Kitchen Refurb

[PanBiker]

Thursday we managed to get all the rest of the plaster off apart from a bit at the bottom of the stairs which also needs replacing. We had the door shut to keep the dust out so it easily got missed. We bagged up all the debris and shifted down to the skips. I have used up all but two of my 10 bag allowance now on my inert waste pass. Jack has applied for one on his car registration as we will have some more to get rid of, you can only register one car to each address for each permit. We had had enough once we had done the skip run and I needed 20 minutes in the shower once home to get all the muck off.

Friday I had to take Sally and all 3 grandchildren to the railway station at Colne, they went to Blackpool for the day. I didn't go but Ant had given me the details of his supplier, Oldfields electrical wholesalers at Skipton they have a few branches around the area. I went straight over the tops from Cone and through Carleton to avoid the roadworks and an hours wait in the traffic lights through Foulridge. I picked up the back boxes I need and also checked out the 4" x 2" ducting and adaptors that we will use for the cooker hood, I will call back and get what I need when we get to that bit of installation. My design committee working overtime in my head has cast a doubt about my planned and already implemented in the studding exit route for the ducting. I haven't checked for a joist in the original ceiling above my planned egress point, I will have to re jig the studding slightly if there is one there. Something I will check on Monday, better know sooner rather than later. I was home by dinner time so I went down in the afternoon and we got the first four double gang back boxes in the wall. We need to chase some cable runs down the wall, to that end and speed this along a bit we have access to an angle grinder which should make this job a lot easier.

Not been down today and won't tomorrow either as I have to deliver Sally and Ruby to Skipton for the train back down to Stratford and then deposit the other two, Isla and Finlay back home in Silsden. I will be back on the job on Monday.

[plaques]

"we have access to an angle grinder which should make this job a lot easier.". Easier but about a million times more dust. A decent hammer and chisel is a lot faster and a lot better for the old lungs.

[PanBiker]

Yes, I will see how I get on, they need to be 35mm deep and there are some hard bricks in the mix. If I use it I will only be chasing the sides of the channels.

[Stanley]

Makes me tired just reading it......

[Big Kev]

Yes, I will see how I get on, they need to be 35mm deep and there are some hard bricks in the mix. If I use it I will only be chasing the sides of the channels.

I have an SDS drill with rotary stop and a chisel attachment if you need it, Ian.

[PanBiker]

Ooh that sounds interesting Kev, I'll swap you for this Laser Level that I have. All my levels are marked up now. I'm on grandchild delivery duties today so not on the job so to speak. I have plenty to get on with tomorrow without doing the cable runs, more boxes to sink, ceiling to investigate so I can call when you get home from work if that's OK, between 5 and half past?

[Big Kev]

Ooh that sounds interesting Kev, I'll swap you for this Laser Level that I have. All my levels are marked up now. I'm on grandchild delivery duties today so not on the job so to speak. I have plenty to get on with tomorrow without doing the cable runs, more boxes to sink, ceiling to investigate so I can call when you get home from work if that's OK, between 5 and half past?

No problem, if you do need it earlier I'm in now (Sunday) with no plans to go anywhere else, other than bed, later on this evening. Anytime after 5 tomorrow is also good, depends how soon you want to get chiseling

Are you marked out for cabinets?

[PanBiker]

No not yet, can't really do it until its all re plastered. Because the room is a straight rectangle, I think I will get the new vinyl laid before I fit the units. The overall floor area will have to be paid for so it will be a lot easier to lay if its left in one piece. I only have one corner cabinet which I will work out either way from, one more to the right and two to the left plus the sink unit which is effectively separate but will be butted to the other units. The room isn't an exact multiple of euro sizes so I may have to be a bit creative with the service channels down one side. When I get to it, I'm going to build them all and offer them up loose to get the best fit. I'll work to a level then.

I have to pick Sally up from taking Ruby back. That's mid afternoon so I intend to crack on in the morning with the rest of the boxes and investigate the ceiling if I have a bit of time left. I can do all the cable runs at the same time then.

[Sue]

Bob, did that in our bathroom. He laid all the tiles before he refitted. The big plus is that if we want a shower instead of the bath the floor is already tiled under the bath.

[Stanley]

Good idea doing the floor first.
On the tool front, if anyone has need in the future for a big 230v Wolf angle grinder remember that I have one and you're welcome. I have plenty of discs as well.

[LizG]

The tiler who did our refurb in our holiday house did that too. He put both the toilet and the vanity basin down on top of the tiles.

The vanities in this house all hang from the walls, about a foot off the ground, so it's not a problem. We tiled up the walls to the height of a skirting board too. It all makes it easy to wash the floors.

[Big Kev]

Ooh that sounds interesting Kev, I'll swap you for this Laser Level that I have. All my levels are marked up now. I'm on grandchild delivery duties today so not on the job so to speak. I have plenty to get on with tomorrow without doing the cable runs, more boxes to sink, ceiling to investigate so I can call when you get home from work if that's OK, between 5 and half past?

No problem, if you do need it earlier I'm in now (Sunday) with no plans to go anywhere else, other than bed, later on this evening. Anytime after 5 tomorrow is also good, depends how soon you want to get chiseling

Are you marked out for cabinets?

Are you still coming today?

[PanBiker]

I'll pop up now if that's OK.

A little later...

Drill collected which should make short work of the cable run chasing.

I went down this morning and opened up the ceiling at my studding egress point, we are OK, no joist to impede the exit path.

I continued and cut in another couple of back boxes, one for the freezer and another for the boiler. I have put this directly below the boiler and it will be on the ring. It's in the area next to all the pipework and will eventually be boxed in with an easy access lid for servicing.

[Big Kev]

I'll pop up now if that's OK.

Sorted, that should keep you out of mischief for a bit

[PanBiker]

Kev's drill made short work of chasing the cable runs out, all done apart from the ones that will be required for the lighting bank on the stairs wall. It's only single brick and I don't think it would stand the rigours of the tooling. It will need quite a large channel as it will be a four gang switch bank. I need the old lighting cables that run in conduit behind the stairs door architrave out of the way and we can then run the new cables in the void, it will just need a small channel above then to get up into the new ceiling. We can then run any lateral cables for the downlights and a new feed for the living room light above my new studding as it is set with a 1" to 2" gap below the existing. We will have to open the old ceiling up in the corner so that we can make a way into the ceiling void above the living room. This will also sweep away all the cabling around the back door for the outside light and the two way for the stairs which are all old rubber clad cables.

I knocked off at dinner time had a bit of lunch then went on to Oldfields at Skipton to pick up the ducting that we will need for the cooker hood. The hood exhaust exits on a round pipe which will be taken to the ceiling on a flexible pipe into a 90 degree adaptor to 4"x2" rectangular ducting. Down 2/3 the length of the kitchen, exiting at the side of the back door via a 90 degree flat adaptor and another flat to round to take it through the wall.

I put the last of the sunken back boxes in yesterday which turned out to be the hardest one to do, literally. The wall has a complete run of half bricks set just at the right level up the wall for what will become a fused spur connection for the cooker hood. Laterally there was only one to choose from that would put it on the centre line of the decorative chimney. 7 foot up or so working from the steps, sods law said that it was one of the 50% or so of the kitchen lining built from hardened engineering bricks. Big do's and little do's I got it sunk to 35mm. The saving grace was that the half bricks were all sat on a pretty good lateral line of mortar so it was just a case of knocking the bottom edges off them all back to the living room wall. The spur will be fed from a fused isolation switch which in turn will be fed from the dual gang socket below and mounted in the corner cupboard.

With that I'm at a bit of a straight edge now as I now need Nathan back to disconnect all the electrics that we don't need so that we can put in the new. He will also put me a hole through the outside wall for the ducting with his core drilling gear. Waiting for when he can give me a date for coming to do the work. In the interim I may go down and get all the length measurements for the new architrave and get them sorted from Briggs and Duxbury. Once the cables are in we will be into final prep mode for the plasterer.

[Big Kev]

Kev's drill made short work of chasing the cable runs out, all done apart from the ones that will be required for the lighting bank on the stairs wall. It's only single brick and I don't think it would stand the rigours of the tooling. It will need quite a large channel as it will be a four gang switch bank. I need the old lighting cables that run in conduit behind the stairs door architrave out of the way and we can then run the new cables in the void, it will just need a small channel above then to get up into the new ceiling. We can then run any lateral cables for the downlights and a new feed for the living room light above my new studding as it is set with a 1" to 2" gap below the existing. We will have to open the old ceiling up in the corner so that we can make a way into the ceiling void above the living room. This will also sweep away all the cabling around the back door for the outside light and the two way for the stairs which are all old rubber clad cables.

I knocked off at dinner time had a bit of lunch then went on to Oldfields at Skipton to pick up the ducting that we will need for the cooker hood. The hood exhaust exits on a round pipe which will be taken to the ceiling on a flexible pipe into a 90 degree adaptor to 4"x2" rectangular ducting. Down 2/3 the length of the kitchen, exiting at the side of the back door via a 90 degree flat adaptor and another flat to round to take it through the wall.

I put the last of the sunken back boxes in yesterday which turned out to be the hardest one to do, literally. The wall has a complete run of half bricks set just at the right level up the wall for what will become a fused spur connection for the cooker hood. Laterally there was only one to choose from that would put it on the centre line of the decorative chimney. 7 foot up or so working from the steps, sods law said that it was one of the 50% or so of the kitchen lining built from hardened engineering bricks. Big do's and little do's I got it sunk to 35mm. The saving grace was that the half bricks were all sat on a pretty good lateral line of mortar so it was just a case of knocking the bottom edges off them all back to the living room wall. The spur will be fed from a fused isolation switch which in turn will be fed from the dual gang socket below and mounted in the corner cupboard.

With that I'm at a bit of a straight edge now as I now need Nathan back to disconnect all the electrics that we don't need so that we can put in the new. He will also put me a hole through the outside wall for the ducting with his core drilling gear. Waiting for when he can give me a date for coming to do the work. In the interim I may go down and get all the length measurements for the new architrave and get them sorted from Briggs and Duxbury. Once the cables are in we will be into final prep mode for the plasterer.

All good stuff, keep it up

[Stanley]

Important point about the single brick party wall. I had to stop the bloke next door using a lump hammer and chisel as he was vibrating pictures off my wall! I asked him if he had Party Wall Insurance and that gave him pause for thought!.

[PanBiker]

Jack's party wall is double skinned with stone outside the brick as is the front wall. Single brick is the party to the living room and the stairs wall with pantry underneath. This internal wall is the one that I don't want to use the rotary stopped hammer drill on. we will get round this for the short run for the switch cables using Nathan's small diamond tipped angle grinder carried especially for such jobs. It will be the distance from the top of a 7ft door up to the ceiling so a wide but not long run.

I have a measurement problem that I have been mulling over. The rectangular room has three walls where the measurements are not critical to any great degree. The front wall is fixed and has all the water and gas pipework on it, party wall to next door will have the cooker and hob, stairs wall has two doors and a radiator and has no bearing on the fitting of the units.

The elephant in the room is the living room wall currently knocked back to the brick. First thing is its not straight, there is a slight bow, nothing structurally amiss but it will mean that the depth of plaster will vary vertically. Here is where the problem is, the depth of plaster on this wall will directly effect the lateral position of the units along the party wall which in turn will determine where the oven and hob is and also the cooker hood and chimney above.

I have created a margin to cater for this in the studding for the ceiling making the ducting run 200mm wide, the ducting is 100mm so I have 100mm to play with laterally for the chimney position. Plaster boards will have to be fitted right up to the final position of the 90 degree ducting adapter in the ceiling. I can't determine the correct position for the ceiling ducting to emerge until the party wall is plastered. The depth of plaster on this wall will also set the overall front to back dimension of the room and will determine whether I will have to modify the service channels on the back of the units on the living room wall, there are no services here other than cable runs. The plastering of this wall is the key to all the base unit positions. I need Glenn to plaster up for maximum dimensions.

From the ceiling point of view we can install the lighting cabling and ducting and board out all the ceiling leaving a rectangular gap where the ducting emerges for the hood. The room is 3M wide and I am using 900mm wide boards so there is a 300mm fill in which I have put at the cooker end so this will just need a couple of narrower boards from each end and then two more smaller pieces which can be fitted round the ducting once the correct lateral position is determined.

I will ask Glenn to base coat and level out the critical wall first. I should then be able to take a reasonably accurate front to back measurement to work from. I can then determine the position of the corner base unit and the oven and hob cabinet next to it which in turn will determine the position of the gas hob and exhaust flue for the cooker hood. Once this is done I can finish boarding round the ducting point, scrim tape up the filling pieces and Glenn will be good to go on the ceiling.

Seems like a plan, unless there are any other suggestions?

[Stanley]

That sounds like the sensible way to do it Ian. Exactly the same as me starting a fitting job by making sure my base materials are milled square. If you don't do that you can't trust any of your measurements or the final fit.

[PanBiker]

Nathan came yesterday and we spent the day removing and rerouteing all the old lighting circuit and cabling downstairs. Some of it was in old single rubber conductors, these were run in metal conduit so we had to get the landing floor up to break into the circuit to preserve the upstairs feeds. It took us about 4 hours to trace everything back and make good with new feeds from the fuse box. We ran a new live feed through to the living room light but this in now disconnected as it is part of the new downstairs circuit. We can't put a new consumer unit in yet as the existing wiring has no continuous earth connection. So we currently have no lighting downstairs, I have a couple of pendent drops so I will rig something temporary today.

All new downstairs switch lines, all the cabling for the downlights and all the ring main and cooker feed cabling is installed. I just have to chase out the channel above the kitchen switch bank to bed the cables in the single brick wall, Nathan ran the angle grinder down where they need to go and cross scored it so it will be a doddle to knock that out. I also have a double socket that is still live but I know where it is fed from upstairs, Its currently feeding the boiler so I will disconnect it and put the boiler on an extension.

Nathan provide an encore by drilling a 4" hole through the outside wall for the ducting run with his core drilling kit. Thinking about this again and particularly the position of the input end of the ducting above the hob. It wont actually matter where I position it laterally as long as it is within the width of the chimney, I'm using a flexible pipe for the vertical connection! I can crack on and fully board the ceiling.

[Wendyf]

Do you use full size sheets of plasterboard for the ceiling Ian? We have a couple of useful props you can borrow if you like.

[PanBiker]

Plasterboards for the ceiling are all up apart from the ducting channel. We have all the ducting up but I can finish boarding the channel myself as they will only be short pieces. Jack held the boards in place whilst I screwed them up with my cordless drill. I had the clutch set but there is the odd screw that needs another half turn. I will sort them out when I am scrim taping. we will ask Glenn early next week if he wants to come and have another look to see if there is any more prep that he needs doing before he sets to plastering up for us. I will get the architrave in hand in case he wants it on before he starts on the base coat. I have four doors and the window to do so had better have the drop on that.

Jack was going out later this afternoon so as we were at a fairly straight edge I knocked off for today. He is not bothered about temporary lights this weekend. I will have the day of tomorrow and recommence on Monday. I need some sand and cement to finish off for the ducting cowl outside. I think I will just get ready mixed stuff because I don't need all that much.

So, last socket cabling to disconnect and pull back and a temporary mains feed for the boiler. Chanel to knock for five feeds and switch lines, cables to clip down once done and then unless Glenn wants anything else we will be good to go for plastering. We have made good progress over the last couple of days.

[Big Kev]

All sounds good

[Stanley]

Doesn't it Kev.... But quite exhausting!

[Sue]

Wow this is an incredible job you are doing.