Things I have learned while renovating my kitchen:
1. Make a list for everything. When you lose the list DON'T "Play it by ear" and go to the hardware store. You will spend too much and come home with nothing that you need and everything that you don't. Like 10 pounds of twizzlers and a sliver.
2. Measure 5 times, cut 7 times. Worked for me.
3. Eye balling something for length or width should be reserved for the bedroom, not the size of the cast iron sink hole.
4. Everything I read said to place the counter top on top of the cabinet it will be affixed to and cut out the sink hole. Why I listened to this advice I don't know. Luckily you can not SEE the inner wall of the cabinet and the gash my jig saw put in it.
5. When laying down plywood ALWAYS nail down the side that is butted up against another plywood piece FIRST. I happily pounded down 20 nails on one side of the plywood and turned around to find all the banging had shifted the plywood OVER the piece next to it.
6. When you make the above mistake you can either A: rip out the whole sheet and waste 15 bucks OR do what I did: Beat the hell out of the edge until it fits.
7. NEVER I repeat NEVER cut a piece of plywood on plastic saw horses. They have a holding strength of Mary-Kate Olson.
8. When cutting plywood on plastic horses, DON'T lean on the plywood for balance.
9. If you plan on 3 trips to the hardware store you are an idiot. I have been to Home Depot and Menards no less than 15 times in 2 weeks. Our bank called me to see if someone stole my bank card! I had to admit that we don't know what we're doing and have to go back and forth a lot.
10. If you want a reason to get divorced take on a very large remodeling project.
*11 (for William H.) Plumbing in an 80 year old house will go as follows:
1/2 pvc to copper. 1/4 pvc to iron. Iron to Iron with 13 valves that go NO WHERE and all leak. Iron to pvc to copper, copper to pvc to iron... it never ends!!
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Comments: 27
#1 - is incorrect - TWIZZLERS are critical to every major project! ;-)
DO NOT start a project like this unless you live within 5 miles of a HD, Lowe's, Ace or OSH, otherwise you WILL spend the night with no 1) power; 2) water; 3) both.
when redoing a kitchen MY rule is to always replace all plumbing that is accessible, because a RULE is that as soon as you install the new base cabinet and set the sink in and caulk the sink, the shutoff valve will LEAK and destroy the cabinet before you find it.
electricity is simple and if someone has messed it up - start all over again. Children LOVE doing electricity! and are good at it.
replacing sheetrock is NOT a sin - easier than trying to patch.
Get the best tools for the particular job.
At a certain age - I am there NOW - hire pros to do the job! or your chiropractor will hurt themselves laughing at you ;-\
old houses WILL NEED WORK.
colleen I saw your home video!!! Bats??? And I thought your husband was gonna fall down those stairs!!
Faith, Kathryn, WM thank you all!
As far as #3, I have to believe that size doesn't matter.
43 snakes?? ewwwww.
Carl, size does matter ;-) especially when the hole has to hold a cast iron sink!
2) I worked with carpenters. I loved to measure a piece, cut it and then measure it again before handing it to them. Drove them nuts.
5) Ah, where's a cat's paw when you need it?
9) There's a song I hear on the radio every now and then that talks about the hardware store. It has a line "I save hundreds of dollars there every week!"
1-11) Man, am I happy I live in a condominium.
Love your list!
Gisela, I am loosing steam! I haven't done anything in 2 days but write and read! I need margaritas to pep me up!!!
Thea, ouch! glad to see another woman doing construction/home improvement!
thanks all!
A rule to live by, be it carpentry or life, should be: Measure twice and cut once.