Kitchen Cabinet Problem Solved!!!

Hurray, after hours and hours of pouring over the specs as to which cabinet company to go with we've come up with a solution!!!

Hurray!!!

We can't use any of em.....

Hurray!!!

Got a letter from my insurance broker that I thought was odd..then I called her up and wow...it is what I thought it was...

Our Insurance Company Is Forcing Us To Paint Our House!!
Ya, you read that right....

They've already forced us to get a monitored alarm system.
They've already told us what type of dogs we can and can't own...

Now I'm told that our insurance policy will be dropped if we don't paint the house.
We know the place needs painting, its needed painting since before we bought it.
We've always planned on painting it...just not before the code enforcement work was signed off...

Now I'm racing around trying to find a painting contractor who will actually do a good job.
It's not looking good for our budget...WAG's I'm getting are in the $30k range....stupid big house...

So, all the money that was going to go into the new kitchen is now set aside for the paint the friggen house fund.

Arrrrrrrrrgh!!!
And of course our house is not covered for earthquake insurance even...cheap lousy insurance companies...

I guess that there are two things I can do...
Find a shoddy but quick and cheap guy to do a half ass job to make the insurance company happy...OR
Pay the big bucks to get it done right.....dang....
Thank god it looks like we can get another year out of the roof as that's going to be a $30k job also....

The Kitchen Solution
We are just going to buy a couple of cheap skinnier cabinets so we can fit the big 36" stove and install the new hood. That way we can have a workable kitchen and get the kitchen code enforcement permit signed off (hopefully). We're going to put shelves in the pantry to stack as much stuff in there as possible.

Hur-friggen-ray...

Deck Redo Issue

Okay when last we met about this subject we were trying to figure out about what to do about the metal fasteners on the deck....

Here's what I think I've learned.
Our environment does not require stainless steel fasteners for the deck.
Yes I do have to change out the dang joist hangers and here is where it gets interesting.

Just got off the phone with my local Simpson Application engineer.

She says that I absolutely can not just yank out the LUS26's and replace them with LUS28Z's...
She says that the holes are in the same places and even if I used their SD screws that the pre-drill hole would be too big! It looks like the hangers are put up with standard 10D nails and she says that's too much of a pre-drilled hole!

She wants me to use HUS26Z's which cost twice as much take twice as many nails but that the holes are in different places....dang.

So, I get a 'bright' idea and call up USP and talk to their joist hanger application engineer. I ask him if the nail holes on their version of an LUS26 are in the same place. I'm figuring they couldn't be...but no! He says with a little shame in his voice that their connectors are exactly the same!?!?!?! How could that be legal?

Then the Simpson engineer gets back to me with another option. Simpson actually makes a joist hanger that is designed to go over another hanger! Who Knew?
Its called a NRU26Z and it special order only....she could not tell me the price...but heck, if its not stupid expensive then I could just use it and not have to rip out the old ones! That'll turn a multiple day job into a half day job I bet....

We'll see what they cost...at least if I use the HUS26Z's I don't have to worry about removing the nails I can just break them off at the surface with a cold chisel and a sharp whack.

Just got an email from my local lumber yard.....guess how much the above hanger costs???
C'mon guess!?!?!?!!?

$16!?!?!?!?!? Each!!!!!!!!

Dang, guess I'm going with the HUS hanger and all the screws....hurray!!

Vent Hoods Here! Gots A Problem....

Ha, when don't we.....
The new super fancy vent hood and external blower came yesterday.

Check out what $3k of venting looks like...at least we got free delivery from Atherton Appliance.
Sideview

Dang its big..and heavy...wow...big. This is the smallest hood Wolf recommends for the stove too...
Bottom View

The big holes at the back are for heat lamps..I didn't want em but they come with this size automatically. From what I can tell it looks like a high quality unit.

The Wall Cap

Holy Freaking Moly this thing is huge!!! Like ten times the size of a normal wall vent...so big in fact..I'm not sure that we can use it...This is, of course, a major screw up on my part. Somehow through out this entire process I never happened to clue in on the dimensions of this thing..and nobody else bothered to mention it either...

The Situation On The Outside Of The House

Here's the existing wall vent for the stove.

I'm not even sure that's a legal install. I'm pretty sure you can't vent kitchen oders over an operable window....

Wall Area

This is all the space we have easy access to for the vent duct on the side of the house, between the two soil stacks and above the window,...doesn't look very promising does it...hurray...

But there might be a little bit of hope.
Mystery Window

This is the 'window to no where' that's actually inside the dropped ceiling in the TV room.
It looks to be almost exactly the same size as the vent...
How horrible would it look if we removed the window and put the wall vent in its place?
I'll have to check clearances but I think it will work if we make that window next to it inoperable.

Other option is to return the external blower (probably with a hefty restocking fee) and get an in-line blower and use a normal sized wall vent.

What to do, what to do. Anybody have any useful suggestions?

ComCast Sucks

I call this post, 'ComCast Sucks.'
Not a lot of deep thoughts on this one....

Not because their cable interweb sevice goes down CONSTANTLY!
Not because their services are over priced and under provided!

But, because of this...
We've been here in Chez 3.0 for over a year now. In that time we've had
ComCast out here at least 4 times.

Before they came out and fiddled this is what the cable box looked like.

Here is what it still looks like.

How do you get four different techs mucking about with that mess and none of them ever
bothered to clean it up?
How does that not occur to people?

LAME

Precision Cabinets & Trim Cabinet Quote

Okay here is the third and final kitchen cabinet quote.

Precision Cabinets
First some pretty pictures.

Here is the overview.

Looks like they got the layout right. But, they didn't do anything in the pantry nor did they recess the
fridge like we asked.

Fridge or South Wall

One thing that's different here than KraftMaid is that they can make the upper cabinets as tall as we want. Here they are 51" tall which is pretty much as exactly as tall as they could be with a 8' ceiling.

Breakfast Bar or West Wall

Sink or North Wall

Tall cabinets, decorative panels on the end looks good.

Stove or East Wall

Looks like they used the actual models for our stove/hood.
Another thing here that's different than the KraftMaid order is that they could put a cabinet over the hood where KraftMaid could not. Now, with a 10" duct running through the upper cabinet there won't be a huge amount of room but hey, its more useful than a blanked panel isn't it?

What's Their Quality Like?
Hard to tell. My questions in blue and their answers in black underline.

I need to know the exact construction details of your cabinets.

How thick is the face frame and what joinery technique is used? Face Frames are 3/4” solid wood, and Glued & pocket screwed together. This is basically the same as kraftmaid.

What are the materials and thickness of wood used in the drawer boxes? Our Wood Boxes are 1/2”, your bid is Dovetail, which is 5/8” Same as KraftMaid.

What is the joinery technique for drawer sides? Wood are Nailed & Glued Butt Joints with Groove bottom.

How thick is the drawer bottom and how is it attached to the drawers. 1/4” and sits in groove. How does this get strong enough to support heavy pots?

What is the grade and thickness of the plywood used for the cabinet carcasses? 3/4” thick Combi Core Imported Plywood, any Veneers are “A” grade on particle board core.

What is the joinery technique used for the carcasses? Nailed Butt joints with applied back. This
is not a quality long term construction method.

Finally, where do you source your wood from? We use two primary local distributors, Aura Hardwoods in San Jose, and Hardwoods in Livermore.  They get it from the mills (Washington, Oregon) etc…

Is it sustainably sourced? Yes

What's It Going To Cost?
Not as much as I thought!
$14162 including delivery and installation!?!?!?!? Dang that seems pretty good doesn't it!
A couple of things were left out of the original quote and I'm expecting them to add ~$500 to the cost.

Next Up
How do I compare all three, in a meaningful way, to pick a winner?
There are definite quality differences and DEFINITE price differences....what makes sense?
Anyone?....Anyone..??? Beullar?.....Beullar???

Gold Coast Sell Off?

Anybody else notice that there seems to be A LOT of homes for sale in the Gold Coast?
I don't think that I can remember a time when so many houses were for sale simultaneously, can you?

A quick check of RedFin shows that there are seven homes for sale, two of them being the most expensive homes for sale on the island.
These are not reviews as such. Most of the houses listed are not having open houses so I'm not sure if I will ever be able to review them.

Gold Coast Homes For Sale
1629 San Antonio
This place has an awesome location one block from Franklin Park and school. Its a modern house and from the pics it looks like it was stopped most of the way through a renovation. Though being 4-2.5 for $650k in that 'hood, it'll go fast I bet.

919 Central Ave
This is a fourplex on the GC border. Its a 5-4 for $565k...if it doesn't have any serious issues I bet that it sells pretty fast.

1134 Bay St.
This is a Colonial Revival a 3-1.5 for $989k...its on a great block in a great neighborhood and it looks like there's been some upgrades but still.....that seems like a lot of dosh to share a bathroom with your teenagers.....

1118 Grand St.
I've reviewed this house already...they've dropped the price from $700-$650 but I think they need to drop it another $100k still...

1626 Alameda Ave.
I reviewed this a loooong time ago and its back on the market....a quick look at the permit record shows that no legal work has been done on the place since then....price is still nuts.

And finally the two most expensive houses for sale in Alameda.
1221 Sherman St.
This house looks amazing from the pictures and outside. Its huge and on a large lot....a 5-4 for $1.675M....wow, that price is just well...I don't know...the current owners of this place were in and out of it in under a year!?!??! Amazing.

1217 Sherman St.
Same comments as above...except its a 4-3.5 for 1.6M even...

No Longer On Market
1007 Morton St.Its not listed as sold just off the market.?

1223 ST Charles St.
I reviewed this a while ago..its listed as pending. Good for them.

I think thats all of em. Did I miss one?

So, Realtors, what's up? Why is everyone trying to sell now? Are these people who have held on since the crash and now think its time to sell? Or, is it that they just can't hold on anymore?

The Grillanator

I blame this entire post on the medication I'm on for the two bulged discs in my back.

Its All Mrs. MadMadScientists Fault!
She forced me to buy a new BBQ grill because she considered the old one to be unsafe....
I just considered it uh, unique and customized.

After much looking and researching I realized that we can't really afford a good grill....a decent grill that will last cost's around $600....

Enter Craig's List.
Saw an add for what looked like a very fancy BBQ. Did some research and yep its a very fancy BBQ. Seems that a failed bio-tech company in Redwood City was trying to liquidate their assets and this grill was one of em. They told me it was used once a week to cook burgers for 50 people for slightly less than a year...and it was never, ever cleaned....I had no idea what that was going to mean at the time...

My New Baby

I borrowed a friends little truck and headed off to a nice business park right on the water, to take a look.
WOW, its not actually the model I was told on the phone...its the next model up!!! In fact, its the fanciest model the company makes!!! I was so flustered I didn't even try to haggle I just wanted the mega grill for mega cheap! Got the grill for $400 and three full 20 pound propane tanks for an additional $100!!!
One thing I didn't notice at the time was that the thing doesn't even come with a side burner!?!?!

Oh, So Grungy!!!
Check out these pics.

There was a thick layer of grease on everything..in all the cracks, everywhere!
The grease was not the main issue though, it was the thick, up to 1/4" layer of carbon that was on everything inside the grill...so a thick layer of grease was covering a thicker layer of carbon...

I found the manual online and read the cleaning instructions....only allowed to use a mild detergent and a non-abrasive scrubbing pad!?!?!?!?!? No oven cleaner, nothing with bleach....geez...

Cleaning Up The Mofo
Here's my selection of cleaning gear on top of our old BBQ.

I decided to take the grill apart and soak all the nasty bits in a solution of Simple Green and water.

I soaked this stuff for a full 36+ hours....
The simple green did clean all the grease but it didn't even touch the hard carbon deposits...

While the stuff was soaking I went at the main grill inside and out.

The simple green worked great on the outside of the grill and helped a little bit on the inside.

The Final Solution
Someone mentioned it to me as a joke to use an angle grinder on it...
Well that's exactly what I decided to do. I got a wire cup brush that is supposed to be safe to use on stainless steel.
Well, it worked like a charm. I was able to clean off the grates, the burners, the veggie rack, the flame tamer things, and most of the inside of the BBQ! I didn't even realize that there are lights in the lid because they were covered with a thick layer of carbon.
Most of the metal looked like new except blued from the heat.
Of course myself and the surrounding ground was covered in black powder....just the thing you want to have happen before a party...

All Clean (sorta)
Cause I'm a total idiot I forgot to take pics of the grill after it was all cleaned up and polished....
Here's how it looked after cooking food for 40 this past weekend.

In Conclusion
Here's what I think after using the grill...
I don't get how this thing is worth $5k....its nice for sure but wow I don't think its
that nice. I don't know if anybody needs a grill this big.
But, even after spending an entire day cleaning it, I still think it was worth what I paid for it.
I really like the super-hot sear burner.
On the main part of the grill the heat was very even.
It took a loooong time to heat the thing up and with the lid open it cools down pretty fast.
Don't know when I'm going to feel the need to cook 4 chickens on the rotisserie.
There is a lot of acreage on the grill but I used most of it during the party.
Compared to our old Costco grill its obviously more upscale and better made with thicker metal and more burners/ sq ft.
At this price point I'd think that it would be made from 316 Stainless as opposed to 304.
It's lame that there is no side burner. Called the local BBQ's Galore store and they said it wasn't possible to retrofit a burner!?!?!?! Huh???
I had to switch out the propane tank in the grill for a new one because it was icing up and lost most of its pressure.

Still though, totally worth it for $500! Thanks Craig's List!!!