We removed some nasty cabinets in the laundry/pantry room off of the kitchen. They were sagging, kind of dirty...possibly not particularly well-installed.

We pried the cabinet pieces off the wall, used joint compound to fill the big holes, then finished with a coat of KILZ® Clean Start™ primer (it's a no-VOC variety). We built our pantry storage with some IKEA Ivar shelving (pieces we've been toting around for...literally a decade). This whole room is going to get ripped out eventually, so we didn't care about aesthetics.

Lessons learned: moving the microwave and the cutting boards to the pantry was a great way to reclaim the little counterspace that's in the kitchen. We hope to get a portable dishwasher which we can hook up to the old laundry hookups (that's what the open space in the lower right is for). The KILZ Clean Start seems to dry at a perfectly reasonable rate, has little to no odor, and by the way, it sticks to your skin like white on rice.

Some interesting moments from the repair:

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A pair of cleaners from Emma's Eco-Clean did a 3.5-hour session at the house today. I think most of it was spent cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and bathroom, undoing many decades of living. The shower doors, tub, shower tile, windows, and the enameled surfaces of the range look miles better than before. There was also a window that we thought was frosted but turned out to be covered in apparently something removable...I'm not sure what (do-it-yourself spray-on frost?), but at any rate, it's clear now:

It was also nice that the house didn't smell of harsh chemicals (ignoring the polyurethane from the floor refinishing). We'll wait to give a truly final verdict on Emma's Eco-Clean, but we'll certainly call them back for our first periodic cleaning.

Utility update:
Discontinued Comcast at the old apartment today. Lesson learned: they need at least 7 days advance notice to shut off service (I wonder if this is entirely necessary)...so we're overpaying a little bit. Gotta remember to return the receivers. They will deduct final bill from autopay, and will send last bill paperwork to the new address.

The plumbers were here today. They extended the gas line for the dryer, added a p-trap for the washer, and repaired the bathroom tub faucet, which turned out to be totally rusted out and destroyed. This required cutting out a portion of the wall. We're not looking forward to the final bill.

But it's nice to have a real faucet. The previous situation was ridiculous.

The floors look great; you can't see where new wood was feathered in unless you're really looking for it. The refinishers left a couple bent metal thresholds at the doors for the kitchen and laundry room, but we expect we can get them to repair those.

Here are some before and after photos:

Repair update:
- gas is back on (PG&E guy arrived at 10am)...he was coincidentally the repairman sent out when the owners were packing up their stuff from the garage and realized they were sitting on a ticking time bomb of gas leaks. He disconnected and plugged the lines. PG&E later sent out another repairman with the necessary tools to perform the full repairs.

Left a message yesterday and Emma's Eco-Clean called back this afternoon. A cleaning has been scheduled for 3:30pm next Tuesday, the 18th. 2 ladies, about 4 hours for a move-in cleaning.

Repair updates:

• Floors get their last coat tomorrow.
• The last batch of termite work was greatly reduced once they learned we're replacing all the outer shingles. All they had to do on Monday was clear out the termite debris.
• Plumbing has been scheduled for Monday—they might help lengthen the gas line for the dryer too.
• PG&E has been rescheduled for Saturday (another all-day appointment). It'll be good to maintain a higher temp for the floors to cure more quickly, and some heat for the cleaning service too.

Fumigation tent was removed afternoon of Saturday, 08 Jan. The gas was turned off for the fumigation, and we had to schedule the gas to be turned back on.

On Sunday we dropped off some stuff in the garage. We noticed the gas range was completely open and wondered if the fumigation guys helped with that or what. For some reason, I didn't think PG&E had to actually come out to shut off or turn on the gas, but turns out they do, and they cannot do one-day turnaround. :( So I thought I could call today and get the turn-on done today. Nope.

Problems:

• washer and dryer were delivered today. Best Buy could not hook up and test the dryer today, but, it turned out the gas line did not end low enough for installation anyway...
• polyurethane does not cure quickly in lower temperatures—this week's colder temperatures and our lack of gas heat could mean problems for the floor refinishing
• PG&E could come out tomorrow, but that's the day the first coat of polyurethane is supposed to go down
• PG&E sometimes cannot guarantee a timeframe any narrower than 4, or 8 hours :(
• PG&E needs someone present so they can check all gas appliances in the house—so we learned who took care of the range/oven when the gas was shut off. Part of the shut-off/turn-on process is PG&E double-checks all gas appliances/furnaces/water heaters/etc.

Unrelated problem: Sears never delivered the fridge within the timeframe they gave for today. We rescheduled for next week.

Conclusions/lessons:

• We were idiots for scheduling the appliances this week; there was zero reason for that. I guess we thought it was weird to buy the appliances and wait a few weeks before delivery. I've also heard stories about warehouses losing track of appliances when buyers need to wait a few weeks before delivery.
• Now I know how gas shut offs work—minimum 2-day advance scheduling + 4–8 hours of sitting at home [update 13 Jan: I re-read the contract from the fumigator; they made it clear PG&E generally needs 48-hour notice, and that we have to be present, etc. Oops.]
• PG&E works on Saturdays, but not Sundays...Saturday might be too soon to walk on the floors, so we scheduled them for Tuesday the 18th (8-hour timeframe)

Fumigation tenting involves lots of tarps and many, many, many metal clips:

Fumigation:
Starts today with Preferred Termite Services.

Tenting notes:

• the fumigators turn off the gas before they tent; we will have to remember to turn it back on.
• you must remove all food and certain items that retain the poison before tenting (which is why fumigation is way easier to do when you don't live in the place yet)

Floors will be done by:
Elegant Floors of Mountain View (recommendation from husband's coworker), starting 10 January, last coat to go down 13 January.

We were going to put off this foundation work till when we did the remodel, but our insurance company wouldn't even insure the home without us either bolting the foundation, or installing an automatic shut-off for the gas line (in the event of a breakage). When we said we might have to switch insurers, they gave us a 20-day grace period to get the work done.

So we called Peace of Mind Structural, the company who did our foundation inspection, and they did super quick scheduling of the 2-day job.
The work started yesterday and as of today, our house will not slip off its foundation, sever a gas line and explode the neighborhood! Yay!

• bolt foundation to house
  [update: done 2010-12-23]
• fumigate, do immediately necessary repairs due to termite & fungus damage
  [update: done 2011-01-11]
• check for gas leaks in furnace + stove
  [Later update: while the owners were in town picking up their stuff in the garage, they noticed the very strong gas smell in the house. Turns out connections to all gas appliances were bad, and the furnace and range needed repair. They had to pay PG&E to do the repairs.]
• refinish floors. maybe. depends on exact remodeling plans
  [update: done 2011-01-13]
• properly connect tub drain
  [update: done 2011-01-17]
• fix kitchen drain situation (exit is too high; causing problems with garbage disposal and sink drainage)
  [update: doesn't seem to be a problem]
• fix flashing on roof
  [update: will do after the move]
• carbon monoxide detector (furnace may not be burning/venting efficiently)
  [update: purchased & plugged in 2011-01-21]
• clean existing gutters, add missing gutters
  [update: will do after the move]
• fix power lines in
  [update: can do as part of remodel]
• not a repair per se, but we need a fridge, washer, dryer, and microwave before we move in
  [update: fridge, washer, dryer purchased 2011-01-01...pondering new microwave vs. craigslist microwave]
  [update: microwave procured via Craigslist around 2011-01-26. Read details here.]