Home improvements, Kitchen Part 1
Nov. 13th, 2019 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI mentioned Home Improvement feels the other day. And so today there has been a Home Improvement. A Kitchen improvement, one I've been wanting done for quite a while.
I've been tiling a lot of kitchen backsplashes for my apartments. I use a standard, white, 4 1/4" square tile for a durable, glossy surface that looks classy and brightens up kitchens.
They look pretty good when they're done. And so I got to thinking that my apartment kitchens looked better than my own kitchen at my house. Cobbler's children go barefoot, and all that.
At work, I pull out the drywall and put cement board behind the tile because this setup is permanent even if drenched. But, kitchen backsplashes don't get that wet. They get SOME wet, but not tons wet. I've had a drywall backsplash in my home kitchen for twenty damn years and I assure you, if it got wet on the regular, I'd have had to replace it three times over by now. :) So, I stuck the tile on my own personal kitchen backsplash with mastic adhesive onto the drywall. (Mastic adhesive is not for tile in wet circumstances but it should do just fine for a backsplash with a responsible homeowner.)
I started after I got home from work and I was done by about 10:30 PM, including grouting. In my favor, I have a wet saw and some experience doing this sort of thing. I also had to stop partway through and push up the over-sink cupboard so that it was properly aligned with the other cupboards (It's been tilted forward about a quarter of an inch for several years due to only being over one useable stud and also not pinned to the cupboard beside it.)
Pic of before I started, and yes, those are dishes in the sink. I am a bad person. I suck. This is not Instagram and my life is not Instagram-worthy even at the best of times.
I know this doesn't look like much. The countertop is a color that was trendy twenty years ago.
To level the cabinet, I assembled some supports and my car jack and a log to make it tall enough and then carefully jacked it up until it was level. And then I drilled holes through the styles of the saggy cabinet and the one next door to it and screwed through them both to pin the saggy cabinet to the one next door. It looks a lot better, but you can't see it in the picture. What you CAN see in the picture is my really excellent "Jack Up The Saggy Cabinet" arrangement. :)
And tile in progress, if you're into that.
And here's the whole thing all done:
I still have to put my outlet covers back on, but I am waiting for everything to dry overnight before I do that.
But anyway, I have gotten a Home Improvement done. (Two home improvements if you count fixing the saggy cabinet.) And it does not look entirely like crap. Hooray!
Also running a wet saw outside when the pieces of tile stick to the saw surface (because freezing) is not a good time and I think I'm getting a sore throat. :( But, still feeling very Home Improvement over here.
I've been tiling a lot of kitchen backsplashes for my apartments. I use a standard, white, 4 1/4" square tile for a durable, glossy surface that looks classy and brightens up kitchens.
They look pretty good when they're done. And so I got to thinking that my apartment kitchens looked better than my own kitchen at my house. Cobbler's children go barefoot, and all that.
At work, I pull out the drywall and put cement board behind the tile because this setup is permanent even if drenched. But, kitchen backsplashes don't get that wet. They get SOME wet, but not tons wet. I've had a drywall backsplash in my home kitchen for twenty damn years and I assure you, if it got wet on the regular, I'd have had to replace it three times over by now. :) So, I stuck the tile on my own personal kitchen backsplash with mastic adhesive onto the drywall. (Mastic adhesive is not for tile in wet circumstances but it should do just fine for a backsplash with a responsible homeowner.)
I started after I got home from work and I was done by about 10:30 PM, including grouting. In my favor, I have a wet saw and some experience doing this sort of thing. I also had to stop partway through and push up the over-sink cupboard so that it was properly aligned with the other cupboards (It's been tilted forward about a quarter of an inch for several years due to only being over one useable stud and also not pinned to the cupboard beside it.)
Pic of before I started, and yes, those are dishes in the sink. I am a bad person. I suck. This is not Instagram and my life is not Instagram-worthy even at the best of times.
I know this doesn't look like much. The countertop is a color that was trendy twenty years ago.
To level the cabinet, I assembled some supports and my car jack and a log to make it tall enough and then carefully jacked it up until it was level. And then I drilled holes through the styles of the saggy cabinet and the one next door to it and screwed through them both to pin the saggy cabinet to the one next door. It looks a lot better, but you can't see it in the picture. What you CAN see in the picture is my really excellent "Jack Up The Saggy Cabinet" arrangement. :)
And tile in progress, if you're into that.
And here's the whole thing all done:
I still have to put my outlet covers back on, but I am waiting for everything to dry overnight before I do that.
But anyway, I have gotten a Home Improvement done. (Two home improvements if you count fixing the saggy cabinet.) And it does not look entirely like crap. Hooray!
Also running a wet saw outside when the pieces of tile stick to the saw surface (because freezing) is not a good time and I think I'm getting a sore throat. :( But, still feeling very Home Improvement over here.
