The Morecambe DIY Project

[trevnhil]

There is still an echo in here. ;D

[accykeef]

The DIY season is due to kick off shortly.

I am planning to completely replace the kitchen in the coming months. A new sink has already arrived and we are about to order a set of door fronts, drawer fronts and panels. I will be making the carcasses myself.
There has already been one small hiccup, we ordered a set of sliding veg baskets but they have sent the wrong size. They are being replaced so all is well for now.

[trevnhil]

I hope that we can look forward to some pictorial record of the happy event.

[accykeef]

I am sure there will be a few before, during and after photographs taken. I am checking door, drawer fronts and panel sizes sizes and checking them again as I don't want to waste any space. I am thinking the job will be easier and less stressful if I do the top half first and then the bottom half.
The corner cupboard, next to the oven if not accessible so I am going remove it and move the oven into the corner, this will give us more floor space. I will need to get a registered gas fitter to move the pipe into the corner.

The 2 outside walls are going to be plasterboarded, for extra insulation and will provide a good surface to tile onto.

[trevnhil]

How are you going to fasten the Plasterboard to the wall. Something like 'No Nails' or similar. It is good that you are getting a Gas Safe man. Over here things are not that strict. The copper pipe is run into a cupboard with a lever tap, and from that goes a neoprene type pipe to the appliance.

Trev..

[accykeef]

Not sure on how I am fixing the board to the wall. A lot depends on how much of the plaster comes off when I remove the existing units. I did fix them very well when I built the original kitchen.

[accykeef]

Time to break out the tools agaon although some of this was done 3 weeks ago

Ripped the kitchen out - well the top cupboards for now


Mucho broken pieces destined for the tip


Dodgy looking walls behind the fancy stuff


This wall needs straightening up


A bit of plasterboard should make it flat


A close up of the old air vent which needs filling in


A little bit of drawing gets the shape.


Cut the shape out of chipboard, gob some yakkum in there and hey presto, the hole is filled. The screw was so I could hold it while I stuck it in place


Then there is the matter of the outlet for the extractor hood. The oven is being moved but the outlet is staying where it is. All will become apparent later in the job. Fo now, I want a simple way of sealing the hole up but still allowing access to the shower trap above.


I found a suitable tube in Mrs Keef's collection of plant pots.


and the boarding round the window is completed.

[accykeef]

And to bring it right up to date

It is looking rough at the moment but it always does at this stage. Not much pint fussing about it as most of it will be covered up with cupboards, shelves and tiles.


The walls were nowhere near straight when we moved in. The bit of plastic hanging down is a to push the board against the wall to make it stick.


Bits of kitchen all over the house, doors and panels in the dining room as well as the new sink.


Chunky coving on the stairs


Melamine for the carcasses in the garage and a little workshop all ready. There would be more done if it was not so cold out there.


Made a start yesterday and knocked a couple of cabinets up. I still need some white faced sheet for the backs but there is no rush.


Having nowhere to store the carcassses is a problem so I will have to take them apart before I can make any more.

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith. I saw the pictures this morning but have been reasonably busy until now.
I really enjoyed seeing the old wallpaper that used to adorn your kitchen. I can't see how you are fixing the plasterboard to the walls though.
I see that you really are working from scratch making your carcasses from larger sheets of Melamine. But it is a shame to take them apart once they have been assembled.

I also like your workbench. We have 3 of them now. Do you utilise the round door to store things in there ? (had to laugh... I typed Thongs instead of things)

I have seen many of your DIY exploits and I am confident that the finished job will be brilliant.

Trev..

[accykeef]

I realised that I have been a bit lax of late with posting progress on the kitchen. Progress is much slower than I would like it but I have been a bit pre-occupied with the day job.

Mustn't grumble too much as it allows me to by stuff to make sawdust out of.

Despite having a perfectly good, hand held, circular saw - I find I can make much straighter cuts with a hand saw.


This corner unit looks a bit odd from this angle


That is a bit of catch up from a previous seesion with the tools. I am glad to say it is warming up a bit now so a coat is no longer needed, except early morning.

I have discovered that my automatic script creator is not keen on posting 2 separate sets of pictures in 1 day. Ah well, we live and learn.

OK, things are slowly coming together for the kitchen. The so work had to be done today. We had a trip to sunny Preston yesterday top a rather odd tile center. They had a fantastic selection of all things tile but did not seem too keen on selling anything. We found some serious bargains in their factory shop, including some ex Homebase stock we had wanted to buy from Homebase themselves but they are a discontinued line there.

I am not showing the tiles we bought because thay never look good on their own - you will have to wait until Mrs Keef nails them to the walls.



The new upper cupboards are in place and it is now time to take out the old lower ones


Whoever fitted these made a really good job of them as they were well fixed in.


Kitchen Nil - Wrecking bar One, me thinks


Certainly making a lot of mess


I wish I had made them a standard size in the first place and then I would only have had to replace the doors


There has been a lot of redesign so I suppose the old ones would never have done


Just how much can I remove before it all falls down?


The kitchen has to be back working again tonight so much thought has to go into what is being taken out.


The sink has to stay in place until the new worktop is ready next week. There is much to do in the meantime. The light switch has to be moved for one thing


and these plasterboards need to be stuck to the wall


but for now - we are left with our temporary kitchen

[accykeef]

Thejob is moving on but quite slowly as I am having problems with a sore back. No idea why but getting up from the floor can be quite a problem.

Anyway - after a test fit of the side panel to support the shelf and it appears that the original calculations are accurate enough to proceed.


Various clamps allow the levels to be tested.


There is some electrical work to be done yet. The light switches have to be moved to make way for some ornamental tile work and the feeds in the corner need to be re-wired.

The Microvave is going on this shelf and the dowels are needed to support the weight. What is the breaking strain of a dowel? Will it support the microwave - I am sure there are impressive calculations to work it out but I have used a more Victorian approach. I have supported the microwave with 2 dowels each side (sorry no pictures) and they held firm so I figure that 5 each side is sufficient overkill to be safe.

They are not fixed in place yet as I may need to remove them but you get the idea.


The corner shelf is dowelled too - I could have used one of those fancy biscuit things except for one small issue - I don't have one of those biscuit thingies


These are the holes in the shelf to support the vertical dowels.


There are dowels inside here too, supporting the weight of the shelf


Having test fitted a door, the shelf looks crooked but it is level I can assure you. The first piece of posh cornice is in place as well but there is still some work to be done on the ceiling.



The pictures do not show it too well but there is a gap between the cornice and the ceiling of approx - 280mm. This low level shot gives more of an idea.


The dowels are not yet fixed but will bear the weight of the microwave.

[accykeef]

A little bit of hand saw work to make the cornice fit


It is a bit of an odd shape but rather than trying to mitre a 125mm block, I decided that shaping a butt end was easier.


Having sawed, sanded and gouged - the end result is a pretty tight fit. Fastening it in place was a 2 person job. You might just be able to see the piece of wood screwed to the top, for support. Mrs Keef was on hand, with a brush underneath, in case the support gave way. I didn't take a photo, I was too busy fastening the other end.


and here it is -all fastened up.


Yes - it may look like a Victorian toilet but it is in face the access to what will be the new gas feed for the oven. Since this pic was taken I have change it a bit and laid a new piece of underfelt, which instead of having a hole cut out is just a cross slit. I will post a pic if I remember next time I open up the access panel.


The other side, where all the CH and sparky stuff goes upstairs has been boxed in but still needs sealing.


Meanwhile - it was tea time and we cooked this potato - when I look at it I think - walruss, what do you think?


and finally - the stairs are nearly full width as the cornice slowly gets used up.

More pics and a summary tomorrow.

[accykeef]

Finally for today - this is the access in the corner which will eventually be under the oven.


and the light switches which need moving to the position marked with the rough square. The left switch is for the main light and the right switch is for the under shelf lights. The switches themselves are to be replaced so I am not too fussed that the plate is broken - did you spot the crack?

[trevnhil]

ive seen them all but it has gone
midnight, comment tomorrow, nt nt

[trevnhil]

Well you are getting on now with the new kitchen. It looks like you will need to put some whiter edging on the wall corner cupboard. I fixed some of our extra ones in a similar way, but used 2x1 screwed through the cupboard into the studding. One I had found one upright I knew they were 16" centres.

By the way I have never seen a G cramp as long as the one you are using.
And when you mentioned not mitreing the cornice Well that's how I would do internal angles / joints.

I can understand the dowels to hold the shelf up, but are they reliant on glue holding them in the holes?

One of the downfall on our Professional Kitchen is the Joints on the worktop. They have done it correctly but it would seem that they have not used anything waterproof in the joint. This has resulted in a little water getting in and you know what happens then. We just keep water well away from one joint now.
The other joint on the centre island unit is covered with a toughened piece of glass.

Good luck with the rest of the job. By the way I really like the cupboard doors.

Regards. Trev..