The Tomco kitchen remodel

Well if shit were slow this remodel would be a pile of it. Sitting near the end of the tunnel and can see the light but it is like watching grass grow at the moment...The minutia of details that have to be planned out before the drywall goes up...ugh... Have had to move some receptacles and plugs...Wife did not like the height placement of the sink window soooooo....had to lower it @ 6" meaning stucco repair on the outside...damn! Fortunately timing was right as I had a stucco guy coming for the two windows we closed up in the same kitchen so he banged out the repair at the same time. It never rains in California except for when you have your drywall guys scheduled to show up and install..That was on Tuesday...nope They are supposed to come on Saturday and hang the drywall. I may have mentioned I am going tankless water heater...Well I have bought it but was not planning to install till I did the complete repipe and new water line from the meter...Fate was not willing to wait...yesterday the wife tells me there is no hot water.... I go out and try and relight it ...nope tear it apart it is leaking on the burner and it's bye bye water heater time...so today I am installing the tankless in a semi temporary kind of way so we have hot water and I'll come back to it and install it the complete pro way I was going to with recirc pump when I get the complete re-piping completed...Onward and upward. Cali is wet and Cold..we got 3" of rain on Tuesday...nice snow capped mountains and mid 30's in the early morning. Brrrrrr!
 
Well the tankless went swimmingly well...a Takagi. Definitely had my curse word moments but it is in and throwing down some very hot energy conscious water. Rebate by the local gas company should almost pay for it in full.. Pro tip...I put the "Big Blue 20 inch" whole house filter in front of the tankless and that should mitigate the calcium build up issues that are an inherent problem with tankless...The way I see it it is almost free ( because I installed it ) and if it only last a few years it was almost free anyway...Tanked water heaters are crazy expensive in Cali due to the crazy emmision rules we have...a 30 gallon in Cali is @ $800...20 years ago we could buy em for $150 all day long.

Drywall guys hung the drywall on Saturday....hope I got all the electrical right..Taping , mudding and texture should be a wrap by Wednesday primer coat on the walls Thursday then the cabinets go in... Then the countertops and then we have a functional kitchen that will need to be floored, base boarded and crown molded..Kitchen will not be installed before Christmas ( which was my goal ) but will be before 1/1/2022...I hope...Lots of curve balls to work through in this painful journey but in the end I'm going to hit this out of the park for the kitchen grand slam.
 
Tank water heaters are expensive everywhere. Gas 40 gal models run $600 to >1000. Electrics are $500 to 1000. Tankless are slightly cheaper if you go electric.
 
And here we are a month later STILL not finished! Supply Chain Nightmares Getting real close but appliances are PITA either you buy the really high end stuff, settle for something you really don't want or....wait. Drywall, Paint and cabinets are in. Granite tops go in 2-5-22...I'll throw up the back splash...Floors, Baseboard and Crown molding and we're sort of done...SHIT this took forever... Hopefully be able to post a pictorial of the 1st world pain n suffering I've gone through to get this dumb ass kitchen completed...A lot of cool conquest along the way though...
 
My daughter and her husband had an electrical fire last year on Mothers Day (wind storm took out a tree next door and hit the power lines). They had to have the house gutted to replace all the wiring to bring it up to code, plus repair all the damage to ceiling, drywall, appliances, carpeting, and cabinets. Original estimate was that they would move back into the house around August 1. They finally moved back into the house the first of October, but still didn't have the countertops and backsplash done, along with a few other things. Plus they found out the furnace had a board that had fried, so they had no heat for about 4 weeks, just as the weather turned cold. The insurance company bought them 3 or 4 space heaters.

I think they finally signed off around Thanksgiving. At least they now have a totally redone inside. While the contractors were there, they had a few things updated, like the bathroom. I told them to consider it an almost free remodel!
 
Dogman said:
Went through some of those pictures you posted. Damn. :oops:
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Oh brother...looks a LOT different now...I'll have to update that folder ...I am so over this...As someone who has been involved in kitchen and bath remodels as a career for 30+ years I kind of have a clue of what to expect and know that Mr. Murphy and his damn law will always be there enforcing it. I kind of didn't take into account that I am not 30 or 40 anymore. Crawling under the house a lot of times ( way too many) (oops I forgot a screwdriver...dofff!) for the electrical and plumbing was an eye opener as to my strength and agility at 68. The supply chain thing is crazy. 100's of minutia items like an elbow or T and everyone is out of stock..I love Pex A as a system but hard as hell to find all the various fittings one needs to get the job done...a lot of McGivering. Simple electrical boxes out of stock...frustrating...then there is this woken society where no one wants to work or wants a boatload of money to do a job..Can't tell how many painting contractors flaked on coming out for a bid, Same with drywallers. So close.. I remember at some kitchen design seminar I was attending years ago the presenter said...A kitchen remodel is the most stressful room in your house to remodel, bathrooms are next. It hits you in the most primal of your needs...eating..You are so used to just going into the kitchen and reaching into a cupboard or fridge and getting what you need...and then someone moved the cheese! There is no cheese! WTF! 3 months later...still no cheese! The closest thing to going through a divorce AND the cause of many.
 
TalismanRich said:
My daughter and her husband had an electrical fire last year on Mothers Day (wind storm took out a tree next door and hit the power lines). They had to have the house gutted to replace all the wiring to bring it up to code, plus repair all the damage to ceiling, drywall, appliances, carpeting, and cabinets. Original estimate was that they would move back into the house around August 1. They finally moved back into the house the first of October, but still didn't have the countertops and backsplash done, along with a few other things. Plus they found out the furnace had a board that had fried, so they had no heat for about 4 weeks, just as the weather turned cold. The insurance company bought them 3 or 4 space heaters.

I think they finally signed off around Thanksgiving. At least they now have a totally redone inside. While the contractors were there, they had a few things updated, like the bathroom. I told them to consider it an almost free remodel!
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Sweet, er, I mean bummer.

What's the supply chain delay on a wind storm these days? :cool:
 
Sooo I got nothin...this is worse than watching paint dry / grass grow. Absolutely crazy how long it has taken to get to where we are and we are still not done..

Best laid plans, and these weren't laid very well in the first place often go awry and these have gone very awry.

The plan was remodel the kitchen but the kitchen now ties in with the laundry room and dinning room that ties in with the living room...so it wasn't just get the crown up in the kitchen but in the dinning room and living room ( ouch $$ ). I keep setting a done date of a few weeks out and it never gets done so I'm just going to say it will probably mostly be done by fourth of July...seriously hope it is much sooner but at least I am sure we can get most everything done by then... The Steel Grey Carrise countertops by Cosentino are the shizzle dizzle...I doubt there are more than 50 homes in all of So Cal with them...Leave it to the wife to pick a unicorn...they are awesome

The kitchen is usable now and the cupboards are filled...The Plantation shutters are hopefully going to be here by mid June ...Damn...but it could be longer...

Painting starts Wednesday on the rest of the house...Once that is done the floors and baseboard go in and then the new appliances go in ...Then we wait for the shutters and I can go back and finish the minutia like running a new main water line, finish the rest of the houses replumbing with Pex A, tidying up the tankless r/o system area......Then the next project :eek:

So I have been remiss at moving pics into the remodel file I shared here ..I'll get on it in the next few days...getting close.
 
spantini said:
How's it going..?
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Sooooooo Close! Yet so far away... OK so to be clear it became more than a "kitchen remodel" Most of the interior house was repainted , flooring through out the house replaced, a couple new doors, laundry room replumbed, canned lights in 3 rooms, small bath remodeled, beams moved @ 200' of crown, 400' of new baseboard...and every single item mentioned was a shit show and compromise tween me and the wife. We definitely have different taste and whatever Lola wants Lola gets. In the kitchen windows covered up and stuccoed over, new window in a new space..Did I mention the beam OY! well no mo beam... The only thing left is the base boards throughout the house.., The tile backsplash for the kitchen countertops and the kitchen is done other than the plantation shutters that will come some day in the year 2525.. Still have to fabricate a countertop for the small bath... wrap up the pex plumbing for the rest of the house and some carpet in a few rooms that did not get the wood floors....Then pretty much done... a few fans here n there... What a long strange and painful trip it has been... She still has to pick out some furniture and rugs n shit but for what we are working with and the $$$ invested it has come out pretty nice... I had to baby sit every trades person that I let in they all wanted to half ass shit...Fricking tradesmen these days are hard to find, expensive and pretty less than average quality of work...pride is a thing of the past...

Slid the new fridge in this weekend...new stove and dishwasher will be picked up next week......It's gonna be nice...I'll post some pics here after the backsplash and appliance are in next week. Woo Hoo!
 
Whew! Finally getting to the end of the tunnel...New appliances went in last week... Plantation shutters on Saturday..Now the tile back splash and the custom pocket door and the kitchen is DONE WOO HOO! Still a ton of touch up painting throughout the shack and about 100' more base board to install...Carpet in a few rooms, a couple more fans and the inside is done for now..Master Bath sometime in the year 2525 if I am still alive..Still have to finish the rest of the house PEX plumbing already had a few Home Depot laborers dig an 18" trench from my water meter on the street up to the house, lay a 1" PVC pipe down and bury it..I'll dig out the ends and run 3/4" pex through it to the meter and the house.. soon Pex from the street all through the house...cooool! Oh that will be fun..I hate doing the army crawl thing under my house to do this shit but a man who can, must do what he can...and I still can ...fortunately...I think :oops:
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TAE said:
Whew! Finally getting to the end of the tunnel...New appliances went in last week... Plantation shutters on Saturday..Now the tile back splash and the custom pocket door and the kitchen is DONE WOO HOO! Still a ton of touch up painting throughout the shack and about 100' more base board to install...Carpet in a few rooms, a couple more fans and the inside is done for now..Master Bath sometime in the year 2525 if I am still alive..Still have to finish the rest of the house PEX plumbing already had a few Home Depot laborers dig an 18" trench from my water meter on the street up to the house, lay a 1" PVC pipe down and bury it..I'll dig out the ends and run 3/4" pex through it to the meter and the house.. soon Pex from the street all through the house...cooool! Oh that will be fun..I hate doing the army crawl thing under my house to do this shit but a man who can, must do what he can...and I still can ...fortunately...I think :oops:
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Hey nice. Almost looks like someone could live there. ;)
 
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The kitchen was and still is very small. It was a designer challenge to get everything the boss wanted in it in it. Still required several compromises but she's relatively happy with it. Such a simple space but a ton of blood, sweat and tears to get it to what it is. Doing this in the middle of Covid and the building supply chain issues / shortages was painful and costly. Amazon came to the rescue several times when Lowes and Home Depot couldn't. Finding tradesmen that took pride in their work was and still is a challenge. They all could talk a good talk but hardly any of them could walk the walk. Oh well it's almost behind me and I can hopefully get back to spending more of my spare time doing the things I enjoy most.
 
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