As regular readers of this site know, I inherited my mom's house in rural northeast Pennsylvania when she died in November, 2021. It has taken a huge amount of work to make repairs and improvements for this to be my "bug-out" location. This week, we started the kitchen and OH what troubles we found!
When mom died in November, 2021, we were coming into winter up here, and let me tell you, it gets COLD up here. Maybe it's because this house is about 600 feet above sea level whereas my condo in New Jersey (near NYC) is only 140' above sea level. Or maybe it's because mom's house is in a valley between two mountains. Maybe its because mom's house is a wood frame home whereas my condo is all block and brick. Whatever the reason, it is very much colder up here than in my regular home in New Jersey.
When mom died, we did not spend a lot of time up here, but that changed during 2022 because there was a lot of work to be done. Last Winter, my family and I spent Christmas up here because much of the work had been completed.
One thing we all noticed last winter was that the kitchen, with its ceramic tile floor, was very much cooler than the rest of the house; uncomfortably cooler. We also had mouse troubles. Over and over and over again, mice were getting into the kitchen. We couldn't figure out how!
We also noticed that we could not use the toaster and the coffee maker at the same time, it blew a circuit breaker. Similarly, we couldn't use the microwave and the toaster oven at the same time, same trouble.
Oh, and when the circuit blew, the lights went out in the kitchen AND THE BATHROOM. Weird wiring.
First, let's be clear about the mice. I don't do mice. I can't stand them. To me, they're dirty. I don't want them in here . . . at all . . . ever. But this is the country, and in the country, there's tons of mice outside.
I used traps. Then glue traps, then, finally, poison. Must have caught maybe six of the little bastards. God only knows how many others ate the poison, went back outside, and died.
A couple months ago, I bought all new appliances: Refrigerator, Oven, Microwave, and Dishwasher. With all the troubles going on in the world, and the very real possibility of war, economic collapse, or both, I wanted to make certain my family was ready with appliances that would be reliable. The stuff in mom's house was all at least 16 years old, and I just thought "get them now while I still can."
When the shiny new appliances got installed, it really served to highlight the age and condition of the kitchen cabinets. A couple of them were kinda falling apart; they just couldn't be cleaned to shiny anymore, so I decided to get new. We started that this week.
The photo below is the kitchen before we began:
Here's what it looked like as we proceeded. This one, Wall Cabinets down:
Here it is well-into the remodel:
As the cabinets were coming out, there was at least one dead mouse; IN THE CABINET, beneath the drawer. Yuck!
As the sheetrock walls came out, we saw there were penetrations in the exterior sheathing and the walls only had R-11 insulation.
Once it was all out and cleared down to the studs, we found out where the mice were getting in, and moreover, WHY the kitchen was so cold in winter:
As you can see, the floor "sagged." The floor joists beneath the kitchen are 2"x 8" but they single-spanned fourteen feet! Too long a span. With the moisture that's here because of the creek that runs along the eastern boundary of the property, the beams got soft and sagged.
This caused the plywood sub-floor to separate from the base plate, leaving at least a two-foot-long, up to three inches wide, crack, as shown in the red circle above. To the right of that are holes, and even a hole in the exterior wall sheathing, as pointed with arrows.
Well, now we know why the kitchen was so cold; those cracks and holes allowed ice-cold air to come into the house from the crawl-space underneath. They also allowed mice to get in.
So now, the remodeling had to stop. We can't do anything until the floor is re-levelled and fixed. That will begin on Monday, July 17.
Then, the electric turned out to be a real adventure. Whoever wired the house, put the entire kitchen on ONE circuit for all the wall plugs, with a separate breaker for the Dishwasher. Not only were all the other appliances also on the same circuit, the BATHROOM was also on the kitchen circuit.
Oh what a mess.
We knew the electric would have to be re-wired, so my son came up a couple weeks ago and wired a sub-panel into the kitchen. He used 3 gauge wires which, themselves, can handle 115 amps, from the main panel to the sub-panel. We also decided that we would re-wire the kitchen so that each appliance, and each duplex outlet would have its own circuit breaker. In a quad outlet, where there are four plugs, there will be two circuit breakers.
We also found that the entire kitchen was wired with 14 gauge wire instead of 12 gauge, which is heavier duty than 14 gauge. Oh, and whoever did the wiring, didn't bother too much with ground wires. If the grounds were connected at all, it was a sloppy, single twist; no wire caps.
My son came up Monday, and during Tuesday and Wednesday, he re-wired the kitchen. All brand new 12/2 Romex, except for the dishwasher which is 12/2 UF (underground feeder) in case the water line or the dishwasher drain leaks. UF wire is waterproof.
The refrigerator has its own breaker, the dishwasher has its own, the microwave has its own, the stove (a new convection oven) has its own, and the ceiling lights/fan has its own. The outlets all have their own breakers (each outlet). The new outlets and switches are all 20 amp commercial-grade.
Fortunately, the wiring for the bathroom next to the kitchen, was all exposed when the kitchen sheetrock came out, and the bathroom now has its own breaker, GFCI-protected. No more blowing the fuses/tripping the circuit breakers for us!
My son finished around 11:00 last night, then left to drive 3 hours home to NJ.
So, as you read this; I don't have a kitchen.
All the appliances are stacked in the living room. Everything that was in the kitchen cabinets, food, plates, dishes, bowls, knives, forks, spoon . . . everything. . . .is stacked in the living room.
The house is a mess.
Arrrrgggghhhh.
