I had hoped to do some posting during our October trip but quite frankly, things intervened. We had projects lined up that were necessary but not time-sensitive critical and had planned to space them out, giving us some reasonable time to explore a bit. That all changed the first day. Two things jumped out immediately; first the hot water heater’s rusted bottom turned out to be much greater than we thought and then we found some very unwelcome tenants.
No real issue with the hot water heater, it was going to be replaced with an on-demand system anyway. The washing machine issue (how to fit a 26-1/2″ deep washer/dryer into a 27″ deep utility closet) meant that it was going to have to give up it’s space anyway. But what I thought would be a simple counter repair turned into a nightmare.
When we toured the apartment I had thought that the slight softness and separation at diagonal corner joint in the counter top between the sink and the stove was the result of water damage, something that I had seen and dealt with before. No big deal I thought. Just pull the stove out, release the corner, then reinforce, caulk and job done-maybe an afternoon at most. Well, not so fast. When I removed the corner piece the problem turned out not to be an old moisture issue but a very active termite infestation.
As I pulled the counter top off, the nest broke open to reveal all sorts of unhappy larvae. Out came the sink and eventually all of the base cabinets, the peninsula plus the large upper cabinet next to the sink.
Not only did we discover them in the kitchen, they were also merrily devouring the wood in the back doors. So what were to be a couple of small projects quickly became the urgent focus of the trip. We wound up gutting the lower part of the kitchen, inspecting, repairing termite damage where we could and treating the cabinets so that if they returned, they wouldn’t stay. With all of the cabinets out I was able to cut up the peninsula base and form it into a temporary island with what I had on hand. It’s nowhere ready for permanent use and not attached to the floor, but that allows us time to play with size and position. As we suspected, cutting the peninsula away and getting rid of the upper cabinet next to the sink-which was heavily infested anyway-really does open up the space visually and allows for a much more workable kitchen with good flow.
As it turns out, sourcing materials and services is a daunting task on the Island. Things that should have been easy wasted all sorts of precious time. At first our thought was just to contract out the counter top but no-calls and no-shows ended that plan as the time ticked on. Ultimately we want a granite counter top installed but there was no lead time for that on this trip. Then we found out that we couldn’t even get a Formica counter top for four weeks-again, no time. With no options and the first week gone, we were rapidly approaching plan “C”, meaning that I had to do it.
Now this nothing new for me, I’ve done counter tops before, in fact I have all of the necessary tools to do the job including a wet saw for cutting the tiles-back in New Jersey, where they do me no good. This was going to be an exercise in improvisation. After several visits to local suppliers we found a plain, black tile for the counter top. Unfortunately no one had the matching bull-nose tiles for the back splash or the counter edges. Improvisation again. Dean found some stainless-clad horizontal decorative tiles on 12″ X 12″ sheets and we decided to go with that to match the stainless steel on the appliances. Another issue was that now that we were forced into redoing the counter, it had to be extended to put a dishwasher (our original plan, just not now) and that meant matching the white tiles above the sink and extending the field. More work. With all of the research, negotiations, contractors not calling back or showing up, our time quickly dwindled down to a week. So one more visit to the Home Depot and an order was placed for the counter top base (pressure-treated plywood) , two new steel back doors and all of the wood for our new deck for the back yard-more on that fiasco later. The next day, Thursday, we waited for the delivery. It was a no-show. Off to the Home Depot to find out why. It seems that our order missed being scheduled but they promised that it would be on our doorstep the very next day. The next day, Friday, we waited until about 11:00 am and then I couldn’t take it anymore so I called. This time luck was with us and sure enough it was on the truck which showed up an hour later. What was not with us was the contractor to build the deck. He was nowhere to be found and not answering his phone. That meant that Dean and I now had to lug the doors, cement bags and about 80 2X6’s, 4X4’s and sheets of 8′ plywood from the curb up the hill behind the condo where the Home Depot guy dropped them (curbside service only), down and up and over the wall into the back yard. The rest of the day was effectively shot. Now I had four days to re-assemble the kitchen, cut the counter tops and lay the tile. Normally I would allocate a week or better with days for drying spaced in. This would have to be the fastest that I could push everything. Meanwhile I still needed someone to do the back doors because I had no time. Here we got lucky. The condo manager contacted one of the crew painting the buildings and he brought his son with him. Even then, it took them all day to cut the old doors out and install the new ones. Working with concrete is just not that easy. In the end, they were lifesavers. There was no way that I could have done that in our time frame.
So here we are, the day before we are to leave and I am setting the last of the tiles around 5:00 pm. Dean meanwhile had succumbed to the vicious cold that our deck contractor had shared the week before (which is why he never showed up) and was getting worse by the moment. He mustered up enough energy to paint two of the walls but just couldn’t continue. The list of projects to be done had come to a screeching halt with our only focus being the kitchen. By 8:30 pm I was in bed, nothing to do until the mortar had set enough to work with. At 2:00 am I was up grouting tile, pushing the timing on the job to the extreme. By 6:00 am the job was done. Well, done enough for the moment. We didn’t have the time nor me the energy to install the new sink so it’s just sitting in place. The place still looked like a bomb had gone off. All of the construction material had to be disposed of plus layers of dust had to be cleaned up-and, oh yes, we had to leave for the airport by around noon. Don’t ask me how but it all actually got done and ten minutes before we left, the place really looked good enough for a picture. We will be doing dishes in the utility sink until I get the new sink hooked up, but right now, I really don’t mind. The worse is behind us.
So what did we get done? In the hall utility closet we removed the old hot water heater and installed the on-demand system -more on that later, removed and re-installed the doors a couple of inches out and to the left to clear the new washer/dryer stack unit, removed all of the termite-infested wood and treated the remaining cabinets with insecticide. We also went to Ikea for the dining table/chairs, a new lamp, bookcase, microwave cart, an armoire for the master bedroom and a queen bed/frame for the guest room, all of which Dean assembled by himself while I tackled the kitchen. There is still a list of things to get done but we are one step-even if it was unintended-closer to a livable place. On the bright side, in between waiting for deliveries and contractors to show up we did manage to sneak in a couple of afternoon trips-one to the mountains and Roosevelt Roads and one to the beach where Dean took some amazing underwater video.
Now it’s off to the airport and home for some much-needed rest!