Home Improvement Today?

Mice have been informed that the good old days are over!

It's gonna be a fun kitchen when it's done. Lots of space to work with. And, bonus to me, I am forcing in a completely unnecessary panel swap to Siemens. Because who doesn't love Siemen? hahahaha

 

Ahem, anyways. I went with a Square D Homeline in my house. They were the only one to offer a 30/60 space in a 100amp interior panel that was easy to get. I needed the extra room, but would have had to move my meter and go with some expensive cable to run it to where the box is if I upgraded to a 100amp. Wasn't the most optimal solution, but I had about $1000 into the swap compared to about $3000 for the 200amp

 

Once you go 200, you never go back

Square D was a very close second choice for me though. Just seemed, I dunno, not Euro enough

Anyway, new panel is taller which should help a little with unraveling the birds nest of wires I've been dealt.

 

Yea I know. At the time I was converting the carport into a garage and the door alone was a pretty big expense, that and adding a water heater to the system where there wasn't one before. It was an expensive couple months.

 

just spitballing here but what appears to be a 2x12 clad to either side of that wall at the top plates may have been an attempt to shore the structure after cutting a 3" hole through 3 1/2" studs for the plumbing drain and your joists look to run perpendicular to that wall so it may indeed be bearing

 

There was a soffit before. Nice 4x12 beams fore and aft of this wall. Plumber and GC huddled and decided one joist cut was ok. Also a rather large 4x4 cutout in the center of the kitchen. Smarter dudes than me on this one feel it’s ok. Definitely a large hunk of studs gone here but it looks purely fire related since the other side is garage.

With all that said, I wouldn’t have been against ditching the sink this drain is from.

 

your joist system currently splits fore and aft on that wall , correct ? And it looks like a 3" drain hole has been drilled through 5 of the wall studs , correct ?

 

My count is 5 if you ignore the stud on the exterior wall which is more for a corner to attach drywall. And yes, 3” sink drain.

I can get photos from the garage and from the middle of the room where the beams are. The 4x4 cutout is a good giveaway that none of this stuff matters, the load is on the periphery from what I can see.

here is a shot of the beam inside the kitchen.

 

but your joists still lap over that wall correct ? ie one end of the joist loading is on the wall

 

Yes they overlap.

Would facing the wall out aid in that aspect? Not sure there is a very clean way to add anything. 5 studs is cause for concern since it’s only a 2x up top? Seems like it’d be hard to switch to a 4x header.

I can see how the load from the garage side is now less supported. But most of the joists from the kitchen side don’t go through because of the cutout for lights.

 

I'm just pointing out that it is a bearing wall that has already been compromised , tread lightly

 

Holes were drilled today. So how would you tackle this if you were called in at this point.

 

without standing there looking at whats actually going on my main focus would be whats the load that wall is carrying and what could I do to improve the wall's ability to carry the load

 

Pergo?

I did this on mine. The idea is there is nowhere for water to penetrate even if it hits the baseboard. Pick up a few rolls of backer rod in various size to stuff in the edge expansion gaps, you can silicone each side that way.

 

Would through bolting the overlaps make any difference? I’m guessing not much.

Other than retrofitting to 2x6’s or facing it with more framing, not sure I have any options. The garage has the air supply which feeds the two vents.

 

no

 

Any of you guys have a preference on Pex Crimp or Clap?
I bought the crimp style tool and crimp rings, it was a kit and cam with the dies and Go/No-Go tool.

But after watching a few videos, some guys say the clamps are better since they are stainless and more resistant corrosion?

All the connection I make will be indoor and maybe a few under a house in a crawl space.
Will I be fine with the copper crimp style?

I’ve only used pex a few times, and that was with SharkBite fittings.
SharkBite is expensive and most “professional” don’t recommend them for long term use.

Crimp on left
Clamp on right.

 

If that's a 2x4 wall it't not 3" ABS. It's 2". 3" ABS OD is 3 1/2". There's be no 2x4 left. 2" ABS OD is 2 1/2" and is drilled with a 2 9/16" bit. That leaves you just with 1/2" of meat if the hole is centered. Since you can only drill 40% out of bearing studs it's still very illegal and very weak. You should get stud shoes for those 5 studs. That will be fine.

 

How about adding blocking between the studs in addition to the stud shoes?

 

Yeah, I realized my pipe size eyeballs are not calibrated. Another concern is routing the electrical. I’ll do some drywall demo and hopefully we can get it one stud bay over. Then maybe a small soffit in the back of the cabinet.

I’ll look up stud shoes.

looks like our king stud has a pipe, but that wall is 2x6 at least.



Good to learn about this. I hadn’t noticed the overlap before.

Oh, and nice suggestion on the stud shoes. Definitely something to do. I was thinking a strap as well since the electrical panel is there and it looks like the entire top is sliced.