It’s week 5 of my (Amy Girard) kitchen addition project and this week the rough-ins begin. The Schloegel team also built our custom range hood, and the insulation went in. Our project leads Ryan Waters & Joe Meagher worked through several pain points during these steps and laid the ground work for an amazing kitchen. Missed how it started, check out Week 1, the design in Week 2, setting up a temporary kitchen in Week 3, or foundation, framing, and the roof in Week 4.
To get a feel for all cabinets and ensure rough-ins are correctly located Joe and Ryan marked everything in its exact location.
Plumbing Rough-In
I love to cook and that includes things that stink up the house. As I mentioned in my first post our existing kitchen had several things broken including the range hood. It prevented me from cooking so many things, especially seafood. High up on my wish list was a range hood, a big beefy one. We elected to have a Zephyr hood range with 600 CFM. CFM stands for cubic feet per minute, meaning it can move 600 feet of air in a minute. A CFM 400 or larger requires make up air. Make up air replaces the air that has been removed with fresh, tempered air from outside.
MVP Plumbing installed the make up air to support our new range hood. It attaches to our HVAC unit and vents externally. We ended up running the vent through our garage as it made the most sense. It also meant we got a bonus bench for removing shoes!
MVP did the rough-ins for our faucets, fridge, and new external spigot. They also installed our new vents in the kitchen and mudroom. Additionally, they re-worked our family room vents so they weren’t right against the wall.
Electrical Rough-In
Electricians, our unsung heroes? Maybe. Jason Wright Electric’s crew was at our home over two weeks working on all aspects of our electrical. I’ve always appreciated electrician’s work but this definitely gave me a new appreciation. They meticulously installed each new outlet and switch. Every tiny piece had to be measured just right. Sam, Stephen, Chris, and JP did an outstanding job.
Nathan on Jason Wright’s Team also doubles as a magician. Our project required removing our electrical service which meant running our service across our basement. We also opted to bury the line. Your average electrician may have to punch multiple holes in your ceiling to do that. Nathan, nah. Just one. He managed to snake that line through our entire basement impacting only 1 piece of drywall!! Ryan built a new soffit for its entry and you’d never know it’s even there!
Insulation
Mike O’Connell with Hayes Insulation went above and beyond for Calvin (my husband) and I. Not only did his team do an excellent job spraying insulation throughout our entire project but he took personal time to come help us! He stopped by one Saturday morning and walked us through ways to secure our home from the elements. This included caulking any exterior seems. He showed us how to caulk them and identified those he’d do. Mike also left insulation guns to get larger seams. Calvin then spent the better part of a Saturday doing the work. We know this will make a big difference in keeping our home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We can’t thank you enough Mike!!!
Custom Range Hood
I had to be a little different and had a custom range hood designed for our kitchen. We looked at a few pre-fabricated options but ultimately decided our craftsmen would still have to retro-fit it. Well, enter master craftsmen Randy Shepherd. If you’ve ever met Randy, you know he’s outspoken and is extremely humble but he is UBER talented. It took him a couple of hours to build this amazing hood. By noon that day they had it hung.
A picture of one of our weekly meetings.
On our next post we’ll be sharing the drywall, flooring, and paint! Getting so darn close. Oh, I may also be sharing a sneak peak of our cabinets. They’re sooooooo good!