Installing in kitchen remodeling yourself requires the right, quality tools in each work stage. There are far more work stages that you first think. Dismantling the furniture and surface materials, and their removal, interior design work, tiling, furniture installation and molding just for a start.
Kitchen remodeling starts with dismantling the old furniture and surfaces. Tiling in the intermediate space is picked free from the stone wall. With board walls, the simplest thing to do is to remove the tiling with the base board and replace it with a new one.
The next step is to examine the straightness of the structures (floor, walls) and of the wall angles. The straightness of the floors can easily be checked with a laser leveler or long spirit level. It’s also easy to use a spirit level to check the vertical and horizontal straightness of the walls. Next is the right time to straighten the walls, especially as regards the intermediate spaces. This makes it easier to tile straight onto the surface after installing the furniture. Once the fillers have dried, it’s a good idea to check the walls with a pipe and cable detector for water pipes and electrical cables hidden inside the walls. This is how you can avoid unpleasant surprises when installing the furniture.
In the initial stage of furniture installation, the basic height of the furniture is measured first and the locations of the frames are outlined. When measuring kitchen counter height, the plinth height for dishwasher and any windows should be taken into account.
Despite uneven floors, the furniture is installed straight and despite the sloping walls the front edges of the furniture are installed by wedging them straight. This work stage must be done carefully since any mistakes in this stage will be visible in the end result. The place of the sink cabinet and dishwasher must be carefully measured so that the protective trays go in just the right place. Because of water and sewage pipes coming from the floor, the protective trays must be installed before the sink cupboard due to the penetration sealings. Penetrations to protective trays are sealed either with butyl mastic or separate penetration sealing tape. After all, in the event of a possible leak we want the water to be directed to the right place where it can be seen not to the dwelling structures.
Puustelli’s furniture warranty also requires the use of appropriate fasteners. Wall plugs and screws must be lasting and of good quality so that they keep the furniture firmly fixed to the wall so that the kitchen is safe to use. Cheap wall plugs tend not to last when used as intended. Cheap, weak screws may easily break already on installation. With panel frame walls the furniture should be fastened to the battening. Without a pipe and cable detector it is hard to locate the battens in covered walls.
Kitchens are becoming more technical and people increasingly want to integrate home appliances so that they are out of sight to achieve consistent lines. Even though Puustelli frames are tested and pre-drilled for each mechanism, it’s worth spending time to install them and reading carefully the manufacturers’ instructions to ensure correct mechanism function. Wrongly integrated refrigeration equipment in particular increases power consumption, weakens food storage and significantly shortens the useful life of the machinery. A carelessly integrated dishwasher releases steam between the door and with bad luck the frames nearby swell up before their time.
An important part of furniture installation includes woodworking and cutting furniture boards. Suitable tools alone are not enough, you also need quality sharp blades suitable for woodworking to leave a clean, untorn cutting surface.
You will have to do woodworking also remodeling the kitchen yourself and this will create sawdust and wood dust. Without proper removal, fine wood dust will float throughout the home and still be found in the indoor air long after the remodeling is over.
Industrial safety increasingly takes into consideration carcinogenic substances such as the hardwood dust and quartz dust arising in remodeling. To minimize the risk of exposure, particular attention should be given to personal protective equipment and especially the classification of the vacuum used to remove the dust at the site. The filters of vacuums designed for households or DIY do not necessarily meet the requirements but discharge too many particles from the dust bag back into the air circulation through which they can be freely inhaled.
It should also be remembered that renovation waste is created whenever dismantling old and installing new. Renovation and packaging waste should be taken to the recycling center and properly sorted there.
Remodeling the kitchen yourself always take time, especially when done in the evening and at weekends in addition to other work. Remodeling when tired multiplies the risk of error and accident. A wrongly machined material can often reverse the savings of doing things yourself into a loss. There is no product warranty for wrongly machined materials and no installation warranty for wrongly installed furniture and mechanisms.
The shortest possible lead time benefits us all. It’s worth spending evenings and weekends with family.
You can’t take advantage of tax credit on household expenses with do it yourself kitchen installation. When you buy the remodeling work, a certain amount is always tax deductible, including electrical and plumbing work.
The HVAC and electrical partners used by Puustelli Installation Service are professionals in their trade. Only the best electrical contractors authorised by the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency are used. Only trained HVAC professionals are allowed to connect water and drains.
It’s hard just by googling to find professionals who give a cost estimate in advance, arrive at the agreed time and give a warranty for their work.
