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Re:BUILDING

A Preservation Newsletter

Volume 19 - June, 2004 to October, 2004

Published by Martin Hackl, Oak Park, Illinois

My first construction project as a web log. 

(I don't mean my first construction project - - I mean my first log.)

As if the internet needs another web log.  So, at the suggestion of my friend Debbie who maybe thought I might get a little tired of sending out mass e-mails (some call it "spam") to notify friends, and those-not-so-friendly, of interesting goings-on in my work life, here it is.  Besides being annoying to me, I think my spam was becoming much more annoying to my friends.

Since the time of Debbie's suggestion, and the urging of a few others, (Advice to friends:  I can hear Avey saying "please don't encourage him!".  Oh oh, too late.),

(This is page 1)

(click here to go to page 2 for July)

(click here to go to page 3 for August)

(click here to go to page 4 for September)

(click here to go to page 5 for October)

My subject:  I'm just starting work on my second kitchen remodeling project this year.  So I thought it would be fun to document it from start to finish.

NOTE:  You can click on any photo on this page for a larger image.

Here's the building it's in.

I may only try this once.  But try, I will.   This is going to be very raw.  A quick proof and a spell-check, and each new entry will be on its way through the ether. Blah, blah, blah - blah, blah blah! 

Someone asked for a picture of me, so here it is: 

By the way, here's how to reach me, if you must.  Send your comments, suggestions, complaints, questions, threats, etc. to:  kitchenremodel@re-building.com

Here goes.

Project 1:  A Kitchen Remodel in Oak Park, (Illinois).

First, a little background to this project.  I had done some restoration work for my friend Cassandra when she called me, oh, about two years back - to do some restoration work on her condo in a historic building.  We were not friends then - we actually had never met. But we fast became friends - or should I say "comrades" - right from the start, when we both realized our common political persuasions, and our mutual dislike (that is a very mild way of putting it) for GWB and the new regime entering the White House at the time, (and unfortunately, still there today).

Often that topic makes me not so popular at gatherings.  I guess because I have an obnoxious habit of bluntness.  As my wife, Avey will readily testify.  I wasn't aware I had married an angel at the time.  But after 25 years of cohabitation, I am becoming more aware at how difficult it must be for anyone to put up my behavior, for any period of time, let alone a quarter of a century!  Hell, my own parents only had to put up with me for 21 years.  Peace reigned there when I left the nest.

Back to Cassandra's place --  here is that abovementioned background.  (She was a victim of one of my earlier Newsletters):  Background

As everyone who owns and restores an old house is aware, home improvement funds always quickly evaporate.  Cassandra already knew there would be a new kitchen somewhere down the pike, but didn't realize then that it was still nearly two years out.  I promised to build her kitchen last year, and we both got sidetracked.  You know, life intervenes, etc. etc..

This is what the kitchen looked like before we started.

Jump to May 2004.

Home equity lines are readily available, construction is booming, and I'm getting ready to retire from the construction biz.  Two torn rotator cuffs, and my hips and knees aching every morning, and the money sucks for a one-man-shop, like mine.  Who needs it?!  So I thought, I'll just drop the "build" part of "design/build", and make some easier money designing kitchens and actually get paid for that part of it, instead of just "throwing it in" with the job.

Long story short:  Got my first client as just a "designer".  Designed a ca. $25K kitchen, finished the plans and specs, and asked several other contractors for bids.  The good ones were are all way too busy, most a half year out, at least!  First contractor I find who seems interested, says he'd be glad to look at a small job like this (a really good local guy, actually), and comes in with a bid of $97K!!!  Obviously he doesn't need the work either. 

Got two other "offers" - not really bids, from a few, how shall I say...new-to-this-continent, eastern European, contractors.  Plenty of those in Chicago.  

For those of your outside of Illinois, this state requires no qualifications or licensing for general contractors.  You can get off the plane from anywhere, and be building houses within about a week.  Many municipalities only require a small bond, and $50 or so dollars, to get a license.  You don't even need a visa or a green card!   SCARY!!

And what ever happened to apprenticeships and trade unions?

So I talked to this gentleman - with the help of lots of gesturing and "contractor sign language".  His first name is pronounced something like "Yanoosh".  His last name has a vowel deficit and is unpronounceable.  I call him John.  He doesn't even need to look at the plans, he says.  He then says, (insert: dialect of an eastern European male, new to the English language)..."I do it for ten thousand [dollars, I suppose he means?]"   "...I have some my guys do it next week."  I ask him some of those pesky questions about permits, insurance, workman's comp., and stuff like that.   His reply:  "Don't need permits.  Insurance? (like "what's that?).  No worry, my guys be careful".

Nota bene: Just to be absolutely clear, my ancestors are, as well, from European ports of call (not really ports, but farms, actually).  So, no ethnic slurs about Europeans, or any others are being made or implied here.  It's just reality folks, and I'm not particularly famous for political correctness.

By the way, that project is also in the works at this time.  Design is done, and cabinets are ready to be ordered.  However, construction has not started yet.  I really don't like to have two jobs going at once, but these two might overlap because of the way the rest of the summer and scheduling looks for me, I may have to do just that.  So this log might be a two-for-one.

So I'm temporarily back in the contractor business.  But only for friends - or really cool projects like these!  I think this one is going to be fun.   Cassandra doesn't even seem to mind the music I play on the radio or cassette player when I'm working.

I've had many people ask me to PLEASE put on anything else, but please stop playing "all that damn 'opera' music".  While working, I like to play tapes, mostly of my old 78 RPM violin records.  It helps me focus, helps to ignore the pain and makes the time go faster.  (Here's one of my favorites:  "opera" music)  I had one lady who just couldn't imagine that her "tile guy" could even "understand classical music".  SHE had SEASON TICKETS to the OPERA.  Well...La-di-da!   When I told her that I had a college degree - in music - she was sure I must be schizophrenic.  It was great fun.  I'm sure I drove her nuts. 

Anyhow, she paid me immediately when the job was done (I repaired the loose tile and rotted walls in a leaking shower built 6 months before, by one of the aforementioned "European" contractors.  Beautiful tile work - on drywall, nicely taped and mudded -- IN A SHOWER!!  The mold (fungus?) had three-inch tentacles, and I had to keep my eye out to avoid being its next meal).

So I'm sure the nice lady wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible and never see me again...like she never saw the previous contractor again.

Hmmmm...got paid right away when the job was done...maybe there's a good strategy there.  Play annoying music...get paid on time.

Days 1 and 2.  Permits.  I thought; small kitchen, no major changes in the layout, no structural alterations, Village Hall in-and-out, piece-of-cake.  Well almost.  Condo Board, OK.  Plans, OK.  Building permit, OK.  Dumpster permit, OK.  Got plumber's permit, electrician's permit, OK.  Ready to go.  Not quite yet.  We're in the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District (I put that in as a keyword for the search engines) so it needs to be OK'd by the Historic Commission.  No big deal, except my two in-and-out visits to Village Hall took about 6 hours total, including a few trips back and forth, and an extra drive across town to get another copy of my insurance certificate, because the copy I submitted was not worded correctly.  Oh well, the client pays.

Days 3 and 4.  Demolition.  I LOVE homeowner sweat equity!  Especially when the work is on a second floor walk-up.  Cassandra, and her son Chris, who is home from college (just graduated - congratulations Chris!), helped out a lot with the demo.  When Cassandra realized that the $15 K she had planned to spend on a new kitchen will only get her about one-half of a kitchen, she came up with this solution.  Cassandra's Solution:  Budget a little more cash, and supplement with sweat equity.

Here are some demolition pictures.

Here are the three of us at the end of the first day.			These are those kinds of days when you shower for an hour, and still don't feel clean.

We planned to remove everything but the walls.  However, once the cabinets came down, parts of the soft-plaster walls started to come down too.  Not a big surprise.  What didn't come down looked pretty bad.  It would have cost more to patch and do wallpaper removal (I think the cheap wallpaper was actually holding the plaster together), than to just take it all down and put up new drywall.  So, the walls came down too.  This will actually save money, since now Tim, our electrician can do all his work in the open, and get his work done twice as fast -- we can only hope.  At $50 an hour, this is a good thing.

We filled an 8 yard dumpster.  (Remember, this is a "small" job)  That means 8 (cubic) yards of heavy stuff carried down the back stairs, and out to the street and packed carefully into the dumpster.  Thank heavens for sweat equity!

Demolition in old buildings always leads to fun discoveries.  No exception here.  Here's our most interesting.  Right over the original maple flooring, after removing three other layers of flooring, we discovered an early linoleum over the maple floorboards.  This is probably from the 1920s, or could even be original. 

I wonder if anyone recognizes the time period, or historical era of this pattern??  Cool, huh?

Since it is sound, we decided to leave this linoleum in place and keep it in place as sort of a time capsule, since it is some of the historic fabric of the building.  (Unless anyone wants it - - - you have about a week and a half - from today, June 13 - to come and take it out.)  We'll cover over it with a 5/8 plywood underlayment, and a floating floor (cherry).  By the way, here's why we decided not to even try to re-use the original maple floor as our finished surface.  My experience tells me that what we would uncover would be stained, damaged, need extensive patching and sanding, would have gaps, and overall, be completely unsatisfactory.  It was probably covered up with four layers of flooring for a good reason!

End of demolition and a fresh slate.

Day 5.  Calls to Dan, (plumber) to cap off the gas supply.  It has loose connections and needs to be out of the way anyhow for our framing work.  I  also need to relocate a steam heating pipe which was hidden  under an old cabinet, and which turns out to be exactly where we intend to put the dishwasher.  One of those unforeseen conditions.

Planning for new framing work.  Lots of measuring today.  Measure, measure and measure again.  The cabinets are already ordered, and THEY HAVE TO FIT!  Why any new framing anyhow?

Well, the transition from plaster-and-wood-lath, to drywall (5/8), requires a bit of re-framing.  The old plaster/lath way of framing does not leave enough nail/screw surfaces for the drywaller - especially in the corners.  Plus, the only framing on the wall where we are going to hang all our wall cabinets, and (heavy) microwave/exhaust, is only one-by-twos nailed to the brick with lots of shims to make it plumb.  We'll need a regular stud wall here.  We'll lose about an inch and a half from the width of the room, but our cabinets will still fit -- just.  Whew!

Finally, it is also nice to have flat - and plumb - wall planes on which to hang your cabinets later - and for the tile.  So about 2 or 3 days of framing and carpentry.  Time spent now will be well amply rewarded later.

End of the day -- plumber tomorrow, 8:30 AM.  Have to temporarily shut off the gas to all the units.  Boy I'll already be making new friends!

Day 6 Dan, the plumber, didn't have to shut off the gas to all the other units after all.  Each unit has its own shutoff in the basement.  Ten minutes and he was out of there.  At $95 per hour, hooray for that!  He also gave me some advice a few other items, which will be a great help down the line.

As long as the walls are open, I'm going to see if I can find a straight run inside the plumbing wall down to the basement.  We might as well run new risers if we can.  In fact, Dan suggested to run the risers up through our unit, to just beneath the floor of the unit above.  Then when the time comes for them to do any remodeling in their kitchen, the new water supplies will be there, ready for hookup.

The rest of today and tomorrow, I'm working at home.  We're listing our house tomorrow (we can just no longer afford the high taxes, etc.) and need to get things cleaned up to sell.  Also, those dozens of small repairs that never seem to get done are getting done.  And finally, we have a kitchen that is finished!  Kind of.  I guess it's just time to stop experimenting on our own kitchen.  Got our new stove today.  the old one broke a couple of months ago, and we've been doing a lot of outdoor barbequing.  It's the first really nice appliance we ever bought, and it's going with the house.  Bummer! 

Below are a couple pictures with our new KitchenAid installed. Yeah, we know it's stainless, and the rest of the appliances are white.  If we were staying, eventually every other appliance would be stainless when they needed replacement.  Well, not in our future.

By the way, this is actually our second "new" kitchen.  Go here to see the first kitchen we installed, in our first old house.  Our first new kitchen

The worst thing here is, new owners will probably tear out the kitchen and remodel.  If fact, I'm pretty sure they'll remodel more than the kitchen.

In this era of silicone enhancements, Hummers and Everything-Bigger-Is-Better,  we think we'll probably be the last ones living in this house with its original architecture intact.  Judging by the recent past here in Oak Park, and what's happened to several other historic homes, substantial alterations will be made by whoever the next owners are. Probably at least a 1000 to 1500 square foot addition out the back.  That means of course that the existing dining room and kitchen, will be lost.  And whoever does the evil deed (and their "restoration architect") will probably win an award for doing it.  It's pretty much "good bye" to the concept of stewardship these days.

Here is our house:  Our house

Over the past ten years, a little blood, a lot of sweat, and a few tears have gone into the restoration of our house - all with my own two hands, and Avey's long hours working, at a job she hates, to supply much of the funds.

Sigh. Well we'll always have the memories...and the photos.

Day 7 No work on the kitchen today.  So here's a little more "opera" music:  More Opera Music

June 18  A reader suggested using dates instead of just numbering the days.  Great suggestion.  Today I just framed two walls.  The main wall (against the brick) needed to be free-standing and not attached to the brick like the old plaster wall was.   Also, I wanted this wall to be perfectly plumb and even, because all the wall cabinets are going there.  If the drywallers are in top form, I may only need one packet of small shims to get all the uppers installed.

Yesterday, I discussed lighting with Tim.  He then set the ceiling cans in place to will give us a good wash of light over our cabinets and countertops.

The rest of his time was spent removing some of the spaghetti of BX and just trying to sort things out.

I don't think I feel like working tomorrow (Saturday), so the next work day will be Monday.  More framing and more electric.

June 21 Electric today.  Tim and his temporary helper, Pete are on the job.  Tim's challenge today is to sort out some of the existing lines, all of which come from the basement and come into the apartment (condo) through the kitchen.  Five circuits total.  Cassandra has been having problems with circuit breakers shutting off all the time, especially with her window AC unit running, or a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, etc..  All of the existing wiring is newer, mostly #12 gauge.  It's just that things are not distributed very well.  We'll also run an additional 3/4 inch conduit down to the basement and add a couple of circuits.

Tim, the electrician.

Tim and Pete looking busy.

With Tim's help, I also got our risers for our cold and hot water through the wall of the unit below, into the basement.  With a little manipulation, and a couple of mild, strategic bends, we got three copper pipes down to the sub-floor of the unit below, inside the wall.  We drilled through the subfloor from below, in the basement, and then easily pushed our pipes through.  Pushing the pipes through was easy, not the drilling.  Anyone who has ever drilled overhead into a ceiling knows what a messy business that can be!  Lots of debris in the hair and down the shirt.  (I always tighten my belt - that at least keeps it out of the pants!)

We ran 3/4" copper risers for both the hot and cold, and a 1/2" extra return riser for the hot, which is a circulating system.  Now everything is ready for the plumber to do his work and make his connections.

Circulating Hot Water System -- Here's how it works:  In a building, like a three story apartment, the hot water supply line in your home carries hot water from the water heater to all the sinks and baths throughout the building or tier.  If there was just a single hot water pipe, when you turned on your hot water faucet, there would be a lag time in getting hot water, because all the cooler water sitting in the supply lines would have to pass through the pipes before hot water from the water heater reaches the faucet. As a result, gallons of water are wasted while waiting for hot water to arrive.  The farther a tap is from the water heater, the longer the lag time.

By running a return line from the last tap on the hot water supply line back to the water heater and installing a small circulating pump, hot water is constantly re-circulated in the supply line and is immediately available when you turn on your faucet. The direction of flow moves from the water heater through the hot water supply line, through the return line, through the re-circulating pump, and then back to the water heater.

June 22  Let there be light!

June 23  Prepped, cleaned up, removed any obstructions and double-checked measurements, so that the plumbers could come in and zip through their work.  Waited---did a few errands.  So they got tied up on another job.  It puts me one more day behind (ergo, one wasted workday for me- - one day less pay).  Alas, the life of a small contractor!  They'll be on the job here early tomorrow AM....I hope.

June 24  The plumbers are on the job today.  Hooray!  Plumbers (and electricians) - - YIKES, all those holes in my new framing!!  Actually, on this job, it's not a big deal.  And Dan is a great plumber.  An artist. He should sign his work, and I always feel bad about covering it up!

But, be warned:  Some plumbers have no fear about cutting into structure!  Always a good idea to plan ahead, and keep your eyes on them.  These guys can be deadly with a sawzall and a hole cutter!

Lethal weapons in the hands of a Jedi Plumber!

I always powwow with my plumber ahead of time, to see where he wants to put his holes and cuts, and frame accordingly.  For example; If he's going to drill a three inch hole through a 3-1/2 inch two-by-four, I need a framing strategy to compensate.  My soap-box here is:  PLAN AHEAD. 

Dan the plumber.  He's busy, but this man's work is worth the wait!  A little thing like a hip replacement never stops this guy.

Jim.  Dan's able assistant.  It's a wet job, but someone has to do it!.

This is a historic building, and we're working to preserve it for the next generation.  Boy, that sounds like a commercial.  Oh well...

June 25 We have water (and gas)!!

Art is all around you, if you know where to look. 

Of the many people who call themselves "Artists", very few actually are.  I've been around both, and I've met many more artists in the Trades than in the Arts.  This is Jim's work today.

Have a great weekend Jim!

June 26  Pete, the electrician was at work all day.   I didn't work today.  The weather was incredible and I enjoyed it fully.  Tonight, Avey and I got tickets to see Michael (that commie bastard!) Moore's  "Fahrenheit 9/11".  For us the movie will just be preaching to the choir, of course (I guess I'm also a "commie bastard" - at least I've been told so), but I think we'll have a good time. I know we'll be in good company, surrounded by kindred spirits.

I just realized,  haven't shown any of the design yet for our kitchen.  Here's a sample:  Sample (pdf)  But keep in mind, this is an early preliminary drawing just to give an idea.  There have been several changes to the design since.  When Cassandra told me she wanted to commit to doing her kitchen, I e-mailed her some CAD perspectives right away that evening - I didn't want the excitement to wane.  Projects like this should always be fun - - for everyone involved.

June 28  Saturday Pete did more electric.  Ran 5 new circuits to the basement, (where he drilled through a 12+ inch brick wall, and then to the main panel).  Sunday, met drywaller in A.M  for estimate.  Today (Monday) Jim finished his work (hooked up steam pipe to new radiator location on porch).  Tim and Pete finished the electric rough-in ready for inspection. 

Scheduled inspection for rough plumbing and electric on Thurs..  Then I'll put plywood down on the floors, a little more framing, and we should be ready for drywall on Mon.  Cabinets are ready for delivery.  Time get my rear in gear...to put the pedal to the metal, etc..

This is the style and color of the maple cabinets and all the wood trim in the room:			This is what the cherry floors will look like.
Our granite countertops will look something like this.			We'll use a tile similar to this on the porch (and possibly the backsplash).

June 30  Yesterday I left the place to the electricians again, and I had time to get other work done. 

Worked a long day today.  Picked up some 5/8" plywood, cut it to size and screwed it down to the old tongue and groove porch floor.  Also finished some framing loose ends, and had the electricians finish up a couple of their loose ends.  Cleaned up and vacuumed.  Tomorrow is our rough plumbing and electrical inspection, and then I'll hopefully get the plywood down in the kitchen.

Started my next kitchen project.  I actually already designed a kitchen for Mike and Rachel (and family) several months ago.  A challenging design.  Here's kind of an abbreviated version of it.  Mike and Rachel live in an architecturally significant house.  They really do need an updated kitchen, and we are limited to a budget of (hopefully!!) less than 30K - with appliances.  Mike is already doing a bit of sweat equity by removing wallpaper from the upper walls, and some vinyl flooring that was glued to the walls under the chair rail.

The house is basically a two story Arts and Crafts bungalow.  What makes it most outstanding architecturally is it it's very excellent state of preservation.  Wood work retains its original finish, built-ins are still in place, the house still retains its original light fixtures and fantastic art glass windows.

The kitchen has been remodeled once or twice, but still retains most of its original fabric in in very good condition, including windows, doors, trim, maple floor, and pantry built-ins. The layout is challenging because by trying to install a contemporary kitchen in the existing space, keeping existing doorways and windows, not adding on to the structure, AND using existing wall space to arrange cabinets and appliances, that would make a very inefficient kitchen with all kind of cross traffic and an awkward work area.

There are also other problems with the kitchen, including no dishwasher.

I'll get some pictures up of the existing kitchen, in a couple of days.  Here is a rough drawing of the existing space:  Existing space pdf

So, thinking out of the box, I came up with this plan, using a peninsula and eliminating the use of  wall space on the periphery of the room, a small but much more efficient kitchen begins to take form.  Basically, what I'm doing is creating a space within a space.  Even though this concept seems a bit of a paradox, sometimes the best solution with small kitchens is to create smaller spaces within, to make the maximum use of the space as a whole.  This diagram shows the basic plan, work triangle and the traffic flows:  New space pdf

As you can see, I incorporated the pantry into the work triangle.  I wanted to widen the opening between the kitchen and the pantry a little bit, but because there are some radiator pipes in that wall for the upstairs bathroom radiator, they would have to be rerouted.  That expense, plus the extra framing involved would be a budget buster, so we decided not to widen the opening.

As per Village code, I need to keep all aisles at least 36" inches.  I may be able to get an okay to narrow one of them to the largest existing opening (the back door is 32")  in the room which would be 32".  This job will also require all new kitchen plumbing and substantial electrical work.  Here's the electrical plan: Electrical plan pdf

Here are some preliminary views of the new space.  These are rough drawings without many of the details, but they give an idea:

July Time to start a new page:  Please go here for the continuing saga.  Go to Page 2: July 2004

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