Tile Goes Down and So Does the Maple Tree

This week's big change inside the house was that the tile went down in the kitchen and in the hallway and 3/4 bath. Installation took a day and a half. One day to lay the tile and the next morning to come back and grout them. However, to make room, the washer, dryer, refrigerator and dishwasher all had to move into the former dining room. It made things a little tight to say the least.

In shopping for tile we had purchased a bunch of individual tiles from the two big "home centers" and then took them home to see how they would look. Even though we didn't go with any of these tiles, it did give us a starting point to know what we did and didn't want to go with.


The kitchen floor tile we ended up purchasing from the same place we are purchasing our countertops from. We got a discount for doing both through them. My wife liked this tile and even though we don't have the counters yet, she compared it the samples at the store and felt like it went well and was what we were looking for. They are porcelain and I really like how they look. She made a great choice.

Looking from where the "addition" will be.	Looking from the old dining room.

As for the hallway and bath, my original plan was to do the tile myself to save a little money.
However... like Inspector Callahan once said... "A man's got to know his limitations." As much as I want to have more of a hand in this, there is no way I could have done what the installers did let alone in the time that that they did it. We did go with tile from a home center so it cost 1/2 of what the kitchen tile cost. I like the pattern in that it has a bit of class without screaming for attention. (Pretty much the exact opposite of how I lead my life.)

Not a great picture of the hall, but you get the idea.	Bathroom floor. It would have taken me a week to make the tile cuts needed.

When the exterior wall comes down in the kitchen, we'll have another row of tile to put down, but that shouldn't be too bad.

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At the beginning of the week we explained to the zoning office that the maple tree in the back yard could not be protected during the construction of the addition. Besides already having damaged branches from the last storm, we were going to have to cut out a large amount of the roots along the side closest to the house for the footers. This would leave a damaged leaning tree about two feet from our house.

The recommendation that came back was that we could cut down the tree but would have to replace it with three new deciduous trees in its place. They even sent us a list of fifteen recommended trees including a pignut hickory (which I was surprised to see is actually a tree and not a medical condition.)

We agreed because, well, since we were asking for a exception to the zoning requirements, we have to play by their rules. Also, I honestly though that while it would be a waste of money to plant these trees since I couldn't imagine that they would thrive; even if they did it would be years before they were big enough to cause us problems. (Which they almost certainly would.) There will only be 12 1/2 feet between the addition and the fence... how would three oak trees fit in there and grow?

To make a long story short, we had our zoning board hearing during the week and they approved our request. We can build our addition. (And there was much rejoicing.)

They did change the three tree requirement though. Almost all the members on the board spoke up and felt that the required three trees wouldn't thrive, would eventually cause us problems and wouldn't provide the screening that the fence that was already there did. They ruled that we need to plant just one deciduous tree, anywhere in the back yard. It seems sensible and we can live with that. It will actually be fun to research the trees and pick something interesting.

Then, at the end of the week, the maple tree was cut down. Yesterday a Lorax was out there crying but I chased it away.

Before	After

We saved a few disks of wood from the stump for future projects, but I had really wanted enough to try and make some toy parts out of it. Of well, lesson learned. Put those requests in writing.

Kitchen Cabinets

Most of the kitchen cabinets were installed while we were away on vacation. Unfortunately, we had to start using them right away so I didn't get any clean uncluttered pictures. Still, you'll get the idea. Besides, we were pretty anxious to get back to using real plates and cooking in the kitchen.

This is where our sink used to be. We are adding a small prep sink to the right of the counter once the real counter tops are in. (They are on order. Right now there are just plywood temporary ones in place.)

Here is the new wall. We moved our main sink and dishwasher to this side of the kitchen to give us a longer uninterrupted counter top on the other side. The microwave being up high resulted in us buying the step stool so Little One can still use it. The door and that part of the wall will come out when the addition is built.

Our fridge became an issue right as we were starting the renovation. In short, it died. We had it for several years and while for the most part, we liked it, we were planning on making it into a spare one in the utility room once the addition was done anyway. So, we got a new one about two months ago that was quite nice. The freezer is on the bottom and there are French doors for the refrigerator. We had it plugged-in in our living room for about a month while the kitchen floor was torn up.

We had bought it specifically for the new space but once it was in place, it was too big. (Grrrrr) It fit into the hole okay but the way in which the doors were hinged meant that they couldn't open completely because they would hit the cabinets on either side. We'll this caused some concern but it ended up being surprisingly easy to fix. My wife went to the store, told them what happened and they exchanged it for a slightly smaller model with an additional drawer. The actually refunded us the difference as well.

You can see the PEX water supplies that run up to the hot water heater in the attic in the picture above. The tentative plan is for a wine rack to cover that space but seeing as how we might go through a bottle a month... that would be about three years' worth of storage. We'll see.

We have decided to go with a gas stove. Until that is all ready we will keep using the electric one. The hood is on order and it will be properly vented up to the attic and then through the roof (our old one wasn't.) The funny square hole in the wall under the window was from this very powerful exhaust fan that was installed at counter height. It had a neat retro look but we  only used it maybe once or twice in the 12 1/2 years we have lived here. It probably resulted in all sort of lost heat during the winter since it had a wooden door that opened when it was on and wasn't really sealed in anyway. It was saved though and will be re-used in the workshop.

Lighting in the kitchen has also been completely re-done. We still have to install covers and what not.

We are really happy with the cabinets so far. Our contractor worked hard to install them plum and level. The fact that he pointed out where they weren't because of either the wall or how the cabinet was manufactured showed how much he cared. The cabinets are much sturdier than out old cabinets (plywood vs thin MDF shelves) and have a lot of new hardware that prevents doors from slamming and slowly closes drawers (which is a little creepy at first.)  

The pulls still need to be installed and we my reconfigure some of the drawer/shelf combinations but like I said, we are already pretty happy with them. The countertops and floor tiles are on order and will be installed at the same time.

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Our hearing with the Zoning Board is scheduled for this week. Last week we got a letter from the govt agency that oversaw our application process. The letter said that they were recommending to the Board that we be allowed to build our addition based what we submitted. However... they also said that we had to protect the trees on our property during construction that were near the addition.

Really? Seriously? You are telling us that now when we have already contracted with a tree service to cut down the tree on the afternoon of our hearing?

Here are the three short reasons why this is a problem:

1) The tree in question is a mature maple tree that I constantly worry about falling into our house. It is too close now. If we left it in place, IT WILL BE LESS THAN TWO FEET FROM THE WALL OF THE ADDITION!
2) In order to dig the footings for the foundation; about half of the roots from that tree will have to be severed. So... that should all but guarantee that the tree will fall over into my house in the near future.
3) Excuse me... but who are you to tell me what trees I need to have on MY property? Enough. We followed the rules and jumped through the hoops. We don't have to give up our rights to private property because someone feels they love trees more than we do.

The tree is coming down. Not only because it has to but because I want it to. Seriously - The Founding Fathers would kick our asses for how much we allow silliness like this to take place.

New Walls and a Temporary Utility Room

After the trenching concrete set up, the interior walls got their drywall on and ended their nakedness (nude-osity?) The kitchen wall went up first and plumbing was added for the sink and dishwasher since they are moving to that wall.

We used that space to test various color samples for the room. The "Home Despot" actually has a great thing with the little 8oz sample/touch-up size paint options. Totally worth a couple of bucks to see what you are getting into.

It is funny how easy adding outlets to the kitchen has been since we had all sorts of exposed wall and our recent electrical upgrade had removed all (well actually most) doubts about our wiring. I bet my kitchen now has more outlets than my grandmother's whole house did. New code is that any span of 12 inches of kitchen counter space has to have a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupt) outlet. I'm okay with the GFI part but the "every 12 inches" part sort of rubs me the wrong way. What if I don't want them? It is my house right? So what if it is practical and makes sense... I just find myself chafing more and more at being told what I have to do in my own house. </soapbox>

Okay, so with the old pantry now sealed off, part of our living room wall needed to come down so that we could get into what will become our 3/4 bath. It was a little weird to come home and see a hole where a wall had been every day for that I came home for the last 12 years. Cool, but a little disconcerting. Eventually this will be the "Crawfish Memorial Hallway and Kitchen Bypass." I was going to call it the Intercounty Connector but that would have added 50 years and $2.5 billion to the project.

The bathroom door will be along the wall of the hallway. Where the dryer (the grey box on the left) is located right now will be the doorway to the utility room when the addition is built. Where the washer is (the white box on the right) will eventually be the 3/4 bathroom. The washer and dryer will ultimately end up on the other side of that widow in the addition.


That window brings up something interesting. It used to be an outside door and was turned into a window. Now we are going to turn it into a full wall. When the drywall inside the pantry was removed, we realized that that wall that was put up probably in the last 25 or 30 years to create that space. While it made the dining room smaller it was a pretty decent idea and was done well. It was interesting to see that those interior walls are made out of 2x3's instead of 2x4's. Sad that that counts as "interesting" at this point, but what can I say, these renovations turn into a bit of an archaeological dig every so often. You gotta take joy where you can find it.

A new light and an exhaust fan were installed in the 3/4 bath and the base for the shower was placed and then the plumbing run so that the inspection could take place. It did. No problems. So far inspectors who have come on site have been very professional and direct. They don't seem to be in the business of trying to prolong this experience but rather are just making sure it is done properly. Sounds good to me.

The bathroom now goes into more of a holding pattern because we can use it as a utility room until the addition is built. (There is a "hold it" and bathroom joke in there somewhere...) Some wall board may go up as time permits, but there is no real need to do anything else on it at this point. It would just be in the way of the washing machine.


Next step... new kitchen cabinets.