Making progress! Kitchen Project Part 2

The previous post left off with us just finishing up getting the new framing in place.

Emily is proud of helping Jordy put in the new framing.

The boys were able to help us get started putting in the new floor joists and cutting out the difficult to get to rotted ends of the ones we left in place but everything seemed to take longer than we anticipated and ended up being more complicated than we thought it would be so progress was slower than we had hoped.

We got them settled back in their new dorm room and got back to work.

After we got all the new floor joists in place we found the floor was not level at all.  The floor was 1" lower on one side of the kitchen.  The wall that divides the living room and the kitchen, was sagging.

Steve put our trusty old car jack under a 4 x 4 beam placed perpendicular to the several floor joists that were sagging and propped them up and then put cinder blocks and shims in place until he had the floor as level as he could get it.

My hard-working beloved facing his claustrophobic fears and working under the house.

Next we cleaned up the ground beneath the house from all the scraps we had made working and then we swept it clean.  We certainly did not want to leave any tasty crumbs to tempt any termites! We sprayed all the wood that we left that was darkened but not currently damp with a strong bleach solution and after it dried we painted it with a mildew-resistant coat of Kilz.  Our neighbors told us to spread charcoal under the house to help clean the air so we did.  I wish we'd waited because we kept making more messes to clean up and it was made more difficult to clean it up with all those stray bricks of charcoal strewn about.  Live and learn!

Since we had rain in the forecast we stapled some paint dropcloth to cover the hole in the wall.  You can see how the rain that comes down the slope puddles right at the house.  Since the flashing is under the concrete the rain just goes freely down the crack between the patio and the house.  Steve is going to put some more flashing on the outside to help prevent this.

Sistering the old floor joists to the new ones we put in.

All done!  The floor is as level as we can get it.  Not exactly level, but flat. :)  We spray painted some encouragement to remind ourselves of our foundation.  Everything is painted, clean and ready for the first layer of the sub-floor to go in!  Yay!!

Emily and Ethan stayed up late helping Steve get the floor in place.

They had to use the jigsaw to cut openings for the hot and cold water pipes to slide into.

Getting punchy. :)

Then they screwed it down on the outer edges and nailed it down all along the floor joists.

Ta da!!

The next evening we got another sheet in place.  Steve's been working his long days each day so we only have evenings to work on the kitchen.  During the days we've been busy getting some fall work around the farm accomplished and getting ready to start a new school year.

Noah proudly pointing out the nails he pounded in.

And the last one!

Steve had to sand the edge down to make it fit just right.

Everyone helping pound the nails in.  And we have a solid first layer of floor done!

The next morning when Samuel saw the new floor in place he fell down on it and gave it a big hug.  I feel the same! 

Everyone is so excited to have the floor back on!  We feel such a sense of accomplishment at what we've achieved.

Next is to get the next level of the sub-floor in place, the OSB layer.  Then we can get some of our appliances back in temporarily while we finish fixing things up.  It will be nice to have the stove and sink back.  

We used some folding tables to set up a temporary kitchen back in the playroom.

Steve bought a utility sink for us to wash dishes on the patio outside the farm bathroom.  We filled a big drum barrel with water for using for flushing when the water to the house was shut off, but we can fill the utility sink from the farm bathroom for washing dishes.  It will seem like luxury when we have the kitchen functioning again!