Widening space for washing machine?

[Deleted member 174758]

My head is spinning! I can't keep up with this jumping about from one subject to another without a rational explanation of where we are each time.

Time to sit back, chill out, and maybe get some popcorn (or a large single malt). We still have at least 5 pages to go (on past reckoning). Now, where's Andy when you need a pithy interjection?

 

[pcaouolte]

Keitai has been employed to sort out a kitchen which the owner isn't happy with. The problem is that the original installation standard looks like the sort of workmanship that Keitai would have achieved in the first place. I can't see this ending well.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Careful now! It can sometimes easier to pull bad work out and reinstall than attempt a "sticking plaster" repair. Getting a client to accept this, especially if it will cost money, can be pretty tricky

@Keitai - you need to generate a full snag list then figure out what you can deal with, what you can't (because of lack of knowledge, lack of experience, etc) and what the customer actually wants, as well as what they will pay for.

TBH that kitchen looks like a dog's breakfast in places and unfortunately you may not have the necessary knowledge to fix it (the fact that you were seemingly expecting to use your cordless DW saw with a fine blade to scribe the end of a worktop says as much).

 

[Old Salt]

 

[Keitai]

Central dividing board out, long support batten underneath at the back, and if necessary, left hand side support panel out with support underneath left hand edge of worktop.

Will probably reduce load bearing capacity of worktop but guaranteed to fit machine in.

I'll do that 2 x1 baton butted up to underside while it's in situ. Then take out central dividing board. How would you support left hand side if left hand side support panel comes out?


J and B said circular saw with a fine blade wouldnt cut the shelf properly. I guess he means must be a plunge saw. Curious, why is a plunge saw better than a circular saw?

The wine rack shelf thing on right has to stay as there's a double plug socket behind it

 

[Keitai]

Either my age/eyesight is catching up with me or we are trying to cover a number of issues here.
The original photos were related to fitting another washing machine under a worktop. That photograph shows a single shelved narrow cupboard to the right-hand end.
The next set of photos show, what appears to be, a double height cupboard with what I refer to as wine racking shelves to the left of it. Meanwhile we are still talking about the washing machine gap and now discussing covering some holes in a door frame.
Next set of photos, at post #24 we are back to talking about a baton under the worktop. Which I presumed meant under the washing machine worktop. Post #26 we are talking about an uneven shelf, (presumably in the double height cupboard but could be in a bedroom 3 doors away for all we know!), then we are back to a photo under A worktop which isn't next to the wine rack cupboard because that panel is grey and the ones under the worktop are white. Then it's a photo of the side of a cupboard which needed scribing to the wall on installation!
My head is spinning! I can't keep up with this jumping about from one subject to another without a rational explanation of where we are each time. It's like listening to a conversation between a couple of women who know exactly what each is talking about but to a bloke it's a top-secret code they are using!
What is the present position regarding the original enquiry about fitting another washing machine under a worktop?
Please, can someone explain before I drink a bottle of scotch instead of a glass!

Just need to get washing machine to fit, don't worry about anything else and plumbed in

 

[jacko555]

Just need to get washing machine to fit

Haven't you managed it yet

don't worry about anything

Is that what you are telling the paying client?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

J and B said circular saw with a fine blade wouldnt cut the shelf properly. I guess he means must be a plunge saw. Curious, why is a plunge saw better than a circular saw?

You actually have several problems to overcome. Firstly, can you actually get your saw into the space without the motor or the base fouling on something?

Secondly, how do you prevent your fine saw blade from chipping the edge of the laminate? A rail saw can do this when cutting from the top surface because there is an anti splinter strip along the edge of the rail - and in addition they often have the facility to do a 1 to 2mm deep scoring cut before making the main cut which specifically deals with break out. With a conventional saw, fine blade or not, you need to cut from the underside to guarantee a good, splinter free cut. But even a rail saw can't cut all the way to the wall

Thirdly, how, assuming the saw will fit, do you intend to finish the cut to the wall neatly? The last few centimetres that the saw blade just can't reach. A jigsaw won't reach fully to the wall either and in any case won't be a neat cut (unless you happen to possess a P1cc), and a multitool will give you a godawful rough cut. So the only way to achieve a decent scribed edge may be to mark the scribe, remove that section of worktop, make the cut (from the underside, given that you have a cordless rip saw, not a rail saw), then reinstate it. But if there is a mason's mitre at the other end of that worktop and the joint has been glued, then that may not be easy or even possible. In any case, even if it hasn't been glued the joint will need to be sealed water tight when the top is replaced as will the newly scribed end

What is certainly the case, is that if you chip the top or the joint subsequently blows you will will be liable for supplying and paying for installation of same (because it is unlikely you'd be given the opportunity to do it yourself in the event that you screw up).

If you haven't figured all this out already, then you are out of your depth, I'm afraid, and should admit you are and walk away before upsetting your client even more than the builder already has done. Kitchen fitting is not for the inexperienced - at least not if you are being paid to do it and ate expected to deliver a flawless professional result. I am trying to be dispassionate in this and to avoid inflamatory language

 

[Keitai]

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Nice photos. Care to fill us in on what we are looking at? And what questions you have for the brains trust?

 

[flameport]

It's the same washer/dryer not fitting as posted a month ago.
Nothing appears to have changed.

 

[Keitai]

It fits now and there's a baton under the worktop.

The middle upright has been removed which separated the two machines

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Thank you for the explanation. They say a picture tells a thousand words, but at the end of the day that is just a saying...

Is there a foil protection strip fitted on the underside of the worktop above  both machines? Without one the top will possibly warp over time

BTW, did you tackle the scribes in the end, or did you think better of it?

 

[pcaouolte]

There is indeed a batten under the worktop but in the photo it doesn't appear to be touching the worktop from the left hand end to a point just over mid way along the worktop. If that is the case then it was a bit of a waste of time fitting it.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Don't worry, in time it may "self level"

Edit: And because the thought police are bring critical elsewhere I would like to point out that the critical remark was aimed at the builder who made such a fist of the original install, and not the OP.

@Keitai, if I find things like that I sometines just correct them, sometimes I inform the client first.