Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Kitchen subfloor is down!

     The time has flown since my last house update - I didn't even realize it had been over a month! A couple of very, very exciting things happened yesterday: the carpenters finished installing the kitchen/dining subfloor AND our kitchen/dining light fixtures arrived. We haven't had a continuous floor running across the whole span of this area since around November 2011, (eek!) so it's been a long time coming to this point. Over that period of time, we've been going at it (mostly) DIY-style with the help of some friends along the way. Before getting to the kitchen/dining subfloor, we had to take out a chimney, reframe two exterior walls, enclose a porch, etc. In many ways, it seems like we should be further along with the kitchen (or whole house in general), but I am happy as long as there is steady progress. I guess you just have to find a balance for yourself and figure out a pace that works for you.


     In the former chimney and back porch areas, we put in the new floor joists ourselves. We attempted to put in some sheets of subflooring, but this became one of those occasions when paying someone to do the work and saving our time/sanity was the best choice. Dealing with the unlevelness and unsquareness was just too much for the two of us! Every one of the original joists had to be sistered to a new joist or totally replaced to make the kitchen/dining span level.


     Before the carpenters came to put in the joists, Steven and I finished encapuslating the crawlspace.  This entailed raking/scooping/sweeping up all the trash and debris down there, attaching foam to the concrete block walls, and covering the walls and floor with plastic sheeting - going for energy savings here! Steven added a couple of foundation supports too since one of our brick piers had been previously cut to allow space for a drain pipe.

     Not cool, especially when the mortar is crumbling too :(  I feel much better about this after repointing it and adding the extra support piers.




     Anywho... Here's the new subfloor, yay!! It was really funny to watch the dogs run across it for the first time. So timid at first, now they're like this:






     And finally, I'll leave you with a kitchen lighting preview. Power tools are great and all, but I was really excited to finally buy some pretty things ;)


Two 15" schoolhouse pendants for hanging over the island.

     This pendant will go over the dining table. Steven and I both love the Craftsman look, and the fact that we were both drawn to this fixture pretty much sealed the deal. Super excited about this one because it will give us a color palette to tie the front rooms together!

Hope everyone's having a great week,
Mary Lee

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