Home Improvement Today?

Yes, copper gutters and ornate downspouts.

 

the shop time thread started talking about formica counters, and i remembered this project from a few years ago...

my kitchen was custom-built when the house was sold new in 1972. every bank of cabinets are a different dimension to fit the space they went into, with some of the doors being different physical dimensions. it's high quality, and well-maintained, and part of the reason i got the house over 'updated' kitchens that have 'upgraded' to bottom-spec cabinets. it doesn't fit any modern aesthetic, which seriously kills it's resale value, but i value condition over resale, so it still works for me.



anyways, lack of a dishwasher, and non-standard cabinets left me in a bad situation having to hand-wash all my dishes. and my water heater is on the opposite side of the house. so just getting hot water to the sink is a 2-3 minute ordeal.

i got a free 18" dishwasher off a jobsite, which was good, because an 18" will fit far easier than a 24".

so i got to modifying. the door/drawer to the left of the sink was wider than the right side of the sink, but still not 18", but either bank of cabinets beyond the corners were between 20-23", which meant it couldn't go there without filler pieces(and also prevented use of a 24" dishwasher, without cutting into the next door).

so the lazy susan got modified to work.






the hardest part was cutting the door cleanly, and then rounding it so it could still rotate.




not at all ideal, but the dishwasher is more important to me than full access to the lazy susan.

i also thought this was interesting-- the sink 'cabinet' is really just a decorative face between the two cabinets. i re-used the side wall for the cabinet i removed to re-enclose the space.



and the requisite side quest. while adding the plumbing, i realized that my sink drain was being held together by corrosion and miracles. so all of the sink drain got updated.



and that's where the project ended.



i got some stain from my sisters paint store that should match, and i need to add some wood to patch in the area i cut out, but 'works' is more important than aesthetics...

maybe one day. but i'd really rather gut and renovate the kitchen one day...

 

Nice job, lots of work.
As I'm 1) not much of a woodworker 2) lazy I would have just stuck a small electric water heater under the sink.


I like that kitchen just as it is.
On HGTV and the like people always say "these are so dated" and rip out high quality older cabinets to replace them with modern -- stuff.

 

instead of a spot spot water heater, i'm eventually planning on a hot water circulation pump on a smart outlet so i can set a schedule or trigger from my phone

$38 JASSFERRY Hot Water Recirculation Pump 115V 3/4" NPT Recirculating System Circulation Replacement Pumps for Solar Water Heater Circulating Boiler Circulator

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PMXP7M6?

i already got the pump, it's just a matter of buying the copper and finding the motivation.

now that it's summer, i can find more interesting things to do outside than drain down a water heater to cut in tee's.

 

Heh, someone did the same thing to my house several years ago. I still have the drawer and cabinet door they saved.

 

Hah, I looked out the window there and remembered that antenna. Winter storm knocked the bracket off and went all crooked.



That was not a fun day removing it.

 

i saved some of the hardware, but rest of it got trashed. i seriously dismantled it to get the different parts for the sink side wall, and getting it out, so i didn't see a reason to saving parts i'd never use again.

 

@soundman98 last house we lived in water heater was in garage, master bath was opposite end of the house. I installed one of these.

$224 Watts Heat H2O Hot Water Recirculation System w/Programmable Timer, Instant Hot Water, 3 Year Warranty, Pump, 2 Adapters, Sensor Valve, Mounting Screws, 2 Supply Lines, Easy DIY Install (0955805)

https://www.amazon.com/Watts-Recirculation-Programmable-Warranty-Adapters/dp/B0D4NTC59R

You tie it in to your water heater and crossover tube goes under sink furthest from water heater.

 

That looks pretty cool, my kitchen is a little distant from my tank and takes awhile to get hot, might consider something like that.

 

I was impressed honestly. Only negative is if you lose power it throws off the dial timer. Its basically manual dial. I set it so it would turn off after midnight then back on again around 8am

 

Yeah, that was where I got the idea from. I worked with a remodelling contractor that I was paid to install electrical to those as part of whole-house remodels.

I don't like the crossover tube concept though. I understand the reasoning. The way around that is to run a dedicated return line from the furthest appliances hot water line back to the pump and water heater cold inlet.

It's what I plan to do so I'm not getting hot water on my cold spigot. And I have full basement access to the water lines, so outside of copper pipe costs, it's not terrible to do

The other issue I have with that model is the mechanical timer. If it runs slow, or has a power outage, I need to reset it.

I also don't need hot water circulating 100% of the time. my winning lottery ticket hasn't shown up yet, so I still need to show up to work for a number of hours every day, which means I really only need it for an hour or two here and there. Mostly while I'm doing dishes and the like.

 

Grundfos is another good brand for those pumps.

 

You can make your own controls pretty easily with a control transformer, a one shot timer relay and a few momentary switches.

Have the pump run for say 5 minutes for every button push.

 

I've got a hot water circulation system in my house too. When I first moved in the builder had it set to run 24x7. That was nice, until I figured out the utility bill. I was basically running a hot water heating system for my basement, so I tried setting the timer. That didn't really work for my work from home lifestyle. I finally settled on a smart plug the for circulation pump and "Alexa turn on the hot water." My ideal solution would be for an bathroom and kitchen occupancy sensor to trigger the pump, but just haven't taken the time to figure that out.

 

They make really small point of use on demand heaters that can mount under the sink. Usually get hot water in just a few seconds. Would work until your hot water from the tank kicks in. They start around $50 on Amazon

 

Thats the one I had in our old house.

And honestly i just had it set to run just before we got up in the morning, and then before we got home for work in the evening. Mine wasnt the best resolution on the timer so it ran for 15 minutes at a time. But that 15 minutes and that water would stay warm enough to be fine for washing hands/dishes/ect for the next hour plus of non useage.

 

Next up on the sauna will be closing up the exterior. Choosing to do the traditional Japanese method of Shou Sugi Ban to protect the wood without stain. Just burn the shit out of it!!
Cedar ship lap + torch = fun and smells great!

 

Pulling walls apart and removing wiring.



Yes, it was live.