Kitchen Counter Tops

As you can see, we have our granite kitchen counter tops installed and they do look great. Lynn and Brent (no Cookie did not make the trip) drove over to continue work on Zelda. After looking at the counter tops and meeting with our electrician for placement of under counter lights, we started work.


Brent wanted to start work on the kitchen floor, so we took some time in finding the center of the room (note that old houses do not have straight walls) and then he laid out the tiles to look at the cuts. We decided on the offset/brick pattern, so after Brent placed a set his starter boards, he began laying the tile. The larger tiles did go quicker, but he was forced to make more batches of mortar. Lynn was marking the center of the tiles on the edges, and together, we finished about 25% of the kitchen floor.

When Lynn was not marking the tiles for Brent, she was busy at the staircase, removing layer, after layer, after layer, after layer of paint. We purchased one (1) quart of a stripper to test and it only lasted about two (2) linear feet. Lynn is now looking at different heat guns and other types of chemicals to remove the paint. There are a lot of nooks and crannies so this will be very time consuming.

We plan on stopping by Zelda next Saturday as we head to Raleigh to visit the Renee and Greg for the long weekend. We may stop back by Zelda on our return trip Monday, but we have a dinner date at the Jarrett House in Dillsboro, NC.

We have a shout out to Becky and Tommy in Birmingham, AL. Thanks for the tip on marking the center of the tiles on the edges. It was a huge time saver.

Electrical Passed Inspection

Brent received a phone call from our electrician on Monday afternoon, and yes, the electrical work has passed inspection. Now we need to arrange to get Kings Mountain to hook up the power. He also informed Brent that the granite kitchen counter tops had been installed and looked great.

We can hardly wait to get to Zelda on Saturday and see the counter tops. Look for pictures this weekend.

The picture is of the bar area prior to the counter top being installed.

Kitchen Tile One Step Closer

Well, just Lynn, Brent and of course Cookie, made the trip over to Zelda for Saturday. We had two (2) things on our list. 1) Insert the bracket supports for the overhang on the small granite bar; 2) Install all the fiber board in the kitchen area.



We completed item number #1 and finished about 75% of item #2. We still have two (2) partial pieces to put in the kitchen and all the laundry room which will take about four (4) pieces. We will start the tiling in the kitchen next week.




The first picture is a view from the kitchen looking into the pantry (left door) and the laundry (right door) room. You can see all the 16" x 16" tile stacked in the pantry.

The second picture is looking into the sink area of the kitchen. To the left of the sink is the location for the dishwasher and the opening to the right, is for the slide in gas stove. We still have to have the gas line re-installed for the stove. During the installation of the cabinets, the installers removed the gas piping stub-up due to interference.

Monday is full of promise. Our electrician stopped by the house on Saturday and informed that the inspection is scheduled for 9:30 am on Monday morning. It appears that one (1) of the two (2) inspectors for Kings Mountain had suffered a heart attack and all the inspections had been pushed back. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the electrical will pass. The picture shows the two (2) front lights installed and also shows a view of Zelda with her aluminum siding stripped off. We will be caulking, power washing, priming and painting the original siding. The aluminum did a good job of protecting the original siding. Not in too bad of shape but does it ever need a paint job. There are are few areas that need to be repaired before the painting begins. Also on Monday morning, our granite kitchen counter tops will be installed. We can't wait to see the finished product and we will take lots of pictures.

Nothing further on the trim work. Brent does have a name to contact about installing the wood flooring downstairs and trim out the downstairs. Once the roofing gets caught up, Ray Jr. says he will finish the upstairs.

Hope everyone has a great week and we have a shout out to Scotty O. in Casper, WY. Hope things are going well.

No Response From Electrician

Today we moved Jennifer and Jessica back into the dorm at UT. What a huge difference it was for the sophomore year versus the freshman year. This year was a lot easier and went a lot faster. Our total time to move the items from the vehicles to the room was about thirty (30) minutes. We even got two (2) parking spaces right at the door. We took them out for lunch and dropped them off to begin the unpacking and decorating. No pictures this year but the one shown is last years in front of Ayers Hall.

Brent called our electrician yesterday to find out the details of the inspection. He did not get an answer but did leave a voice mail asking for a response. As of Sunday night, no response. My guess is that the inspection did not happen last week and we can only hope for better results this week. Brent will be on the phone Monday morning.

Pass, Fail or Not

We did not travel over the mountains to Zelda this weekend. It does feel good to spend a Saturday at home in Gatlinburg. Tomorrow we will be moving the girls back into the dorm at UT.

No news from our electrican, so we are not sure if the inspection passed, failed or if it even occured. We will update as we know.

We did go by both Lowes and Home Depot today in Sevierville to look at kitchen faucets. We picked one (1) out and will leave at Zelda next Saturday for our granite installers. They will be installing the granite the week of August 24th, and need to have the faucet on site to drill the hole. We decided on a single hole long neck faucet to match the stainless steel sink. We will not have the soap dispenser installed.

Are We There Yet?

No, we are not there yet, but we are close. Our electrician has the inspection scheduled for Monday, August 10, 2009 at 10:00 am. So that light just might be power being connected.

Lynn worked nearly the entire afternoon grouting the downstairs shower. It turned out great. She and the girls also cleared out the floor in the kitchen, laundry room and pantry in preparation for the installation of the fiberboard and tile.

Brent spent the first part of the morning unloading fiberboard he purchased in Chattanooga and then took Jessica to the Lowes in Shelby, NC to purchase the tile. They picked up 40 boxes containing 16"x16" tiles that will go in the kitchen, laundry room and pantry. Rumor has it that they had a fun time pushing the loaded down flatbed carts in Lowes. Brent's cart was so heavy a Lowe's employee helped him push it to the register. When the truck arrived at Zelda is was riding a lot lower.

Brent then spent the majority of his day, helping our electrician ring out all the circuits in anticipation of the inspection. Everything seemed to check out fine.

Brent and the girls then laid down the fiberboard in pantry. Brent did the cutting and placement of the fiberboard and the girls took turns using the drill. Neither of them had used any power tools and did a great job of screwing down the fiberboard.

Afterwards, we all help to unload the tile and stack in the pantry room. Wow, those boxes were heavy. Next week we are taking a break from Zelda. Not that we are a taking a break, but the girls are heading back to the University of Tennessee for their sophomore year. So instead of working at Zelda, we will be moving the girls into the dorm. We sure will miss their help at Zelda.

Electrical Inspection Coming This Week

Well we did not have the electrical permit this week. Our electrician is still about one (1) to two (2) days of work remaining before calling. He told me that he was calling on the inspection Tuesday. We have our fingers crossed as it would be great to have lights and air conditioning. He did a lot of work this week as nearly all the faceplates are installed, all the interior lights are installed and he has rung out all the circuits. All the eve spot lights are installed and two (2) of the seven (7) exterior door lights have been installed.

Brent installed the range over the stove and it will need to wired. The only other items I can think that needs to be installed is the door bell, smoke and fire detectors and the five (5) remaining exterior door lights.

The two (2) pictures of the chandelier are the same fixture located in the dining room. Brent currently has the lighted raised near the ceiling to keep if from being damaged. The ceiling in the dining room is the original bead board. We do not have permanent power to the house but our electrician does has it arranged that we can power certain circuits with the temporary power. This has come in handy more than once.

Our granite counter guy came out measured and created the templates. He did tell Brent to lower the apron sink about 3/16" to be flush with the top of the cabinets, which was one (1) of the items Brent completed today. He also put some additional supports for the granite, installed the vent hood, and used the multi-max to remove mortar between the tiles in the downstairs shower. Lynn cleaned the tiles, also removed mortar, ran errands and was able to grout one (1) wall of the shower. It look great.

Jennifer and Jessica again joined our work force and painted the entire master bathroom, the trim on the window in the upstairs hall, the trim in the master bedroom and the trim in the master bathroom. It all looks great.

Cookie enjoyed herself and napped on the stack of wood flooring. We again are thankful to have a safe trip over and back. We did have an extra passenger with us today. A Secada rode on the passenger side mirror the entire 170 miles back and now call Gatlinburg, TN home. Brent removed him from the mirror and place him in the ivy on the retaining wall of the driveway. Jennifer took a picture of our hitchhiker before it became a permanent resident of Gatlinburg.

Our shout out today is to Anna S. and Rose H. of Opelousas, LA.