Josh Williamson

jwilliamson@keepmecurrent.com

It had been a long Saturday of gutting and removing old cabinets, fixtures and sheetrock walls from my mother’s kitchen when my 2-year-old daughter Nevyn walked into the mess, her toy hammer in hand.

Like a budding code enforcement officer, Nevyn surveyed the exposed wall studs, old shoddy wiring and piles of debris with a stern look of disapproval.

“Daddy, you broke Grammy’s house!” she exclaimed with a frown. “The walls are crying.”

Indeed, after 45 years of neglect, coupled with some water damage from a long dripping leak, my mother’s kitchen was in sad shape. But my young foreman looked skeptical when I assured her I was actually fixing Grammy’s house, not breaking it. She just nodded her head as if to say “sure you are,” then left to play on the swings with my wife Nancy.

So, with my daughter’s vote of no-confidence driving me, I got back to work, using hammer, crowbars and a sawsall to rip out the kitchen I had grown up in.

It hadn’t taken long during that somewhat enjoyable day of demolition to realize that the project was going to be a lot more involved than I had anticipated.

That’s usually the case renovating older homes. But I had naively hoped the wiring would not need to be replaced, the insulation would be complete and the project would boil down to new sheetrock, cabinets and flooring.

Alas no. The subfloor under the sink had to be replaced, and even some of the exterior wall sheathing behind it, meaning a small exterior residing outside as well.

The entire room had been wired on just two 15-amp circuits and a 50-amp circuit for the range, a far cry from modern code requirements.

So my mother, a trooper in her kitchenless home, and I got to planning a bigger project. We started with the wiring and lighting.

Wiring

A kitchen has the greatest demand for electrical circuits of any room in your house, and the National Electrical Code lays down some pretty specific guidelines that need to be considered when designing the room.

Lighting needs to be on a separate 15-amp circuit from outlets. We went with eight recessed “cans,” as they are commonly referred to, and one separate, smaller recessed fixture over the sink.

Outlets in counter top areas need to be serviced by two separate 20-amp circuits. The circuits need to be ground fault protected anywhere near the sink, with at least one GFCI outlet at the beginning of the circuit.

In our case we shared one 20-amp circuit between the new dishwasher and the garbage disposal under the sink. Some local codes require a separate circuit for both.

A separate 20-amp circuit services the new overhead microwave, or “microhood,” which I vented out the rear exterior wall.

The refrigerator went on a separate 15-amp circuit, with a GFCI outlet. And the remaining wall outlets were serviced with a separate 15-amp circuit.

With electrical projects, it’s always the best idea to hire a professional. State law allows homeowners to do their own work, under close inspection guidelines, but other factors such as insurance concerns should be taken into consideration. In the end most homeowners will rest easier knowing the work has been done by an electrician.

Hanging rock

Before you can start putting in new sheetrock, all rough wiring needs to be completed, and preferably a layer of 4mm-thick has been put on exterior wall studs to act as a vapor barrier.

With new insulation, vapor barrier and rough wiring in, I was ready to “hang some rock.” I rented a panel lift for the ceiling pieces, using a Drummel rotary tool to cut out the holes for the recessed lighting.

To finish the ceiling, I spread on a thin layer of joint compound, or “mud,” and before it dried took a damp sponge to it to add a textured look. It can be easier to rent a sheetrock sprayer, dilute the mud with a water then spray it onto the ceilings. You can add sand or other texture elements to the mixture and avoid the sponging entirely. I did the old fashioned way, however, and it looks mint.

The basic rule of sheetrock is to have as few “butt joints,” or joints between the ends of panels, as possible. Unlike the longer sides of a panel, which create a slight depression to receive joint compound smoothly, the butt joints are much more difficult to hide and tend to show through over the years. While you end up with more sheetrock scraps, and a slightly higher cost, the room looks a lot better if you minimize butt joints.

I the mudded and sand the joints in two coats, taking care not to put too much down on the first coat. I then went ahead and covered the entire room in a coat of primer.

I painted the ceiling, and put on one finish coat of paint on the walls before I started hanging cabinetry, planning a final coat at the end of the project. It was at this point that final wiring of outlets and fixtures got completed, and we were ready for cabinets.

Onto cabinets

My mother chose maple, pre-made cabinets made by a local lumber company. She liked the look of a natural finish, with vertical beaded panels on the doors.

Installing cabinets in old homes can be a bear, but it’s important to get them level and straight, especially for the counter tops. There’s more leeway to “go with the house” when installing overhead hanging cabinets, but the countertop is a different matter entirely.

To start, use a level and a chalk line to mark a level line about eight inches above the floor on the walls where counter cabinets will go. Then find the point in the floor that’s closest to the line, and therefore is the highest spot.

Measure from this high point up to the height of the cabinets, typically 34 to 35 inches. At that height, mark in a second level line. With their doors removed, all of the counter cabinets will need to be shimmed up to this higher level line on the wall, making sure the box units are matched in the front and level in both directions. I prefer using shingles over the wooden shims you can buy, because shingles are wider and give cabinets more support. It’s important to be patient when shimming so that cabinets are lined up true.

Connect the face trim of each cabinet unit by clamping them together then screwing them together from the side. It’s important to pre-drill and countersink the screw head. You can put these screws under where the door hinges will go, to hide them when the doors go back on

Then screw cabinets into wall studs, pre-drilling and getting at least two in for each box. In bigger cabinet boxes, try to have four screws into two separate studs, using three-inch wood screws.

My mom chose a beautiful granite counter top, with an undermount sink. This was beyond my capacity as a carpenter to fabricate or install, so she went with a countertop company. It looks great, and though it’s roughly 10 times as expensive as the laminate counters you can buy and install yourself, the value is well worth it.

For appliances she went with stainless steel, and now even has stainless steel salt and pepper shakers, along with every other fixture. It’s a nice blend of country-type cabinets yet modern appliance.

For flooring, the final part of the project, my mom decided to have two rows of foot-wide ceramic tile around the cabinets, then hardwood, pre-finished maple strip flooring. I rented an angled floor nailer and air compressor for that job.

As I drove in the final flooring nail recently, young Nevyn came back into the renovated kitchen, that same toy hammer in her hand. She had been “helping” me all along, but somehow she acted as if she hadn’t seen all the new cabinets, appliances and lighting before.

Looking around, she nodded with a smile and said “Daddy, the walls aren’t crying anymore.”