Inglewood Kitchen Before and After

I wrapped up my Inglewood Kitchen project today and thought I'd share some photos. This kitchen underwent quite a transformation.

When I started, most of the walls were covered in lovely paneling and the floor was ceramic tile in an outdated shade of pink (not the homeowner's favorite.)

One of the first jobs after removing all of the trim was to widen the doorway between the kitchen and the adjoining dining room. It previoiusly had a recessed sliding door hiding in there.

Thankfully, this was not a load-bearing wall, which simplified things a little bit. This wider doorway really opens up the entire downstairs of this home, making that old doorway look very skinny...

The kitchen already had decent cabinets with granite counters. My job was to rip up the old tiles (this post) and install 16" travertine stone tiles on the floor. I also installed a travertine subway tile backsplash with a mosaic pattern in the middle (this post).

In addition to the tile work, I also installed drywall and wider crown, baseboard, and casings to better fit the character of this older home.

I'm happy with the results. This was a fun project.

See this link for all the posts related to this project.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Trim for Inglewood Kitchen Project

It was trim day at my kitchen project which is always fun because of the transformation that takes place when you start hiding all the rough edges.

The kitchen has 4 doorways that all got 3 1/4" casing. Some of the door jambs had to be extended with furring strips by about 3/8" because of the drywall that I had installed that made the walls a little thicker. (See this post)

In addition to the doors and a little baseboard, I installed some thing trim around the large recessed refrigerator to hide the unfinished ends of the drywall. There was also a matching cavity above the fridge that would hold a couple wine racks that I trimmed out as well. (See picture).

Now that the Travertine flooring is installed and grouted and the trim is going in, we are very close the end of this project. I'll start caulking and puttying trim tomorrow and wrap this up with some paint after that.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Crown Moulding- How to Get Tight Outside Corners

I was installing crown moulding at my current kitchen remodel and thought I'd cover some tips for installing it. Let's start with those pesky outside corners. How do you get them to match up just right?

The first step is to get the cuts right. See yesterday's post for that lesson.

Then, before I work on the outside corner I like to cut the other end of each piece involved in the outside corner. This may mean a coped cut that will fit with the adjoining piece.

After making this cut and/or coping it, I like to hold it in place if possible so that the long end runs past the corner. Then, I can mark exactly where the corner is and make the cut. Even still, I may cut it just a bit long and test fit it to make sure it will be snug.

When that's finished, DON'T NAIL IT yet... Lay it aside and do the opposite piece for the corner. Cut it in the same fashion and test fit it with the first piece to make sure there will be no gaps.

Now that the pieces are cut to fit, lay them on the floor (or a flat work table if they'll fit). Add a bit of wood glue to one end and nail them together with small brads. I use 1" brads for this. Usually, I can get two brads in each side. You have to hold them carefully and get those nails in right or you may be taking all apart to fix it!

With the corner now assembled perfectly, you can hold the pieces in place and nail them up there. If your corner is square and the ceiling level this will leave you with an outside corner that you can be proud of, even without caulk!

By the way, this process also works great for other outside corners like baseboard, especially then there are small pieces with weird angles involved.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Tips for Installing Crown Moulding

I thought I'd share a couple tips to installing 'standard' crown moulding that may save you some time and improve your work as well. Let's start with some preparations.

PREPARE FOR SUCCESS

Like most jobs, the prepwork is foundational to ending up with quality work. Crown can be a frustrating character, especially if you're working by yourself. The first thing I like to do is lay a piece of the trim against the fence of my miter saw (since I know it's square) and measure how far down the wall the trim will come. (See picture)

The particular crown came 3" down from the ceiling, so I went around the entire room and made a mark at 3", especially in the corners. If you want, you can even mark this with a chalk line. The purpose is to give you a reference point so that your crown doesn't twist or gradually rise or fall as you go along. Keeping it level is one key to having tight joints.

USE THE TRIANGLES

Cutting crown can be a real mystery to figure out. I used to have to think very hard and make lots of test cuts before I figured out the system. Well, I've gotten better at, but I've also discovered the triangle.

Most miter saws will have a triangle mark (or circle) on them, to use as a 'cheater' for cutting crown. You probably have two sets of them depending on the type of crown, depending on the angle that the crown is to the ceiling. I won't get too technical, but my crown was the 38/52 type which meant that I could use the triangles at miter angle of 31.6 degrees and a bevel of 33.9 degrees.

You don't have to know all the technical stuff to do this. Just put your saw at the two triangle marks and cut with the crown laying flat on the saw. You still have to think a little bit to make sure you're doing it the right way, but if you trust the triangle, your cuts will likely be more reliable.

NOTE: Another way to cut is to lean the crown, usually upside down, against the fence of your miter saw at the same angle that it will be against the ceiling. With this position you won't use the triangles, but the actual angles that you're working with for each dimension. This position may be helpful if you have non standard angles for corners or if your crown is non-standard angle to the corner.

INSTALL THE CROWN

I like to do the longest run first, because it can be cut square on each end. Then, I usually do the next one to the left because it will have a square cut on the left end of it and a coped cut (using the triangles and your handy coping saw) to join up to the previous piece. An outside corner will interrupt this pattern, but you can continue after the corner around the room.

Start nailing at the end that joins the previously installed piece. I usually work alone, so I have to make a jig or at least lean a 2x4 against the wall to support the other end until I get to it. Make sure to get those corners tight and keep the crown level along those lines you made on the wall.

Finally, this is the time to use a finish nailer with some long nails. I usually use 2 1/2" finish nails that I can shoot up through the middle of the crown into the plates at the top of the wall. You need to hit something solid or the crown will eventually sag and crack the caulk if it's painted. If you can't find a stud or anything solid, you can criss-cross two nails in the same spot that will hold the crown pretty good as long as you're hitting studs most of the time.

Crown can really transform a room which is what makes this project so fun. Hopefully, these tips help keep the fun from getting squashed for you!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Tricks to Cutting Hardibacker Cementboard

Before laying the flooring at my Inglewood kitchen project, I wanted to lay 1/2" Hardibacker. This will not only give me a solid, smooth surface to tile over, but the old tile floor had 1/2" cementboard (also called CBU) so the door jambs are cut to accommodate this already.

The Hardibacker goes down over a layer of thinset mortar nailed with roofing nails. (Hint: get a roofing nailer to really speed this up.) The process is quite similar to laying any subfloor, but cementboard can be frustrating to cut.

It takes forever to score it with a utility knife and the blade will dull very quickly. A circular saw will churn up clouds of toxic silica dust everywhere and again, dull the blade almost immediately.

Here are two ways to cut it without loosing your temper:

1. Buy a 'cementboard scoring tool'. (Below Left) They're usually in the tile department next to where they sell wet saws. With this you can score and snap the Hardibacker similarly to how you cut drywall. It just takes a few more swipes to dig in before it snaps. It won't give you a very clean break, so you might want to measure about 1/8th short to compensate for this.

2. Get an abrasive jig saw blade meant for cutting cementboard. If you can find one for this exact purpose, you can use one designed for cutting ceramic tile like I did. (Below Right) I was able to make it through my entire kitchen project before this blade wore out.

I like to score and snap any cuts that I can and use the jig saw for notches and cutting out electrical boxes, etc. This process worked well for me and I was able to stay calm in the process.

By the way, if you have to make a lot of cuts you can also buy a circular saw blade meant to cut cement board. Check the reviews on Amazon, because it sounds like some of them wear out very fast, which is not cool when you just paid $50+ for the blade.

Remember to use the respirator whenever you're cutting this stuff, especially if you're indoors. The manufacturer recommends only using power tools like a jigsaw outside. That's probably good advice because the clouds of dust will attack your lungs.

Happy cutting,

Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Travertine Subway Tile Backsplash

I'm a big fan of subway tile. I'm not sure why, but it's just cool. The backsplash I was working on today was using travertine subway tiles (approx. 3" x 6") mixed with a stone mosaic.

The mosaic tiles come in 12" x 12" sheets with 10 rows on it. I cut it into rows of two to add some visual interest and break up the subway tile a little. This is less expensive than doing the entire backsplash with mosaic, and has a custom feel to it.

The entire backsplash is around 24 linear feet. It's long, but mostly only around 11 inches high except under the windows where there's only 3" of tile. The largest tiled area is behind the range.

For this I turned the mosaic tile up and around to frame the larger area a little bit. It was tricky to do the subway tile around this and make the grout lines match as much as possible.

Whenever you're mixing types of tile you should consider the dimensions and how they'll match up. For example, it's often nice to mix 12" floor tiles with smaller 6" tiles to come up with a pattern. You just have to think about the grout lines and make sure that they'll really line up right.

What's Underneath?

When I started the walls were covered with 3/4" boards that were previously covered with linoleum. This was strong enough, but the surface wasn't very smooth. I covered the boards with a layer of thinset and then 1/4" Hardibacker cementboard to have a flat solid surface to cover with the travertine tiles.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Drywalling Over Paneling?

I know a lot of homeowners who have a room full of 1/4" paneling sheets and dream of flat drywall instead.

The kitchen that I'm currently remodeling in Inglewood had paneling covering the old plaster walls. Removing the paneling might have brought the plaster with it and presented a bigger project than my client wanted me to tackle. He told me to just drywall over it.

I said, "Sure. No problem."

The wall where I widened the doorway got gutted, so it was just the other walls that we were talking about. I chose to use 3/8" drywall for these walls. I avoided 1/4" drywall because it doesn't tend to dimple correctly wherever I screw. I guess it's so thin that instead of recessing, the screws often make a small bump which is a pain to get smoothed out.

I always remove all the casing and trim to do drywall. I've seen homes where somebody tries to drywall up to the trim and it looks horrible even if you caulk it. It's also likely that the edges of the drywall aren't screwed to any studs with this method.

Like any drywall installation I had to make sure I had framing everywhere that was needed so that all of my drywall edges were snug. If a screw doesn't hit anything solid, the drywall will eventually move enough to cause a crack at this location.

One other concern with drywalling over paneling is that your doorjambs will need to be built up to be flush with the new drywall. In my case, I'll need to rip strips that are 3/8" thick to attach before I can put the casing back on. The baseboard shouldn't have this problem.

Can you mud the paneling to cover the lines?
I've read some discussion on this topic and I'd agree with those that say it's not a good idea. Paneling is quite flimsy at 1/4". Even installed over plaster there were lots of gaps and spongy places. This means that any mud that you try to fill those pesky paneling lines with will just crack and make the lines reappear.

This kitchen already looks better with the paneling hidden by new drywall with the first coat of mud.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

How to Remove the Old Tile Flooring

Before we can talk about installing nice new tile, I have to get rid of those pink ones that were (supposedly) stylish a couple decades ago. Let's talk about how to remove tile:

Removing Tile= Muscle + Elbow Grease :)

The difficulty in removing tile depends, of course, on how well it was put down. Sometimes the tiles 'pop' up quite easily, at other times they have permanently bonded with the subfloor and will make for a long day.

You'll need to remove the tiles and any cementboard that may be under them. Often, with a floor, the tiles are directly over plywood or cement. In this case just remove the tile and the mortar and then fill any gouges with self-leveling cement so that you can start with a flat surface for the new flooring.

For my project, the tiles were installed over Durock cementboard that was nailed down over an old linoleum floor. This was actually fortunate for me because if they had used screws it would have been much more difficult to remove.

The trick for my project, if there was any, was to skip the tiles and work on prying the cementboard up. In doing this, the tiles would often break or pop off anyway. I was able to get by with just a couple pry bars and a hammer. If your project is more stubborn you might consider renting a power chisel or getting a floor scraper to help.

Removing tile makes a TON of dust, especially if you use power tools. Make sure to cover everything that you can to contain the dust. I actually made two temporary plastic walls between the kitchen and the rest of the house to try to contain as much dust as possible. (Use painter's tape to attach plastic from floor to ceiling. Clamps may help as well.)

Also, you want to find a nice respirator (dust mask), gloves, eye protection, knee pads and even ear plugs. All that pounding will make your ears ring!

The reward for all this hard work is have a nice surface to work from in laying the new tile. Of course, if you can find someone else to do it for you, that's even better... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Removing Part of a Plaster Kitchen Wall

I started a new kitchen remodel this morning in Inglewood. In addition to new floor and backsplash tile, the homeowner wanted to widen the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

When I started, there was a recessed door there, however, it was built into a thin false wall on top of the old wall with plaster on the dining room side. The thin wall wasn't needed without the recessed door so I removed that and began working on the old plaster wall.

This is NOT a load-bearing wall. This is important to note because a load-bearing wall would be handled differently including some temporary supports and a larger header.

I took out all the blocking and door framing and was left with the studs covered with lath and plaster on one side. I really wanted to keep from damaging the plaster so I wouldn't have to add those repairs to my list. I did a pretty good job and wanted to share my process with you:

1. I had removed all the old paneling from the kitchen side of the wall back to where I wanted the new doorway to end. Then, before I removed the wall or any plaster, I went ahead and put in the king and trimmer studs where my new header would go.

TYPES OF STUDS... King Studs- go from the top to bottom plate; Trimmer Studs- support the headers; Cripple Studs- go from top of header to the top plate (the little guys :)

2. Now, for the plaster... The trimmer stud marks the rough opening of the doorway so I have a solid reference point. I made a pencil line to mark it and then used a chisel to cut the plaster along this line. Doing this will give me a nice edge and prevent large cracks in the plaster that will remain. As you can see in the picture, I started on the opposite side (at the old doorway) and pryed off chunks of plaster toward the line for the new doorway.

3. After cleaning off the plaster, I used my pneumatic stapler to fasten all the lath to the trimmer stud. This will help prevent them from wiggling as much as I cut them. My sabre saw worked well for cutting the lath along the trimmer stud. Again, having the stud there saves a ton of mess because without its support, the plaster would surely break and the lath would come loose.

4. Once the lath is cut it can be pulled off and discarded. Then you can move on to removing those studs. Cutting the cripple studs above the old header was the most difficult part to do without damaging the plaster.

I'll still have a little plaster to patch, but I think I won the plaster battle for today...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com