Three Nasty Surprises You Might Find During Kitchen Remodeling And How To Fix Them

Kitchen remodeling can be a very exciting project. After all, you are recreating a room where you cook, eat, entertain and spend some quality moments with family and friends. You want it to represent your tastes and personal style. However, there can be some nasty surprises awaiting you when you start pulling things out of your kitchen. Here are some of the less-than-pleasant issues you might encounter during your kitchen remodel and how to fix them.

Layers of Wallpaper under Layers of Paint

Prior owners of your home may have avoided removing wallpaper by just painting over it. While you can certainly do that, it becomes quite obvious that that is what happened when new owners remove cupboards and end up taking chunks of paint-covered wallpaper with the old cupboards. Repeated layers of wallpaper, paint and plaster build up over time and make your kitchen smaller than its original dimensions, which complicates any additional features you would like to add to the walls (e.g., more/new cupboards).

The best ways to handle this are to either sledgehammer the layers away and reconstruct new walls from scratch or to use lots of solvent. Since most people plan to expand their kitchens or knock out walls anyway, the sledgehammer may be the best option in this case. If you just need to get back to the primary wall layer, you can use solvents to remove the layers of paint, plaster and wallpaper. Just be sure to open several windows and keep the area well ventilated.

Several Layers of Flooring

When DIY homeowners do not bother to rip up the old flooring to install the new layer of flooring, you get a very uneven, bumpy and problematic floor that is not on the same level as the flooring in the hallway or the flooring in the next room. As you begin to remodel, you may find that you have linoleum over wood, tile over the linoleum, wood parquet flooring over the tile, etc. Adding yet another layer of flooring material to this mess is a bad idea, because, like the walls with the layers of paint, plaster and wallpaper, you decrease the size of the room. You also create structural issues which can result in weakened floorboards far underneath all of these flooring layers. In short, you will have to rip all of these materials up until you get to the base floor and then install your new flooring.

Mold Under the Sink

If you already see mold under your sink, there may be more hiding in the walls and under the cabinetry in the floorboards below the sink. When you rip out the cabinetry under the sink and/or remove the sink, you may discover more mold, in which case you will need a mold remediation contractor to come take a look. Your remodeling contractor may have to wait until the mold remediation specialist has completed his/her assessment and removal of the mold before installing new cabinetry and a new sink.

For more information about what to expect during a kitchen remodeling project, contact a company like Lifestyle Kitchen Designs.


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