Post date: Nov 20, 2015 4:13:34 AM
We (actually the plumbers) got the dishwasher installed and tested. Very slick little (18” wide) machine, complete with water softener (which I won’t need because I installed a whole-house water softener). Since my counters are high it needs a filler strip at the top, but that is no problem, and provides another opportunity for a ventilation opening to the slab.
Speaking of ventilation, I removed the styrofoam that we had packed into the ventilation ducts in the floor to prevent them from filling with concrete, lo those many months ago. I still need to fit a dust filter, but the hole in the bottom of the sink base cabinet will allow access to the ducts.
The bad is that the 24” stove I ordered is 24 1/4” wide at the top. It does not come close to fitting into a 24” opening in the counter and cabinets. The specifications do not show that, but a phone call to ABT Electronics (where I bought it) said that I could raise it an inch and it might pass. We removed the backsplash (which I don’t need and didn’t want, but it seemed the only option) and we can probably deform the stove sheet metal enough to get it in. ABT is checking to see if there is a flat metal piece (as if this were a slide-in model) to replace the metal backsplash.
The ugly is the refrigerator. Somehow we did not leave enough width between the studs. The refrigerator is (or is supposed to be) recessed into an 8” thick wall. The cabinet is wide enough, but we need 4” more in the wall cavity. Unlike most studs, we did not pack these out with drywall, which would be easy to remove. So it looks as though we will have to thin the two studs (one on each side) by about 1/4” each. Were the studs not embedded in a finished wall behind a cabinet, this task would be easy — a run through the table saw or a shot with a Skilsaw. Our thought is to use a router to carve away as much as we can. Fortunately we don’t have to go all the way back or up, leaving room for the router shoe. We will have to avoid nails in the wall or risk destroying the router bit.
Back to the good: the furnace is ready for gas inspection.