I had previously checked the dimensions of some of the salvaged studs and although they were wider than the 1 1/2″ dimension of a modern stud, they seemed to match the 3 1/2″ dimension in the other direction.  That is the critical dimension since that dictates the thickness of the wall.  My mistake was assuming they were all the same and they weren’t.  These particular studs were from 1889 and originally exact uniformity of the framed wall didn’t matter since the lath and plaster could compensate for any variation.

Wall framing, insulation, & gussets complete

It wasn’t until I was framing the wall that I noticed some of the studs were just slightly larger than 3 1/2″.  However since I hadn’t noticed a problem with the wall I took apart (that had previously had the lath and plaster replaced with drywall) I decided the variation wouldn’t matter.  I again told myself it wouldn’t matter when I encountered a stud that was almost 3 3/4″  It wasn’t until after I had used this stud that I had second thoughts.  I would be installing quite a few cabinets on this wall and didn’t want to chance having problems later.  I played it safe by removing the stud and replacing it with a new stud.  In fact, about half of the wall was made of new studs since quite a few of the old ones were warped.  For that matter I had the same problem with the new studs.  I had ordered 20 but only 10 are straight enough to use as studs.  I also found I had to be very careful with the salvaged studs since they were so rough that it was hard to work with them out without getting slivers.

Before I could insulate the section of exterior wall I had opened up I needed to install some of the ceiling gussets.  Where possible, I wanted them to extend to the back of the sheathing and it would be impossible to do this after the rim joist area was insulated.  I used plywood gussets were 4′ long, 7 1/2″ high and 1/2″ thick.  All were glued and nailed to each side of any joists in this area that will need to be drilled for the sink vent pipe.

With the gussets in place I was able to install the insulation.  I decided to reuse the blown-in insulation I had removed and thought if I packed it tightly I could get the best insulation short of using a rigid or spray foam.  I needed to have something to pack the insulation against in the cavity.  To address this I installed the poly vapor barrier working up from the floor and packing in the insulation behind it as I went up.  I worked in 1′ sections, first applying sealant between the studs and vapor barrier and then stapling the vapor barrier to the studs.

In the rim joist area between the studs I packed in about 2 1/2″ of loose fill insulation and then held that in place with 1″ foil-faced rigid insulation that was cut so that it could be held in place by friction.  One of the stud cavities is a return air for the heating system.  In this cavity I fit 1″ of foil-faced rigid insulation against the sheathing and then applied 1/2″ of drywall to the face of the insulation as a fire barrier.  Any more insulation here would have restricted the air flow too much.

I’m now ready to install drywall on the exterior wall and the kitchen side of the partition wall.

A bad addition follows rules that are different than used for the house.

Just what are these rules?  Every home is designed based on certain rules.  If a later addition follows a different set of rules than the original house, it will be noticeable.  The more obvious the differences, the more obvious the addition will be.

Usually the majority of these rules are related to the attributes associated with a home’s architectural style.  In order for a home to be recognized as being of a particular style a critical number of that style’s attributes must be incorporated into the home.  Sometimes there are one or more attributes that must be present for a home to be associated with a particular style.  Often homes are a mix of architectural styles so they will incorporate attributes from more than one style.

Sometimes style attributes will not translate directly into rules.  As an example, Queen Anne homes usually included some sort of decorative element at the gable, but the method varied.  As a result, the original designer had flexibility regarding if, and how, to decorate the gable.  However from our vantage point in the future, whatever was decided becomes a rule that should guide future additions.

Sometimes the designer also originally added characteristics not related to the architecture style.  These might have been decorative but could have related to the form or almost anything else. Knowing what are typical characteristics of an architectural style, and what aren’t, will make it easier to identify the unusual characteristics of a house that might take on the status of a rule for an addition.  A great book on architectural styles for those starting out is A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester.  Beyond being knowledgeable regarding architectural styles, a sensitivity to the subtleties of a house, as well as an ability to notice patterns, will aid in identifying both the expected attributes, as well as the unexpected.

Windows that are more typical of a porch than a kitchen make this a special place. (Photo by Susan Gilmore)

What is the usefulness of focusing on rules?  Rules help to provide a continuity between old and new.  While this continuity is the goal in most vintage home additions, it also serves a secondary purpose.  The continuity ensures that elements that break the rules will stand out.  Believe it or not this can be a good thing.  Selectively breaking the rules can create the special or unusual elements that are often aspects of vintage homes.  With the right balance an addition to a vintage home can be a seamless extension and special at the same time.

Since my plaster wasn’t adhering well to the lath I decided to remove that first.  I wanted to maintain the existing plaster on the other side of my new kitchen wall so I cut the plaster, which was relatively soft, with a utility knife at about the center of the new wall.  And to try and keep the dust down I grabbed sections of plaster as I pried them from the wood lath with a flat bar.

Most of the lath and plaster has been removed and temporary insulation installed.

When it came to the lath, I didn’t want to cut it with a reciprocating saw since in the past the vibration of the lath seemed to loosen the plaster from a wide area.  I needed a better way to cut the lath that would minimize the vibration.  I tired, and had success, using my Rockwell SoniCrafter

I also removed the lath and plaster on the ceiling that was within 4' of the exterior wall using the same method.  I will need to reinforce the ends of these joists before the plumber drills them for the vent pipe.  When I removed the lath on the ceiling there was quite a bit of insulation within 2' of the wall.   With balloon framed walls the floor is open to the stud cavity so the insulation wasn't contained when the walls were blown in.  I'm now ready to reinforce the joists and re-insulate the walls.

While my cabinets are low enough I don’t need to worry about my ceiling, I have been dreading leveling the floor.  I expected it to be slow and tedious work.  With my kitchen design I do have an advantage since cabinets are grouped and not all connected.  I only need to level the individual areas for cabinets instead of perfectly leveling the entire floor.  These groupings also allow me to level the floor in sections, tackling only the specific areas immediately before I’m framing a wall or installing the floor.

A screw jack is useful for fixing a common old-house problem.

There are multiple ways to level a floor and I ruled out one method almost immediately.  When I first heard about self-leveling gypsum toppings years ago I thought these would make the job incredible easy.  I tried this method on a bathroom floor years ago and ended up ripping it out later.  The material never really leveled enough so that I felt comfortable putting a finished floor on top.  And while a ceramic or stone tile floor can use the topping as a base, sleepers would need to be installed first for the hardwood floor I intended for the kitchen.  These would all need to be scribed to the subfloor so the tops were level while the bottoms rested on the uneven floor, a fairly time-consuming process.  However, I suspect these sleepers would have made leveling the topping easier since they could be used as leveling guides.  But the biggest problem with installing a gypsum topping in old homes are the gaps in the typical subfloor that will allow the topping to flow out before it hardens.  Since the subfloor in old homes usually consists of individual boards, there are a lot of gaps that must be plugged first.  In my case I was also a bit concerned with adding any more weight to joists and beams that were already undersized and sagging.

A former associate took a different approach to raising his floor by raising the low spots.  Somehow he built up plywood using various layers of felt paper to create a level underlayment.  My first question to him was whether this was long lasting since I would expect the felt paper to eventually compress but it has been in place for years and this apparently hasn’t been a problem.

For anyone completely gutting a kitchen it might be easiest to completely remove the subfloor and sister new level joists to the side of the existing joists.  Since I’m trying to phase my kitchen it would have been a bit more difficult to do it this way and would have required a lot more material (new subfloor and joists) as well as old subfloor to dispose of.  I was also concerned that before I could sister in new joists I would need to disconnect existing wiring already going through the joists and reinstall later. Having an entire section of floor ripped out just sounded too large to handle on the piecemeal basis reflecting the time I had available.

For my kitchen I chose to raise the floor from below.  Most of my joists are sagged about one half inch at mid-span.  I’ve been jacking up the subfloor along the joist in the area where the new wall will be framed and the first cabinets installed.  I’ve used shims to get the subfloor exactly where I want it.  This work has been particularly time-consuming as I’ve been working alone.  I turn the screwjack in the basement or insert some shims, walk up the stairs in the back of the house, walk to the front of the house because direct access to the work area is closed off by my dust barrier, and then walk back to the work area.  I check how close the floor is to the line I’ve stretched across the floor, and then go back downstairs to make adjustments and repeat the process.  It’s all very time-consuming.  Once I get the floor where I want it I’m adding level 2x4s to the top of the joists and screwing the subfloor to the joists.

There is also a timber beam running front to back down the middle of my house.  Actually it’s not a single beam but a series of beams held up by 4 posts.  Two of the beams are in the kitchen area and are sagged a half inch or so at mid-span.  The beam has also dropped because some of the post foundations have settled.  In the area where the first new wall will be built I’ve also been jacking the joists at the beam and inserting wood blocks under the joists to raise them permanently.  I’ve made enough progress to start framing the wall but still will need to do more levelingbefore I can start installing the floor and the first cabinets.

Adjacent ceiling surfaces align so plaster & lath can be retained.

Without the wall I can see how the adjacent wall and ceiling surfaces align.  I had been most concerned about the ceiling not aligning.  I knew the kitchen ceiling was drywall so I expected that it might not align with the ceiling in the expansion area.  I was afraid that I would need to install all new drywall in the expansion area and lifting a full sheet of drywall would have been a bit of a challenge since I’m doing the work myself and don’t have a lift.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the the kitchen ceiling had been installed over the old wood lath after the plaster had been removed.  Since the existing plaster is about the same thickness as the drywall in the kitchen ceiling, I should be able to use most of the existing ceiling, which appears sound.  I will still need to install some drywall on the ceiling but I won’t need full sheets.  I will need to open up a section of the ceiling about a four foot wide from my new wall back to the plumbing stack to provide access for the new sink vent.  I am also reinforcing the ceiling joists in this area with plywood gussets on each side since these joints are already undersized based on modern day standards at only 7 1/4″.  I don’t want them weakened when the plumber drills them for the vent pipe.

I thought I might also luck out with alignment of the adjacent wall surfaces but this was not the case.  The drywall in the kitchen was installed directly to the studs and doesn’t align with the adjacent plaster and wood lath in the expansion area.  Quite a bit of this plaster is bad anyway so I will need to remove the plaster and lath back to my new wall.  This will also provide an opportunity to improve the insulation in this section and add a vapor barrier.  It may be a bit tricky to selectively remove this plaster and lath only as far back as the new wall without destroying the plaster I want to remain.

Dismantling the wall starts with finding the screws.

All drywall has been removed from one side of the wall.

Since I wasn’t dealing with lath and plaster I had hoped disassembly would be a relatively clean job.  I discovered that finding the drywall screws was a difficult and messy job.  I experimented with seeing if a magnet would help me identify where the screws were located but I didn’t have much luck with that so I resorted to using a rotary sander to grind down the drywall in line with the studs to find the screws.  I also ground down the drywall compound at the joints to free up the edges and this was even worse since there was quite a bit of compound to remove and I generated that much more dust.  Since I was working on the back side of the kitchen wall I was able to keep the dust out of the kitchen.

I also went through my kitchen cabinets and packed up everything that I thought I can do without during the remodeling.  Everything I expect to use got redistributed in the remaining cabinets that will be removed later for phase two.  I then removed the cabinets on the kitchen side of the wall I’m dismantling.  I thought I might be able to find a temporary place for my full height pantry cabinet.  Without emptying it I tried to slide it over a bit but given the weight of the contents and without the bracing of the wall it fell apart with the contents scattered everywhere.  Luckily it held mostly boxes and bags and only two glass jars that didn’t break.  It took most of a full day to empty the cabinets, redistribute and pack up the contents, and remove the cabinets.  I hadn’t quite anticipated it taking that much time but now I can put up a dust partition in the center of my kitchen and get serious about removing the rest of the wall.

Surplus and salvage building materials are often given away on Freecycle.

The room I cleaned out I used as a pantry and I had many open shelves set up for bottles, cans, and small appliances, etc.  But it was also a room that always seemed to collect lots of stuff I didn’t have a place for so I needed additional time for sorting things.  I found some things I didn’t even remember I had so I probably won’t miss those things!  Since I didn’t have a place for everything I got rid of what I could.  I hadn’t stopped to think that getting more organized was going to be one of the added benefits of remodeling the kitchen.  I’ve found through the years that a great way to quickly give away things someone else might want is to use freecycle.org.  Through the years I’ve also found some great things that others were giving away.  Quite often surplus building materials as well as items like old light fixtures turn up on Freecycle but they often are taken quicky.  I’ve been able to find some things that I will be using on my remodeling.

I also got back to IKEA and was able to work with the same person I had met with before after waiting for him to return from break.  Someone else probably could have picked up where I had left off with him but since I will be doing some custom things like cutting down cabinets and using a variety of pieces in unusual ways I wanted to avoid someone new trying to protect me from making a mistake if they weren’t knowledgeable about customization.  I didn’t want to spend time trying to convince them to just sell me the pieces I wanted.  In preparing my final order with the sales consultant I did find there were a couple of areas where I needed to make adjustments because I misunderstood some things but I got it all worked out and got my order in.

Next week I start demolition!

Using shallow cabinets on the exterior wall effectively moves out the face of the wall and hides the plumbing stack;

After exploring the possibilities for hiding the plumbing stack,  I came up with a design where both the cabinets at the sink and at the range will turn the corner toward the window.  The cabinets that extend from the range disguise the plumbing stack.  The cabinets that extend from the sink balance out the design.  The faces of these cabinets effectively move the kitchen wall in about 7″ so where previously the plumbing stack projected into the kitchen about 7″ it is now hidden behind this new face.

Since the shallowest cabinets IKEA makes are 12 7/8″ I will need to use these and cut them down so they are only about 7″ deep.  I’ll do this for both the base cabinets and the wall cabinets and there will be an 8″ deep counter top between these upper and lower cabinets.  I think I can probably use these shallow cabinets for items like spices, cooking oils, and pot lids.  I may even install a rack in one of the cabinets so I can hang frying pans.

Although I’m happier with this new approach it does add to my cost.  I’ll not only need to buy more cabinets and have more counter top, but I’ll have the expense of 12 7/8″ deep cabinets but only be getting half the storage space after I cut them down.  I will also need to shorten the cabinets from my original layout by 7″ with this change in design and by doing this I create a dead space in the corners.  If I was willing to custom build my cabinets I could eliminate this dead space but I’m not sure it is worth the effort.  I’ll probably just modify the IKEA cabinets and live with the dead space.

While spending more money because of this change is a tough decision it’s worth it to me to not have regrets later.  Now that I’m happier with the kitchen design I’m ready to move forward and order my cabinets!

Arts & Crafts tile by North Prairie Tileworks. (photo by Korab Photo)

Owners and lovers of vintage homes in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Metro area are encouraged to join the Twin Cities Vintage Homes Group.  The group will provide an opportunity to learn and share your love and knowledge of vintage homes and hear from knowledgeable professionals about topics and products related to historic homes.  The group will visit local homes as well as showrooms and studios to learn about period appropriate products such as tile and millwork.

The first scheduled tour will visit the showroom and studio of North Prairie Tileworks in Minneapolis on Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 6 pm.  North Prairie Tileworks is a manufacturer of wonderful custom Arts & Crafts and Victorian tile.  This tour is an opportunity to see how they make their tile and a chance to ask questions about reproduction tile.

Visit the Twin Cities Vintage Homes Group website for more information about the tour and to register.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish was to prepare a preliminary order and talk through the specifics of using various fillers and panels to see if I could adapt the system for what I needed.  I discovered that in order to start the process my sales associate needed to work from a design created with the IKEA Home Planner program.  I had tried to use this program on three different Macs before my visit.  I completely struck out on two of them because one was running Lion OS (not yet supported) and the web browsers on the other Mac were too old and I couldn’t update them.  I was able to install and open the program on my office Mac but the program would crash as soon as I tried to use it.  So when I went to IKEA I had with me detailed drawings from the computer modeling I had already done myself and hoped I could use these to prepare a preliminary order.  Unfortunately for me I was told that wasn’t possible and I had to first use the program on an in-store computer to recreate my design.

The IKEA Home Planner program has some peculiarities and automatically does certain things that can be good but also frustrating.  There is a logic that is generally easy to follow but then for some reason the program deviates from this logic.  A great case in point was the difficulty I had trying to find a microwave w/ extractor hood to use in my design.  I couldn’t find it anywhere in the appliance section.  I later learned that it was a sub selection in the cabinets under the “fan cabinet” since the assumption was that this microwave wouldn’t be used without the cabinet. I also discovered that the program doesn’t contain all components that are available.  However I was happy to find out that they have a thicker panel that can be used on the side of the cabinets that isn’t an option in the program.

Adjustments for panels, fillers and other components are made by one of the sales associates after the design is entered into the program.  They will review the design with you so that adjustments can be made and from that a draft order can be prepared.  I had already calculated a preliminary price for the cabinets I wanted before I even arrived at the store.  However I hadn’t tried to calculate the additional cost of fillers, side panels, legs, kick plate, hardware, etc. since I had so many questions about these components.  My biggest surprise was discovering that these items added more than $1,000 to my preliminary estimate.

My planned one hour visit lasted four hours but I did leave with a preliminary order as well as more confidence as to how to make their cabinets work for me.