Project: Sink cabinet

When we moved into our house there was one thing in particular that was bugging me - the cabinet floor underneath the kitchen sink was warped and nasty. It was nothing like our old house sink, but it was musty, and it was getting really obnoxious to try to put cleaning supplies and things down there - they would all fall on top of each other from the warping. And it was just, yucky. I hated putting anything down there, and forget any real organization. I considered cleaning it, but every time I thought about it, I changed my mind. It was beyond help - there comes a point when something is simply not worth the effort of cleaning.

Anyway, it was one of those things I kept telling myself "Eh, we'll get around to it eventually." Yesterday, I opened the cupboard and decided that I was going to fix it. Boom. Just like that. Will came home for lunch right when I had emptied the cupboard out and was watching a youtube video about it. I asked him where the jigsaw and sawzall were, and he found them for me, ate lunch and went back to work. He didn't even seem remotely concerned, and I think I'll just take that as a compliment.


Step 1:

I took out the old wood! It was really easy to get out. I drilled a couple of holes, cut it with a hand saw and a jig saw, and at the end I just used a hammer because the wood was literally falling apart. It popped out on all the edges, but it doesn't always do that. Sometimes the wood continues all the way through to the next cupboard, and you have to cut it along the edge as neatly as you can. In our old house we used a sawzall for that part, luckily I didn't need it this time. (Those are one of the scarier kinds of saws, in my opinion...)

Step 2:
I cleaned everything up, wiped it down with bleach and then painted Kilz oil primer on the subfloor. This was more of a precaution than anything else. There was no visible mold, but it smelled mildew-y and had some stains.

Step 3:
Set up the base supports. I needed the supports to be 6 inches up from the sub floor, so I used six 2x4 pieces that were 6 inches long and put them in every corner and in the middle front and back. I also made a "beam" that went down the middle, for extra support. The six 6" pieces I used a bit of wood glue to attach them to the sides, and for the beam I didn't use anything to attach it, it just sits in the middle. It was pretty sturdy without any fasteners, and that way if I need to later, it'll be super easy to take out! You can see from the picture it's just two 2x4 32" pieces, with three 3" pieces of 2x4, put in vertically in between the two boards. I used countersunk screws to put it together.

Step 4:
I measured all the way across the cabinet, and divided it by two. I used a circular saw to cut the boards to the right width, and then length. I measured from the cabinet side wall to the plumbing fixtures (there were two - the hot and the cold pipes) and used the jigsaw to cut holes for the plumbing. I cut it out so the hole actually goes all the way to the back of the cabinet, like a U shape in the wood. It's pretty small and since it's way in the back, it's not a big deal to me. It may or may not be possible to detach the plumbing and feed it through a hole, but I wasn't about to mess with that - just not worth the time, for me.
After I had them all cut, it was just a matter of fitting them in and making little changes where they were needed. When they fit nicely, I put white contact paper on for protection and ease of cleaning. After I had them both set in place, I put another strip on contact paper over the seam in the middle. That way if it leaks under the sink, if we catch it relatively quickly it'll be very easy to clean up. And that's all! It took me about 4 1/2 hours from start to finish. It was a really satisfying project. Now I can finally have my cleaning supplies in a non gross area, and hey, I might even decide to do some organization now, too. Although, that part is debatable. ;)