Week 4, Day 2

Today was busy, busy, busy starting before 8.  The inspectors tend to come early around these parts and the lead carpenter missed the guy yesterday so today he (the lead carpenter) showed up early and beat the inspector.  He then commenced to sawing, measuring, and marking up the walls for the next steps.  Progress was made today on some of the architectural changes we are making as well as the prep work for the cabinetry.  Per the schedule the wall cabinet installation should begin the end of next week, though I won't be surprised if it gets pushed out until after Memorial Day due to everything seeming to be about 24 hours behind.  I still think our calculated end date will be fine as there is some buffer time built into the schedule in the upcoming weeks.

First up, the new opening from the hallway into the kitchen was framed.  I tried to look through my pictures for a good before/after comparison, but I don't have shots from the same angle at this point (and am too lazy to go back downstairs and attempt another shot.)  So you can get a feel for the difference from these two pictures I hope.

Take note of how low the door frame was previously.  And how non-wide it was.  And by non-wide I mean narrow, but non-wide sounds better when you compare to the future.  Also, did this really used to be our kitchen?  It's so weird to think that less than one month ago we had walls and cabinets and a refrigerator in the house!?!?!

 This shot is from week 3, day 2 when the sheet rock was down, but the frame was still short and non-wide.

And now you can see how it is higher (mimicing the opening into the living room from the hall, and much wider.  Two people can now pass through the opening.  We decided this was a good architectural change to make because it brought the header up to match the other openings and it made it wide enough that if we are serving food buffet style in the kitchen or if we are just going back and forth between kitchen and dining room with food, people wouldn't be bumping into each other as much.  I am very excited about how this will also let natural light from the new kitchen window filter toward the hallway as well.



In addition to the new doorway being framed, additional work was done on the new framework between the kitchen and the living room.  The walls on both sides of the opening are being built out slightly to create a faux doorway between the two rooms, mimicking the other doorways in the downstairs area.   The wall is being built out a little on each side to frame the opening.  At some point down the road (10-15 years if we're being realistic) I'd like to add some nice time to all the openings to make them look more finished, but at least when this project is done the openings will all be a bit more uniform.

In addition to the insulation that was completed yesterday, some foam insulation was added between the duct work and the drain pipe down the South wall and the old vent ducting for the microwave hood was filled in and insulated.

Duct work for former microwave/hood unit.

Additional insulation around the HVAC duct work and the drain pipe from the master bathroom.

The prep work for cabinet install also began. Throughout the kitchen there are now backer 2x4s to potential attach cabinets along with notes that will be covered up with dry wall.

One final shot for this evening.  Since it was dark, I turned on all the lights and took a picture to get an idea of the amount of lighting the new overhead scheme will provide.  The shot also allows a slightly better view of how the new lighting is laid out in the kitchen.  A few of the light fixtures don't have bulbs in them, but you (and I) get the picture now a little more clearly than my blank ceiling shot from the other day.