My kitchen remodel seems to have come to a standstill. As I noted in my other thread, I am removing a load bearing wall and having a beam installed with a contractor doing all of that work and the sheetrock, trim, floors, etc. I am building all of the cabinetry and doing all of the electric, plumbing, and mechanical.
The electrical to put it mildly has been painful. The original wiring job was pretty poor, and I had to redo and reroute a lot of wiring as it was not properly run in the walls.
An engineer came out and provided guidelines and recommendations for the beams. The contractor let me know that it was 5 LVL's and came out and installed them, and removed the temporary walls. I got all of the electrical roughed in, and HVAC ducts adjusted and moved around.
The contractor had a hardwood flooring sub come out to patch the holes, and he did a pretty poor job. His cuts were not straight, and he bent over finish nails and drove them into the wood. When I asked him about them he said no big deal, he would putty them. I let him know that I did not like putty. I spoke with my GC and let him know this was not acceptable, and although putty will ok today, it is going to pop out as the seasons change. He agreed and the flooring guy comes back out Monday.
The inspections were scheduled for Wednesday. Candidly, I was nervous as I knew that they were going to nitpick something on the electrical I did that would amount to nothing, but I thought I was ready. The only thing he commented on for the electrical was that you are only supposed to put one wire in a hole of the boxes, but he didn't see it as a problem so he passed the rough in of the plumbing, mechanical, and electrical. PHEW!!!
That is where the good times ended. The LVLs were supported by seven 2x4's on each end, and had a steel strap across the top holding them together. He says that they had to be strapped in multiple places (I think two or three) down the height. On the ceiling/floor joists that were close to the walls they did not use joist hangers but corner brackets and the inspector did not like that either. He also wanted a printed copy of the engineers letter which I did not have. So, I failed the framing inspection.
The contractor came over the next day, and worked on the things that the inspector had and sent me a copy of the engineers letter. I read it, and it said 5 LVL's but it also said it required three 3/8 steel flitch plates. I went upstairs, talked with my general contractor, and he was quite surprised..... He finished what he was doing and called me later that evening to let me know that they would be removing the LVL's and instead installing a girder and padding it out. He will be here bright and early Wednesday morning, and hopefully get inspections on Thursday and then get the sheetrock done on Friday.
Soo...... We are now at 4 weeks without a kitchen, and at minimum have another week...
The electrical to put it mildly has been painful. The original wiring job was pretty poor, and I had to redo and reroute a lot of wiring as it was not properly run in the walls.
An engineer came out and provided guidelines and recommendations for the beams. The contractor let me know that it was 5 LVL's and came out and installed them, and removed the temporary walls. I got all of the electrical roughed in, and HVAC ducts adjusted and moved around.
The contractor had a hardwood flooring sub come out to patch the holes, and he did a pretty poor job. His cuts were not straight, and he bent over finish nails and drove them into the wood. When I asked him about them he said no big deal, he would putty them. I let him know that I did not like putty. I spoke with my GC and let him know this was not acceptable, and although putty will ok today, it is going to pop out as the seasons change. He agreed and the flooring guy comes back out Monday.
The inspections were scheduled for Wednesday. Candidly, I was nervous as I knew that they were going to nitpick something on the electrical I did that would amount to nothing, but I thought I was ready. The only thing he commented on for the electrical was that you are only supposed to put one wire in a hole of the boxes, but he didn't see it as a problem so he passed the rough in of the plumbing, mechanical, and electrical. PHEW!!!
That is where the good times ended. The LVLs were supported by seven 2x4's on each end, and had a steel strap across the top holding them together. He says that they had to be strapped in multiple places (I think two or three) down the height. On the ceiling/floor joists that were close to the walls they did not use joist hangers but corner brackets and the inspector did not like that either. He also wanted a printed copy of the engineers letter which I did not have. So, I failed the framing inspection.
The contractor came over the next day, and worked on the things that the inspector had and sent me a copy of the engineers letter. I read it, and it said 5 LVL's but it also said it required three 3/8 steel flitch plates. I went upstairs, talked with my general contractor, and he was quite surprised..... He finished what he was doing and called me later that evening to let me know that they would be removing the LVL's and instead installing a girder and padding it out. He will be here bright and early Wednesday morning, and hopefully get inspections on Thursday and then get the sheetrock done on Friday.
Soo...... We are now at 4 weeks without a kitchen, and at minimum have another week...
Kitchens is important. We did same several years back. Painful process.
