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Thread: Mud Room renovation project

  1. #1
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    Mud Room renovation project

    With the poker table project completed, it is on to the next project and one that has been nagging at me for quite a while. The mud room in our home is pretty much the only room that I haven't done anything with since we bought the house over twenty years ago - and to be frank - it shows.

    The room is quite small as you can see by the handful of pics attached below. The project is not a very big one, but it will be a challenge as there is a lot going on in this particular room.

    SWMBO and I still have to get in there with a pen and pad and go over all of the changes we would like, but the obvious ones right now are some recept's and switches that we would like moved, the water heater needs to be nudged over an inch or two from its current location - it will be built into the base cabinetry with removeable panels. We also want to move the water heater timer into the wall as a built in and we would like to add some recycling bins in the room.

    I will need to build a new base cabinet to replace the one shown in the pics and will also be building two wall cabinet units as well as a large wall unit that will serve for storage of various items. There will be a large wall cabinet unit over top of where the current(to be replaced), and the new base cabinet is located. This will serve to add some needed storage and to also hide the hideous range exhaust hood ductwork from view. We will also have to deal with the whole house humidifier that is located in the room, as well as the clothes washer and dryer.

    The entire room is roughly 5'X10' so space is limited and that will certainly need to be kept in mind when designing everything, which will be done on the fly.

    More pics will be added as the project is moved along. I just began to clear out the room today after work. The drawers that were in the old base cabinet will be recycled into my work bench up in the wood shop.
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    There's one in every crowd......and it's usually me!

  2. #2
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    Fred, check that electric wall heater VERY carefully...many of these were recalled awhile back for fire hazard. Be sure it's a "good" one!! I may have mentioned that to you in one of my many visits, but with CRS...I just don't remember!!

    'Can't wait to see what you do with this room!
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 06-08-2005 at 9:42 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Fred,

    Good luck with your project. From the sounds of it, this room will be very nice looking when you are done.

    Keep us updated with pics
    Jeff Sudmeier

    "It's not the quality of the tool being used, it's the skills of the craftsman using the tool that really matter. Unfortunately, I don't have high quality in either"

  4. #4
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    The mudroom renovation has moved along. Hasn’t gone as fast as I would have liked, but I am only managing to do it in my spare time (read that –when not working at my actual occupation). However, the little bit of electrical is done, the water heater has been “nudged” over and the drywall has been hung and the ceiling painted. The wood paneling is in the process of being hung.

    You never know about the “skeleton” of a house until you open it up. The addition has revealed a number of freaky things about its past.

    First of all, the mudroom was done in two separate projects. You can see the dividing line between the two in this first picture. The original is where the studs are revealed with no insulation is between the studs. The ½” sheathing is where original outside wall was. Insulation IS behind this sheathing. This room abuts the kitchen and the range exhaust hood originally vented directly out the wall which is now inside the mud room. It now takes a turn and vents out a side wall of the newer of the two additions. The renovation will encompass wall cabinetry on this wall that will hide both the exhaust ductwork and the water heater timer after it is raised from its current location. We had originally wanted to recess the timer into the wall, but decided against that.

    Picture two shows that the room has a very curious framing method for sure! Look at the picture below. The header above the exterior door extends for the length of the original mudroom and on top of that, other studs were added to get to the roof line. Strange indeed. Fortunately, the four walls in the room are being finished with birch paneling and the many studding imperfections weren’t that big of a deal since the ½” drywall mounted on it only served as a “backer” for the paneling.

    In picture three the open octagonal electrical box was the first of two in series in this wall and both served the water heater. It seemed as if the original line serving the water heater fell short and they just added a box to act as a junction and added a short length down to another which was just out of the bottom of this picture. The bottom box was eliminated when I raised the timer enclosure higher up on the wall.

    I had to “sister” a new stud to one of the originals - as shown in picture 4 - since the ½” sheathing didn’t quite make it to that particular stud and was unsupported. All this was done in the process of moving the water heater timer higher on the wall.

    Pic five shows that all drywall got mounted last week and the ceiling was the only necessary spackling needed (the horizontal seams on the wall were filled in simply to eliminate the “valleys” in preparations for the birch paneling). The second room addition pitched the roof down from the original roof. That and the fact that nothing was truly plumb and square and the studs were nowhere close to being 16 inches on center made for a bit of a headache to get started off plumb. I struck a plumb line down the wall a little shy of 4 feet from the corner of the room and based my measurements to the corner from that. Using the craft paper to scribe the ceiling line gave me what I needed to complete the first panel and that got me off to a plumb hanging from there on that wall.

    Finally, the first panel up (shown here) was the oddball of the lot of twelve pieces I purchased at H.D. All of the others were a pretty good color match to each other – and clear of knots or blemishes or anything. This first panel is fine though with its three obvious dark streaks since it will be about 80% hidden behind a wall storage unit
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    Last edited by Fred Voorhees; 07-10-2005 at 1:17 AM.
    There's one in every crowd......and it's usually me!

  5. #5
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    Fifth picture to post above is here. Forgot about maximum pic count per post.
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    There's one in every crowd......and it's usually me!

  6. #6
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    'Lookin' good, Fred. You made some progress since I stopped by a couple weeks ago.
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    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
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    Well, it certainly took a little bit longer than I had anticipated, but the results were worth waiting for. At least that is what SWMBO thinks, and isn't that what counts

    The former laundry room was the most forlorn looking room in our home and was begging for a make-over. One of the biggest challenges was simply working in its tight confines. But, with a good amount of planning, it was pulled off.

    There is just a wee bit more work left to do. Just need to trim out the wall opening where the whole house humidifier ducts through to the living area and just below that, I need to build some simply shelves for the wife to place clothes washing stuff on. Other than that, this project is pretty much a done deal. A long way from the former room when you compare the before and after pics.

    Below is the wall storage unit. It was built in two pieces - a broom closet section and the recycling section.
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    There's one in every crowd......and it's usually me!

  8. #8
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    Outstanding, Fred!!! Now you can go fishing and dream about the next project...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  9. #9
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    The photos below show the base cabinet configuration that conceals and houses the water heater. I ended up re-using the old drawers. I was able to get them apart and needed to make them about 1 1/2" narrower. Just put new plywood fronts on them and then mounted new faces that matched the new decor and they were like new drawers. Saved a lot of time with that! The upper cabinets are also shown, as well as the South end of the room where the washer and dryer are located. All cabinetry was built with 3/4" birch ply and #1 pine for face frames.

    The wife wanted to try using the same material that was on the floor on top of the countertop. I was a bit leary, but it turned out well and time will tell if it will last. This room doesn't get a whole lot of use, so it should hold up.
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    There's one in every crowd......and it's usually me!

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