Day Off Work - Getting It Done!

Took a vacation day from work today to get the hardi-backer cement board done as it's way too noisy to do over the weekend. First I had to do the bottom of the counters and rough wire the LED lights.

Once I had that finished I worked on the counter top. This needed a fair amount of "work" since the framing was waht you could call "not quite" level. I got it done, and it's close enough that I won't be embarrassed to have the granite guys come and measure. After that I got most of the siding done, I just need to do the bar, backsplash top, fridge top and a few end pieces. Probably about another 2-3 hours of work to cut, install and tape/mud the screws/joints. I hope to get that done Thur/Fri after work.

Anna took this pic, it looks like the bar area works properly!

Looks like granite measuring will be early next week, and then I will start with the stucco. I have finally decided to do that myself instead of paying a professional to do it properly. I found enough dubious information on the internet to give me a false sense of security, so now I think I can do anything.

The Next Phase

I am finally done with all the framing (except for the missing bits I keep finding I need to add when I am screwing in the hardibacker and there is nothing to screw into). I fixed the wiggly corners (well, they are close enough), and got the cutouts all sized/framed correctly(ish) for the grill, burner and doors. It is now looking like a BBQ!

Once the framing was over I got going on the electric. I have done the outlets for the fridge, lights, keg and keg blower (which circulates cold air from the kegerator up the beer line to stop the beer in the line getting warm). I will finish up the rest of the wiring, and get the plumbing for the beer done tomorrow.

This afternoon I started on the hardibacker. This is cement board that gets screwed to the outside. I'm using 1/4" think on the sides and 1/2" thick on the top. It's pretty heavy but not too bad to work with. It makes a lot of dust (and noise) when you cut it (with a circular saw and special blade) so you need to wear a mask & goggles. I'm about half way thru covering the sides.

Tomorrow I will do a little more of the sides but wont finish it as it is a little too noisy for a Sunday and I don't want to piss off all the neighbors and have a visit from the local police. I will likely have to take a half day off work this week to get the boarding finished.
Once I'm done with boards, wires and beer lines, it's stucco and granite time! I am still working thru selecting the granite and the granite people but will get this done early this week. I am on the fence about the stucco - part of me says "get someone competent to do it", the other part says "go for it, how hard can it be?".......

Committed!

OK, I am now committed to this. It's no longer just a matter of having bought a bunch of steel and spent hours cutting it up into small pieces and then even more hours joining it back together again. I am now bigtime financially committed as I have paid for the appliances.

They are due for delivery on Monday May 10th, so I have a couple weekends left to get all the framing, wiring, plumbing, cement board, stucco and painting done. I am also hoping to get the granite installed that same week, but considering that I have only just got the first quote on this it may be the week after. However it does look like my June 1st date could still happen!

Also, when I bought the grill I found out that I had some misinformation about how it was supported. I was under the impression it was supported from underneath, so had framed accordingly. Now I know that it actually hangs from the granite countertop, which changes things a little. This means that the cutout hole needs to be "not too big" for obvious reasons. I had erred on the side of too big, vs too small, since I figured I could easily pad any gap with an extra sheet of cement board. Now I need to adjust a couple pieces of framing to make it a little smaller. This will also give me teh chance to fix that one last "not quite level" corner that I have.

I have bought most of the bits and pieces now, so am hoping to get the final framing, all the electrics and beer line plumbing all done this weekend, and then get the cement board (hardi-backer) installed. Once that is done I can have the granite guys come in and make the template. If they can do that early next week, they could perhaps do the fabrication in time for an install late the next week.

I also have bought a very fancy (and ridiculously expensive) Italian metal beer tower. The name of the tower is actually "Sexy" and the website for the manufacturer has an advertising video with silhouettes of naked dancing girls - Gotta love the Italians! I figure that having shiny things on the top of the island will distract people from noticing the fact that nothing is level and their isn't a right angle in sight!

Done with Framing (almost)

So I had a good weekend of work on the kitchen. It was warm and sunny and after 1 1/2 solid days, I got thru most of the framing....

All those fancy overhanging counters that were so easy to do in Google Sketchup were a complete pain in the ass to do in the real world. But they ended up pretty strong!....

Here's the view into the yard.

And here is the view from the far end of the yard.

The island has ended up looking roughly like the design

And some bits of it actually look like I knew what I was doing!

Next it is electrics, beer line plumbing and then time to put on the hardi-backer (fancy outdoor sheetrock). This week I will order the appliances (cha-ching....) and pick the granite guy. That will allow me to do the final framing for the grill and side burner. I am feeling good that this could be operational by June 1st!

More Progress

Squeezed in a couple hours after work tonight before it got dark. Finished the basic framing, fixed one skew-iff corner and then cut all the supporting studs. I still have to screw the studs in, which will take a while. I also have one out-of-whack piece to fix up which I will probably have to disassemble and rebuild. I think that all of that will probably take me about 3-4 hours.

Then I have the "tricky bits" to do

• a wall with a backsplash behind the long/grill wall (this isn't too bad)
• the counter/overhang
• the raised bar on the side opposite the grill
• the small overhang to the right of the grill
• the footrests under the raised bar and by the small overhang
• the framing for the grill/burner and access doors

Those are gonna take some time, so I'm not sure when I will be done framing. It's meant to rain Tues/Wed so I have shut the site down and weatherproofed! Hopefully I can get some time in Thur/Fri and then have a solid weekend and get thru most, if not all of the framing.

A Solid Day

Got a solid day of work in today, and made some good progress on the framing. There is a lot of stuff to do to hold all the appliances, and working with the steel stud/track is new to me, s it's not exactly quick work! However, I think I have broken the back of it, and have got most things worked out.

The long side was the hardest as it holds the grill, the side burners, the storage drawers and some double doors under the grill.

It's now starting to take shape, and even though I haven't done the supporting studs yet, it's already pretty sturdy. In general it's fairly level and approximately square, but there is one squew-iff corner I need to fix.

Given the amount of progress I made today I think I have at least one more solid weekend of framing before I am ready to move on to the electrics. I may be able to squeeze in some time before/after work this week, but we have rain scheduled for Tuesday/Wednesday.

Finally Started

I have finally started building the BBQ/kitchen after what seems like months of planning. This morning I went out and bought the steel track and studs, and some Trex (composite decking boards) for the footings - this goes under the bottom track to keep the metal out of the water. Then spent a couple hours this afternoon getting going.

It's not too bad working with the steel, but gloves are a must, as the cut edges are pretty sharp. I am hoping to get a full day's work in tomorrow and make some significant progress on the framing. To be honest, I have no idea how long this is going to take, but I will be pleasantly surprised if I get to use it much this summer!