3 years ago when we were able to house hunt in Rolla, MO, a 3 bedroom house wouldn’t do. Not because we are ostentatious people but because we had 6 kids and 2 adults so a 4 bedroom house would be where we would start our hunt. With God’s providing, we were shown a 4300 square foot house, built in 1984, in a nice subdivision. It was only a 2 minutes drive from church, 7 minutes from the junior high school, 8 minutes from the high school, 7 minutes from The Centre, and 10 minutes from shopping. The house met our need and was in a great location. Location, location, location, I’ve been told, is the realtor’s mantra and I’ve been reminding myself of it to counteract what happened at our house in January of 2014.
We noticed that there was a group of ceramic tiles in the kitchen floor that needed to be replaced. There was a crack running through these tiles and it was getting worse. With the knowledge that extra, matching tiles had been left in the garage by a previous owner(we’re the 3rd family to live in this house) my husband, armed with information from This Old House’s online videos, began to take up the old, cracked tiles. Thus our Kitchen Horror Story began.
As husband worked that Saturday afternoon, he discovered that the sub-floor under the tiles was wet! He discovered tiny, black ants crawling around blissfully unaware that their world was about to end…they were living in the sub-floor! The more my husband decided to remove other tiles, the more he found damp sub-flooring. He also discovered that the sub-flooring was made of particle board, not even decent sub-flooring!!!! We were dismayed and realized that all of the ceramic tile comprising the kitchen floor would have to go in order to rip out the wet, particle board sub-floor and replace it with decent sub-flooring and new ceramic tile.
To aid us in this necessary work, a good man from our church came on the scene. He likes to help people with projects and after husband told him about our horror story, this good friend came right over and helped to remove the old sub-floor and put in the new one. He and husband also discovered a couple more problems with our house. The sub-floor under the stove was actually the deck that was on the outside of the kitchen wall!
A sunroom had been installed on the back wall of the house with french doors opening into it off of the kitchen. When the sunroom had been added on, the kitchen wall was pushed back to widen the kitchen. Instead of extending the existing sub-floor to be under this new area of kitchen flooring, it was simply decided to let the outside deck be the new sub- flooring! That discovery answered our questions as to why the old kitchen sub-flooring had damp areas and signs of past water damage(we are pretty sure that whenever it rained, water was hitting the decking and bouncing right into the kitchen particle board sub-flooring) and why that part of the kitchen was so cold and why it felt like cold air was blowing in on top of our feet! Husband and good friend also discovered that the sunroom wasn’t built correctly and that it will have to be redone, another project to tackle when the kitchen is done.
Horror story indeed, or perhaps an illustration of man’s inhumanity to man? You probably think I am being too dramatic with my choice of words, and maybe I am. But when one is new to a town, has no idea who good builders are and who aren’t, if we, the buyers, are told that the home sellers are honest and now we know they were not, it just sours ones outlook on his fellow citizens, a bit, when the home you buy from them turns out to have hidden problems.
A few positive events to come from all of this kitchen repair is that I did get husband to agree that we might as well repaint the kitchen. From a pale, blah beige we now have a sunny, Copacabana Yellow, courtesy of Benjamin Moore Paints. When the pantry cupboard was removed in order to get the old sub-floor and ceiling tile out from under it, the silly thing fell apart due to it being made of cheap particle board and improper installation. This event led to a good recommendation of a local woodworker and a visit to his shop. A new cupboard is being built as I type this blog. Lastly, husband told me today that he is actually enjoying installing the ceiling tile himself and so far, so good. New baseboards will be installed, trim will be repainted with Parrish White semi-gloss paint from Benjamin Moore, and all will be ready in the kitchen when our loved ones arrive to witness child #3 graduate from Rolla High. So, for the month of May, my usual amount of blogs won’t be written due to this kitchen business but as soon as May 23rd-24th are over, I plan on renewing my blogging for the Rolla Daily News at it’s usual amount.
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13 May
The “Fix the Kitchen Floor Stat!” Blues
Posted May 13, 2014 by jennifromrollamo in Social Commentary. Tagged: Benjamin Moore Paints, ceramic tile, Copacabana Yellow, particle board, Semi-gloss paint, sub-floor. Leave a Comment
3 years ago when we were able to house hunt in Rolla, MO, a 3 bedroom house wouldn’t do. Not because we are ostentatious people but because we had 6 kids and 2 adults so a 4 bedroom house would be where we would start our hunt. With God’s providing, we were shown a 4300 square foot house, built in 1984, in a nice subdivision. It was only a 2 minutes drive from church, 7 minutes from the junior high school, 8 minutes from the high school, 7 minutes from The Centre, and 10 minutes from shopping. The house met our need and was in a great location. Location, location, location, I’ve been told, is the realtor’s mantra and I’ve been reminding myself of it to counteract what happened at our house in January of 2014.
We noticed that there was a group of ceramic tiles in the kitchen floor that needed to be replaced. There was a crack running through these tiles and it was getting worse. With the knowledge that extra, matching tiles had been left in the garage by a previous owner(we’re the 3rd family to live in this house) my husband, armed with information from This Old House’s online videos, began to take up the old, cracked tiles. Thus our Kitchen Horror Story began.
As husband worked that Saturday afternoon, he discovered that the sub-floor under the tiles was wet! He discovered tiny, black ants crawling around blissfully unaware that their world was about to end…they were living in the sub-floor! The more my husband decided to remove other tiles, the more he found damp sub-flooring. He also discovered that the sub-flooring was made of particle board, not even decent sub-flooring!!!! We were dismayed and realized that all of the ceramic tile comprising the kitchen floor would have to go in order to rip out the wet, particle board sub-floor and replace it with decent sub-flooring and new ceramic tile.
To aid us in this necessary work, a good man from our church came on the scene. He likes to help people with projects and after husband told him about our horror story, this good friend came right over and helped to remove the old sub-floor and put in the new one. He and husband also discovered a couple more problems with our house. The sub-floor under the stove was actually the deck that was on the outside of the kitchen wall!
A sunroom had been installed on the back wall of the house with french doors opening into it off of the kitchen. When the sunroom had been added on, the kitchen wall was pushed back to widen the kitchen. Instead of extending the existing sub-floor to be under this new area of kitchen flooring, it was simply decided to let the outside deck be the new sub- flooring! That discovery answered our questions as to why the old kitchen sub-flooring had damp areas and signs of past water damage(we are pretty sure that whenever it rained, water was hitting the decking and bouncing right into the kitchen particle board sub-flooring) and why that part of the kitchen was so cold and why it felt like cold air was blowing in on top of our feet! Husband and good friend also discovered that the sunroom wasn’t built correctly and that it will have to be redone, another project to tackle when the kitchen is done.
Horror story indeed, or perhaps an illustration of man’s inhumanity to man? You probably think I am being too dramatic with my choice of words, and maybe I am. But when one is new to a town, has no idea who good builders are and who aren’t, if we, the buyers, are told that the home sellers are honest and now we know they were not, it just sours ones outlook on his fellow citizens, a bit, when the home you buy from them turns out to have hidden problems.
A few positive events to come from all of this kitchen repair is that I did get husband to agree that we might as well repaint the kitchen. From a pale, blah beige we now have a sunny, Copacabana Yellow, courtesy of Benjamin Moore Paints. When the pantry cupboard was removed in order to get the old sub-floor and ceiling tile out from under it, the silly thing fell apart due to it being made of cheap particle board and improper installation. This event led to a good recommendation of a local woodworker and a visit to his shop. A new cupboard is being built as I type this blog. Lastly, husband told me today that he is actually enjoying installing the ceiling tile himself and so far, so good. New baseboards will be installed, trim will be repainted with Parrish White semi-gloss paint from Benjamin Moore, and all will be ready in the kitchen when our loved ones arrive to witness child #3 graduate from Rolla High. So, for the month of May, my usual amount of blogs won’t be written due to this kitchen business but as soon as May 23rd-24th are over, I plan on renewing my blogging for the Rolla Daily News at it’s usual amount.
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