Patch Work - Kitchen Project Restart

 About 10 years ago we fixed up my kitchen - replaced my worn to the subfloor floor and rotted through sink cabinet.  Men from the church donated the work and I bought the materials.  Unfortunately, despite the work being led by a professional contractor, something went seriously wrong with the floor. After carefully following instructions on seasoning(or whatever you call it) the tiles and grout, as soon as we started using the floor we had problems.  Grout came up with every sweeping.  Tiles came loose, broke and cracked.  When I told the job boss, he didn't say "I'll look at it."  or tell us what to do, he simply said, "Not the part I did."  Which was not true.  In short order the floor  became dangerous.  and so it has been increasingly since.  I have been leery of hiring someone to fix it, partly because of cost and even more because the fellow who failed me was both a church member and a professional.  Before I realized how badly that job was done, I also hired him to roof my house and put up gutters. He changed things that we had agreed upon without consulting me or even informing me.  I found out when I saw it.  The gutters were not done correctly, either.  So, far at least, the roof has not leaked.  Of course the first few years after he did the roof we were in a drought, so i worried for a long, long time.

A couple years (?) ago, my son-in-law, Thomas,  and his full time employer parted company - foolish employer, I say.  He started trying to build up his DJ business and also became a Notary Public.  Tom is a man I trust and suddenly he was more master of his time.  I asked him to head up my home work and offered to pay him what I think are good handyman wages.  This was agreeable to him, but between one thing and another  (including successful work as Notary Public - the good news - and the pandemic- not so good) the work has gone very slowly.  Mostly the dangerous floor tile was taken up and we walked around on the under flooring, but at least it didn't try to trip us.  Tom came up with plans to replace all my cabinetry - not just that which we replaced 10 years ago which also had problems, one of which was partly my fault.  (I got my double size sink - which I love! - but did not insist on under mount.  What did I know? Being mounted on top of the counter meant that when you wipe the counter, the wipe-ee had to go over the mound of the sink to go down in it.  NOT good. )(Even worse, during deconstruction, Tom discovered that the sink - counter connection had never been sealed.  When we wiped moisture towards the sink much of it went down under the sink into the counter.)  Tom and a cabinet maker friend worked out the plans.  The cabinet maker made the pieces and Tom worked on putting most of them together in his garage between notary public gigs.

Finally each of us independently decided that enough is enough, the work must go on.  He decided to take a break from his flourishing notary public work to help me.  Sweet guy.   We talked and decided to face the (rather low) risk of exposing each other (and by extension our households) and get back to work on site.

I was nearly paralyzed at the thought of completely clearing out my kitchen preparatory to the job.  Blessings on her, Teresa came over and master minded most of that.  David and the guys moved the major appliances  to the dining room and   cupboards into boxes, bins, shelves, and table tops all over the house.  Instead of the kitchen sink, we use the bathroom sink and the backyard hose.  One thinks twice before dirtying a dish or pot!

With the help of Jared, Esther, and Ruth,  and Andrew, Tom cleaned up the floor down to the subfloor and took out all the cabinets.

As Melissa said,"What kitchen?  I don't see a kitchen."
But Tom looks pleased with his accomplishments.

They fixed cracks and painted.  He did some re-wiring. 

Ruth, Jared, and Andrew after a long day of work on June 20, day 2, while Tom finishes up something.

Monday, June 22 - putting together big cabinets.

Leaving their mark behind the cabinets.

Being an old lady, I mostly stay out of the way and admire their skill and industry.