The adventures of my kitchen remodel

momofmany

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We're having quite the fun time here. The kitchen remodel gets more interesting to the cats everyday. We are actually moving the kitchen to a different part of the house so we're talking major construction.

The cats are locked up everyday while the workers are here and we let them roam during the evening. So we aren't late to work everyday, we herd all of the cats back into their seclusion area (about 1/3 of the house) as we go to bed. The cats have a strong need to do quality reviews on the work every single day.

First they started removing the cabinets. Then came the hole in the wall. Then down came part of the ceiling and with it the insulation from the attic (and up went the plastic to hold it up there, which is a very wiggly thing hanging up high). Then they jackhammered the basement bathroom floor to run the new drain pipes into the basement toilet drain. That room is simply closed off for the duration.

Today came a brand new BIG hole between the dining room and the new kitchen. Where did that come from mom? Hey - we can walk between rooms without any problems now! They also removed all of the drywall so the electrician can come in and just roll thru the new wiring. For some reason, they also removed a couple of the floor joists between the walls, allowing the little buggers to crawl down into the hole and into the heating vents over the basement. You can hear their little "ping-pings" as they walk across it - Scarlett was pushing things away to crawl inside - twice until I weighted the barriers down. Spanky is rolling on his back to rid himself of the dust that he picks up along the way.

So now I have buckets, garbage cans, boards, and just about anything I can find covering over the holes. And Koko found the new BIG hole for the dryer vent (we moved the utility room also). I found the hole after she did - her head was all the way inside and she was trying to wiggle into it.

So the cats are having a grand old time. We're having the time of our lives herding 10 cats into their safe room each night. I can't wait until this is all done!!!
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

Sounds like fun! I'd go nuts!
The cats think it is fun. I am going nuts!

Uh-oh - I hear another weird sound coming from the kitchen.......
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

All I can say is -- Oh. Joy. Better you than me! I'd be a basket case by now.
The worst of this is that it is happening at Christmas. Instead of xmas shopping for friends and family, we are spending our spare time shopping for sinks, light fixtures, backsplash tile, etc. When they went thru the bathroom floor, we had to add new bathroom fixtures to our "project". It never ends.

Cooking is not easy - the fridge is in the garage and I've set up a cooking station in our sun porch. It takes that much longer to cook a meal, then we have to wash the dishes (and of course the pet bowls) in the bathtub. It makes the day that much longer and takes more time from the kids who are stressed by it all.

So now I'm sitting in the office, which is not part of the cat enclosure, being watched by Stumpy and Muddy thru a sliding glass door. Muddy stands on his hind legs and very pathetically scratches the glass to let himself out to be with me. Dakota and Sage are on the other side of me meowling pathetically thru the floor to ceiling baby gates (entrance to the hallway). Poor babies!

I stayed up until 1 last night trying to get my online shopping done and wound up empty handed and I'm exhausted this morning.

But I'm just venting. I think I'll just go to work......
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by gemlady

...to get your rest?
I was hoping for that, but......

No rest for the weary there either.....most of the office is leaving at the end of the day tomorrow or Friday for their 2 week end of year vacations so they have me triple booked most of the next 2 days in meetings. Why do people even try to get work done in December?

Home again tonight and it doesn't look like they made much progress today in the house (the cabinets are being made elsewhere and that is proceeding). The contractor called tonight to verify my requirements for the new windows. Yup - replacing all of those also cause the existing ones no longer fit into the new exterior openings.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

Why do people even try to get work done in December?
I don't know. We're busier than we've been in months. And I'm not in sales of any kind! It's not really a complaint though....they were discussing closing my department but looks like they don't have to!
 

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

....
So the cats are having a grand old time. We're having the time of our lives herding 10 cats into their safe room each night. I can't wait until this is all done!!!
I sympathize! We've been renovating for awhile, but thank goodness I only have to worry about one cat to move to another area! You're one brave cat owner! Hope the rest of the construction goes well.
 
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momofmany

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Adventure of the night: Muddy knocked away one of the barriers to the hole in the floor and got himself deep into the vents. He slipped off the side and got stuck to the point all I heard was claws scratching against metal and panicked meows. So I freak and I'm on the outside in the basement trying to locate him and ready to knock out the ceiling and destroy the vents to get him out. I actually had a sledge hammer in hand.

He quiets down and I decide to check the opening one last time before I start to destroy. He pokes his little head out but kept backing away each time I tried to grab him. I finally bribed him out by clanging the dinner bowls together (the cat signal that dinner is about to be served).

Bad boy Muddy!! Bad boy!!
 

rapunzel47

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Oh, Muddy! Don't give Mum a heart attack -- she won't be there to bail you out of your adventures if you do!
 
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momofmany

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So here's the even BIGGER adventure that we just went thru. I'm sitting here typing and hear the meowling again. I know that I've closed up the holes tighter so there wasn't any new cats down there. I listen carefully, think about who missed dinner and realized it was Eight-ball (not uncommon for him to skip dinner once in a while). He'd been down there most of the evening. He was the one I heard scratching and clawing up the vent. He's the worst one to be stuck as he is the most feral of all the cats in the house and hardest to calm down in an emergency.

He fell all the way down the vent (about a 7 foot drop) and was stuck under the furnace. The furnace is on a platform with the incoming vent underneath, but it is welded in place.

So we get out the tool box and start taking off screws to the covers on the front of the furnace. After removing 4 panels, loosening up the water overflow pipe, etc, we still couldn't get him out. I got enough of my arm in there to touch him but couldn't grab him. In the process he bit me.

So I remove the water overflow pipe so I can take off the last panel. My husband goes to the back of the furnace and bangs on it to scare him out.

He of course is now hiding under the bed. Dusty, and hopefully not hurt. I can't get near him.

This little incident only took about 45 minutes, but I can tell you that hubby was cussing the entire time (Eightball is not his favorite), and wanting to leave him there overnight to teach him to hate the vents. I didn't actually start crying, but had to hold my tongue at his tirade.

*sigh* It will be worth it when it is all done!!
 

rapunzel47

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

I didn't actually start crying, but had to hold my tongue at his tirade.
Oh, but I can feel how close you came -- I would, too! Freak out time. Glad the little monster is safe, even if he's not talking to any ^&$**^&^*%%*$$^%%*^$^*^*%*^*^(^$ human at the moment.
 
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momofmany

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Eightball came out of hiding this morning. No blood or cuts that I can see and is walking normal. He still won't let me touch him. They haven't been released for the day yet - the workers are still at the house.
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by Abigail

pictures !!! we want pictures.
I have to resize the ones I've taken so far. We only have the before and during pictures right now. I can't wait to be able to take the after pictures!!
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

Oh poor baby! Glad he seems ok!
He came out and sat on my lap tonight for a while. I gave him the full body exam while I pretended to be scritching him. Other than a small scratch on his cheek, he's OK. Eightball is also known as my goofball. He didn't appear to have any interest in getting back into the vents tonight.

I also sent my contractor a pretty terse e-mail on what happened. The folks that came by today were very careful about covering up the holes. It helps that my contractor just adopted a kitten last Saturday and is becoming aware of what its like to live with a cat. This is her first cat so she is still learning. I'm doing my best to coach her. My second lesson to her (the first was that cats like to crawl thru holes) was that cat hair only comes off of clothes in a dryer - they hooked up the washer today but don't yet have the electricity to the dryer. I'm getting my house done by teaching her about her kitten!!
 
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momofmany

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So another week has passed without too many cat stories. While herding the cats this morning Eightball went into hiding so deep that he is somewhere loose in the house and we can't find him again. I'm a little bit worried as today they are probably going to open up an exterior wall to install new windows. I'll just have to sit and watch them to make sure the little bugger doesn't wander by and try to escape thru the open hole.

The plumbing fiasco is done - the house wasn't to code and the county insisted that we bring it up to code. What should have been a 3 day job turned into 17 days. Anyone want to guess what 2 extra weeks of plumber bills (including a lot of copper lines) comes to? Needless to say we will have to postpone the bathroom remodel for about a year.

They opened the wall between the dining room and kitchen yesterday, including an entire new frame. Looked great until I realized that they cut the opening 1 foot to narrow. I could live with it, but hubby is royally angry. We told the contractor about a million times that the opening must be made to absolute maximum size. So now I get to argue with them to do it again, this time right, on their dime.
 
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