Major kitchen remodel

[kevm14]

Day 7:
Floor work finally began after a lot of concern and hang wringing on my part. The tile foreman came out on Monday and looked at everything and talked through everything. Learned some things about ceramic vs porcelain tile (porcelain tile can contain up to 30% ceramic legally). Ceramic is also helpful as part of the composition of a porcelain tile to help mechanically bond to the thinset.

We talked about the plywood and everything. He said they would screw it down like every 4" and use this product called DITRA by a Canadian company Schluter. According to the tile guy who has been doing floors for 10 years, this is the best you can do, even better than cement board. He did not end up screwing down every 4". He just went around and secured it where he thought it needed it. I had him add extra screws on my marked soft spot and it got a lot better afterwards. He used 2" drywall screws...

Pictures from today: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNIfbQVxYGcb4jPPNw

We also discussed the tile layout and transition. I think we are going with the long way instead of diagonal as originally planned. There is a bit less than 6 feet of exposed finished floor between each base cabinet FWIW. It just works better with the rest of the house. The boards run that way and the bathroom tile also runs that way. And for the transition, Schluter also makes an aluminum piece that will be a minimal step up from the existing hardwoods.

The rest of the job is about what I would have expected, which seems to contradict what I had heard from Nick the foreman. Juan said today was laying the DITRA. Tomorrow the carpenter will cut the floor and patch in more plywood for the transition. Juan will lay the tile. Then Friday he will come back to grout. It will get the entire weekend to dry which is great. I would presume cabinets will be arriving promptly on Monday. The windows will be in soon, too. Counters. Finish electrical. Finish plumbing. Backsplash. Appliances. Cabinet hardware. Sweet. I bet there are only like 5 or 6 work days left. We'll see.

[kevm14]

Day 8:

Tile day! Fairly big day. The main projects were the carpenter made the final cut to the dining room hardwood floor and did a lot of work, kind of at my request, to firm up the floor to fix some squeaking and flexing. Rick was amazing. He really cares about his craft and says the only way he works is the way he'd want it done on his own stuff, right down to details you normally wouldn't even see or care about but are there. The tile guy Juan told me he was the best carpenter at the company. He used these little pin nails, glue, shims, and some screws that he toed into the floor joists to suck the subfloor down from the basement. Pretty damn solid now. I can probably fix some other squeaks based on that.

Then Juan started laying tile basically. He had these interesting new spacers which both hold a pretty narrow grout line (I like that) and also hold the tiles level with each other. Seemed to work well, though with a particularly unlevel floor (mine was pretty damn flat) you'd have to be sure you were using enough thinset under the low tiles as you pull them up with those spacers.

Onedrive link for all: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNJOX2MZSb2xGPUrKg

Several hundred dollar German level. 78".

Mostly he used the wheel cutter. The wet saw was only for making notches for the vents. If he had to trim a tile due to wall waviness, he used an angle grinder.

The BEAST

Laser, because of course.

Closeup of the spacers.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Primo-Tools ... /206998191

Only 3 reviews. Two last year and one this year. Pretty new. Two are 5 star.

Ive been a tile contractor for 20 plus years. I've used numerous leveling systems over the years. No tools required, easy to tighten with finger, simply the easiest! Must have for wood look porcelain plank and great for any floor tile!

This tile leveling system was very easy to use and was effective for large format tiles (greater than 18 inches). Only issue I had was finding additional base pieces (the part that remains under the tiles). Home Depot does not sell them and I finally tracked them down at Best Tile.

And the 3 star guy says:

worked well for leveling but the design of screwing on the cap would frequently spin the tile out of place. also the inability to see the area under the cap resulted in several thin set protrusions under the cap.

Neither of those happened to Juan. Sounds like too much thin set and I dunno what to say about the twisting. My tiles were 12x24 porcelain and quite heavy.

[kevm14]

Day 9:

Day 9: The groutening. Movie title. Moving along.

I went to work. But uh, it came out pretty awesome. The haze is on it so he will do the final wipe Monday morning. Kind of amazing but not really in a good way: I have a grand total of 1 full tile plus half a tile left. For the whole job. He made no mistakes. Man. That was cutting it close. I need to order a box. I dunno about two but at least one.

This is all that was left.

Onedrive link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNJew_SiZdvajD10zQ

I love the small grout lines and the color completely blends in. I think this looks amazing.

I dunno why it looks uneven in the photo. It is straight in real life. Just the smallest transition up. Hopefully not a trip issue at all.

Tile enlarged to show texture.

Monday, Juan finishes sponging the haze off. Cabinets will be delivered. I believe cabinet install begins Tuesday which I will probably take off. I was instructed to leave my sink faucet and I guess soap dispenser in the sink cabinet so when they measure for the countertops and the holes, they know what I am going to be installing. Though I would think the holes are standard size and location. This kitchen is going to be amazing. Yeah yeah, it better be, and all that...

[kevm14]

Day 10:
Cabinet delivery! I did find a door and a drawer front with flaws that I will hopefully get taken care of (by a new door and drawer). Hopefully I don't get the runaround that nothing is perfect (the rest seem fine) or something. There must be at least $15k into these cabinets (there are a lot of them, more than a lot of larger kitchens). But I have high expectations. They are well made with plywood and everything. The brand is Diamond which is not some exotic brand though these cabinets were definitely made to this order (just in stock sizes). Lowes carries Diamond but Lowes is not listed as a vendor when you go to Diamond's website which lends some credence that what Lowes sells may be somehow different (or inferior) to get the price down a bit. More specifically, I don't think I can actually buy my cabinets through Lowes. Conversely, KCCNE is listed on Diamond's website.

I just don't want to see these imperfections. It does come with touchup paint but I think that is more for the long term, not because of any paint issues at delivery. Technically these are not paint issues actually.

Onedrive pics: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNMbO3MaH2LuSvP5Pg

First flaw. Looks like the wood had some kind of imperfection at the edge or when it was finished and they painted over it. You will see this. It is at eye height and the recessed light will illuminate it from the top to make it look even worse after installation. I would like a new door.

Drawer front wasn't quite square when they built it I would assume. You can see this from a distance where you'd grab the handle (I am not expecting perfection under a magnifying glass). New drawer. I don't want to just fill this with touchup paint...

I didn't see anything else that jumped out at me. I will wait until everything is installed since more damage could occur or I might see something I missed. Again, hopefully they can make this right with no hassles. It may take a few weeks after installation for the new items - that is not a problem.

[kevm14]

Day 11:
Installation begins. This will be a multi-day affair. The carpenter is not here yet but I think the list goes something like this:
- Deal with vent and return duct under cabinets. May require moving the duct or at least running a duct under the cabinet where the vent is so it can output at the toe kick. This may be its own little project.
- Microwave vent. Probably tie into it in the attic so a new roof hole is not required. This is an example of why I need to be here to guide things the way I want.
- Install cabinets.

I think he may also measure for the holes for the kitchen sink faucet and soap dispenser.

I will fill this with pictures at the end of the day. Other work still lingers, like the windows, which could happen in parallel with anything else since it is outside work.

Onedrive link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNMjXnl0Yl1gxYEMrw

We had a great discussion. Lots of info about the company. I will say this - they have some very good people working for them. He has a whole thing about floor tile (turns out I was correct to request it at the beginning). Apparently the way one of the owners insists on doing the tile (after the cabinets) tends to add WEEKS to many jobs. Insanity.

My floor is flat but not level. The ceiling is neither flat nor level. In fact it is out greater than an inch. It's so bad, in fact, that we probably can't go with the typical 45 degree crown molding because it will never look right. He suggested a flat trim, which can have a little style to it, but he can scribe that along the ceiling and, to the eye, it will look as good as it can. This will take a couple weeks to order so the good news is I have a bit of time to paint the ceiling before it goes up. Unfortunately, some of the imperfections in the plaster job would normally be the job of the painter to prep the final surface. The painter is me. So that kind of sucks but I just can't afford to have this all painted, though I admit I don't actually have a price. But I can say if it is more than like $300, then forget it. It will probably be over $500 and maybe closer to $800.

I will say the more finish work I see done, the more I feel good about paying a professional. Everything needs to be adjusted and sometimes compromises have to be made. With the experience these guys have they can recommend good options and execute them in the time I would be maybe 25% through my internet research and hand wringing. I just did not have time for this kitchen to be a months long project.

Big decision with the vents. Another good reason I am home for this. We decided to change up the base cabinet layout a bit to make more sense for where the vents exist in the floor. It will involve moving the trash drawer to the right side of the dishwasher. Then all the base cabinets will line up over a vent, avoiding having to mess with both the floor and the vents. We spent a while discussing options and moving cabinets around to see. Side note, I know I was a little down on my cabinets - they are actually very good quality, I just don't understand cabinet prices I guess.

Also of interest was a 4" designed filler at the end of the run. He was like...why did Nate do that? I have no idea. Overly conservative with his measurements. Because if in reality that came to under 3", well, the cabinet would be in the wall. Well, in reality, I actually have MORE than 4" at the end of the run. Paul said the best bet would be to enlarge the upper cabinet to 39" and the lower to 36". I was like...man, I dunno if they will go for that, and I would think I will have to pay. He made a phone call and it was done. I am still not sure if I am going to face a change order but they may just eat this. If so, that is another example of why I went with these guys.

Tomorrow he will show up at 8am and continue. I need to make a list of all the flaws I see so they can get that order placed. He says he can swap out an entire cabinet base AFTER the granite is installed. I'm like....uhh, a 36" diving board of granite hanging off a base cabinet with no support? We'll see. I mean if something breaks they'll fix it obviously.

[kevm14]

Day 10:
I did find a door and a drawer front with flaws that I will hopefully get taken care of (by a new door and drawer). Hopefully I don't get the runaround that nothing is perfect (the rest seem fine) or something. There must be at least $15k into these cabinets (there are a lot of them, more than a lot of larger kitchens). But I have high expectations.

I just don't want to see these imperfections. It does come with touchup paint but I think that is more for the long term, not because of any paint issues at delivery. Technically these are not paint issues actually.

Good news. Paul the finish carpenter is here. He said they absolutely take care of all that stuff, and anything I see to be sure to mention so they can address it. That's what I wanted to hear.

[kevm14]

Day 12:
Paul was here from around 9am to 4:30pm or so. We had more discussions. First, he is really good. I would say the plumber Brian and the rough carpenter Mike have been my least favorite. They seemed more standoffish, more get in/get out AND made some questionable decisions (though only Mike's will result in rework as far as I know). The window over the sink is not actually centered in the wall. I wonder if the measurements were wrong since they were based on having drywall walls, and he just translated them to the rough opening, without making sure that resulted in a centered window. It is a good 1" too far to the right. They are going to fix it. It will require some rework of the plaster stuff. Speaking off, that is another odd thing. They really should have ripped out the ceiling and started over, leveling the furring strips so the new ceiling would be nice. Instead, it is wavy over the kitchen sink, which you will see. So, the plaster folks will have to come back to fix that (and fix from where the window opening is repaired). Sigh. These are things that could have been caught if someone was using more care or there was a general on site. I would argue I've caught a few things myself but I wouldn't have thought to question Mike's measurements ("hey, that looks 1" too far to the right" as if I would have even seen that in a completely empty room).

I will say Paul said that prior to last October, they never had a rough carpenter (the finish guy did everything which was not a good use of resources). So this is kind of a new thing. It WILL be more efficient once they work the bugs out. This is a learning curve example, unfortunately.

But again the key point is they make it right. I know they will stand behind their work, and the rework is really their problem, and a little bit of mine since it stretches the schedule.

The base cabinets are all shimmed. Some more than others since the floor is not level. The top is 35.5" so the counter must be 1/2". Which sounds thin to me now that I think of it...and internet research says 1-1/4" is very common for granite. I don't mind if the counter ends up 36.75" or whatever. 36" is widely accepted but there's no real rule. He may have made it high on purpose as he did cite the slide-in range. I should have mentioned that it is not a real slide-in, and we could have looked at the specs together and decided. Hopefully it is all fine.

Anyway it is coming along nicely. Countertop will be measured tomorrow morning so I guess I will try to be there for that and ask them about thickness.

Onedrive link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNM3BvEaT5ND5ZnyWA

Here is the questionable plumbing decision. It is very odd to have everything crammed on the left BUT, it means the entire right cabinet area will probably be completely open which is actually pretty cool. Still, this was a lazy thing, not something he did for a functional reason.

Paul did some good work getting the microwave vent patched into the old duct. It will all be hidden above the cabinets. That is great. I forgot to ask if he installed a one-way damper. It was there but I think it was ripped out. That prevents backdraft from outside which I guess is just as much a concern for the smoke venting as it is for cold/hot outside air blowing. I was not here for this part.

Like a glove!

The upper hinge on the big pantry door appears to be DOA. It is leaking all its shock fluid. Yes, apparently the soft close mechanism is actually like a little shock.

We might want more drawers and can obviously buy them and get the rails. It is modular so we can add wherever. This is good time to point out the quality. All drawer boxes are full maple with dove tail construction. And even the drawers inside the pantry are all soft close. Nice.

Hole for the vent duct. He will need to install a 90 degree vent duct in here. I thought he would have done that before installing the cabinet but I guess he can slip it in after.

Ah the window. Behold the fail. Too far to the right. And check out that wavy ceiling. Unsat on both. They will fix it, some way, somehow.

[kevm14]

Day 13:

Paul is here again. I stayed home this morning to meet up with the counter people but they are still not here. But we discussed some good stuff again. First, the microwave will have a damper. Good. Second, the cabinets are installed LEVEL. It is the floor that is not level. So, the counter will be higher in some areas and lower in others. The sink cabinet, for example, is completely on the floor in the back and shimmed slightly in the front (since the floor already starts dropping away in only 24").

Here is an example of how bad it is (this is far from the worst he's seen, really). This is near the new window where the old door was. This is how far down the base cabinet would be if he did not shim them up to level. Looks like about 13/16". You'll never feel it but it is critical the cabinets and countertops are level. It is what it is. Pics from yesterday.

We also discussed the range. It sounds like the appliance people will have to shim the range up higher than the highest setting on the legs. Should be possible. Going lower is the part you can't do easily.

Finally we discussed the fridge and pantry area. The pantry was drawn to be installed flush with the back wall, like any other 24" cabinet. But that would leave it with two issues:
1) Awkwardly recessed though this gave the appearance of a bit more space
2) The door would hit the wall which the kids would surely destroy quickly

#2 won so it is being pulled out flush with the fridge panel.

This is looking pretty good.

Onedrive link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNNZacCnxvAzidNrtw

I think I like how all the fridge stuff turned out. Seems right to be all on the same plane there, even though it is a bit "heavy" on the left when you walk in. The good news is, the wall completely blocks that as you walk toward the kitchen from the dining room so everything looks fairly open, and there will be a window. By the time you get to the opening, you'll see the nice casement window and range and hopefully the eye doesn't fixate on the heavy pantry cabinet and refrigerator.

Had to cut a hole in the back of the upper pantry cabinet to provide access to this junction box. Sucks but this will be covered and will probably not be visible anyway when filled with stuff.

Here is the cleat to support the countertop on the edge. This will be good for when he has to pull the base cabinet (a couple weeks out since it was just ordered this week).

This shot kind of illustrates that, imo, the walls are about as wide as they could be. Any wider on the left and you lose a place for the switches. And on the right would do no good based on what's there.

[kevm14]

Also of interest was a 4" designed filler at the end of the run. He was like...why did Nate do that? I have no idea. Overly conservative with his measurements. Because if in reality that came to under 3", well, the cabinet would be in the wall. Well, in reality, I actually have MORE than 4" at the end of the run. Paul said the best bet would be to enlarge the upper cabinet to 39" and the lower to 36". I was like...man, I dunno if they will go for that, and I would think I will have to pay. He made a phone call and it was done. I am still not sure if I am going to face a change order but they may just eat this. If so, that is another example of why I went with these guys.

I was too optimistic. They want to write it up as a change order, since they'd have to obviously order new cabinets. $800, which is apparently their cost. Paul was here to show me the base trim options for the crown area and I talked to him again about it. He is actually pissed at them, and said this is the first time he's seen something like this and is going to talk to the owner, though I don't think he is going to get very far. I wrote a nastygram and the owner is now on CC so we will see. Worst case I live with the gap and filler and will be annoyed about it. It's not the end of the world but it does detract from the quality image, since people will see my kitchen and that gap is something that would normally be the result of shoving stock cabinets together. These semi-custom cabinets were available in a width to make that gap more like 1". And according to Paul, 1" is more than enough margin to cover measurement issues so in his opinion this is BS. We will see what happens.

This is the first real issue, and compared to some, it is minor. But it isn't right, and I have extremely high expectations not just for the money (which is a lot) but the company itself which differentiated themselves from others. I do have some good news to report next.

[kevm14]

Day 12:
Paul was here from around 9am to 4:30pm or so. We had more discussions. First, he is really good. I would say the plumber Brian and the rough carpenter Mike have been my least favorite. They seemed more standoffish, more get in/get out AND made some questionable decisions (though only Mike's will result in rework as far as I know). The window over the sink is not actually centered in the wall. I wonder if the measurements were wrong since they were based on having drywall walls, and he just translated them to the rough opening, without making sure that resulted in a centered window. It is a good 1" too far to the right. They are going to fix it. It will require some rework of the plaster stuff. Speaking off, that is another odd thing. They really should have ripped out the ceiling and started over, leveling the furring strips so the new ceiling would be nice. Instead, it is wavy over the kitchen sink, which you will see. So, the plaster folks will have to come back to fix that (and fix from where the window opening is repaired). Sigh. These are things that could have been caught if someone was using more care or there was a general on site. I would argue I've caught a few things myself but I wouldn't have thought to question Mike's measurements ("hey, that looks 1" too far to the right" as if I would have even seen that in a completely empty room).

I will say Paul said that prior to last October, they never had a rough carpenter (the finish guy did everything which was not a good use of resources). So this is kind of a new thing. It WILL be more efficient once they work the bugs out. This is a learning curve example, unfortunately.

But again the key point is they make it right. I know they will stand behind their work, and the rework is really their problem, and a little bit of mine since it stretches the schedule.

So Paul talked to Mike. We may have freaked out for nothing. According to Mike, there is an extra 2x4 on the left which is just to hold the plywood on the outside of the house and the plasterers should not have plastered over it (that's no big deal, but it threw everyone off). So it was never intended to be permanent. I guess I will withhold judgement until the windows are installed but this is good news for me. Oh, the windows will be delivered on Monday and installed Tuesday so that will be great. Really great, actually. It will make a huge difference to the feel of the room.

Per the rest of the quote about the ceiling, they are still going to have to fix that, and they will. And I do wish they ripped the ceiling down and started over, still. Some would say that is more annoying than the 4 to 4-1/2" gap filler on the cabinet ends. Maybe it is, since it prevents the nice 45 degree crown from fitting right. In which case I guess that is two gripes...