A 5-Day Battle Behind the Walls

Well, we had a big week this past weekend. My folks came up to help me install cabinets and we ended up spending all our time fixing wiring and plumbing and so also sheetrock.

After Steve and my Dad had looked at the wiring a few weeks ago and determined that it looked like the contractors might have wired all of the outlets with 14 gauge wire, I had pulled out one of the outlets to double check. I was relieved to see that it was wired with 12 gauge wire, so I decided that at least there wasn't that problem.

WRONG. Only one outlet--the one I pulled out--was wired with 12-2, the rest with 14-2, not sufficient for kitchen outlets. We completely pulled out all the "old" outlets (though still the newest ones in the house), and while we were at it took out an old florescent light fixture in the basement and a BUNCH of electric splice boxes. The floor of my basement may be untidy, but the ceiling sure looks a lot cleaner. While we were at all this, we made notes on a new chart of the breaker box too. Yay!



I don't recall what first made us decide to do it, but we decided to take out the wallboard under the sinks. If there wasn't more than one reason, maybe I would remember what it was. Anyway, those areas coincided with some of the problem low positioned outlets, so we would be patching those spaces regardless. I think we did it in order to replace the plastic supply pipes with copper.

This first photo is kind of a "BEFORE" picture, even though it was taken after the chunk of wallboard was taken out.


The second photos is "AFTER". Dunno if it's apparent here, but that area of the wall with 3 holes for plumbing was patched twice.

The replumbing was pretty straightforward work--I guess, Dad did all of it and I tried to be helpful with puzzling and decision making when I could. It's kind of fun as a puzzle, but I tend more to want paper and pencil, and Dad is able to do a lot more in his head. We had the south sink all replumbed and wired and insulated and generally put back together, when we were working on the west sink. Here we wanted to use a mechanical drain vent so that we could have one less pipe going down to the basement. It's getting pretty crowded down there. We were figuring out how far the drain pipe opening would need to move down the wall, when we realized that the drain pipe was too high to fit under the countertop height and sink bowl beneath it... Then we realized that we would have this same problem with the plumbing for the south sink that we'd just finished insulating and sealing back up. So before the putty was even dry Dad started cutting through it.

In their last few working hours here at my house, Mom and Dad finished putting in the plumbing to the west sink and got valves on everything so that we could turn the water back on, whilst I fetched a friend from the airport. One last night of take out and we were done for this push.

Other things we accomplished was getting a level reference line on the wall for the base cabinets and markings for where the cabinet boxes start and end. We also set up a guest room, sort of. At least I got a bed up for my mom and dad to sleep. And cleared some space in the living room and brought down the tv from my bedroom. What else... I can't think. Anyway, now I've taken a break for a bit. I'm working on a cabinet and sink problem. I'll detail that later, after I get it figured out.

Okay, It's O-kay

Okay, I'm calm now.

I was all in a dither this weekend over a couple of things. The outlets weren't where I wanted them, as I said. But today I finally got to marking the wall for where the cabinets were going to go, well, so I could figure out, so precisely, where I wanted the outlets to go.

I took my floorplan to the southwest corner of the kitchen and started with a 36" block comprising the broom closet plus a 3" slack piece called a "scribe filler". Then an 18" cabinet, then a 36" sink base, then, wait... I want that sink centered on a 48" window. As I'd just now marked it, there's a 4 1/2 inch gap from the right/west edge and a 7 1/2 inch gap from the left/east edge, a difference of 3 inches. So to center it, I need to slide everything 1 1/2 inches to the left/east. (I hope you're all following this math okay... :)

Well, since I'd made my markings assuming using the full 3" of the scribe filler, if I move things to the left/east, I'm now pulling things (in the abstract) away from the wall. Noting the increase in my heartrate and the drop in my mood I decided to address/assess the other corner and walls and digest my new predicament a little. That one worked out okay, I've got a little space by the fridge and a lot of space by the door--like I wanted it. So, back to my original problem, or my last problem rather.

I contemplated outlets a little more. Do I put an outlet inside the broom closet? Do I need an outlet between the sink and the west wall? (I'm distracting myself). Finally I decided to have a look at that scribe filler, it seems like it was more than 3". Sure enough it's just under 4 1/2 inches wide. Hah! Yay!... Whew! I think I can just do it if I use that whole thing. I was dreading my other options, I'd looked at all my other cabinets to see if there was a 21" one that would fit in the place of the 18" one on the plan. Nope. Wondering how long it would take to get a new 21" cabinet (and how much that would cost) to replace the 18" cabinet, and then what to do with the spare?... I'm glad not to need to order anything new, but a little disappointed at the thought of losing a full 4 1/4 inches of space at the end of the wall.

Meanwhile in all my mulling, I looked again at the outlets with a tape measure in hand. Maybe I gave the wire an extra (hard) yank or something. It looks like the wire might just be long enough to get the boxes up to 41" or 42" off the floor, just above the backsplash, right where I want 'em.

Electrical

As I'm considering hanging cabinets and looking at the locations of things, I realize that I don't like the placement of my outlets. I've been advised that the wiring to my outlets may not be sufficient, the gauge of the wire and possibly the switch at the circuit box.

I can't for the life of me recall if I actually okayed the current locations of the outlets, but I probably did. The line "they're just above counter height" seems familiar. And that's where they are. But really, I want just above backsplash height. I don't know if there's a way to work around them where they are, I just know it doesn't fit with the design I have in my head. There's a lesson for me, designs need to be on paper, not in my head. I get the feeling everything should be in writing, every decision, every detail. I really should know this by now. The same applies at work.


So I pulled an outlet off the wall. The wire actually looks fine, I think, it's marked AWG 12 CU WITH 12 GROUND TYPE UF-B 600 VOLTS SUNLIGHT RESISTANT. That "sunlight" business should be irrelevant since it's buried in the walls, but it definitely doesn't hurt anything. So maybe the wire is okay, but it's too short.

I just took a shot of the circuit box. I thought the picture might actually be legible, but it's not. It's a better view of it than looking at it in person, but that's just because of poor lighting. Hopefully when I get down there with a flashlight, what's where will become clearer.