and waiting to be taken to the dump. Why do you ask?

Some electrical was moved around, and it was nap time for Carter... and Kenneth. While they napped, Dad and I went to a home improvement warehouse (which will remain nameless but rhymes with Schlowes) to get the drywall and some miscellaneous electrical supplies. We managed to get back then measure and cut a few pieces before they woke up.

Big Mack screws in the first piece. The angled cut pieces were actually much easier than the 10' tall ones.
This is as far as we got on Saturday.
Day 3 we have our buddy Coach come help us finish the drywall. We're done around lunch time, so after that we send him on his way. We're a bit rushed with normal weekend activities still to be done, so we knock out the taping and call it a weekend.
I swear my shirt wasn't tucked in on purpose. Or maybe it was.
So what's the end of the weekend progress? Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
Before and...
After!
Yeah that's a pretty big difference and a good start. Pretty convenient that the drywall matches very nicely to the existing grey paint. Lots more to come. And because I know you're all wondering what our project manager was up to, he was outside with Sarah practicing his painting.

Child labor laws don't apply to your own children, do they?
He also really, really likes going up ladders. But given that he's 20 months old, he needs help and it was best to keep him "painting."

Next up: breaking down... well, everything else.

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