Demo of Kitchen Wall

In our house there was a partial wall around the kitchen area. The wall made the kitchen into a galley kitchen which was small and not user friendly. The plan was to remove the wall and put an island in to open the room up and since the wall didn't go all the way to the ceiling it was easy to remove it. Well sort of.

Cinder block Wall

Galley Kitchen

It was easy to remove the wall but there were some challenges once the wall was removed. The oven and the fridge were set against the cinder block wall so there were gas, electrical and water lines run to that wall. These lines were hidden with the decorative wall above the cinder block wall. 

The best way to get the gas and electrical line to the island (since we are leaving the oven in the island) is to go under the concrete. Mike started cutting the concrete with a grinder but ended up renting a jackhammer. He began chipping away at the concrete to make a path for the new pipes. (Yes the walls were painted bright yellow in the kitchen.)

Cementing over the new piping

Once this was done we were able to demo the cinder block wall. What a mess! 

Keep in mind that I had a one month old baby during this all. It was very stressful for me but I am sure she didn't even notice. We also had to cook during this. For a while we were eating microwavable food only. I keep trying to tell myself that the end result will be worth it but it is hard to have a positive outlook. 

Framing in Laundry and closing the exterior door

In our house the laundry room is part of the kitchen. So when you walked in the front door you could see the washer and dryer. We have talked to the neighbors and that is how all the houses are in this sub-division. That was something Mike couldn't live with. He wanted to enclose it to make it its own room. It was hard for me to picture it but now it makes total sense. 

The accordion door is the only thing that separated the washroom from the kitchen

As you can see the washroom was part of the main living area where everyone could see it.

View from the kitchen

Mike decided that the best way to close in the laundry room was to also close in the pantry shelves and make the pantry larger. I loved that idea. You can never have a big enough pantry. After demo of the small decoration wall Mike began framing in the laundry room. 

Framing the new wall for the laundry room

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At the end of the new wall was an exterior door. Since there is already a sliding glass door at the other end of the kitchen we felt that it would be okay to remove this door to add the bigger pantry.

We added insulation and electrical outlets

Next we will install the drywall.

Bedroom Doors, Trim and Primer

 After we patched all the holes in the wall and put new trim boards up we were ready to primer the room. It was really important to primer the rooms since we need to seal the walls from the smoke. We got the Kilz Primer at started painting. We found out later that you have to buy a special primer to stick to the nicotine stains. Our primer began to peel off the walls like a sunburn. We then had to repaint the rooms with the expensive but correct primer. 

Installing the new doors

New doors 

Installing Trim Boards

Doors ready for paint

Walls and ceiling ready for paint

Notice where the picture used to be. That is how stained the walls were.

Trim Boards Installed

Tapping of windows for paint

Door Trim

First Coat of Primer

First Coat of Primer

Mike was painting the rooms in the middle of summer. It was so hot in the rooms because we had to tap off all the windows. We had to tear holes in the plastic to get some fresh air in.

What a difference a coat of primer makes.