Kitchen remodel- They found mold and had to tear entire ceiling down, including insulation.
What a difference a week makes when you are remodeling. I little over a week ago, we found the ceiling in the kitchen had extreme mold throughout. We only thought of doing the ceiling as an after thought because as a typical remodeling experience progresses, you are so worn down that you will agree to almost anything. Our thought process went like this, since we were doing everything else and spending so much on this luxury kitchen that we should have the ceiling looking topnotch also. So Joe headed out of town for a week, and I took on the remodeling with a fury. When the team to demo one layer of the ceiling arrived at 5:00 P.M., they started in on the task. About 1/2 hour later it was clear that the entire ceiling needed to come down along with all the insulation. The hardwood floor below it had been installed, sanded and stained just days before. What this meant was that all this stuff would be coming down on the new floor. There was no getting around it and so I gave the yes sir, let’s do it. Alex was so helpful in reminding me that we really should have done the ceiling before we did the new floor. He actually said it more than once. With that comment, he’s lucky he’s still alive. Anyway, it all came down and made the grossest, dustiest mess. A positive was that it has been an incredibly warm and mild February and so they opened every door and just let some of the gunk travel outside. Even the workers described it as “horrible”. That night, I made my way to my bedroom, passing by 12 garbage bags in a chaotic room filled with a gray material. The rafters were exposed to the roof and I just tried not to think of the mess I was in while I closed my bedroom door, opened a window and crawled into bed. I tried to think of better days and reminded myself to breath shallow.
Best part, Joe came home the next evening and after getting up early and flying from San Antonio, he grabbed the industrial vacuum from work and we cleaned and washed the floor and fell into bed exhausted but content!
I have been wanting to redo my kitchen for a long time. When I was going through cancer treatment: chemo, surgeries, and radiation I would lie on the couch and look at my worn kitchen and dream of a better time. It’s finally come, and I hate to complain, but every time I mention that I am redoing my kitchen the response is: “Oh, how fun.” Wow, how are we all so misled. This is not fun, I mean the end product will be fun but having your whole life turned upside down, layer after layer of dust in every conceivable corner and crevice and so many men in and out of your house. There really is no escaping for a minute that you are remodeling. There is no place to go and be alone. I guess we chose this, to live here while we are doing the remodeling. Yesterday, while Alex and Joe went skiing, I was happy to stay home and clean up every possible inch of my home I could. They find it baffling that cleaning would give me that kind of pleasure.
I think I am kind of odd that I can’t focus on anything else until I get this project done and that is what is so irritating to me. Some of the things I love to do are put on side burners while I concentrate on picking out appliances and all the other decisions you have to make. I have practiced the piano maybe once, can’t get myself to lift any weights and it seems like my life is disorganized and crazy! This week the cabinets arrive and I know when it’s all said and done, I won’t even remember the pain, until I reread this blog!
This is what the kitchen looked like after Joe and I worked our magic!
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