hanging suspension rail and first cabinet

dad came out today and we hung the first suspension rail. I had marked out all the studs on the wall with my stud-finder before he arrived. its a VERY cheap little thing and doesn't always work right, so it takes me extra time to check and recheck and remark all the marks until its right. if I'd spent more money and gotten a better quality one things might go quicker... but I just now realized I bought this stud-finder about 20 years ago!

we had to drill one hole thru the metal rail because the studs didn't line up, but it went fine. hung the rail and leveled it and screwed it in.


the screw into the stud lined up directly behind the exhaust hood vent, and went in at a bit of an angle. but it worked fine.


last screw of the rail into the stud.


the screws we settled on using - 9 x 2 1/2" (gauge x length). and we drilled pilot holes thru the wall into the studs for these extra long screws.


we got the over-the-fridge cabinet hung and secured in place. first cabinet! we went to put up the large panel on the side of the fridge and it sticks out 36" from the wall, except the cabinet only sticks out 24"! so it needs to have 12" cut off, or maybe just like 11 1/4" if we allow for the thickness of the cabinet doors rather than to the cabinet front. dad is going to bring his table saw up here and we'll cut it next time.


we also fussed with the flooring and made what little bit of extra flooring pieces I had left in the garage from 8 years ago work to fill in the gaps without having to buy more flooring. its not perfect, but the imperfect places will all be underneath the cabinets so it wont matter. it was a LOT of fiddly work getting the floor in using what few extras I had. there really wasnt much, and most of what I had were cut off pieces that didnt 'connect' to each other the way it was designed to. we used my chop-saw (powered miter saw i think its called?) to cut them, but they were so deep i had to flip them over and then cut again to be able to cut all the way thru. my saw just wasnt deep enough front to back to handle the flooring boards.

the floor with its holes/gaps in it from the lower cabinets




not perfect, but all one level at least


close up of the gaps




next up I need to cut the next piece of suspension rail with a hacksaw so its ready to be screwed in place to finish hanging the upper cabinets after we get the fridge panel cut right and screwed in.

I need to vacuum everything. heidi (my dog) thinks sawdust tastes good. (she liked the sheetrock dust too, not everything is edible dammit!)