Work Progress

In a change of pace, I'm going to post some pics of actual work that I've done recently. I get tired just thinking about it.

Part of the reason that I'd run over the contractor I fired if I ever saw him crossing the street is that I had to undo so much of what he did and re-do it myself. So I got to do the work myself, but still ended up paying a lot of money for it. It's feels like being asked to dig your own grave. The end result is you get screwed. Why did I pay this moron if I was going to re-do it myself? Anyway, enough complaints. If you wanna hear people complain about their problems and do nothing about it, you can buy the Sex and The City DVD Box Set.

I've alluded to a structural problem I need to address before installing the cabinets. I could just leave it the way it is and hoped that no one notices, but Catholic guilt prevents me from not doing the right thing.

The window in the kitchen was crooked and I thought it might be a symptom of a larger problem, like when your car's check engine light comes on and you take it to a mechanic and find out that Paris Hilton has a drug problem.

I did some exploratory surgery and took a look at why the window was was crooked and I noticed that the bottom was pushing up on the window.









When I took a look above the window, I noticed there was no proper header above the window, which would transfer the weight correctly. It was only a 2x4 laying on it's side.







Then I stripped the drywall off the old wall.










I really have no idea what they were thinking when the originally did this. And I have no idea why the original contractor I hired didn't say anything about it, but just covered it in drywall.


This is like some feng shui nightmare. The flow of chi energy is blocked by these right angles.

Since the header wasn't distributing the energy, the window was getting warped and would probably get worse over time until the house collapsed, killing the yuppie family that I would eventually sell this place too for way too much money.



So I didn't want to take the old supports out and put them back the right way (because that would involve jacking up the whole room, so I decided to build a new wall in front of it, to take the weight (like when you put your car up on jackstands).


First I started to make some supports in front of the old wall. After putting the top plate and sill plate in, I made the support beams taller than would fit by about 1/2", then I hammered them into place with a sledgehammer so that the new 2x4s would take the weight of the house off the old supports.

Then I added a header.






This is what the finished product with the (correct) header looks like.

Now this wall is strong...like Northern Eagle Claw Kung Fu.






Then we covered it in drywall.








Like this










Then we installed the cabinets and stove. It still needs a proper countertop, but you get the idea.