Week Five Update

Well, we got the drywall up. This is another point of no return, as what is done behind the walls is done. I left a newspaper behind one of the interior walls for someone to find someday in the future. I thought about leaving a dollar or an old cellphone, but I didn't. I ended up not putting up a vapor barrier (a sheet of heavy plastic between the insulation and drywall - not to be confused with Tyvek housewrap, which goes on the outside of the house and is a moisture barrier, but not a vapor barrier). Missouri is on a borderline; if we were much further north, a vapor barrier would be a good plan, but it gets pretty humid here in summer. Thus, humid air from outdoors enters the walls during that season. This air would hit the vapor barrier and the water would condense inside the wall, and that would be bad. Note: this decision may or may not have been correct. I could not find a definitive answer.

We used "green drywall" where our sink and counters are going to be. This is water-resistant, sometimes mold-resistant drywall that is green in color. I wasn't sure if I should use something more water-resistant, like cement board. I know the latter should be used in bathrooms behind the tub and shower, but the people I talked to said that stuff isn't used in kitchens. I couldn't find a definitive Mike Holmes answer for this, either, so we went with the green stuff in part of the kitchen. I would have liked it to extend further to the left, but this should do, I suppose.

I have started laying hardwood floors. This type of flooring isn't recommended by some for use in kitchens, because there is lots of water there, but we wanted to match our dining room and living room, so we decided to use it. I'll have to seal it well, and make sure we clean up spills quickly. I laid down 15-lb roofing paper on top of the wood plank subfloor, and started laying wood. I rented a manual nailer, but it wasn't driving the nails all the way into the wood. Plus, it would take me several hits to drive a nail, and during these hits the nailer would move slightly, which probably helped with problem #1. I'm going to rent a pneumatic nailer this week and see how that works.

To transition between the existing wood floor and the new floor. I first used a circular saw to cut the edge of the existing floor as straight as possible. I had a heck of a time cutting the ends next to the walls, since the saw wouldn't go all the way to the end.. For oneend , I used a hand saw to cut the last two inches, and on the other end I had to use a rotozip (with which I later sustained my first renovation injury, a thumb cut). I then laid a row of new flooring perpendicular to the existing wood, to create a transition strip that will be flush with both the old and new flooring. This was recommended by the Lumber Liquidators guy. While this violates the rule that you should stagger the ends of adjacent wood pieces, it is really the only feasible option in this situation.

Before I started laying and cutting wood, I first brought the pieces into the kitchen 5 or so days before I started, in order to acclimate the wood to the temperature and humidity in the house. I then sorted the pieces, laying them out by size and weeding out less-than-perfect ones, which I used in the area on which the sink cabinets and dishwasher will sit.

We also selected and ordered our refrigerator and dishwasher. We combined a Lowe's sale with a 10% off coupon. To use the coupon, I ordered the appliances in the store (I avoided the closest Lowe's to deprive a certain city government out of my sales taxes for this purchase). The store prices were higher than the online prices, but I brought in web site printouts and got the store to match the price. I tried to get the 5% discount that comes with signing up for a Lowe's credit card, but they said I couldn't do that. The appliances come in another 10 days or so - it would be nice if I could finish installing, staining, and sealing the floor by then. For appliances, we went with stainless steel. I campaigned hard for black, and not just because they cost less than stainless steel, but I lost that one.