The Kitchen
Page Last Updated 10-25-2005
The Air Conditioner Problem
The original owner installed an window air conditioning unit and did a piss poor job of sealing it against water intrusion. As you can see in the these pics the wood around the unit had rotted out and rain was able to come in, run down the window sill, then down the wall into the floor.
Fig. 1 |
Fig. 2 |
Fig. 3 |
Window AC Unit
The Floor Problem
Here are the results of a few years of leakage. The first pic is of the floor directly under the AC unit. The second pic shows the size wood used to support the 3/4" particle board flooring between the 2x6 floor joists. 1 x 2! Where the seams are for the particle board panels they used a 4" wide piece of particle board then stapled the panels to that. It's a wonder the floor will support the weight it does!
Fig. 4 |
Fig. 5 |
Fig. 6 |
Floor Rot
My plan to repair this floor is to remove the particle board back to the center 2x6 joist and over to a good solid seam on each side. This basically means two full sheets of 5/8" 4 x 8 plywood will be used. I will then mount joist hangers and use 2x4's on edge to provide floor support from the 2x6 center joist to the 2x6 wall joist. More pics to follow when we actually rip the floor out!
Floor Repair Page
To see how I repaired the floors click on the link above!
The Refrigerator Problem
Visible hole in front of fridge
I guess some folks just don't understand that a refrigerator will produce water when it runs and there is a pan under the fridge to catch this water. Well the pan did not exist under this fridge and the water had been leaking on to the vinyl flooring and running under the wall for probably years. The floor had literally collapsed from under the Refrigerator! The damage extends under the kitchen sink cabinet and the closet. This one will be hard to repair! See here for the repair of this section. It was not as bad as first thought.
Mouse Problems
Fig. 6 Mouse Hole Under Cabinet |
Fig. 7 Mouse Hole Repair |
While cleaning the kitchen we pulled the range out to clean that area and discovered a mouse highway connecting the water heater closet to the kitchen! I used some metal flashing and made a patch to cover the hole in the water heater closet. We also found another mouse highway problem in the master bedroom where the previous owner had re-plumbed the bath by running pvc pipe out of the water heater closet, under the tub, through the wall in the master bedroom closet, across the closet floor, though the closet wall through the dresser side, under the dresser then through wall behind the dresser into the bathroom for the bathroom sink. What a lazy person! Anyway I used the metal flashing and made some more patches to stop the furry little creatures from coming in.
We also found mouse remains in the heating ducts. While we are under the trailer removing the remaining insulation I will check for any holes in the duct work and fix them.
Laying New Vinyl Flooring
We finally got around to laying the new vinyl flooring in the kitchen the weekend of 10-16-2005. I did not take many pics during that job as I was worn out! If you read the blog you will see why! Besides If you have seen one vinyl flooring installation you have seen them all right? However I did take a pic of the beginning and the finished job. See Fig. 8 and 9.
Fig. 8
Before
Fig. 9
Floors Done!