This renovation weekend was one of those problem weekends with MULTIPLE unplanned trips to home depot that really bite into the schedule.  We’ve really gotten to the point where we rarely need to go to home depot unplanned, we usually know what we need and can plan to go at a convenient time.  However fate was working against us.

In the morning Ryan started with putting the base to the new wall around the bumpout in.  This involved first taking out some more pipe and some wires, then fixing the subfloor and finally putting in a new bumpout base, it’s a causeway for the plumbing and it bumps out enough to match the cabinets.

bumpout sill plate

Once that was done and Alex had napped we all went out to the dump and  our first trip to home depot (planned), we needed cement board to finish up the kitchen floor, a new hardi blade for the saw and Alex was along for the trip.  Plus we had a burned out drill (brand new) that we decided to replace.  So off to the store we go and it was uneventful, unless you count Alex having a blast sitting up in the cart for the first time uneventful!

come on – look at that face – she was LOVIN IT!

Then things went down hill.  First, I bought the wrong blade, it was too big for the saw so Ryan had to run back to get the correct blade. Then he got his piece cut and went to install it and our ‘new’ drill was actually one someone had replaced (it was very obviously used) AND it was the wrong model, someone had stuck their OLD model in the new box and scammed homedepot.  Not cool.  So back to home depot ryan went to get a new drill.

Finally he was able to make some progress on cement board and got most of the floor in.  We have the last foot of the kitchen to do (all cut pieces), the one piece that will go under the fridge – currently the wire for the stove comes up there and I was hesitant to remove it because we are temporarily using said stove still.  And the pieces by the bathroom need to be put in (one is cut but not screwed in).

So that was the floor.  I’m pretty sure some other small stuff got done but I was occupied with a little someone so I missed it.

Then came sunday, up early, out to breakfast, out to home depot (planned) for some duct work to put in a vent for the stove hood.  It’s a 7″ (ridiculous) because we went with the GE Cafe series stove and hood.  First, home depot had plenty of 7″ everything EXCEPT for the piece that goes on the outside and downconverting it to 6″ kind of defeats the purpose of using all 7″ duct work.  So then we saw the 3×12 or whatever the square version is, so we went with that for the outside and first piece, then a converter piece to the 7″ round.  Anyone that has done duct work knows you need some crimp tool to make the pieces fit together if they are not pre-crimped.  We did not have said tool but most of the pieces were crimped – we made it work when it wasn’t.

Then we got to our round duct, cut it to length, put it together and oops – it doesn’t fit!???!!  Turns out they had 6″ round in the bin for 7″ and since it’s not put together we didn’t notice it.  So back to home depot to get 7″ round … ugg!  This wasn’t easy, they had the 7″ hidden in the back and I needed help to get it, the bin was full of 6″ though.  Finally we got the duct in the ceiling, just popping down a bit so we can drywall around it (the 90 degree bend pops down).  It all just barely fits up there in our 8″ floor joists.

ductwork for hood vent

With that done we got one firring strip in (ryan had to rip a 2×4 down to match the width of the old firring strips).  We have a number that need to be replaced.  Over the years one floor joist was basically removed for plumbing and firring strips were hacked around said missing joist.  So we are trying to clean it up so our ceiling will lie flat and we can do crown later.

Again, more work may have been done that I missed but due to all the running around this weekend it felt slow.  Ryan also had work to do Sunday and we had a baby to play with.

The good news is that even though there’s some work left before sheetrock, we decided to call ‘our’ carpenter and he can come out Wednesday and work on the rest.  He’ll build out the walls that need it and fix the rest of the firring strips and maybe install some new doors for us if we have time to buy said doors (new back porch door and basement door – insulated).  So we’re still planning on sheetrocking this coming weekend (drywall is on order and hopefully coming friday!).  Then cabinets the following weekend.  It will be nice to see it come back together finally.  Too much of my house is down to the studs!