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Day 14 of Kitchen Remodel: Counter Tops Installed

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

kitchen remodel day 14

The counter top dudes were right on time this morning. Laid cardboard all over the kitchen floor and drop cloths from the door to the kitchen. They started in cutting the plywood and screwing it into place. After they finished with the screws, one of the guys grabbed a sander and started grinding out half-moon circles around the screw holes, which caused sparks to fly everywhere. It looked like the Fourth of July in the kitchen.

I had to double check the refrigerator to make sure there were no burn marks on it from the sparks.

Somehow, through all the madness of today, I managed to write three offers for clients. Two for one buyer and an offer for a buyer I showed homes to last week. She called me out of the blue and wanted to write an offer. I could not drop what I was doing -- having to supervise and all -- so I quickly prepared the paperwork, emailed it to my transaction coordinator at Lyon, she printed it out, the clients came in and signed, and then she emailed me the signed offer along with a FAX copy of their deposit check. Thank goodness for technology, huh

Drilling holes day 14 kitchen remodel land park

What I want to know is just how many cell phones does one guy need? See the guy on the left? Looks like he has three of them. They are busy drilling holes into the quartz for the Danze Parma prewash faucet and the airgap. I was a bit confused when I looked at the faucet. I've never seen anything like it. The only apparatus that seems to go down the hole are the two connectors for the hot and cold. I made the guys show me that everything would actually fit into the holes when they were finished. Can't be too careful, you know.

brandon day 14 kitchen remodel

I put my Somali in here because he wants to be in the limelight, too. It's not fair that Pia and Pica hog all the kitty photos. He turned 17 last month and is suffering from kidney disease, which seems to come and go, according to his blood level readings. He spends most of his time in a 4 x 4 pen, but I let him out at night and in the mornings. He's much happier in the pen now that I've moved it from the sunroom into the family room. After the remodel is finished, I will probably leave him in the family room. He doesn't like to be isolated.

quartz counters day 14 kitchen remodel

Here is the photo of one side of the kitchen with the counter tops installed. The sink is an undermount. They didn't really need to adjust the sink at all. It seemed to be in the perfect spot, and it was level, so they installed the counter top around it. I caught one of the dudes actually measuring the distance from the floor to the top of the plywood where the dishwasher goes. That made me feel a lot better and less anxious about the install, because it was a sign of professionalism

close up of quartz counters land park

 Here is a close-up of the quartz. It is made by Cambria, a design called Windsor. I felt it was timeless, and not as blaring or loud as some of those swirly designs you see in older homes, which seem so out of place. Plus, the colors were picked up by my cabinets and flooring. I opted for the square-cut edges over rolled because that design seemed to fit better with the style of my Land Park home. Quartz is a natural stone, resistant to scratches and heat resilient. It holds up better than granite and is more expensive than granite. My personal opinion is granite is sort of trendy and I'd hate to walk into my home in 10 years and sigh, "Oooo, so 2008."

dishwasher grounding screw day 14 kitchen remodel land park

And here is the problem. You probably can't see it very well, but in the center is a green blotch. That is the green grounding screw on my dishwasher. Since the dishwasher wasn't delivered in time for the electricians to hook up the cord, I decided to do it myself. I know that the ribbed wire is neutral and the smooth is hot. I hooked those up with no problem. But the grounding wire needs to be attached to the grounding screw. Under the grounding screw is a small flat plate with little feet. I imagine the point is to wrap the wire around the screw under the plate and tighten the screw to the plate.

The problem is the screw will only turn a few times and then it stops. It does not tighten down to the plate. I thought perhaps it was in crooked, so I have removed it a number of times, reinserted it and tried to tighten the screw. It just won't budge past a few turns, even with all my strength bearing down on the screw.

Now, I can call the electricians to come back out, but it seems so pointless for the tightening of a grounding screw. If push comes to shove tomorrow, I will have the plumber install the dishwasher, poke the cord through the hole into the cabinet with the receptacle and wait for the electricians to come back to attach the grounding wire to the grounding screw. I already sent the electrician a picture of this and am requesting help, so maybe it will be fixed before the plumber shows up tomorrow.

Wouldn't it be funny if the last thing I needed to do was held up because of a grounding screw?

elizabeth weintraub sacramento real estate agent land park

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (9)

Deborah Burroughs
San Diego, CA

Elizabeth, your counter-tops look lovely. Sounds like you had a very busy, and productive, day! I'm impressed.

Your kitty is sooo cute! :)

Aug 04, 2008 02:56 PM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Elizabeth, what depth of information you provide us. Everything looks gorgeous and the job is almost done. I love how you call them "countertop dudes" like they are your pets. No, we know who the real pets are in the house and they got their well deserved photos. I swear this whole series could be a book, with me as a loyal reader. PLUS, you are doing real estate in the middle of all this which amazes me. You are one of the most detailed people I have encountered. You don't miss anything I think.

Aug 04, 2008 03:16 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Deborah: Productive doesn't begin to describe it. As a 100,000 point member of Active Rain, I signed in to Localism at 12:14 to get ready to buy sponsorships. Hey, all that concert ticket training online has paid off. I scored every community I wanted.

Hi Gary: I got an email today from a fellow columnist at About.com. She has been reading my blog on Active Rain about the remodel and wanted to know how in the hell I handled the remodel, along with my real estate clients and also writing the blogs and articles I do every week for About.com. It's easy. I sleep 10 hours a night and I eat frozen dinners. That's all I do. I don't socialize, I don't hang out and take personal phone calls; I don't see friends or go to the movies. I am focused. Plus my husband is out of town until tomorrow, Day 15. That helps. :)

elizabeth weintraub sacramento real estate agent land park

Aug 04, 2008 03:26 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Elizabeth -  Why not ask the plumber to tighten it? Maybe he can force it. It might be a damaged thread on the bolt, and with some pressure it will cut through. At lease, it would not hurt. It is not that much electrical, of course.

Lova you feline line. 17 year old, quite the age by feline standards

Aug 04, 2008 03:43 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Jon:

Because the plumber is a prima donna. He does plumbing. He doesn't touch electrical with a ten-foot pole, and in some ways, that's the way it should be. I may know how to do loans, but I leave the mortgage business to the pros.

My contractor guy is plenty ticked off that plumber right now anyway. Because he says he paid the plumber eight grand to do work for him, which the plumber has not completed. But hey, he was the one who referred me to this plumber! It's not really my fault.

I was so thrilled to have found this plumber. He does great work at a reasonable fee. But you know what they say about the top three things you get from a contractor:

  • Quality Work
  • Reasonable Prices
  • Shows up When Promised

. . . pick any two.

elizabeth weintraub sacramento real estate land park

Aug 04, 2008 03:50 PM
Robert Machado
HomePointe Property Management, CRMC - Sacramento, CA
CPM MPM - Property Manager and Property Management

Let's see, one cell for work, one for his wife and family, and one for his girl friend.  Nice counters.

Aug 04, 2008 05:14 PM
Jesse Clifton
Jesse Clifton & Associates - Fairbanks, AK

I like the counters, Elizabeth.  I think you made a wise choice!

Aug 04, 2008 07:09 PM
Colleen Fischesser Northwest Property Shop
NextHome Experience - Chelan, WA
A Tradition of Trust in the Pacific NW since 1990!

Will you please bottle your energy and share? I tried to get Jessica Horton to do this a while back but she let me down ;-)

Love the coutners-I agree, very timeless!

Aug 05, 2008 02:46 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Robert: And . . . you would know that how? LOL.

Hi Jesse: Thanks for the thumbs up.

Hi Colleen: I handle the energy issue by going to sleep at 9 PM and getting up at 6 AM.

elizabeth weintraub sacramento land park real estate agent

Aug 05, 2008 02:47 AM