Spring Break 2014

Last week was Spring break for Martha so we loaded up and went to our other house at Caney Creek. Our plans for the week were to replace the counter top and back splash in the kitchen. this turned out to be more than we could get done in one week for various reasons. One of the main reasons is that when my dad built the house, he used available material and made his own cabinets and counter top but not to standard dimensions. So new modern counter tops from the big box stores do not quite fit.

This is what the old counter looked like when we started. It was nailed down very good and the covering was a linoleum like product and it was well glued down to the wood. It took much prying and coaxing to get it off.

The old sink drained into a grease trap and since we have a new sewer system we wanted it to drain there so a redo on the plumbing was necessary.

After much work the old counter top was removed and most of the linoleum back splash. This will be subject to further cleaning before the job is complete. It takes a lot of sanding and scraping to get it off.

Here is the new counter almost in place. It is actually about a quarter inch from the wall and we will need to use a router to remove wood from the front of the cabinets. Once that is done the top will fit perfectly and we can proceed with the job. We did not take the router with us this trip so we will have to wait until summer to finish the job. We have a stainless steel sink to put in and are planning to reuse the faucet set that was previously installed.

This is the last major inside project on the house and we are anxious to get it done. we are in our 11th year of work on the house to restore it to a useful state. There is still much to do on the outside such as siding, windows, doors, a roof over the deck and replacing the rest of the pilings that the house rests on. We also need to finish the pier with a fish cleaning station, a bait well, and electricity and water.