We've had Jacob and Jordy home this week. They both have a week off from their jobs and before the fall semester begins. We are so very glad they could come help us! We were afraid of what we'd find once we got started.
We knew that seeing snails in the kitchen in the evenings was a bad sign.
Jordy began by removing the bottom of the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. He found lots of damp and rotted wood and quite a few snails and one toad. A fat one. Oh no! That can't be good!
We knew that seeing snails in the kitchen in the evenings was a bad sign.
Jordy began by removing the bottom of the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. He found lots of damp and rotted wood and quite a few snails and one toad. A fat one. Oh no! That can't be good!
From there Jordy got on the phone with Dad to see if he wanted him to keep tearing out the rotted wood and find the extent of the damage before he passed the point of no return. Dad gave him the go ahead so he kept removing things.
He found a few of our problems. Our cold water pipe has been spraying a constant, steady spray directly on the wall.
We also found a poorly fitted connection on another pipe that was covered by crack filler. I suppose in hopes that it stopped the leak?
So first the sink came out. Followed by the sink base cabinet. Next we took all the counter tops off so that we could remove the rest of the cabinets.
We have known that our kitchen was not level. One counter top was so far tilted that someone in the past had filled in the gap with paper towels and then covered that with caulking. Nice. A good opportunity for me to point out that we are known by our works. All those little shortcuts someone took at the time are costing us a lot of time, effort and money now.
Thankfully, they were able to remove the cabinets carefully enough that we can put them all back in when we are finished, but we will need to get new counter tops.
Our project just keeps growing and growing. The more we remove the more we uncover more damage. It is quite daunting.
Removing the cabinets allowed us to begin tearing into the floor to see how much of it was damaged. We discovered that the entire kitchen floor was rotted and moldy and that all the structural wood that holds the house up was also rotted and moldy. And improperly placed. They missed the foundation by a good 4 inches so they filled in beneath the joists with gravel.
The air was filled with the thick, peppery air of mold as we ripped up all the damaged wood and removed it. We had to wear masks and take frequent breaks.
The smell just got in the back of your throat and we coughed and coughed.
We wondered how the kitchen was still standing as we pulled out handfuls of pasty wet, black, rotted, moldy wood that used to be the parts that held up the house.
We need to replace the baseplate, the header joists, the sill, several studs, some insulation, the sheathing, siding, drywall, floor joists and the floor. Whew!
We'll have to save up some more to put paint on the walls or some tile of some sort and some final flooring. It'll feel good just to have all that unhealthy rot out of there and have a sound floor beneath us.
He found a few of our problems. Our cold water pipe has been spraying a constant, steady spray directly on the wall.
So first the sink came out. Followed by the sink base cabinet. Next we took all the counter tops off so that we could remove the rest of the cabinets.
We have known that our kitchen was not level. One counter top was so far tilted that someone in the past had filled in the gap with paper towels and then covered that with caulking. Nice. A good opportunity for me to point out that we are known by our works. All those little shortcuts someone took at the time are costing us a lot of time, effort and money now.
Thankfully, they were able to remove the cabinets carefully enough that we can put them all back in when we are finished, but we will need to get new counter tops.
Our project just keeps growing and growing. The more we remove the more we uncover more damage. It is quite daunting.
Removing the cabinets allowed us to begin tearing into the floor to see how much of it was damaged. We discovered that the entire kitchen floor was rotted and moldy and that all the structural wood that holds the house up was also rotted and moldy. And improperly placed. They missed the foundation by a good 4 inches so they filled in beneath the joists with gravel.
The air was filled with the thick, peppery air of mold as we ripped up all the damaged wood and removed it. We had to wear masks and take frequent breaks.
The smell just got in the back of your throat and we coughed and coughed.
We wondered how the kitchen was still standing as we pulled out handfuls of pasty wet, black, rotted, moldy wood that used to be the parts that held up the house.
We need to replace the baseplate, the header joists, the sill, several studs, some insulation, the sheathing, siding, drywall, floor joists and the floor. Whew!
We'll have to save up some more to put paint on the walls or some tile of some sort and some final flooring. It'll feel good just to have all that unhealthy rot out of there and have a sound floor beneath us.
Jordy is enjoying putting all the skills he's learned working in the carpentry department to good use for us.
There is no water shut-off to the kitchen so we had to shut off the water to the entire house. But Steve got new plumbing installed complete with lovely handy-dandy shut-off valves.
The parts of the floor that were not rotted were very hard to get up. We only wanted to replace as much as we had to. Jacob had the job of making the final cuts and chisels to get those last bits out.
Steve has had to be at work so the kids are all working together and enjoying making memories.
Ethan took the tiles off one side of the kitchen. Noah was our main clean up man. He was in charge of scooping and sweeping up all the rotted rubble that fell beneath the house as we worked.
Molly took the tiles off the other side. Jordy taught Emily how to use power tools as they put in the new framing.
She called it her sonic screwdriver. ;)
Jordy cutting out the damp and moldy siding.
Molly took the tiles off the other side. Jordy taught Emily how to use power tools as they put in the new framing.
All the younger ones think this is so much fun. We've set up a temporary "kitchen" in the little room off of Steve and I's bedroom that used to be the nursery. My job is to take pictures and keep the food and beverages coming and to keep everyone's spirits up. It is easy to be discouraged faced with such major repairs when we've never done anything even close to this major and we really have no idea what we are doing. Trying to do it all on a dime creates pressure as well.
Thankfully we have good neighbors who stopped in to see how it was going and brought us some lumber to use for the floor joists and some plumbing parts that saved us a trip into town an hour and a half away. And they gave us some advice on how to proceed that was very welcome. Thank God for good friends!
As we go through this week day by day, I keep thinking of something J.R. Miller said in his book, "The Family".
“Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing
as the making of a beautiful and happy home.”
It sure is hard work that we are doing and we sure are making quite a mess as we go, but together we are laboring to make our home safe and healthy and beautiful and above all happy.
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home!
Thankfully we have good neighbors who stopped in to see how it was going and brought us some lumber to use for the floor joists and some plumbing parts that saved us a trip into town an hour and a half away. And they gave us some advice on how to proceed that was very welcome. Thank God for good friends!
As we go through this week day by day, I keep thinking of something J.R. Miller said in his book, "The Family".
“Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing
as the making of a beautiful and happy home.”
It sure is hard work that we are doing and we sure are making quite a mess as we go, but together we are laboring to make our home safe and healthy and beautiful and above all happy.
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home!
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