Hi-Lo, How have you Been?

Still grinding it out.
It's proving arduous to finish this kitchen.
One of our obstacles was converting 220volt lines to 110volt for our appliances.

I asked the people that would have the answer, but with no one to see it in person, they were speaking about wires, which I understand, and then Breakers, which I do not.

Luckily, Father-in-Law was here to help again. He looked at everything and explained to me how it works. But more important than that, now I can explain to amateurs, like myself, how it's done.

I had no idea, so what I explain here is what I've learned - Not something I already knew. My problem was that googling this issue gave me very few solutions that I felt I could accomplish alone. Working with electricity is not fun. So here it goes, for all of you Googlers out there trying to figure this out...

How to convert 220 to 110

For use in the kitchen , the old appliances required 220. But this was useless to us. All of our appliances are 110 Volts. Go to the breaker box. Usually (maybe always) a 220 breaker will be a double switch. At the connection for the appliance there are 3 main wires: 1 Black (hot), 1 Red (hot), and 1 White (neutral). The Black and the Red wires each provide 110-120 Volts, totaling roughly 220 Volts.

The first step is to simply not use one of the hot wires. You immediately cut the Voltage in half, making it 110 Volts. But there are 2 problems.
1. The wires are usually thicker that standard 12/3 110 volt wiring. So connecting it to an outlet box is nearly impossible.
2. The Breaker at the box is rated at 30 Amps. If there is an electrical problem with the device and it doesn't "Amp" up to 30, it will not throw the breaker.

You could have a fire or serious damage to your equipment.

You could change the breaker to 15 amps, which is standard for a 110 Volt outlet, or, you can put some type of breaker at the location of the outlet so that when things go wrong, the breaker throws at the device and doesn't require the breaker box.

Our solution was simple, and I'll give it up to Father-in-Law, because he came up with it - and the solution is cheap.

First, you have to get some 12/3 wiring to splice with the 8 gauge 220 volt wiring. It's about 1.50 per foot. You need a 4x4 inch junction box and a standard 110-120 outlet junction box. You need Wire nuts that will cover a combination of 220 wiring and 110. And lastly, you need a GFI outlet box so that when the amperage exceeds 15-20 amps, it will throw and ultimately shot off. Just like the breaker at the breaker box. You can then reset at the outlet. How easy is that?

Here is the photo for my wiring. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done and no one will ever see it:

I capped off the Red wire, which provides 110 volts. Not anymore. This sucker is defunct. I capped it with a good, solid outdoor insulated nut. I covered the 4x4 junction, and I'm good to go.(Make sure to get a good ground connection to the junction with the bare copper ground)

I tested this with the shop vac to clean up. Worked like a charm.
I hope this helps. It was easy for me and I'm not electrician.

I am not electrician.

Stinking Badgers

WE don't need them.
But it reminds me of a time when my friend, Dru and I were watching Discovery Channel back in 2000...

There was a badger burrowing in the dirt. Dru yelled at the TV, "Get outta there!"
Interesting. It's a risk to tell a badger anything. He/She might just rip your face off. But I thought it was funny...My buddy, yelling at the TV, yelling at this badger to stop digging in the dirt. I had hoped the badger would react to his emphatic request, making the situation that much funnier, but the badger kept digging. It clearly had a purpose.

We tried installing a badger today. But it was a sink Disposal. Nothing worked. Nothing. NOTHING WORKED. Not even the standard draining side fit.



I will mope into Lowe's tomorrow, the 5th time this week, just to get some PVC to make this plumbing work.

Ok. I'll give up on this for tonight. But I did get a light installed over the sink.



We haven't finished the window area, so this is not the final work, but I think it works with the rest of the kitchen.


Oh, I forgot.

If we really need to get a badger to stop digging, I installed this faucet that has and extended sprayer.
Get outta there!

In-A-Gadda-Ga-Granite, baby

9AM
I think Sink. therefore I am.

9:10AM
Here is a nice piece of Granite.












9:20AM

Help Gilligan get on the island...














9:30 AM

Yowza.


9:45 AM
They are having to sand the heck out of the piece next to the range area. This area only has 30" and no room for mistakes. If it's not right, I won't be able to make dinner.









11:45 AM
Wrapping it up.
They call it Beige Butterfly. But it really doesn't look all that beige to me.
So I think I'll call it Iron Butterfly.

The Cabinet Installation

9 AM
The installers Got here about 30 minutes ago. They're opening all the boxes right now. Making sure all parts are here. The first box opened was the Island.








9:30
Still unpacking cabs.


940 AM -More Cabinets unpacked. This is thrilling.














10AM
There is an issue. A question about whether these cabinets are going to fit.
What? The installers contemplate.

Ok, time for breakfast.

It's no Sonic Toaster, but it'll do.

10:00 AM
First cabinet gets installed. They are confident it will all fit, but they have some ideas for adjustments if it doesn't.


10:15 Am
Still Going. Keeping fingers
Crossed.







Here is a spice rack on the floor still packaged. I got excited about it and decided to show you.













10:40 AM

Here is one thing we love about these cabinets and we paid a little extra for this. But once Sal showed me this feature I was sold:


11:15 AM
They say everything is going to fit. But just barely.











11:30 AM
1/8th" to spare. Phew!!! That was close.








11:45 AM
Kitchen Window...












12:15 PM
Lunchtime. The guys took off to eat and I took this tasty pic of the spice rack installed.



















2:10 PM
Lower cabinets. Lazy Susan in the corner.
















3:00 PM Sinkbase and Lazy Susan...again




















3:45 PM
The Island, It's huge.

Last minute Prep

We were up late last night. Later than we wanted to be. Here is what we finished to get to installation day...






We had to re-texture where soffets were removed.
The spray texture just wouldn't work for us, so we had to do it by hand.



And then, finally, we're ready.

It's Gettin' Hot In Here

We're trying to get the floors as clean as possible before they install the cabinets.
I think they named "Crazy Glue" after the guy that laid these floors years ago.
There is approximately 3ft of glue on the floor.

Ok, not 3ft. But it's thick. My awesome industrial scraper is good for this if you have a good back and hours of potent energy. I don't have that. So we need to figure another way to get this glue up, and get it gone fast!

Hey Glen, The Heat is ON!


The Wallpaper steamer is a real trucker. Not for just wallpaper. I was able to scrape the same square footage area - after the steamer, with a razor blade mind you....in 1/10th the time it took me without using the steamer. That $50 has gone a long way and saved a lot of time. With our extra time I might just steal a truck full of cigarettes with Axel Foley and sell them on the Black Market. If anybody asks, we're from Buffalo.

Here it is! The first look at the new cabinets! The walls were packed with boxes. This is just 1/4 of them. They lined all the areas of the house and we even put some in the garage because they wouldn't fit through the front door.

The Delivery guys were nice and when one of them found out my name was Houston, he said his name was Dallas Austin. For some weird reason, I fell for that.
I guess it's because I was thrown off by the fact that he didn't say "Houston, we have a problem."
I didn't feel stupid, however, I felt for a moment like my ice cream had fallen on the ground and then somehow it found it's way back up to the cone in edible fashion. Bring My cabinets inside, please.

Forward we go.

We open the boxes:
There were 26 boxes altogether. We opened one just to see the finish and decide whether we liked it.

Long after we ordered, and before they were in production - We asked them politely not to sand the edges. We wanted a smooth, black finish, but these cabs didn't come in the design we desired. At the warehouse, she checked on the possibility of not sanding the fronts to give it an antique finish.

"No. That's the way they come."

"But you do realize it will be less work for you."

"That's the way they come."
OK. That's the way they come. Let's look at one.

We Like it.
This is going to work with everything we've chosen to implement in this kitchen. For perspective, let's take a look at the 3-D Layout that Lowe's gave us:




This just Might Work!
Taggert and Rosewood would be very impressed.





I have much more to show you on the prep for the kitchen. We primed, textured the ceiling - freehand, and generally painted it to ready status. But the installation will happen before I can post that. So tomorrow I may give a bi-hourly update. So Stick around!...Or...Don't change that Blog!

There. I was the first to say it. Don't change that blog.
Remember. You heard it here first.

Joint Compound(ed)

The joint in my index finger is compounded.
It's probably fractured or suffering from some other sort of injury.
Honestly, it's hypochondria, but doctor, it hurts.

Norman Oklahoma can calm some of these pangs.
The moon blessed us through the clouds. Beautiful.

Moving forward. The cabinets, as we said before, are local and they are being delivered tomorrow afternoon. The installer called and demanded Friday morning with wreckless abandon. Ok, he wasn't that demanding, be it was convenient for him and we need to buck up and get this done.

As you've read, we ripped out the last of the old kitchen on Saturday. Now we are working arduously to get the walls spackled and finished so that we can paint before the cabinets are installed.

But guess what I did? I bought 5/8" dry-wall and our kitchen is 1/2".
I swore to everything that is holy that I had the right size and I couldn't figure out why things were not level. But here we are, face to face, a couple of tarnished spoons.

Now I have to level all of this dry wall so that the cabinets will fit. Good Lord, can I save some time somewhere? "No," God answered.

So these pictures reveal why our backs ache and our minds wander....to a place where vegetables can be chopped with a false sense of sous chefery, and Pad Thai can be Stir Fried with silly ignorance.



Hush now. Don't doubt our ability to conjure up some tasty Asian Cuisine.

Head Strong

Saturday came and went and we didn't get nearly as much done as we'd hoped.
The plumber was on call and didn't run the new gas line for the range and the water line for the fridge.
But we learned a lot and replaced both of the sink hardware water heads.
Here is a pic of one finished and the other old:






So I replaced both and discovered how to turn off the water mane. Here are both of them replaced. I love the copper look. I know it will be tarnished in 6 months, but don't bring me down. I like what I see.

This should look good sprouting from our new cabinets.

Our cabinets are in town! They've contacted us about delivery but we are clearly not ready. We have a lot of work to do on the dry wall tomorrow. Crap.

We've decided to replace the area in the kitchen where the previous backsplash existed. It left a lot of glue but also ripped out some drywall paper when it was removed. We want the new cabinets installed on top of a smooth and pristine surface.

We can't wait! But we are putting off the delivery for a couple of days so we can get this finished.

After that...Granite!
Granite is good, Granite is great. I like it under my dinner plate.

Look what's coming....Here is a picture of the Beige Butterfly granite that we ordered:

It actually contains some Crimson in there but it's hard to see it from this picture.

Only $40 a square foot. Booyah!

Everybody in Bed!

This refers to Mattress in a Box

OK. Everyone is curious about the mattress in a box.
Here is our opinion after only 10 days:
The mattress IS comfortable.
But there are problems.
Sal is used to the pillow-top and so am I.

Additionally, I have pulled a muscle in my back just slightly.

It's hard to say if this is the solution to our problems in the Mattress world.
I have to get used to this thing. She needs to get used to this thing.
Over-all, I would say it's pretty damned good. The Mattress in a box is a good buy. But we might, and probably will, put a mattress pad on top of it.

At the end of all of this - trying not to put this previous mattress in the dump and adding a new one...and adding a mattress pad - the bed will be 10 feet tall!
Luckily we have a step ladder.
Here is the strata of our mattress so far.

Ok. That's not our mattress. But it feels like our mattress. Let's put it this way...
If you see something like this, hitch-hiking through southern Texas, and there is no label? It could be our mattress.

Routovation?

As Alex Trabek says, "Soory."
It's been few days since I've posted. But we have been working.
Just taking it a little bit slower lately because we're getting tired.

A couple of weeks ago I asked about re-routing some items in the kitchen.
Some of you may not know that my dad is a general contractor and he knows about this stuff.
He didn't respond on the blog, but by email instead. It references TO Re-ROUTE OR NOT TO Re-ROUTE

Here was his response:
Houston, there shouldn't be any problem with drilling through the 2x4's to re-rout the electrical line. Make sure you use proper wire nuts where you splice the wire. I would even use electrical tape over the wire nut to insure the connection is tight. You need to vent over the kitchen range, but you can use a vent that has a filter and doesn't vent to the outside. We did this in both our Pagosa and Mexico homes. We used a microwave above the range with a vent that had a filter, but didn't vent to the outside.

I hope he is ok with me using his knowledge here. I wouldn't want to expose his rebellious internet communications to the likes of Cheney and Rumsfeld. I digress...

We did as he instructed. But I changed a couple of things. Rather than routing the electrical line down through the ceiling of the window, we routed it above. That way we aren't limited on the lighting we choose to use for that area. Here, I am drilling through the 2X4's to re-route the electrical line.
I didn't use nuts, only tape right now, but the circuit is off!
I have a really crazy story about electricity later....(scary)


Here you see that I've made it to the area I want to mount it with. Check out that Rock Wool. I hate Rock Wool.

Nonetheless, I didn't have to drill the second 2X4. I was able to run it underneath. One of very few times when God made it easy for me. Had I gone through the top of the sill as I had originally imagined, it would have been very difficult. Too much distance and at Sal's suggestion, we decided against doing it that way.






Here is the end result and I think it will give a great lighting opportunity for this kitchen. Notice the new dry-wall!
Doing my best.


On to the next portion of removal: The ventilation.

I had to go up into the attic. This time I took a mask with me.
Working with Rock Wool, you'd better have a mask. There is more dust in the air than you care to imagine.


Here it is before the soffits were removed. It's a nasty sonuvagun. Luckily, in the attic, only duct tape and gravity were holding the duct tight. When removed, it was simple to release and I pulled it up and laid into the attic floor(and yes, I left it there. But I left it there in very straight lines as to make it look like I knew what I was doing when I have to remove it from the attic 15 years down the road...moving on).



Here is the soffit area with ventilation removed.
I think it looks pretty good. Comment if you want,
on the quality, but I think we are working with
rocket scientists now.




At the same time, We bought a wallpaper steamer.
I know.... Her we go again with another friggin tool.
It costs $50, but it does the job well. I had a theory that
I could just dump a bunch of hot water on the wall and
wait, but it would have taken days to get this stuff off.
Days I tell You!
With this tool it will only, by our estimation, take 4 hours.
The laborious technique (rip it off) would have taken a
long frickin' time.
I would have had to repair everything it ripped off.
This renovation is in living color, and "Homey don't play dat".
Gotta have the right tools to do the job...

Mattress In A Box

Granted, it is not home renovation. But it is comfort renovation.
We originally spent over $1000 on a memory foam, pillow-top mattress.

I've learned that memory foam does not compare in performance to a Posturepedic mattress.
Ours had a 6 inch pillow-top on top of the memory foam and over time, the mattress began to memorize our bodies. The impressions became very pronounced and thus, I've had back pain for over 2 years.

We didn't know what to do with the thing. It weighs about 150 pounds and it's nearly impossible to move. Rather than dumping the mattress, we decided to turn it over. The bottom side has no pillow-top, only memory foam. But it was simply too firm to sleep on.

In Comes the Mattress in a Box.

We came across the mattress on Overstock.com and saw many good reviews - Ordered almost right away. Why re-purchase a $1000 mattress every 3-4 years when we can replace the top(or bottom in this case)for only $350?

First, we had to make sure it would fit. Mattress in a box is 11 inches thick. Our current mattress (no box spring) was 18 inches thick. That's way too much mattress. Our ceilings are low!

We had to move all of the hardware on the bed frame down a full 6 inches so that we would be working with a bit more room.

The new mattress comes in an unusually manageable box. It was all beat up from the trip, but once out of the box, it appeared it was well protected. We then had to remove it from a couple of sleeves. Once out of the sleeves you see it is in vacuum sealed in plastic.

Here you can see how the vacuum sealed size

compares to our Massive King Sized mattress.

Here is video of the mattress being unsealed and settling onto the bed:

And Finally, here is the mattress laid out. We have just a little bit of headboard left! The mattress came yesterday but we hadn't put it on the bed right away and it is important, according to the directions, to wait 4-6 hours before lying on the mattress. So tonight will be the first. We'll let you know how it goes!