Blitz Build Kitchen Remodel

Many years ago when I lived in Atlanta I was involved with Habitat for Humanity as the Atlanta Chapter plumbing lead.  I originally got involved because they were going to do the first ever “Blitz Build” of 21 homes in one week.  I was more curious than anything at first to see how they would pull off such an unheard of feat completing 21 homes in a week starting from scratch.  Short version of the story is we accomplished this feat with the efforts of many people, tradesmen, volunteers, and the proposed home owners who did “sweat equity” as part of their qualifications to receive the home.  I did other projects for Habitat over several years both in Georgia and Utah before heading to Alaska.  Alaska had a program but I was so busy I did not remain involved during my time in Alaska but they did build much needed homes there.

I give you that background to start this story of my latest project.  During my stay here in Portland I have started contracting work on Craig’s List for handyman type work projects.  In my typical fashion to stand out among the many ads I used a concept I was going to use in my retirement to do odd jobs.  The ad stated: “Rent a husband or boyfriend to get you handyman work completed.”  It is getting calls every day and getting booked up several weeks in advance for myself and carpenter helper Paul.

I received a call on Wednesday from a lady who was telling me that she needed a kitchen remodeled and that there was a 78 year old woman who was living in a care home that was being verbally abused and she needed to get her out of that place immediately.  The move was supposed to happen in two weeks but the situation had deteriorated and had to be completed by Friday afternoon.  The problem was the kitchen needed to be gutted with all the cabinets, sink, stove, vent hood, dishwasher and refrigerator being removed and new cabinets, sink and appliances installed.  


The kitchen was very small with little to no room for one person much less two to cook or prepare a meal.  She had a basic layout in mind and had ordered the cabinets from Home Depot and the butcher block counter tops from IKEA.


She had gotten a bid from another contractor who could not start the job till Saturday which would not work so she cancelled the other contractor after talking with me and we started the demolition of the kitchen on Thursday morning.  We had everything gutted by the afternoon and was starting the installation of the new cabinets when it was discovered the new layout would not have adequate room in the aisle to move.  A quick call was made and within about thirty minutes had a new layout for the small kitchen.  The problem was moving things around without having to buy additional cabinets or having a layout of things that would be awkward with food prep, doing dishes or getting items out of the refrigerator.


The new layout worked great with the cabinets and appliances working harmoniously with a triangle for movement between work stations. The old gas line was about 4” off the wall so I was able to change the nipple and 90 degree elbow to make it hug closer to the wall allowing the stove to push back almost to the wall.  It was a much nicer, cleaner look to it.  A new deep well stainless sink with disposal installed on the beautiful butcher block counter top giving depth and color to the room and counter spaces.  When the walls are painted shortly, it will have a rich color tone giving the appearance of a much larger space than the existing cabinets that were removed.


We worked long hours on Thursday and Friday making the move for the woman and came back on Saturday to finish installing the plumbing drain lines, the counter tops and the cabinet base trim.
Everyone was happy with the way the kitchen turned out and most everyone was surprised that we could completely gut a kitchen and rebuild in two and a half days.  I knew it would be some work but remembering the old Habitat days I knew we could do it if we stayed focused on the problem at hand, removing her from a bad environment.



On to the next project building a patio pergola with the polycarbonate roof panels, rain is in the forecast so we will see how that project will go or if there will be a rain out period.

Have a nIce day!

Ice

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