- Install recessed lights
- Cover & patch 4’ fluorescent ceiling light box
- Shorten wall near refrigerator & patch
- Clean up garage and make room for appliance delivery
- Remove & dispose wall tiles, cabinets & counter top
- Install sheet rock on walls
- Prepare flooring for cabinets
- Skim coat and levels 4 & 5 patching
- Re-texture walls & ceiling
- Prepare plumbing and electrical
- Paint walls and ceiling
- Install cabinets & plywood tops for counter top
- Fabricate and install counter top (by Contractor)
- Install microwave, oven & dish washer
- Install back splash tiles and grout
- Install range hood
- Clean up
Schedule? as soon as possible. Availability? every day after work and weekends. Resource? DW, DD and myself (except for the granite counter top). We pulled it through in a little less than 4 weeks. We didn't get into any major surprises except a few that are worth to mention:
- When installing a wall mounted range, make sure you plan out the mounting before finishing the wall. In my case, I put up the back splash tiles and grout before checking out the range hood, just to find out that the range hood is heavy and I need to get it into the stud... I was lucky enough to be able to cut out the sheet rock on the other side of the wall (my entrance) and spanned a 2x4 between the studs to provide the support to the range hood. If I know about this earlier, I could've easily installed the stud before installing the tiles everything could be done from the kitchen, no extra patch work from the other side.
- Don't sweat out too much if you can't get the crow molding to be perfectly lined up with the ceiling. Some ceilings are not as straight as you think (especially in older houses) and gaps can be as big as 3/8 of an inch. Don't worry! Just try your best to cut the miter and put them up as straight as you can. Use paintable caulk to finish it. You'll be surprise to find out that you won't see any imperfections with naked eyes from 10 feet away. On my first wall cabinet, I stayed up until way past midnight to cut and recut the miter (my good friend neighbor must be really mad at me for making all the noise in my garage that late) forcing them against the ceiling and trying to minimize the gap... at the end, they all looked the same with some caulking and painting.
- Use plumber putty whenever you can, even when the manual says "no plumber putty is required." The installation guides for my air gap vent and the sink drain say something similar to this, but when installing them without putty, it leaked like hell... the rubber gasket they provided couldn't keep the water out. The putty will definitely help here and it's cheap. Just get it.
- When it comes to plumbing job, unless you're a pro, you should just buy everything related to your project that you can think of and return them at the end if you don't use them. I was so confident thinking I know exactly what I need, and ended up buying the drain extension 3 times to get the right one. Make sure you keep all your receipts, of course.
- Another advice for the amateurs like me... If you want to skim coat your walls or ceilings, you definitely should take a look at the Magic Trowel. This tool helps a novice like me to transform a rough, beat up orange peal textured walls and ceiling into a perfectly smooth wall. Of course you would also need a 12-in blade to finish the job, but the underlain coating was mainly built by using this magic tool.
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