Score at the half: Dishwasher 2, Rob's toolbox 1

[rfunk]

Saturday we bought a (barely) used dishwasher for really cheap, intending to replace the old one that barely works.

This afternoon I thought we might install it. I have been called an optimist before.....

Apparently the 1/4" laminate flooring in our kitchen was installed after the old dishwasher. First I had to cut away the floor moulding that had been installed across the entire baseboard including the dishwasher base. Then I discovered that the front feet of the dishwasher were actually under the top layer of flooring. My little hacksaw blade wouldn't help here. Nor would my drill.

Then I realized that what I needed was a Dremel, though I've never actually used one before. So I went out and bought one, along with a couple of bits that looked like they might be useful for this task.

And then I spent quite a while grinding away at the floor to make a couple little ramps for the feet, learning how to use a Dremel as I went (and those things can be scary sometimes). Toward the end of that I started mixing in trying to raise the feet above the floor level; one side worked fine, but the other side was quite stuck; eventually with enough WD-40 I got it to turn.

Finally I got around to turning off and disconnecting the water line.... and realized that the water inlet is in a different place on the new dishwasher, requiring some additional copper pipe and an elbow. I do not count plumbing as one of my skills, not even one of my "I've seen it done enough that I'd feel comfortable doing it myself" skills. At this point, after already fighting the flooring and the foot, I decided it was time to put the project down until tomorrow.


Update: Read duriyah's account of the same thing.
It's also worth noting that the noise of the Dremel scared away one cat, while the near-deaf one wandered over to investigate further.

Comments

[tesinth.livejournal.com]

Aren't home improvement projects great? :)

Anytime a project comes up at work, or I'm helping someone out at their place, I always try to start with a "this thing is probably going to kick my ass, lets just take baby-steps and see where it goes" type of attitude, even if its something I've done dozens of times before. Then, once everything is messed up beyond repair, I find winging usually works.

If you are working with other people (or they happen to be in the room), I find that sounding confident in whatever you're doing will put them at ease, even if you actually have no idea what the hell you're doing.

Despite all this, I'm actually really looking forward to buying my first house and getting a chance to work on my own stuff for once. So far as your project goes, if you have to add copper line, I would probably use flare fittings if there is enough room (they're a bit bulkier than compression fittings, but are uaually easier to work with). If possible, replacing the copper line with a pvc line might make more sense and be easier, hard to say without looking at the layout. Best of luck.

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

At least my positive attitude going in does get tempered with "don't do anything irreversible unless and until absolutely necessary."

I'll have to remember flare fittings. All I know is I want to avoid having to solder (or glue) anything.