Post Brackets

Had some time to work on the house this weekend. Friday night my wife asked me what the brackets were going to look like, so I made a rough sketch that quickly turned into my shop drawing. Everyone knows that goofy pencil-toppers are mandatory for shop drawings.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

Saturday I had a few hours to fabricate brackets. Remember that old band saw I converted with a speed reduction? Perfect for cutting the 1/8" plate I would be using at the top and bottom of the post.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

Cut some pieces out to be sandwiched between the plates. I called them "tongues".

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

I then welded up some lighter gauge steel for the nail plates on either side of the header. I think it was 16 or 18 ga.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

Test fit (note that I still had sheet rock to cut away here, so it isn't centered between the two headers):

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

Finish welded:

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

I hosed both brackets down with some primer and gloss black because it is what I had. Here is the upper hanging out on the header prior to final installation:

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

The Post: Final Chapter

These two are ready to start their occupation after waiting in a warehouse for half a century. They even went and got all dressed up for the occasion.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

I used the belt sander to make sure the two brackets I made would sit flat in their respective homes, and then took final measurements to trim the mahogany. Cutting that stuff made me feel a little wrong, but the final product has made it all better.

So ready to knock the planks into place, I gave the old SAAB spare tire jack a few extra cranks to see if I could get a little extra clearance. Instead I just watched the jack slowly taco. Turns out a spare tire scissor jack isn't meant to lift up your house. Hydraulic shop jack to the rescue.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

I didn't take any photos of the act of putting the planks into place, probably because I was all lathered from moving them around by myself. I did take the time to write a message on the inside of one of the planks. It read: "This mahogany plank was harvested and milled prior to 1970 and has been installed as part of a kitchen remodel by Craig Richmond in April of 2016. It has been finished with teak oil." I love finding stories in things I take apart, so I hope this makes someone's day many years from now. I also hand planed a relief into each plank for the bracket tongues and also clearanced them for the weld beads at the attachment point.

Here is the two original braces and the third back-up for the SAAB jack, with the second plank up prior to drilling holes.

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

After the first plank was up, I used the bolt hole drilled in the tongue as a guide for drilling the bolt holes through the mahogany. This was hard work for my corded Hitachi drill, and even harder work for the 5/8" speed bore bit I used. Much smoke and heat was created. Did I mention that this was a brand new drill bit? After drilling the second plank through the holes already drilled in the first plank, the bit was pretty well shagged out.

Finished product, after some shims:

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

Untitled by craig richmond, on Flickr

The sheet rock will cover all of the nailer plate of the bracket I made, so all you'll see is the post. For bolts, I used 5/8" all thread cut to length with the ends cleaned up on the old Logan lathe. The hardware will likely all get painted black at some point down the road.

The post looks spectacular - Far better than I ever imagined!

Looks Great!

Is this the first post about a post on GRM?

Looks amazing!

I had thought about leaving a mason jar of ethanol in the garage's "Impala pocket" when I fill that in. Following your lead, I think I'll leave a note as well (I love finding easter eggs). Someone before me left tabs from a license plate dated 1964.

Looks Great!! Id paint the hardware, but it sounds like that is in the plan anyway.

I too love finding messages. I always write something inside walls.

Spot on with the brackets just like what I had seen. On one they made it just a little thinner in the pocket and then chiseled out the area where it was so it was flush with the rest of the beam. Then they ran sheetrock over that so it didn't make a bulge in that area.

Forgot to mention their brackets where made out of 1/2 plate steel so not as easy to sheetrock over as what you have.

You are correct in that looks awesome with the stain choice and the exposed hardware. Nice job.

In reply to pinchvalve: I like your post. Do you like my post?

I want to add a post: that looks really good.

I'm posting about your post, but it isn't a poster.

Speaking of the whole asbestos thing: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/10/exposing_employees_to_asbestos.html

Stefan (Not Bruce) wrote: I'm posting about your post, but it isn't a poster. Speaking of the whole asbestos thing: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/10/exposing_employees_to_asbestos.html

Awesome work so far man. I am in the midst of a kitchen remodel also and just got done ordering 4K worth of cabinets myself. The night before I ordered I don't think I slept maybe a couple hours I was so worried.

I'll be watching your build closely.

t25torx wrote: Awesome work so far man. I am in the midst of a kitchen remodel also and just got done ordering 4K worth of cabinets myself. The night before I ordered I don't think I slept maybe a couple hours I was so worried. I'll be watching your build closely.

I've lost so much sleep over the last few weeks worrying about the damn cabinets and layout. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!

Keep up the good work. I've got a kitchen remodel in my future, although with my bum shoulder I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do myself.

Can you please tell me what you had to do to get the bandsaw to cut metal? I have a bandsaw....

Dusterbd13 wrote: Can you please tell me what you had to do to get the bandsaw to cut metal? I have a bandsaw....

Well, I made a build thread, but I only now realize I never posted the finished product. I'll get to that soon, but meanwhile you can see the (mostly) finished product HERE.

You want to get the speed down, and then be sure to use a good bi-metal blade meant for cutting metal.

I have a horizontal band saw used for cutting stock to length, but the upright is way better when it comes to cutting plate and doing any sort of curves. It really cuts nicely! My only complaint is the old brass guides are worn and noisy, but given I put less than $50 into it, I'm satisfied.

In reply to jimbob_racing:

Bum shoulders will definitely make work like this difficult. I'm fine with the physical labor, but I will say that all the hammer swinging certainly makes an impact on my manual dexterity. Typing after a weekend of remodeling activities is...different.

Thanks. Gorgeous old tools collection you have.

I'll wait for the update on speed reduction and not clog this thread.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Thanks. Gorgeous old tools collection you have.

You just made my day.

On Saturday, my wife and I made it up to Ikea to order the rest of our cabinets. Apparently everything was in stock, so that meant that in order to buy them that day, we would have to take them home right then or pay the $160 for delivery. Grr. We decided to schedule delivery for a week from today, since driving an hour home and then an hour back in my truck wasn't necessary since we won't be able to do anything with those cabinets just yet anyway. Besides, it would cost me almost that much in gas alone for my truck.

We spent the day running a few errands, including me wandering around Home Depot looking into a lot of small details.

I learned that I need "J Trim" to finish the drywall on the header where it meets my new post. This stuff:

Also looked at sliding doors, since scope creep dictates that we will have to replace ours. The old door is terrible and has been really difficult to open and close for years now. We need to go down from a 72" door to a 60" door in order to gain a little space for the oven and side cabinet, and this was fine with me since I could do it without any major wall surgery. Look, a door at HD!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/G632ev]

I also bought $200 worth of wire and outlets and other sundry electrical supplies, because my plan Sunday was to work on getting the electrical where it needs to be.

Electrical

Per my last post, the focus for yesterday was on getting the electrical stuff sorted out. This means I spent a good deal of time rolling around in my crawlspace. Good fun, as always. Not a lot of pictures, because this isn't exciting at all. I completed the following:

• Installed new outlet for Fridge using original fridge circuit, at its new location.

• Installed water supply for Fridge Ice maker.

• Relocated range 220V outlet over to outside wall.

• Made a plan for under-counter lights and other accent lighting in the kitchen, including where that power would come from and how it would be switched. Pretty pleased about this because I've got a good plan that should work really nicely and will look like it was designed in from the get-go. Which it kind of was.

• Relocated appliances:

  • Fridge: in order to move the fridge up against the wall, I had to pull out the range hood and the small cabinet over it. This wasn't a big deal because the hood wasn't good for anything to begin with and the cabinet over it just had big pans we rarely use anyway.

  • Range: I cut off the countertop where the dishwasher used to live and shoved the stove in there for now. Since I relocated the outlet, it was easiest to just move the whole thing. The final location will be a few inches to the right, but our new range won't go there until the new cabinet boxes are in.

Pretty exciting to see the kitchen now, because for the first time we can see the open layout of the kitchen without the fridge floating around in the middle of the open space. Here it is all put back together for now. So far working in the kitchen through the remodel hasn't been bad at all - my wife has only had to readjust her standards for cleanliness.

You can start to get a feel for the openness of the space without that wall and fridge in the way:

Plus, you can see the sneak preview of the new wheels I just got.

Most important of all, here is Miso checking out the new perch we installed for her (the old upper cabinet):

Lights

Time to get the lighting sorted out. I tore the drywall down behind the stove, because I knew I'd need to move the studs to make room for the hood exhaust duct, and this would also help me figure out the wiring for the switches.

I know I need to lengthen the wires to move the switches over to the left, so they aren't right above the stove...that means a junction box which must be accessible once the wall is closed up. I came up with a great solution - I'll put the junction box above where the exhaust duct leaves the wall, so it will be hidden behind the hood chimney. Felt pretty smart after thinking up that solution.

I only get a few hours here and there to work on the remodel, so this phase is slow going. That's ok, because we're waiting for all the flooring and cabinets to be delivered. Plenty to do before that stuff anyway.

Saturday was spent with a number of different errands, but I did get to spend some time eating goulash at Hungary Bill's. It was awesome.

Sunday afternoon I tore into the ceiling to install recessed cans.

Layout:

In process:

All done!

All the recessed can lights are LEDs on a common dimmer - such a huge improvement!

I wasn't too happy with them at first, but I realized it was only because we could suddenly see just how ugly our kitchen is... I think I'll feel a lot better about the lights when we get it all done!

I applaud your skills of house renovation. I'm absolutely terrified of house wiring. I don't mind doing vehicles, and I love car wiring. But as soon as I get into house wiring I'm just terrified. I don't know why. I think it's an irrational fear, but I still have it.

Where did you get the lights? What model?

corsepervita wrote: I applaud your skills of house renovation. I'm absolutely terrified of house wiring. I don't mind doing vehicles, and I love car wiring. But as soon as I get into house wiring I'm just terrified. I don't know why. I think it's an irrational fear, but I still have it.

Nothing to it but to do it. I totally understand the fear though - I always feel a little apprehensive when I start, but once you get in, it is no big deal. Follow the NEC, and you'll be fine.

In reply to Enyar:

Recessed cans are Halo 6" IC remodel housings. LED kits were a Lowes special for 5" or 6" recessed cans. They were about $30 for a box of three.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to pull wire to the lights and get it all installed. The cans are annoying to work with because every single edge is razor sharp, and the clips that hold them in are a bit fiddly. Otherwise not a bad job!