the huntrods zone - personal

Kitchen Renovation, May - August 2015

You can click on any small image to see an enlarged photo.

 

Before & After 2015-05 to 2015-08

This is as close as a 'before' photo as I have. It's actually from the cabinet door fitting of May 18, but shows the original varnished wood cabinets with the lime green laminate counter and backsplash.

kitchen reno 2015

The 'after' photo was taken Aug 5.

kitchen reno 2015
 

Cabinet preparation 2015-05-12

The reno started with the removal of all the cabinet doors. The doors were then sanded in preparation for painting. The cabinets were also sanded for painting. Then both doors and cabinets were filled with wood filler where needed and a final sanding performed. Tara helped.

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Cupboard door fitting 2015-05-18

After purchasing sufficient quantity of the desired hinge and filling the doors and frames with filler, I attached the new hinges to the doors and then fitted all the doors in place to check fit and adjust by sanding the doors or frames as necessary.

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Cabinet and door painting 2015-06-16

The cabinets were painted with the cabinet white paint, and the doors given their first coat.

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Door painting 2015-06-18

The doors were given a second coat of paint. I set up a bit of an assembly line in the lower level to paint each door, then set it on freezer paper to dry. Once one side was done and dry, I could paint the other side. The freezer paper has a waxy side that prevented sticking to the newly dry paint.

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Cupboard painting complete 2015-06-20

With the doors and cabinets painted with two coats of cabinet white, I reinstalled the door hinges and knobs and then reinstalled all the doors. The cabinets are complete.

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Backsplash removal 2015-07-03

The next task was to remove the laminate - or melmac, as I like to call it - backsplash and counter top. First the backsplash and the front counter edging. The laminate was attached with contact cement, which must be removed before I can adhere tile. A combination of scraping and sanding was required, followed by a good coat of thinned weldbond to prepare the surfaces for cement or mastic as required.

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Sink preparation 2015-07-04

To prepare for the sink purchase, I took some pictures of the underside of the sink to provide size and placement information. Pictures include the Reverse Osmosis tap near the back of the sink.

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Preparation for counter tiling 2015-07-24

Some photos of the work done to date, including all laminate removed and final prep work done including some filling and painting of the walls beside the counter and all weldbond treatment of surfaces to be tiled.

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Tile 2015-07-25

Today is my birthday, and I spend the morning at City Tile in Nanaimo getting the chosen 2ft by 2ft tiles cut into the measured sizes. The small counters are both 24 x 17.5 inches. On the sink counter, each end is a full 24 x 24 inch tile. The smaller tiles beside the sink measure about 15.5 and 4.5 inches. City Tile made all the cuts with ease on their huge tile saw and charged $3 per cut, which I considered quite a deal. After City Tile we went to Home Depot and picked up a couple of boxes of 6 x 6 inch white "subway" tile for the backsplash.

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Rest day 2015-07-26

Some pictures taken of the counter and underside plumbing on a rest day.

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Counter tile day 2015-07-28

Today I started by dry fitting all the counter tile, and making the last tile cuts to fit smaller tiles around the sink. Then I mixed the cement and cemented the counter tiles in place. There was a bit of cement left over when I was done.

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Counter grout 2015-07-29

The counter tiles had set overnight, so I mixed and applied Mapei Ultracolor plus grout to the tiles. This grout sets quickly and fully cures in a couple of days, allowing for a waterproof counter in short order. I used a charcoal grout to match the tiles.

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Backsplash tile layout 2015-07-30

Preparation for tiling the backsplash began with laying out the tiles before cutting and setting.

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Backsplash tiling 2015-07-31

Tiling the backsplash began with the sink side. It was a long, long day. I ended up cutting and fitting from 9:30am until 2pm. Actual tile setting took from 2pm to 3pm. Cutting and fitting tiles for the stove side took from 3pm until 8:30pm, but did include some rest time and a supper break. At the end I was exhausted!

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Sink, grout and more tiling 2015-08-01

The day after the sink side backsplash was tiled, I started the day by cutting a hole in the new sink to attach the R/O faucet. This required a high quality drill plus cutting oil and patience. The result was a perfect hole. I then fitted the drains and taps to the sink in preparation for sink installation.

With the sink ready, I turned my attention to grouting the sink side backsplash. After mixing the Mapei Kericolor U (unsanded) grout, I applied it as per manufacturer's instructions and was rewarded with a really nice looking backsplash.

Next, I placed some silicone on the tile around the sink opening and then set the sink in place. Some neoprene encased scuba weights provided ballast while I attached the infernal sink clips. This job of course was longer and harder than almost any other job in the reno. Once the sink was set, I connected the plumbing and drains* and tested the sink. All was well.

* Of course, the drains needed some adjustment as well as the new sink is 9 inches deep vs. 7 inches for the old sink. It was also after store closing so I could not simply run out and buy new parts, but instead had to adapt existing components. In the end it worked out perfectly, but was just more difficult than I had hoped.

The last job was to set the tiles on the stove side backsplash, which went very smoothly.

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Stove backsplash 2015-08-02

Today I grouted the stove side backsplash. Learning some lessons from the previous day's grout application, I created a 'piping bag' similar to those used in cake decorating out of a ziploc freezer bag to allow me to pipe grout into small channels easily. It worked like a charm, so I used it to regrout a portion of the sink backsplash behind the taps which was not to my liking.

In the end I have a very nice backsplash with a very nice grout job.

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Kitchen Reno 2015-08-05

These are pictures of the nearly completed kitchen reno for 2015.

After the backsplash grout set a day, I painted the areas behind the stove and fridge and touched up cabinets and walls that needed a bit of paint. Until the grout cures I cannot address the few dings and dents in the walls by the backsplash. I also must wait a couple more days before I can seal the grout in the backsplash.

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Kitchen Reno 2015-08-07

I sealed the backsplash grout today.

These pictures are taken of the area behind the fridge and stove, which were painted Aug 5.

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Kitchen Reno 2015-08-28

I painted the floor of the sink cupboard today.

kitchen reno 2015
 

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