my first setback.
so i picked up Double E from work today (we've been carpooling) and planned on coming home to work on the sidewalk leading to the garage (i did about another 4 feet last night after work) with the hopes of getting another chunk of it finished.
when Double E and i walked into the kitchen i saw two fist size spots of water in the middle of the floor and my stomach immediately turned into one giant knot. pretty much from the time i ripped up the vinyl in the kitchen and put down the lenoleum, the old GE fridge seemed to be leaking water from the compressor or some other internal component. it only happened occasionally and seemed to puddle up in front of the fridge and maybe worked its way under a tile or two on the right side of the fridge. it seemed like it had ceased and since i am saving as much money as possible to buy another old car next month, i figured i would put off buying another fridge until after i purchased the car. the car is now starting to look like a pipe dream, my friends.
when i saw those two puddles i immediately knew that the fridge had never stopped leaking, but had fully worked its way under the tile and was so saturated the it was starting to spread out to the middle of the kitchen. i immediately pulled the fridge out from the wall, unplugged it, and Double E and i bagged all of the food and drinks and took them out to the beer fridge in the garage. i came back inside with the hand cart (editor's note: if you don't have a hand cart, you should seriously consider the $30 investment ... i can't tell you how handy this thing has been for me the last 6 months) and loaded up the fridge to get it to the curb before it leaked water all over my floor ... getting it out sucked ... for all of Double E's many wonderful qualities, physical strength alludes her, so when it comes to transporting appliances i am pretty much on my own (plus i severely lack patience) ... i had to tip it on it's side to get it through the doorway leading from the den to the music room and then had to knock off the handles (with a 30 lbs. dumbell) to get it out the sidedoor to the deck ... needless to say i was sweaty and disgusting.
i came back inside and began prying up the tiles ... by the time i got all of the tiles up that had moisture underneath, i had removed about 1/3 of the kitchen floor. witness:
i'm not sure how well this picture illustrates justh ow nasty the situation really was, but everything wa wet and it smelled horrible ... basically like damp plywood and flooring adhesive.
this is a shot of under the fridge ... again, the smell was terrible. i have a fan on the area as we speak and i'll give it a few days to dry out before i touch it again. at that point, i will probably scrub it a tad with some bleach water to make sure there is no possiblity of mold forming at any point in the future. i don't think it's anywhere near that point, but i would like to side with caution on this one.
so now i need to figure out what i want to do with the kitchen floor. i am mulling over the idea of pulling up the rest of the tiles in the kitchen and putting down something else. i am using the same tiles in the adjoining den and i probably won't touch those, but this might be a good chance to switch this flooring and separate the 2 rooms a bit more visually. there is this glossy white apoxy you can buy, i have no idea what it's called, but it's a compund you just spread on the floor kind of like that leveling compund people use before they put down laminates, that looks really cool. it's basically what they use on the floor of fallout shelters and what not. it would be more than durable and would go well with the tiles in the den and the wood floors in the dining room. i don't think it's really all that expensive, either. another idea i had was to put in floating wood floors like i'm going to do in the music room. since the kitchen butts up against the dining room (with oak floors) it would have to be a pretty close match in order to no drive me crazy (i am a bit if a perfectionist).
my dilemma with the whole fridge thing is that i know which one i want ... it's the faux-chrome frigidaire model. the consumer reports say it's really good and it's fairly cheap for a chrome/brushed nickel job. unfortunately, the dishwasher and stove are the same cream color as the old fridge, which means i would probably need to replace them all ... again, the perfectionist thing. if i had a different colored kitchen i would consider not getting a new stove, primering it and repainting it with some marine grade paint, but i can't think of any color that would match the kitchen and not clash with the vibe of the other brushed nickel appliances. i hate things like this.
when Double E and i walked into the kitchen i saw two fist size spots of water in the middle of the floor and my stomach immediately turned into one giant knot. pretty much from the time i ripped up the vinyl in the kitchen and put down the lenoleum, the old GE fridge seemed to be leaking water from the compressor or some other internal component. it only happened occasionally and seemed to puddle up in front of the fridge and maybe worked its way under a tile or two on the right side of the fridge. it seemed like it had ceased and since i am saving as much money as possible to buy another old car next month, i figured i would put off buying another fridge until after i purchased the car. the car is now starting to look like a pipe dream, my friends.
when i saw those two puddles i immediately knew that the fridge had never stopped leaking, but had fully worked its way under the tile and was so saturated the it was starting to spread out to the middle of the kitchen. i immediately pulled the fridge out from the wall, unplugged it, and Double E and i bagged all of the food and drinks and took them out to the beer fridge in the garage. i came back inside with the hand cart (editor's note: if you don't have a hand cart, you should seriously consider the $30 investment ... i can't tell you how handy this thing has been for me the last 6 months) and loaded up the fridge to get it to the curb before it leaked water all over my floor ... getting it out sucked ... for all of Double E's many wonderful qualities, physical strength alludes her, so when it comes to transporting appliances i am pretty much on my own (plus i severely lack patience) ... i had to tip it on it's side to get it through the doorway leading from the den to the music room and then had to knock off the handles (with a 30 lbs. dumbell) to get it out the sidedoor to the deck ... needless to say i was sweaty and disgusting.
i came back inside and began prying up the tiles ... by the time i got all of the tiles up that had moisture underneath, i had removed about 1/3 of the kitchen floor. witness:
i'm not sure how well this picture illustrates justh ow nasty the situation really was, but everything wa wet and it smelled horrible ... basically like damp plywood and flooring adhesive.
this is a shot of under the fridge ... again, the smell was terrible. i have a fan on the area as we speak and i'll give it a few days to dry out before i touch it again. at that point, i will probably scrub it a tad with some bleach water to make sure there is no possiblity of mold forming at any point in the future. i don't think it's anywhere near that point, but i would like to side with caution on this one.
so now i need to figure out what i want to do with the kitchen floor. i am mulling over the idea of pulling up the rest of the tiles in the kitchen and putting down something else. i am using the same tiles in the adjoining den and i probably won't touch those, but this might be a good chance to switch this flooring and separate the 2 rooms a bit more visually. there is this glossy white apoxy you can buy, i have no idea what it's called, but it's a compund you just spread on the floor kind of like that leveling compund people use before they put down laminates, that looks really cool. it's basically what they use on the floor of fallout shelters and what not. it would be more than durable and would go well with the tiles in the den and the wood floors in the dining room. i don't think it's really all that expensive, either. another idea i had was to put in floating wood floors like i'm going to do in the music room. since the kitchen butts up against the dining room (with oak floors) it would have to be a pretty close match in order to no drive me crazy (i am a bit if a perfectionist).
my dilemma with the whole fridge thing is that i know which one i want ... it's the faux-chrome frigidaire model. the consumer reports say it's really good and it's fairly cheap for a chrome/brushed nickel job. unfortunately, the dishwasher and stove are the same cream color as the old fridge, which means i would probably need to replace them all ... again, the perfectionist thing. if i had a different colored kitchen i would consider not getting a new stove, primering it and repainting it with some marine grade paint, but i can't think of any color that would match the kitchen and not clash with the vibe of the other brushed nickel appliances. i hate things like this.
posted by rainbows_unicorns_and_crystalmeth | 10:12 PM
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