The Bender Home

It's like magic

2009-10-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

I left at 7am for work on Friday. The sheet rock was up, plain and sheet rocky. I came home Friday from work, the sheet rock had texture, the plastic around the laundry closet/refrigerator area was gone and I could see straight outside instead of through cloudy plastic. The kitchen looked bigger, but it took me a while to realize it was because the refrigerator itself had been pushed into the hole designed for it. It really feels like magic, I go to work and come home to a home that is different, poof, what money and labor can do.

We have our kitchen back for a couple more weeks before the counters are torn out and it becomes not so usable for a while. The kids don't even seem to realize that anything is different, they just ride their bike through the plastic doors and over the bumps of the protective floor covering as if it's just a new obstacle. Hatie keeps asking where Thomas (the Foreman) is and Olivia smiles at everyone who comes in the door.

Peter wanted me to write about the "green" stuff we are doing, so here goes:

Demolition

Cabinets were taken out with care to preserve them for taking to urban ore and re-use
The "wall" which was taken out was really a double thick MDF wall. This was cut out carefully and reused as as partition between the refrigerator/laundry closet sides
All electrical outlet components and covers have been carefully removed and are being reused in other places whenever possible
The woodwork around the built-in was removed with care and will be used to construct the cabinet around the "new" built-in. It's in our shed awaiting its turn.
The furnace air intake is in the dining room, but we had it closed off for the remodel to ensure that nothing was being pulled into the air system that we didn't want there. Indoor air quality is a concern.

Building & buying

The insulation is all cotton and feels soft: the cotton insulation
The cabinets are being constructed using formaldehyde free MDF for the shelves and backing so that we do not have off-gassing
We are using LED pendant lighting for over the peninsula purchased from Berkeley lighting but available online. The LED component costs more than you'll save, but it's an investment in the future production of these products.
The new dining room drum light is produced from natural materials (silk & bamboo) and we are using dimmable CFLs in it.
The new counter will be ceasarstone, which is a product that gives you LEED points. Yes, it is stone, not a product made from recycled content like Paperstone or Vetrazzo, but the production is pretty clean and unlike everything else it has no maintenance like sealing. The lack of maintenance was the seller for me.
The raised countertop is being fabricated from reclaimed African hardwoods from Windfall lumber. We are purchasing this through Ecohome improvement here in Berkeley
The backsplash. After much looking we choose not go with recycled glass due to the cost, but we found a good eco option-- my skin mosaic-- a porcelain ecolabel and European green building product, meaning it is labeled as having no negative impact on the environment.
Non-VOC paints are being used for the wall and ceiling painting - yea for unsmelly paint!
We had to purchase a new washer and dryer that were stackable. We choose front loaders, both electric, that are tier III on the PG&E lists which means they are the most energy efficient and qualify for the greatest rebate.
We are installing outdoor heaters (wow that seems un-green to heat the outside, doesn't it), but they are electric as compared to the standard propane ones which means we can tap into renewable sources to run them (like our future solar panels).

There is also the general idea that we are trying to make the almost 1500 square feet that we have feel like more than it is. We're not adding on (for the moment), but are trying to live in the same amount of space as we add more and more people. The average house size in America is almost 2500 square feet and we always grapple with if we really need that much space even as we plan an addition that would take us almost to that amount. Opening this wall is a way to see if we can internally expand what we have so that we can delay expanding our footprint.

A busy day all around

2009-10-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy day:

Peter met a new client
Jen went back to work for the first time in two months
Peter dropped off lots of "junk" at Goodwill
Jen worked all evening at back-to-school night
Peter fed Willa successfully twice (yea!)
Olivia peed in the potty on command
Peter consulted with our GC on yet more custom cabinet engineering plan details
Peter watched our dining room and laundry closet go from open framing to drywall and 'mudded'
Hatie & Olivia actually slept through banging and drilling and vacuuming in the next room
Olivia said a six-word sentence
Peter picked up a new LED pendant light for the new counter space (looks nice!)
Peter worked 5 hours
took some great videos of Olivia's cuteness
The kids all went to the zoo

Olivia is still sick and coughing, though she is sleeping much better as of last night. Willa is at about the same stage. Hatie so far has pretty much avoided the ick, fortunately. She doesn't nap a preschool, though, so she sleeps a lot when she is home or else she gets totally out of control.

Tomorrow I've got all the kids all day alone, so let's hope Willa eats well. The guys will be doing more drywall work - hopefully everything will be nice and neat before the weekend starts. it may actually look like a room again! (albeit an unpainted one). And our fridge actually will be shoved into it's intended space, too, so we'll have more room to maneuver. More pictures of the construction to come soon. Now it's back to work...

Kitchen Remodel: Days 9-13 - slowing down a bit

2009-09-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - Sunday, September 23-27, 2009

Wow, quite a lengthy session Thursday morning poring through the cabinet engineering drawing that we got last night. We spent almost two hours with Seth going through almost every measurement to verify it. We did catch a few mistakes and a few issues that we hadn't considered, and made a few changes as well. Hopefully they all make sense to Nandi et. al. at Rivendell and they'll get updated drawings back to us soon that we like.

The latter half of this week has been slower than previous days. Had a plumber spend a couple hours here Friday fixing a crack in the clothes washer pipe that was created during demo, and re-running the dryer gas and fridge water lines. Friday was a ocst-cutting day for Berkeley, so the inspection services were closed, so we'll have to schedule on Monday an electrical inspection hopefully for Tuesday. Then they can start drywalling on Wednesday. Critical path is still the cabinets, so we're expecting to finalize those ASAP.

I want to put in a ventilation system for the media cabinet, but am having a hard time figuring out whether I can realistically spend a couple hundred bucks for vents and fans and have it work well enough, or if I have to buy something upscale like this, which costs several hundred bucks. The local upscale audio store recommended the expensive one (of course), but it looks like their markup is way high. I think I'm going to go for the good solution, but get it online for almost half the price. This is something that is moveable, too, so conceivably if it continues to work for a long time I could use it elsewhere after a second-floor remodel or something like that.

We're trying to make a final decision on the dining room lamp, and have lots of options. I'll have Jen post the links. We are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of our outdoor heaters - hopefully Monday.

Kitchen Remodel: Day 8

2009-09-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Today was another electrical work day. Not a lot of exciting things to report on that front. Wiring the appropriate circuits for the new clothes washer & dryer, putting the new switches into the walls, etc.

We need to decide on our counter backsplash, though, so Jen and I spent an hour at the tile shop, actually called "Tile Shop". We hadn't really thought much about how the backsplash would look, so we were kind of starting from scratch. Here's a few ideas that we liked.

Smaller tiles might look fancier but are multiples more expensive, and as Jen found out earlier, recycled "greener" options are double (or more) the expensive prices, so it's not so easy to go green. We took some of these samples home and will consider it. This place stocks most everything and seems to be where the larger contractors shop, so we feel comfortable putting off our decision for a little while. We'll meet with the tile setter later this week to help us out with some practical issues, such as "What goes on top?" These designs all have their own bullnose or rounded edge solutions that will have to be incorporated into the design. Grout color, too, we'll have to pick out.

Kitchen Remodel: Day 7

2009-09-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 21, 2009

Today was a later start: 9am. Thomas called in sick. Though he was worried he would give our kids his cold, we told him it was probably more likely that our kids gave it to him. In any case, Seth appeared in his place this morning along with the first construction visit from the electricians, headed by Jim Hiatt of Hiatt Electric. I though this might be a dull morning, but we needed to discuss a bunch of things before they could start to make sure we were all clear. Ideally, of course, all this would have been perfect on the plans already, and some was, but some things we decided to change later.

Sunday night a our fridge started to trip the circuit breaker where it was temporarily plugged in above the countertop. Jim did plugged the fridge into a different, non GFCI outlet, and that seems to have fixed the problem. Apparently GFCI circuits don't often play well with refridgerators.

One of the switches on the dual switch to the right of the kitchen deck door was disabled a year or so ago when we had someone try to fix an electrical problem. He couldn't figure out the issue and ended up just leaving the switch disconnected. We decided that, though we didn't have a use for it now, it would be more problematic to remove it, so we are keeping it disconnected, as-is.

We also needed to make sure that Jim was comfortable with the heater system we had chosen, and had to order it and the controls. We've decided to go with a pair of identical heaters to the outside of each light located in the center above each set of doors to the deck. We're getting them from Infratech, which seems to be the manufacturer of choice for a lot of outdoor restaurant seating we see. We're very excited to have these, since it'll add more comfort to our luxurious deck in the evenings much of the year. We're looking forward to having people visit and we can sit out there drinking wine even after sunset. Anyway, Jen spent time last week on the phone with them making sure everything would work and choosing the right model. Today she ordered it and a dual-dial control for it, which will be installed outside the laundry area. Not that that is the best place, I think, but it is the most logical since then they won't have to tear apart another wall to install the controls.

We decided to keep the light that is in the ceiling in what was the entry to the kitchen, near the stereo cabinet. It may be a bit useless now, but why take it out when it's already there? We just decided to put it on it's own switch on the wall nearby.

They took off a faceplate and found some kind of insect next. No insects, though. We have had ants come out of the outlets in the past, especially in Winter, and I suspect this was remnants of one of those infestations. Hopefully it's not termites. Later when we tear off more of that wall we'll see if there are any expensive surprises - great.

The one thing we hadn't done over the weekend is choose the new locations for the sconces on the inner wall of the dining room. Though the cabinet doesn't cover up the existing holes, they are too close together. All along we had intended to move them further toward the outer walls, but hadn't yet picked exactly how far.

The right one was easy - center it between the (will-be) outer wall of the cabinet and the wall on the right.

For the left one, though, Seth had an excellent thought - perhaps we shouldn't put them back up at all, or at least not the one near the kitchen. He pointed out that that space is an excellent location for artwork, and a sconce there would basically take up all the room, leaving the remaining space too small for much of anything else. After thinking it over for a few hours we agreed; We're going to not re-install a sconce there, despite that meaning that we now have matching sconces in three corners of the room but not the fourth. We think that won't be an issue, and the remaining sconces, as well as the new center light and new pendant lights, will provide plenty for the room. Also, in the future, if someone wants to put a large digital display (read: TV) on the wall viewable from the kitchen and dining room, that is an ideal place. We refuse to do it now, but I can certainly see it in the future.

They put in the new location for the ceiling light, centered over where the table will be, not the center of the room where you'll hit your head on it:

Yes, this is our dining room right now.

The electricians worked until 4pm, though there isn't much to show for it unless you want to go digging around in the crawlspaces and walls. Just things like the relocated holes in the walls for the new sconces and ceiling lights.

Kitchen Remodel: Days 5-6 - the first weekend

2009-09-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday & Sunday, September 19 & 20, 2009

Well, we survived the first week intact. Lots of destruction and noise and disruption, but really it wasn't so bad. It was fun, in fact. So far we're having a pretty good experience. We really think we've chosen the right GC. They've been quite personable and easy to work with, which, as we thought, would be pretty valuable when we are all in the same space all day long.

Now our place is a torn up mess, but thye've still kept it liveable. I think the kids are liking the larger open space already! We're even still eating on our dining room table, though that is going to stop now.

On Thursday we went over the a local appliance distributor and formally chose our washer/dryer combo. We're getting a great deal on the Consumer Reports "Best Buy" (and nearly highest-rated) model: GE WCVH6800J & the matching GE DCVH680GJWW. These have apparently been selling like hotcakes due to their low pricepoint and top CR rating. Since we're going to stack them, I think that they have to be matching, or at least it would seem like that will work best. Otherwise we may have chosen a different dryer. In any case, we're getting it from a respected local appliance specialist (Galvin Appliances on San Pablo Ave.) and we think are getting a decent deal still.

On Saturday morning, we went to Berkeley Lighting to see if we can pick out some pendant lights for over the new peninsula. More on our choicemaking later, but we ended up ordering an LED pendant to see if it will work. This style will match several other lights we have in the house, and hopefully the new light over the dining room table as well. We think it complements the other textures that will be around it, like the countertop, bar, and existing gumwood.

For that center light, we needed to measure where the new overhead light will be above the dining room table. Now that we're getting rid of the church pew, and moving the built-in to the side wall, the table will move over, and the old exactly-centered light fixture won't do. Here's Jen and the kids measuring for where the electricians will need to put the new fixture hole in the ceiling.

To make way for other contractors next week, like the electrical guys, we're moving the table out of the dining room. We put it on the deck Sunday night. We're lucky we've got a decent, safe, clean space for it while all this is going on. It looks pretty cool out there, actually - maybe we'll even use it out there!

We had a pleasant weekend in our deconstructed house. I think this photo represents what we see now in our house: partial destruction and plans for more.

Kitchen Remodel: Day 4

2009-09-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 18th

This was mostly a cleanup day from the previous day's destruction. Made some holes bigger, cleaned things out, patched up some ragged edges, etc. The big event for us was the appearance of our cabinetmakers from Rivendell. Kanda is a classic cabinetmaker and Nandi, his son, is a whiz at the measuring software, so they were measuring and graphing on the fly.

We discussed for quite awhile the options of how long to make the peninsula. Though our plans said one thing, we eventually decided another. Since this space pretty much the center of the house, both physically and psychologically, we ended up making the peninsula significantly shorter, to make room for people circulation, standing and talking, etc. Also, if we ever get to adding a second floor, this space will be very close to the bottom of the stairway, so we wanted to make room for that kind of use as well. These guys really seemed to know what they were doing, and gave some good advice. We put down some tape so that we can imagine walking around the soon-to-be countertop for the next few weeks.

Here's some photos of views in our house that weren't possible until the last 24 hours - pretty exciting!

Now we'll just have to live with it this way over the weekend. So far things haven't seemed too unlivable, but I sure look forward to having it all done. Luckily the kids are pretty adaptable and seem to take it all in stride. Olivia even napped in our tent in the yard the past few days!

Kitchen Remodel: Day 3

2009-09-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 17th

This was the big demolishing day. The wall separating the kitchen and dining room was completely removed, and the laundry space was gutted. Lots or loud banging, cutting, sawing, etc. all day long. The guys were wearing masks, but did a great job with their plastic walls of keeping the extra dust and debris under control. It was exciting to see it all come down so quickly. The aftermath was quite spectacular:

It made quite a mess.

Ultimately things got cleaned up and everything was hauled outside...

...leaving some nice open walls. Here's the subwoofer in the bedroom from the backside - the laundry closet:

And the molding and wall removed from between the rooms:

Kitchen Remodel: Day 2

2009-09-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today (Wednesday, September 16th) Thomas returned and went at it full-bore. He and his assistant ripped and sawed and tore at things all day long. We needed to get the cabinetry dismantled and the fridge moved out of the way before the wall could be demolished. Also, there was shelving in the laundry closet to be removed. Some of this material will hopefully be reused, and some will be sold to Urban Ore, a well-known store for previously used material. (We bought a slab there once for 30 bucks or so that we still use as our desktop.)

Things moved along quite quickly, and it was all I could to to keep from recording the whole thing on video. At 9:30 or so they started removing the fridge,

Which stubbornly tried to remain where it was, but eventually - success!

Pretty shortly thereafter all of the cabinetry was gone:

We were all impressed with the quality of work that has gone into everything we've seen so far. Those cabinets were really solidly constructed and very tough to remove. Even the shelves in the laundry closet:

After the big stuff came out, there was a lot of plastic put up for keeping the rest of the dust and debris contained. They have some neat plastic sheeting with zippers that create little rooms for their deconstruction - very handy in a situation like ours where we are going to have to use the rest of the room throughout the process. Here's the new entry to the dining room from the kitchen:

I expect we'll be sick of seeing this long before the project is complete. Here's something else we may get sick of soon:

All in all a fascinating (though loud) day watching everything surgically come apart. Tomorrow: The Wall.

Kitchen Remodel: Day 1

2009-09-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, September 15th Thomas (our foreman) started at 8am. The critical path for the project is the custom cabinet manufacturing, so we needed to get the kit/dr wall torn down as quickly as possible so that we could measure for the cabinets that were to be underneath the new peninsula countertop. The first task was getting the built-in cabinet un-built-in. This was also, from our perspective, the trickiest. If it didn't come out in one piece, or was too damaged in the process, we probably would end up scrapping it, which would be a shame. We really wanted to keep this part of the original house. Not only would it keep the house in character and retain the original house pieces, it also would be quite a handy and beautiful piece of furniture.

Seth, our GC, also had reservations about how it would come out, but Thomas was pretty confident that he could be successful. He made some pretty quick headway. It's odd seeing what's behind the panels and molding in an 80+ year-old house.

We just weren't sure what to expect, but after a day's worth of prying, pulling, and banging, it came out in one piece - even the mirror! By 3pm or so Thomas was done with this part. He'll come back tomorrow to start tearing apart the wall itself, but a good day's work.

This was a pretty sure sign that there was no looking back now. As you can see, there will be some floor work that will need to be done.

Interestingly, since I was so leary about how this particular piece would go, and it went very well, I think I have now lost my sense of fear about the whole project. This is going to turn out great!

Countertop selection

2009-09-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

We're going to replace our existing tile countertops, and also add a raised "bar" above the countertop along the dining room side of the new peninsula. Our tile countertops looked great when they were new, but with the tiny tiles there is so much grout that it is impossible to keep clean in a busy kitchen. Especially around the sink, it is now permanently moldy. We've read that with tile counters, you should re-seal them regularly, and we think for us that probably means several times a year. That's just not going to happen (and hasn't more than a couple times in 5.5 years) and it probably only prolongs the inevitable anyway. The tile also has gotten chipped along the edges fairly often, so it's starting to look pretty beat up, too. Ultimately, it's just not working for us, and as long as we'll have to get a new countertop for the new peninsula portion, we've opted to replace the whole thing rather than duplicate what we have (or have 1/3 of the counter different from the rest - ugh).

We considered all kinds of options. This was actually one of the first products we researched for this remodel, because we wanted to make the decision early as to whether to spend the money and on what. The cost of countertop options varies very widely, so it really depended we decided to use. One of our favorite resources for product research is consumer reports, and sure enough they had recently (Aug 09) done a review of countertop options. We decided that this is one place where we wouldn't compromise. We use our kitchen counters a lot and wanted high quality with a low a maintenance as possible. The CR guide (which you probably can't see unless you subscribe) lists some myths about surfaces, relative cost estimates, and, importantly, test results. They rated everything from marble to laminate to concrete on resistance to stain, heat, cutting, abrasion, and impact. I love CR! Engineered quartz comes out on top. All of the brands are made by the same patented process, and the decision to make is really what kind of aggregate/design you want to see in it. The big brands seem to be Cambria, Zodiaq (from DuPont), Silestone, Ceasarstone.

One day when we were in Costco we saw a posting that they sell countertops - Score! Like everything else they carry, they have limited choices, a unique method of payment/delivery, and a good deal. Luckily they carried quartz! The quote seemed pretty reasonable to us (in comparison to what we expected - it ain't cheap), and indeed turned out significantly cheaper than anyone else for the same options, so we ended up going with them and their local distributor/installer Stone Etc.of Oakland.

We also visited Sullivan Countertops in Oakland and got a bid from them. They carry all the brands of quartz and other surfaces as well. They were far from customer-friendly, though, and the bid was at least as high as the others.

The other significant place we visited was EcoHome Improvement just a mile or two away from our house in Berkeley. They offer, well, a lot of eco-friendly options for, well, home improvement. I guess that should be obvious. We had purchased some no-VOC paint from them before and been in a bunch of time looking at other things. We did want to go eco-friendly, and so talked with them about other options. "Paperstone" was one major one that we seriously considered. It is an engineered paper-based product with a long lifespan and good performance. It is touted as quite eco-friendly because it is paper-based and not mined. Unfortunately, it does require occasional re-sealing and CR didn't rate it so highly on cutting and abrasion performance. We might have chosen it anyway, since we could do a few other things with it, like create a built-in drainboard with it without voiding the warranty (like Ceasarstone), or refinishing the surface later to create a like-new countertop again (as with wood floors). All hope was dashed, though, when the estimate was roughly twice the cost of the already top-end Ceasarstone we were using as a comparison. The same for most of the other "eco-friendly" options we looked at, including Vetrazzo, which our architect was fond of. In addition, most of these were basically concrete with recycled aggregate, and we knew that concrete (as with grout) will chip and stain unless regularly refinished or sealed.

Ultimately we stuck with the Ceasarstone. We figured that we would not only save money (again, in comparison), but get better performance and thus have a solution that would last longer. This not only would allow us to spend our money on other eco-friendly options elsewhere, but also if we don't have to replace our countertops for a longer time, it is a more eco-friendly solution anyway. It was a bit of a disappointing and decision, since we did want to go with a more "green" solution. Personally, though, I wasn't so convinced with the "grenness" of the alternatives. Yeah, their primary ingredients weren't stone (and thus weren't mined, tearing up ground, etc.), but most were basically concrete. Even the paper either comes from trees or has to be massively reclaimed, treated, and manufactured into a new surface. Other than containing some recycled content (and for some it wasn't even the majority of the content), I didn't see anything radically different or better about the "green" alternatives. Ceasarstone actually has some environmental qualifications itself to consider, and has some product with recycled content, too.

Here's the style we ultimately chose:

This image actually appears darker than it is. It's a fairly bright white. More photos soon of our sample along with how it will look with the other surfaces nearby.

References we used:

Kitchen Remodel: Day 0

2009-09-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

We got started Monday September 14th. That morning we signed the contract with Seth Melchert, owner/gc of Master Builders, and that afternoon they started laying down protection for our floors, plastic sheeting to cordon off work areas, etc. Since we are going to continue living here and cooking food in the kitchen throughout, one significant concern when choosing a general contractor was their ability to work intimately with us.

Before they started work, we recorded some videos to create a walkthrough of what was to be done. Last month (actually, on the morning of the day Willa was born) we bought Jen a new MacBook Pro, partly so that we would have a decent multimedia laptop. I decided to try my hand at making a video with iMovie of our walkthrough, so here it is. (It' also my first upload to youtube.)

Kitchen Remodel Kickoff

2009-09-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

OK, I've finally convinced myself to start blogging. Hopefully this will turn out to be fun and rewarding for me, the extended family, and anyone else interested in our ramblings about our family. And I'll be able to keep it up. We'll see. I'm kinda learning how blogger works now, so hopefully these posts will improve soon.

Anyway, without further delay, on to our kitchen/dining room remodel! That's what y'all want to see now, I know. Since the work has already started, I'll dispense with the preamble for now about find an architect, making preliminary design decisions, etc. Hopefully I'll come back to that at a later date. If you want to know something specific just ask and I'll make a post about it.

We love our house, but there are definitely some improvements that were needed to make it workable with the whole family. At the top of the list is removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room so that the five of us can eat in the dining room, but we can watch the kids while we are in the kitchen. Our house including the kitchen went through a major remodel about ten years ago, and the construction quality was quite high, so we wanted to be sure to keep within the style and quality that already exists, while updating for a more workable living space. Here's the original dining room, looking toward the kitchen door:

And here's the other side of that wall, in the kitchen looking towards the dining room door:

Yes, that's the fridge there and it is being moved to the other side of the kitchen, to be located directly to the left of where you would be standing if you took the kitchen photo above. Currently, this is where the washer/dryer are, in a large closet to the right in this picture, which is taken from almost the same point as the previous photo, just in the opposite direction:

Here's the laundry closet interior:

The w/d will be replaced with new stackable ones and stacked in a new smaller closet on the left, and the fridge will be sitting on the right.