Another Task Completed

Yesterday I finished what turned out to be a tough job. Let me go back a few days prior to the start of my latest task. Jeff Taylor, owner of Taylor Renovations, Inc, who is doing our kitchen remodel, was over to the house going through all of the boxes of cabinets that had come in a few days earlier. He checked everything out and everything was present and came in damage free as far as he could tell at this point in time.
While in the house, Jeff told me that all of the flooring in the kitchen would have to be removed so that the base cabinets would be on a solid surface without and carpet or anything else hindering the placement of the cabinets.
So with that information in hand it was time for me to start working again. I had previously removed all of the flooring from each bathroom to get them prepared for the bathroom remodels.
It took me 2 long days to get the kitchen and dining area totally cleaned down to the concrete. It was a tough job because not only was there 20 year old filthy carpet on the floor but there was also the carpet padding that was falling apart and under the pad was the original vinyl flooring. So I ended up doing one layer at a time...removing the carpet, then removing the pad, then removing the tacking strips and then removing the vinyl flooring which was still glued down.
Then came the tough job of figuring out how to remove the paper backing from the vinyl flooring that would not lift off of the concrete because of the glue that was used.
So I did a quick Google search and found out that if you soak the paper and glue in boiling hot water and let the water sit for a bit, you could scrape the paper and glue up relatively easy.
Well I gave this a try but found it tough still and extremely time consuming.
It was at this time that Veronica made a suggestion that really saved me a lot of wear and tear on my body and shortened the time on getting this project done.
Veronica suggested we go to our local Home Depot and get a scraper that has a long handle and has a blade at the end of it...she has seen janitors and floor people use to scrape gum and such off of the flooring.
So we went to get this type of tool at Home Depot and let me tell you, if you ever have to scrape anything off of floor or concrete...this is the tool to get (see photos below). A company call Unger makes this scraper. Make sure you get an additional package of the blades that fit in this scraper. This tool made the job so much easier and I found out that I didn't need to soak the paper or glue...this long handled scraper cut thru it and I was able to remove it all in short order. It was still work to get it up but I wasn't on my hands and knees struggling to scrape little areas up at a time.
So now the entire kitchen, both closets and even under the fridge, which we had to move out briefly onto the concrete, was completely done. The only place I could not get done was the floor where the dishwasher is..built in.
We are tentatively scheduled to have the kitchen done around the 27th of September. Mr. Taylor is booked up until then.
Here are some photos of the stripped down kitchen.

  

Below is the tool to get for scraping anything off of a hard surface. Sold at Home Depot.

 

House Renovation Update

A lot has happened since my last update as far as our house renovation. All of our bathroom remodel related items have been ordered and we are waiting upon their arrival before stating that portion of the project.
Our kitchen cabinets, which were made in Ohio, arrived yesterday and today our contractor that is handling our entire kitchen remodel came by to check each and every item to make sure that everything arrived and that nothing was broken during the shipping process. As it turned out everything came in fine.
Our contractor is one of the best in the area and he is always booked up weeks in advance. We are not scheduled to start our kitchen remodel until somewhere around the 3rd week in September. The contractor asked me when I was planning on having the hardwood floors put in. I told him that it would not be until after the bathrooms and the kitchen are done. He told me that it would be best if I got all of the carpet out of the kitchen, which would make for a cleaner and better install of all of the cabinets. So with that being said I have another project that I need to do.
I started pulling up the carpet today, only to find old dirty and loose vinyl flooring underneath. The vinyl flooring is glue in some areas and not in others. If it were firmly glued everywhere than I would just leave it in and have a flooring put on top of it. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. So today I spent quite a bit of time removing a large section of the carpeting in the kitchen, pulling the carpet padding out, removing the tacking strips and then started to pulled off the vinyl flooring. The vinyl flooring is what takes the most time because I am trying to get as much of the paper backing off the floor in the areas where they actually glue the vinyl down.
Not only is there vinyl flooring in the kitchen but it also extends into the dining area. So I will need to prep the dining area after I get done with the kitchen. It could take me 3-4 days to get it all done, if not longer.
I will need to fit in some other projects when taking breaks from the carpet and flooring issues.
The next big project will be occurring on the 15th of this month and that will be getting an entire house full of new windows put in and we have a lot of them. That job will take the window crew a majority of the day. A few days ago we ordered our new blinds for all of the windows downstairs. We decided that since most of our living will be downstairs, rather than upstairs like it is now and has been during the entire time we have lived in this house, that we would make due with the window coverings that we have upstairs and not replace them.
So after the windows go in we will have a little lull in the action before the big projects start.
Here are a few photos of the cabinets...most still in their boxes for protection and also some photos of my ongoing job of removing carpet, carpet pad, tacking strips and the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and then in the dining room.

One thing I forgot to mention...all of our new lighting fixtures for the kitchen, dining room, "formal" dining room and the entrance/foyer area have been ordered and received.

Cabinets in our front room

This is our new pantry slide in. The top portion has a shelf dividing the space into 2 levels and the bottom has several sliding shelves that you can pull out for easier access for items that are in the back 

More cabinets in what will be our Master Bedroom

And here is my nightmare. Ugly and filthy carpet, padding and tacking strips are up next is the vinyl flooring

The start of a new pile...this one being trash

Sweet Pepper Mania

My sweet pepper plants are growing really big and well. This years pepper plants are the healthiest I have ever had. I grew them from seeds. The plants that I grew by seeds are at least twice as big as the plants that I bought from a well known seed company. I will continue to buy my seeds from the company but my days of buying their actual plants are over with.

 I dug up some potatoes the day before yesterday and Veronica cooked some of them up last night

Just a few of the many sweet peppers that I have got this season. I must have 15 vacuumed bags of pickled sweet peppers in the freezer already and I have just started to harvest them. I will be giving a lot of sweet peppers away this season.

This is the start of the 4th jar of peppers that I am pickling. I warm the liquid up and pour it over the peppers and seal the top down well. I usually leave them out on the counter for 3 days or so and then put the jar in the fridge for several more days. When I pull the jar out I drain the liquid and wipe off the excess liquid and then vacuum bag and seal before putting them into the freezer. They will last all Winter in well into next Spring by doing it this way.  Our food saver vacuum machine works great.

 Here are the plants on our back deck