Complications

Why is nothing ever simple?

Behold, the purchase of a dishwasher. A common enough appliance, yes? Available in a variety of colours and with a variety of options for a variety of prices, but in the main, of predictable size and configuration. Purchased from a place such as Sears, where hauling off the carcase of the old machine and installation of the new are included, it should be straightforward enough.

Except. Except, except, except.

Now, I didn't truly expect that all would run smoothly; I've never witnessed the installation of a dishwasher which didn't involve the discovery that some aspect of the plumbing was no longer (or never had been) up to code. And indeed, it may still turn out that our plumbing needs adjustment when the new dishwasher is installed.

But I was not prepared to have my new dishwasher sitting in my living room and my husband industriously removing a largish section of floor in the kitchen last night.

Based on the archaeology which accompanied the removal of the floor, it seems the story goes something like this:

At some point, prior owners of the house redecorated the kitchen. They covered the old 1974-large-vegetable-motif wallpaper with newer (diagonally striped) wallpaper, painted the countertops, and laid 3/4" plywood over the linoleum floor. This plywood they covered with ceramic tiles.

Then, they sold the house to people who never suspected that the nice ceramic tile floor in fact BRICKED IN the dishwasher, so that when the dishwasher finally gave out and needed to be replaced, there would be no way to remove it without demolishing the kitchen.

No, really. As appalling as ripping up the floor sounds, the other option was to rip out the countertop above and replace it.

At some point we do want to replace the countertop, sink, and cabinets. But we hadn't planned on doing it this week. As destructive and messy as pulling up the ceramic tile (and plywood, beneath which we found the linoleum and original subfloor), it was the less messy option. And there are some extra tiles in the basement, so we can put the kitchen back together somehow after all this is over. I think.

The good news is that the Viking was able to accomplish the removal of the offending section of floor last night and the people who are supposed to install the thing were able to reschedule the installation for tomorrow.

At which point they will likely discover all the ways our plumbing is not up to code.

verso - recto