# My full kitchen remodel! Lots of improvisation mixed with IKEA and exposed brick



## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

*In the beginning...*

So let's take it back to the start.

Here's what the kitchen used to look like a few months ago:








​_A look at the gross old set of cabinets, the slightly less gross old fridge and oven, and the unspeakably gross old microwave._

You'll likely notice a few curiosities, such as the odd placement of the microwave (A bit of an excessive take on child proofing perhaps?), the even stranger configuration of cabinets that has the above range cabinet way above the others, the equally strange and incongruous placement of the fridge, and - my favorite - the EXTENSION CORD that connects the range hood to a concealed plug behind the stove! Oh, you might also notice the hideous backsplash. And finally, if you could see inside the drawers you would discover to your delight the remnants of various creepy crawlers and food waste all wrapped in a set of expertly folded inserts made from the pages of a Chinese pin-up girl calender circa 1983!

While it might have been fun to try and cook a singular meal in this disaster of a kitchen, I thought a better approach would be to rip the whole thing apart and install a brand spanking new set of IKEA cabinets.

Now I know what you're thinking: "IKEA you say? Kitchen cabinets? But that's crazy talk!"

Well here's what I've learned after building two previous kitchens courtesy of our friends at IKEA: the cabinets are all very decent and well made (assuming you put them together properly :wink:, but this part is easy too. and fun.) By way of comparison, I installed two separate bathroom cabinets that came pre-assembled from Home Depot and I wasn't too thrilled. They were held together by L brackets and seemed much flimsier as a result compared to IKEA's fancy pants "bar in hole with the twisty bit" - you know what I'm talking about right? Finally, in most cases a kitchen purchased through IKEA is often cheaper than that of the big box stores! I can see how it might look bad for a contractor to be walking into an IKEA, but I'd just like to give it a :thumbup: and encourage any other DIYer thinking of kitchen renos to give it a look.

To give a (very amateur) example of what's possible, here's a before and after look at my first attempt at a kitchen remodel:








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​ 
It's far from perfect, pretty plain, but for a rental kitchen as well as my first try I'd like to think I done OK. At the very least, I hope you can see that IKEA ain't all that bad. Who knows, maybe you love IKEA? If so you should tell me all about it. This current kitchen will be my third IKEA kitchen and I hope to make it the nicest!

So, I've set the stage, made my IKEA plug, now it's time for some demolition!:hammer:


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

*demolition time*

So begins the demolition! My original plan was fairly modest. I was just going to replace the kitchen cabinets...right?

They were pretty old and "custom" built, which made for an interesting time come removal. Remember the picture I posted of the original cabinets? Well imagine if you can that the uppers were only secured to the walls at either end of the run, with the middle cabinets merely sandwiched in the middle and supported with one screw each on either side! So I was a little surprised when working my way along the cabinets and all of a sudden they all fell down together! I guess you could call it efficient demolition?

Then there came an interesting moment. One of the shutoffs under the sink had seized up so there was no longer an easy way to remove the sink and counter! Here was my first mini panic moment. I had not woken up that morning prepared to sweat copper - it's something I rather like to mentally prep for you might say. I suppose I could have waited until a later date when I was "ready" but this event happened to unfold at the exact time when a plumber was already working in my basement upgrading the main line. The water was already off, it was going to be off for another hour, so it was now or never as far as I was concerned. So, in I went with my pipe cutter! I quickly removed the old shutoff, tore out the sink, the counter, and all the remaining base cabinets, and then set about soldering on a new shutoff. Just in time. The plumber finished in the basement, we exchanged our plumbing stories, and he gave a nod of approval to my work. The day was done..but this would not be my last plumbing under pressure experience..

If there was one regret from the day it was not having a sawsall. This would have made my life a whole lot easier as instead I had to make do with a jig saw to hack up the sides of the cabinets that were built around the plumbing.


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

The old plumbing always seemed a little troubling to me. It entered the kitchen at the far left of the room, and ran underneath the counter-top inside the cabinets for about 4'. There was very little support or protection for any of the pipes, and the drain was a heavy galvanized sucker that helped weigh the whole system down the farther it extended from the wall. 

My new thought was this: "I'm going to replace all of this plumbing, but how bout when I replace it I hide it inside a newly constructed wall?" 

So now I have to stud out the wall. But I don't just want to put studs over the existing wall (which by the way was severely damaged, stained, and just all around terrible looking) so I began to embark on a long and dirty mission of first removing the drywall, which I was able with varying success to rip down in large squares, and then attacking the plaster and lath wall hidden beneath.

Yay plaster and lath! :no: This job is not for the faint of heart. It's messy messy stuff so I was real glad I had my heavy duty face mask and glasses with me. But then I wondered, "How do you make removing a plaster and lath wall even more fun?" How about lacking any efficient means for garbage removal and disposal? OK! :w00t:

My house and its surroundings did not allow for renting a skid, so I had to meticulously pack all the lath into boxes, collect all the drywall fragmants and even smaller dustier plaster fragments into heavy duty garbage bags, probably averaging 50lbs a piece, and haul them from the top of my house down to my front porch where they gathered in a huge mound until the poor garbage man whom I hired came to collect them (I made sure to pay him well for that one). Interestingly, I still have a huge pile of all the lath I removed sitting in my garage. My thinking at the time was that I could recycle/repurpose them into something nice. Maybe one or two or..5000 picture frames? I have a lot of lath..does anyone want some??

Here's a look at the warzone after doing battle with the plaster and lath:








​ 
There's the scary plumbing I mentioned. I had to prop it up with a piece of wood otherwise that whole system would have hung a foot lower placing undue stress I'm sure further back in the wall. Over on the right is my inadequately sized vent (do i smell another addition to this project??) and that green there on the adjacent wall is how the old plaster wall looked underneath the drywall. There were some funky layers of wall paper mixed in somewhere as well. That stack of lath in the left of the photo represents about 2% of all that I would come to collect by the end of demolition. And that's about it. I'm going to stud out a new wall with 2x4s roughly where the existing furring strips run and pass new plumbing through the studs.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Were the IKEA cabinets the typical American versions for the price market or the European ones where kitchen cabinets are often considered furniture and when people move, they take the cabinets with them. Were the uppers hung on continuous rails? Do the bases have adjustable legs with a removable kick-plate or do the set on the floor the way it is and shimmed?

That is a great improvement in your kitchen!! I imagine that after you saw how the "custom" cabinets were hung, you realized you were doing the right thing. I think the result is good and you certainly cleaned up the soffit areas.

Dick


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

I got to thinking..I'm studding out this wall. I could insulate this wall..how interesting. But if I'm going to insulate this wall I should probably insulate the other exterior wall right? And so began another day of packing bags and boxes of drywall, plaster, and lath and hauling them downstairs to the front porch! :clap:Only this wall was twice the length of the previous wall! :lol::wacko:

And then there was this third wall..

If you look at my original kitchen again








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you'll notice the wall behind the fridge extends out a bit. Any guesses as to why this was? Without thinking about it much I decided that it should be corrected, or rather extended down the wall closer to the fridge and past the point where my planned cabinets would be. I'm planning on having an L shaped counter, so, if left as is, there would be a sudden corner and change in the wall in the middle of my counter as it progressed towards the fridge. I was only going to remove as much wall as I needed to stud in a new corner and then leave the rest of the wall alone. That thinking didn't last very long. Apparently I'm addicted to plaster and lath. I just needed to see more! So, long story short, down comes another wall. That's right, more drywall, plaster, and lath to add to my collection downstairs. At this point my girlfriend was growing a little concerned and upset. She doesn't deal well with dust and..well, you might say there was a bit of dust being kicked about.

Hey, and guess what I found? None other than our good friend mr. knob and tube!:euro: And it just happened to branch through three junction boxes giving power to the fridge, the lights, the bathroom next door (lights, plugs, washing machine) the bedroom beyond that, and the hallway. Oh yeah, and this is the same 20amp circuit that the ENTIRE 1st floor kitchen runs off of, as well as the lights in the back stairwell, a random light in the basement shower, AND, just for good measure, the madman who wired this place decided to include the garage as well. Welcome to the infamous #5 circuit!

I admit, typical to my rushed and improvised style, I hadn't yet given much thought to the electrical in my kitchen. The old kitchen had one countertop plug, and two plugs near the floor (one of which was hidden behind the stove to service the range hood) They were all on a multi-branch 15 amp circuit. Not really enough to bring everything up to code. So the original plan was to more or less just put everything back the way it was, maybe bringing the one plug out from behind the stove to above counter, and then trying my best to be content with the fact that the lights and fridge (and another half of the floor) were all tied into that same dreaded circuit #5. 

But this was all before I opened the wall and discovered the precise location where #5 opened up into the top floor and distributed all of its foolish energy. Here it was staring me in the face in all its ridiculousness. And so the wheels in my mind started turning once more...


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

concretemasonry said:


> Were the IKEA cabinets the typical American versions for the price market or the European ones where kitchen cabinets are often considered furniture and when people move, they take the cabinets with them. Were the uppers hung on continuous rails? Do the bases have adjustable legs with a removable kick-plate or do the set on the floor the way it is and shimmed?
> 
> That is a great improvement in your kitchen!! I imagine that after you saw how the "custom" cabinets were hung, you realized you were doing the right thing. I think the result is good and you certainly cleaned up the soffit areas.
> 
> Dick


I'm not too sure how they do it in Europe, but I'm hoping these are here to stay. I'm certainly not planning on taking them away with me whenever I leave.

Ikea has two different styles of kitchen, the "built-in" and the "free-standing". Perhaps this second kind is what you're referring to and some people treat them as furniture to take away? Still sounds a little crazy to me though!

The uppers are hung on a continuous rail, and the bottoms have adjustable legs that you hide with a toe kick as you said. This was perhaps the one aspect that I didn't like about the cabinets, and might have preferred shimming solid bottoms. But maybe there's pros and cons to both. It gets tricky when your floor, like mine, is uneven. Then the toe kick that they provide almost certainly won't fit properly. You can't see it in the picture, but at one end of the run there's a huge gap between the toe kick and the cabinet...

Thanks for the complement though! I think it helps that my first photo is so dark. Kinda like those cheasy dish washing adds or something where the end product is so dramatically better only beacause the original was so terrible.


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

The potential right now for adding additional jobs to my project is rapidly increasing. I'm starting to think more and more about the electrical as each time I walk into the kitchen I have that terrible #5 circuit to look at.

Then there's that whole insulation plan of mine. Afterall, it's why I opened up those first two exterior walls right? But what sense is there really in insulating the walls but not the ceiling? This is something I probably should have asked myself in the beginning and not the middle of the demolition.

At any rate, I now have my excuse to remove the ceiling. So if you're keeping track, that's the 4th of 6 possible surfaces I am removing. Got an idea of where this is headed?

Down comes the ceiling with a thundering crash! Fortunately there was no plaster this time. just lath and then drywall. Unfortunate however was how insufficiently the drywall had been fastened to the ceiling joists. The first panel came down without incident. It was panels 2-4 however that all fell down together and crashed to the floor. I yelled and screamed a bit. Good thing no one else was home. The bonus is what was hidden above the drywall and lath: a crap tonne of densely packed cellulose insulation - but only across the center of the ceiling. :huh:? It all came snowing down and so became added to my insane garbage pile on the front porch (I wish I had a picture for you).


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Three walls and a ceiling are gone, so really what chance does that last remaining wall stand, especially when I know there's the possibilty that a nice brick wall is waiting behind it?

But do I really want to go down this road? I don't really know what condition the brick is in, and it's quite possible that it's been parged like my exterior walls. I've been doing some casual research into what exactly is invovled in cleaning and possibly repointing brick and it does all seem rather overwhelming, especially on top of everything else I've challenged myself with...

Off comes the first section of drywall and plaster - just to see what we're dealing with.

The drywall came off fine, the plaster was a little trickier. I eventually developed a system of "lightly hammering" the plaster in key areas to eventually weaken it to a point where large sections would eventually fall away from the brick. So far so good. The brick looks pretty sweet, and well I guess I'm just a sucker for exposed brick walls. It wasn't in the original kitchen plans, but then again neither was tearing down all the walls and ceiling! And it's mentioned in the title of this thread so I just gotta...


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Let the hammering and scraping begin! A day later and I'm left with this:








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Still lots of residue on the bricks, some of the bricks and a lot of the mortar are damaged, but then some of the bricks look real nice. So who knows? Did I do a bad thing? Maybe. Am I up to the challenge of restoring this wall? Uncertain. Am I going to worry about it now? Probably not. This will become a problem for a later day...


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## shumakerscott (Jan 11, 2008)

I love new threads! You are doing the right thing by tearing it all out. I also endorse Ikea kitchens :thumbup:. Check out German House Rebuild. I like your writing style but more pictures please!! Keep up the great work. dorf dude...


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## shumakerscott (Jan 11, 2008)

demandrew said:


> Let the hammering and scraping begin! A day later and I'm left with this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 You need a "Needle Scaler" I will clean up the face of the brick real easy. dorf dude...


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

shumakerscott said:


> I love new threads! You are doing the right thing by tearing it all out. I also endorse Ikea kitchens :thumbup:. Check out German House Rebuild. I like your writing style but more pictures please!! Keep up the great work. dorf dude...


Mr. Dorf Dude, I'm thrilled to see you here. Your thread is legendary and one of the inspirations for my being here posting my own adventure. I'm still working my way through your thread so I haven't gotten to the interior yet. Did you put in an IKEA kitchen? Can't wait to see it!

Sorry for the lack of photos. I agree they really help to beef up the thread, but unfortunately, in keeping with my haphazard building style, I didn't decide to start documenting the reno until about half way through so I only have a few random photos of the beginning phase. 

Once I get the posts up to date and start posting live I'll be sure to keep a better record of things. But I assure you, pictures or no pictures, exciting developments are just around the corner!


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

shumakerscott said:


> You need a "Needle Scaler" I will clean up the face of the brick real easy. dorf dude...


Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately this phase of the project ocurred about two months ago, so I've actually taken care of a few things since then, including some of this brick cleaning, but for the purpose of this developing thread I've been keeping silent..:shifty:

Everything will be revealed in good time. For the moment we'll pretend it hasn't happened yet and be surprised together.

Do keep reading and commenting. Exciting times are near!


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Demolition is now officially - kind of, more or less - over!

The garbage man came by and now I have my front porch back. At the same time, however, I've lost a little space in the garage...








​
As you can see, I really wasn't joking about collecting all the lath. I guess I felt bad enough with all the other waste I was creating and thought the least I could do was entertain the thought of repurposing some scrap wood. Any thoughts on what to do with it?? 

Here are some pretty impressive results using recycled lath:

http://goodsfromthehoods.com/
http://designskool.net/lath-goods-by-jersey-ice-cream-co/

My only issue with the second site is their example of an entire wall covered in lathing. Seems a little crazy to me...Tear down an old wall, remove the lath, build a new wall and then cover it with the old lath?? You mean the old lath that is caked in plaster and is probably carcenogenic? The old lath that is extremely incredibly flammable? And that's your entire feature wall in your bedroom? :huh:

For those who are wondering, I decided to stop short of ripping out the floor. I thought removing 5 of 6 sides of the room was sufficient and taking out the floor would have added way more work than even I was willing to take on. The tile is in good shape, relatively recent, and the colors are not too atrocious. So it stays.

No more destruction, time for construction!


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## shumakerscott (Jan 11, 2008)

demandrew said:


> Mr. Dorf Dude, I'm thrilled to see you here. Your thread is legendary and one of the inspirations for my being here posting my own adventure. I'm still working my way through your thread so I haven't gotten to the interior yet. Did you put in an IKEA kitchen? Can't wait to see it!
> 
> Sorry for the lack of photos. I agree they really help to beef up the thread, but unfortunately, in keeping with my haphazard building style, I didn't decide to start documenting the reno until about half way through so I only have a few random photos of the beginning phase.
> 
> Once I get the posts up to date and start posting live I'll be sure to keep a better record of things. But I assure you, pictures or no pictures, exciting developments are just around the corner!


Yes I've put in an Ikea kitchen twice actually. Modified it for the 2nd install. I'm on the look out for a Nexus Birch door. Size 40cm x 60cm. I'm looking forward to your project. dorf dude...


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Sounds nice. I'll have to fast-forward in my reading and take a look.

I splurged a bit and ordered some of their Lidingo covers. Not sure how it will turn out. As you'll soon learn, the plans are still very fluid so I'm not actually sure about much. Not sure about the counter, or the configuration of all the cabinets. The one thing I do know is that there is likely to be some modifications made!

If you're into pushing IKEA products to the max you should check here for inspiration: http://www.ikeahackers.net/


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

So it's time to stud out my walls. Alas, not too many pictures of this stage I'm afraid...There will be more in future posts, I promise!

You may have noticed from previous posts that my kitchen space is a little on the small side. About 130sq. ft. of small space. This presented certain challenges when trying to figure out the best layout with my future IKEA cabinets. There are different sized cabinets and some flexibility, but ultimately every last inch became dear to me. Without getting into too many details (and actually I still haven't decided on the FINAL layout of all my cabinets :001_unsure I decided that I could stud out my first sink wall with 2x4s as planned but could only afford to use 2x2s on my second wall. Not the greatest for insulating, but the decision had to be made, albeit somewhat misguidedly...

Since the existing strapping was spaced more or less 16" on center, I decided to leave them in place so as not to disrupt the masonry (maybe a bad idea - stay tuned) and use them as a quick guide for the new studs. It all went pretty smoothly. I just tacked in a top and bottom plate, then worked my way along cutting studs to a snug fit. The top and bottom plates held everything together, and where needed I screwed through and attached the studs to the strapping, which itself was rather well anchored to the wall. 

Here's a look at most of the new framing on the two exterior walls:








​ 
This also gives you a glimpse at the extensive demo that was undertaken and completed. It was a real pain cleaning out all the garbage and carrying it in bags downstairs. But finally that's all behind me. Things are starting to come together. Progress is being made. And through it all it's of course important to keep one's sense of style. How do you like the fancy work light? 

As I made my way towards the plumbing (just left of the photo) I realised it was now time to remove the old drain and service lines in order to have enough room to finish studding. But remember my plan was to pass the new plumbing through my new wall? Well this is where my planning broke down. I was not ready to build this new plumbing, nor did I have enough time remaining in the day, but I really wanted to remove the old junk so that I could at least be happy that I had finished my studding. Of course I couldn't leave the water off over night as others who live in the house tend to enjoy drinking the stuff and using it to flush their toilets and what not. So I had to cut it all off close to where it emerges from the wall, stuff the drain with an old towel, and solder on caps to the two service lines. (Turns out it was a big waste attaching that new shutoff a few weeks prior ) This was my first time soldering caps...Hooray! Nothing exploded!


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## shumakerscott (Jan 11, 2008)

demandrew said:


> Demolition is now officially - kind of, more or less - over!
> 
> The garbage man came by and now I have my front porch back. At the same time, however, I've lost a little space in the garage...
> 
> ...


That stuff would make great fire starter!!


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

shumakerscott said:


> That stuff would make great fire starter!!


If only I had a fire place...

I think if it's still in my garage by this time next year then I'll start giving it away in bundles as gifts of kindling to those blessed with cottages or fire places or both.


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

I've been putting it off for some time, destracting myself with demo, studding, brick cleaning, but it's probably about time that I actually settle on some sort of finalized design for the actual kitchen right?? Well...but maybe I could just think about it some more while I rework my plumbing through my new wall. At least I can be content with that right?

Well wait, maybe the sink shouldn't go there anymore. Maybe it should go on the other side. I mean, since I'm redoing the entire plumbing anyway I shouldn't have to restrict myself. Hmm... Maybe I should install a corner sink. I know not everyone is thrilled by the corner sink, but in such a small kitchen I think it tends to make the most efficient use of the counter space. And then it would make the plumbing easier and I wouldn't have to pass it through my studded out wall. But wait, isn't that why I studded it out in the first place?? No. Insulation. Insulation is now the new justification - the sink can now go anywhere! But where? This will impact the configuration of the cabinets and there's really only a few options. Say, I'm changing out the plumbing so maybe it's the right time to consider adding a dishwasher :shifty:...Could the existing electrical ever possibly support this idea? Well maybe I could just leave space for a dishwasher and then install it later if and when I was ever able to update the electrical. No no, what am I saying? This is crazy. If I want a dishwasher I need to install it now. Maybe I could get away with using one branch of my multibranch 15amp circuit to power the dishwasher, and then the other branch to feed a run of 2 or 3 receptacles as well as the range hood...but so un code like...what to do? :confused1: 

Ok Ok I need to calm down here. I know. This is what I will do:

I'm going to postpone taking any decision on these matters and engage myself in an entirely unrelated task. I'm going to stud out my third wall to make it one consistent depth. No more akward corner in the middle! :clap:


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

So perhaps I'll spare everyone any further exposure to my frantic thought prosesses. Needless to say, the girlfriend and I can be an indecisive bunch, especially when an entire kitchen is on the line.

Clearly more conrete decisions needed to be made with regards to the cabinet layout but more important was what to do about the very inadequate electrical. There was a great deal of debate, head shaking, hand wringing, and flip flopping over the next few weeks. Finally, at long last, decisions were reached. Time for action!

I'll dispense with the numerous scenarios we thought up and various factors that were at play and just cut to the chase. (If you really want to know then you can ask me and I'll tell you later)

*Disclaimer: This project is about to veer temporarily away from a path of true, 100% DIY activity.* *I apologize*.​ 
Here's how it went down:

I called my friendly neighbourhood electrician. I told him what I needed and we agreed that I could act as helper to cut down on costs. So let's call this the DIWAP - Do IT With A Professional (no snickering please) - phase of my project.

The oven in my old kitchen was wired on some 8-3 that found itself to the basement panel box via a 1 inch PVC conduit strapped to the outside of my house. Here's what it looks like:










_Wire leaves the kitchen and enters the 1" PVC conduit


_









_It journeys along the side of the house and turns down towards the basement


_








_
Here it enters the house alongside the main 100amp service to the main panel box in the basement_


So the first step was to pop open the two access panels at either end of the PVC conduit, disconnect from the main panel, and rip out this very long run of wire. The hardest part was getting some wiggle room at first, but once there was a bit of wire to hold onto it came out rather smoothly. We pulled it out from the top end, attaching a fish tape to the bottom. And hey, we're recycling!:thumbsup: Part of this wire will go inside the new kitchen to wire the new stove connection. 

The second step was much trickier, the goal being to swap in some beefier 6-3 rated for a 60amp circuit. We left about 15 extra feet in the kitchen, attached the leading edge to the fish tape that was now stretched through the entire conduit, and then we shoved it on its way back down the long dark hole. The added thickness made it much harder to conjole and bend tightly as it came out of the wall and into the PVC conduit but we managed in the end. The trusty professional also dabbed a little washing up liquid on the tip of the wire to help it in its long slide over and down to the basement and, before we know it, a few hours later and one small hole in the basement ceiling and it's home free!

Phase one complete! :yes: ​


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Any ideas where I'm going with this?

It's now time for phase 2: Rewire the entire kitchen as best we can to code, wiring from a new sub-panel in the kitchen that gets powered from the mighty 6-3 cable we just sent down to the basement. :clap:

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the process, so all I can show you is the sweet, beautiful, magnificent finished product (can you tell I hated my old electrical?). Do feel free though to ask about any of the undocumented process involved and I'll do my best to fill you in.

Now let me show you around the kitchen:








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_First, the big ol wire enters the kitchen (just out of view to the bottom left). It climbs up the wall then runs along and across the ceiling to somewhere very special_...​ 








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_Look, in all its majesty as it traverses the ceiling joists and leads down the adjacent wall! But where is it going in such a hurry? And who are all of its friends?_​ 









_I really hope someone out there is as excited about this as I am..._










_Wait for it..._​ 









BABOOM!!​ 







​ 
_What a glorious, glorious site to behold! I could just look at it for hours..._

_Look at all the wires! And the colors! And the - _ok ok, I'm back. ​ 
The wires exiting at the left wrap around the door to a light switch. One wire powers the switch and connects to another wire that travels back along the wall to power a second switch that in turn will light some under cabinet lights. The third wire returns from the switch, climbs into the ceiling, and powers the main ceiling light.

Here's the real bonus: I was able to remove the bathroom from that dreaded #5 circuit and place the plugs, lights, and washing machine onto their own individual circuits. That's what those wires are that are dropping down from the darkened space beyond the lower ceiling joist. I was also able to remove the fridge and ceiling light from that foolish #5 circuit. Hooray!

The rest of the wires head to the right. Let's see where they go!








​ 
_Here they are behind that third wall that I evened out. _
​The extension cord is borrowing some energy from what will become the fridge outlet, and that loose cable on the bottom is for the dishwasher. You can also see a double gang box housing the first of three counter-top plugs as well as the switch for the under-cabinet lights (which at the moment is powering my funky wall light - so that I could be confident I wired it correctly) 

This is where the knob and tube used to dominate, but thankfully it has now been reduced to a ghost of its former self. Can you see that junction box opposite the fridge plug?

Here it is up close:








​ 
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to totally remove the knob and tube, so for now it will live in this box behind the fridge. The old setup had the knob and tube distributed into a bunch of junctions. I had hoped that the previous junctions took power into the bathroom and from there further to the bedroom and hallway in a long chain. In this case I could have bypassed the knob and tube with a new wire from my new sub-panel, tied into the initial junction box, and effectively re-wired the top floor without the need for ripping into the walls and ceilings. The circuit would be a bit loaded up, but still a vast improvement over the knob and tube. Unfortunately, this knob and tube only controlled the kitchen and bathroom. These elements have now been wired to the new sub-panel as described above - which is GREAT - but somewhere further below there is an as yet undetected branch that distributes power seperately to the hallway and bedroom. One day I will find it. But not now.

That other wire sharing space in the junction box is the remnants of that multi-branch circuit that originally powered the rest of the old kitchen. I will probably end up removing it completely, but it is still connected to the main panel in the basement so for now it lives in the box as well so I know to keep track of it when the walls go up!

Here's where it originally pops out of the deep abyss in my wall/floor:








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OK. Onward we go.

The remaining wires continue their journey around the kitchen to this wall:










Here there are two more counter-top receptacles, the stove, a loose cable for the range hood and then one last lone wire that continues around to the last wall to power two additional receptacles. For the moment please disregard the vent...I'll be getting to that shortly...

What a great day it was when we flipped the switch in the basement and delivered fresh, clean, uninterrupted energy to the new kitchen! A magical day indeed.

It's been a long post I know, but I'd just like to end things off with one final up-close look at the new sub-panel. 










_A thing of beauty... _​


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

The more observant out there might have spotted something missing in my last post, as though a few wires in my photos were not totally accounted for...Well I admit, I may not have told the _whole_ story...:shifty:

If you remember my mention of the dreaded circuit #5 you'll remember how it disgusted me. You'll also remember that bundled up in that mess was the power to my garage. Now, I'm sure everyone can understand how this just wouldn't do - this is the DIY chatroom after all, where the thought of an underpowered garage, a.k.a my future workshop/man-den, should make us all shudder. 

Now I'm not saying that the whole motivation for installing a sub-panel in the kitchen was to allow for an easy and simultaneous upgrade of the garage's electrics - although I can see how some could make that confusion... Whatever the case may be - and who can really unravel with precision the genuine and precise origins of our motives anyway - it is a very happy consequence of updating the kitchen that I now have an opportunity to send a fresh line to the garage. Of course there are always restrictions. Sure, I would _like_ to drop down a fat 100amp sub to allow for, you know, 20 different power tools with a 50 gallon tank all stacked on top of a lift with welders, mini-lifts for the welders, a sauna, three fridges, a fridge inside the sauna, a movie theatre, and so on...but I only have a 60amp panel in my kitchen so I'm a little limited.

So if we look again we can now discover the great surprise that I left out of my last post:








​
There it is coming in on the left, yet to be hooked into the panel. I reused some of that long oven wire from the PVC conduit and will attach it to a 40amp breaker. Alas, 40amps is all I will have...But this is still a great improvement over a measly 20amp circuit spread across almost half of the house! So I brought it around the room, more or less following the same path as the main 60amp line, and had it end in a junction box behind the oven. From here I hooked up a new run of wire of the same gauge but rated for the outdoors. This lucky fellow is now headed straight through the wall and will soon be introduced to its new home in the garage. :thumbsup:

Here's the wire heading off into the big bad world:











And here's the implement of destruction that helped me blast through my exterior wall like butter:​







​

It was a little worrying at first, but the 3/4" bit cut through in a jiffy with little signs of resistance. It was so easy in fact it almost makes me want to look for other reasons to break through my wall...(a hint of things to come perhaps??) :brows:


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

Interesting thread so far. Keep up the good work. Is there a plan to incorporate that brick wall, or even a portion of it into your new kitchen? That could look really sharp. It is a good idea to tear out the old walls and build new flat walls when renovating a kitchen. I wish I had gone the extra expense to tear out the third wall of my kitchen. 

The free-standing Ikea cabinets are independant of the counter tops which I guess are built on a top of a seperate frame. You could then just remove your old cabinets and replace them with new without tearing out the counter tops. 

I hired a lot done with mine On to the Kitchen mostly because my wife wanted it back up and functional in a hurry. I did add new circuits for the microwave, refrigerator, outside and more counter recepticles. It's nice to be able to run the microwave and toaster at the same time.

Keep up the good work and don't forget to take pictures, even if you don't upload them right away at least you have them.


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Jim F said:


> Interesting thread so far. Keep up the good work. Is there a plan to incorporate that brick wall, or even a portion of it into your new kitchen? That could look really sharp. It is a good idea to tear out the old walls and build new flat walls when renovating a kitchen. I wish I had gone the extra expense to tear out the third wall of my kitchen.
> 
> The free-standing Ikea cabinets are independant of the counter tops which I guess are built on a top of a seperate frame. You could then just remove your old cabinets and replace them with new without tearing out the counter tops.
> 
> ...


Welcome Jim! I'm glad you're following along with interest!

Part of the plan is to somehow incorporate the exposed brick wall into the final kitchen. I'm a sucker for exposed brick so I just couldn't turn down the opportunity. That said, I have very little idea of the work that lies ahead in restoring the wall. I'm not really sure how I will transition the the drywall into the brick, and there's a large, almost 2" space between the brick wall and the original flooring...I'm gonna have to find some thick baseboard solution to bridge this gap...What are your thoughts? Expose the entire wall or just "feature" the protruding chimney section? I will make sure to include a lot of pictures of this stage. It will be coming up very soon...

Nice work on your kitchen! It's a shame you couldn't rescue the original floor but the new one you put in looks pretty sweet. Although I did kinda like the look of your old pantry . I also like your idea of the temporary countertop. Might have to be something to consider. Actually, I have no idea yet what my countertop is going to be so I'm almost certainly going to have to use a temporary to keep "everyone else" happy...The pressure is mounting though. We've been living too long without a kitchen and we're visiting Vancouver in under a month. It would really be nice to return to a new kitchen!

-andrew


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Electrical work is now all complete so I'm just about ready to tackle the insulation. But then I think to myself: "Wouldn't it be nice to install an over the range microwave? I mean, I already have the dedicated line..."

So another surprise twist emerges. At the time I didn't think it would be too big of a deal - just a small change in the surrounding cabinets. But then I started asking around and I soon realized how inadequate the old venting was for a new extractor fan microwave. See here for the DIY chatroom discussion: http://www.diychatroom.com/f17/venting-oven-range-microwave-135297/

This is my old, grimey vent:








​

As you can see it's only a measly 4 inches. Good enough? maybe. 

At first I thought of doing this:








​

and then this:










But ongoing discussion presuaded me otherwise. There was also another factor at work...

You see, I never really thought things through fully when purchasing my new oven. I was won over by the "slide in" so that's what I got. But it never occurred to me that the new oven would need extra space on the side that had previously butted up against the wall. It needs some counter on either side of course to slide into. So the oven has to move over to the left, throwing off the alignment with the above vent... So now my vent is not only too small but it's also in the wrong place!

So the hole needs to be enlarged...it should also be moved slightly. So what the heck, since I'm disrupting the wall, let's just go all the way and fit in a new 3 1/4" x 10" microwave vent! That's right! Time to fit a big rectangle into a small round hole...:huh: Am I up to the challenge?? 

To be continued...​


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

~~## :drink::euro::scooter: _**INTERMISSION_** :cowboy::batman::donatello::wheelchair:##~~






​


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

And we're back. We are now fully up to date and back in the present! Thank you for coming along for the ride. Part II promises all sorts of excitement and I shall not waste any time. Things are about to get real.

I've been waiting for the weather to improve over the last few days, which has given me the time not only to catch everyone up in the forum but most importantly to mentally prepare for the task that now awaits. Much of what I am about to attempt today will be a first for me. I know how to climb a ladder, but that's about it.

With any luck, after the day is through, I will have learned the following new skills:


How to mix mortar
How to operate an angle grinder
How to remove and replace a brick
How to repoint brick
How to drill through and anchor things to brick
Wish me luck!


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

After some brief delays, I'm happy to report that I did indeed learn all of the skills I had hoped and more. I promised lots of photos so get ready. Here's how it all went down:

After ripping out the old vent pipe I was left with this nice, bright, slightly-bigger-than 4 inch hole:
















My plan is to remove and replace that brick in the bottom left corner, place some half bricks above it, closing off most of the old round hole, and then remove space over on the top right side for the new rectangular vent.

Oh yeah, all of the exterior work (including treacherous exterior photography) was executed high up on this steep ladder:







 
So without delay, I'm up the ladder to acquaint myself with my new angle grinder. Turns out being perched atop a very tall and steep ladder were not the best conditions for trying out a new, powerful, and intimidating tool such as the angle grinder. But I managed to make a few cuts and I suppose it proved helpful. I quickly packed it away and opted instead for some drilling and some light hammer and chiseling until that stubborn first brick was gone.
































This first stage took a lot longer than I expected, in large part because of how intense the working conditions were. I'm used to being up on ladders, but the steepness of this pitch made for a prety awkward and often worrying situation. Then the wind started picking up and things got even more dramatic. It was around this time that I returned from inside my house to see my ladder, fully extended, crashing down to the ground after a huge gust of wind! 8| Well, good thing I already got that first brick out. No turning back now. Let's see what work I can do from the inside. Away from ladders...


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

First off, I had to remove one of my studs to make room for the new vent. I then sketched out it's rough position. I wasn't too sure what I was doing at this point...I don't actually have the microwave yet, so I'm not sure how wide or tall it will be. It seems the average height is somewhere between 16" and 17", and then widths vary but are no larger than 30". I also don't know for sure how or where the vent connects into the back, but from looking at a few sample models in HD, I assumed that, in terms of horizontal placement, it was always in the center of the unit. Since I want the vent of a microwave with a yet undetermined width to be centered above my 30" stove top, I firstly made certain (as much as I could) of my oven's position, and then set my 3 1/4 x 10" vent in the middle by leaving 10" on either side. Let's hope it all works out in the end!








​
With my vent laid out, I set about drilling some holes around the perimeter with my trusty 3/4" masonry bit. As luck would have it, the position of my planned vent aligned rather nicely with the existing brick and mortar, falling almost entirely within one brick and its surrounding mortar lines. So I drilled some more, and some more, paused here and there for some chiselling, and eventually I managed to remove all remaining bricks from inside the safety of my kitchen.

































​
During all the crazyness, the two bricks sitting just below my new vent hole came loose. So I took them out as well and I cleared out the old mortar beneath them. My hole keeps getting bigger and bigger!










On the plus side, I can now grind the tops of these two bricks ever so slightly to make for a nicer fit. So yes, after a long pause, I decided to return to the grinder. Turns out it's much more pleasant to use when you're not standing on a ladder. I also needed it to cut some of my half bricks down to size.
















​
Like butter.

And that's all the dirty work taken care of.


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## demandrew (Dec 9, 2011)

Yesterday was a beautiful, beautiful day. A wonderful 15 degrees. The flowers are beginning to bloom, people are walking around in t-shirts, and I'm about to get my mortar on. Sounds like spring time to me!:thumbsup: 

I do a quick dry fit of my bricks to make sure everything's in order and that the new vent will fit. 








​
Then it was time for the mortar...My first mistake was mixing too little. I was so worried about having leftover waste that I mixed much too little. Ah well, I had enough to set the first brick from outside on the ladder, then mixed some more and set the rest in. At first I tried to calculate how much water to add based on the bag's mixing instructions. But either my estimate of how much mortar I had taken as a percentage of the bag was way off, or their instructions called for much too little water. At any rate, after learning to not worry so much, I decided to just wing it and slowly add more and more water until I thought the consistency was right. Not so difficult in the end it turns out. Another skill learned! :thumbsup:

My second mistake was setting my first brick a little too close to the planned vent. Its position prevented me from sliding the vent in so I had to remove it and do it over again. Oops. After some trial and error I managed to get into the swing of things. I had to go over the joints a few times, and they still turned out a little sloppy, but it's pretty high up and no one's looking but me so I think I can rest easy...For those who are wondering, my mortar was mixed inside a bucket. I then attached a clip hook to its handle to it could hang freely from my ladder.

Here's how things look from the outside:


























Not bad from far off. A little sloppier once you get in close.

The inside went by much faster now that I was standing on firm ground and knew what I was doing. Spacing got a little skewed, partly because I messed up, and partly because one of my bricks was pretty skimpy and damaged. But I managed to smooth everything out reasonably well:


















Last step is to slide in the vent. Gee, I hope it still fits...

It did. But barely. It slid in fine for the first half of the way but then things got hairy. Clearly I should have grinded down the tops of those bricks a little more and then also paid more attention to the spacing when laying the bricks in. In desperation, I started hammering on the vent with my fist. It moved in a little more. So I hammered some more...Hmm..Maybe I should pull it out and try to chisel the hole a little bit bigger? Nope. It's definitely not budging, and I'm not about to start yanking as hard as possible while up on the ladder only to have it and me pop out suddenly. So in it goes and in it will stay. I'll be damned if anyone can ever pull it out again.

Turns out the screws I got were a little too big and I couldn't really get one of them to go in, but at this point I don't really care too much. I'm still riding my high of excitement from mortaring, and the vent is in real tight anyway so it's not moving.
















​
A few beeds of silicone calking and some spray foam on the inside and I'm home free! Can't wait to fill it with tasy fumes and cooking exhaust. 
​


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