Great Green Gobs Of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts

When we took down the old range hood a lyric from an old child hood anthem came back to me "Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts". The thing was absolutely disgusting. I have no idea how long it had been there and gone without cleaning but it must have been for quite some time.  It went straight to the trash pile.

This is the new hood and even new it is not without its own opportunities. The main hurdle is that the wiring for the new range hood is on the right and wiring comes in on the left on the wall.  To mount and use this range hood, I am going to have to drill an access hole for the wiring and two more holes, one on each side of the fan enclosure and extend the wiring through said holes.  While the term Plug and Play may apply to the world of computers it sure doesn't seem to fit the DIY world of home remodel.  ... "and I forgot my spoon!"

And yes for those of you who grew up with this song as part of your childhood you can thank me for sticking it in your head once again.

StripFast

The lower set of kitchen cabinets had several layers of shelf paper. The first couple of layers which were your standard variety of shelf liner with adhesive backing came up with no problem just the way they are suppose to. However the very bottom layer which was Contact Paper was another story altogether.  It didn't take long trying to scrap it off before we threw in the towel and said that ain't happening.

I went to the store and they recommended StripFast. I was skeptical but thought I would give it a shot. WOW this stuff worked great. Most of it came up with the first application. It only took a little here and there to get the remaining stubborn spots. I will warn you that this stuff is strong. You do not want to use disposable gloves for this. You want the rubber up to the elbow. I did got some on me and it did burn but it washed off easily enough.

It is still a lot of work as you have to scrap and clean up all the gunk it leaves behind. They also make a product to clean up after this one but I just gave the shelf a good scrubbing. One down and three more to go.

Baseboard Trim Milestone

Tony finished cutting the rest of the baseboard trim for the kitchen. I hope to get it painted and mounted this weekend. This is the end of the baseboard for the house. We had to piece around the laundry center and range plug.  The board didn't fit behind the water feeds for the Washer and the Range Plug was just plain in the way and not budging.

The board I used was 3.5 high by .5 inches wide. The board came already primed for paint. It was a very nice and economic solution for trimming out the house. Total cost for all the rooms came to just over a $100.

To avoid seams, I bought a contractor package of 10 twelve foot boards and then supplemented that with 3 eight foot boards and 1 ten foot board. 

Kitchen Progress Update

Well the kitchen is coming along nicely. We have started on redoing the cabinets.  This is a huge job in itself. Not only because of the number of cabinets but going from wood finish to white is very time consuming paint wise. It takes at least two coats primer and two coast Semi Gloss White to make it look right.

Pictured here along with the new floor is the new gray walls, door trim and floor transition. I  had to buy a hardwood riser to make the transition. Not CHEAP -- I paid $18 for that little piece of trim at the bottom of the doorway.

Kitchen Floor

Tony picked out the vinyl for the kitchen floor. I thought it might be too dark but now that I see it down it is going to look fantastic. Big Thank You goes out to Lisa my wife who was instrumental in getting this installed. We just measured the heck out of the room, took the whole thing outside and started praying and cutting. It really gives the kitchen a finished look even with the cabinets dismantled.

Kitchen Cabinet Sneak Peek

Well it is going to be a lot more work than their worth, but the kitchen cabinet make-over is going to come out pretty good. New pulls, knobs and hinges along with a good scrubbing and some paint and their good to go. Oh wait we still have quite a few man hours to do on this one.

Bathtub Surround Fun

This is what was hiding under the beautiful (Note Sarcasm) white/gold swirl laminate that use to surround the tub/shower. While I was happy to see the laminate go. I wasn't sure what to do with the mess left behind.

I decided to just go with a cheap tub/shower surround that I found at Lowes. The bathtub/Shower surround I used only cost $59. It was 5 pieces/non interlocking. I thought this would give me some flexibility because I was pretty sure the walls were anything but plumb. I was right about the walls and I was right about the kit. However, having to caulk every seam and all around the surround was not much fun.

One of the cons noted in the reviews of the product was that the shelves were flimsy. People had solved this issue with spray fill foam but cautioned not to over do it. Well I took their advice on  using the foam but failed to NOT OVER DO IT.  The shelves actually looked nice and sturdy when I installed the surround, but the foam KEPT EXPANDING causing the top of the shelves to bulge up making them useless.

I thought I was going to have to rip everything down, but finally the plastic memory of the shelving won out over the expanding foam and the shelves flattened out well enough to make them useable.

I would also warn that this project took several days and not just an afternoon because of all the gluing, caulking and a stubborn seam I had to apply pressure to overnight to get to lay flat.  I also spent more on Glue and Caulking then I did on the enclosure itself. Go-Figure.