Found another gotcha left by the builders

[LVSteve]

Let me reiterate, restate, and reinforce my view that many of the home builders loose in Vegas in the 90s deserve the full, painful, Game of Thrones treatment for the stunts they pulled. This week, I found another one in this house.

In another thread I mentioned that a wine cooler fridge had given up the ghost. We have another one that has sat idle since we moved here, so I set about arranging the swap. I cleaned up the idle fridge and it ran just fine. I then emptied the dead fridge and tried to move it out from under a counter. Then came the WTH moment.

The floor in the room with the cooler is tile, but the cooler is sitting on concrete. It looks like the tile was removed. Then I realized that the top has minimal clearance to the underside of the counter. THE DAMNED BUILDER INSTALLED THE FRIDGE THEN BUILT THE COUNTER OVER THE TOP. There is not enough room to get the front edge of the cooler up onto the tile to remove it.

This has left me with two choices. A) Attempt to disengage a granite counter (Edit: it's Corian) from its fixings to get the fridge out (destructive to the home) or B) somehow dismantle/destroy the fridge in situ and remove it piecemeal. I am working on option B right now, pulling out the gut of the thing. I plan to remove as much of the insulation as I can before making a grinder cut all the way around the shell of the cooler about six inches from the top. With the top section removed, I should be able to get the rest out.

******* builders.

 

[taz666]

LVSteve ... you still need to get the replacement in that space. Can you elevate the granite at the front edge enough to slide the unit out? If there are side splashes you can gently pop those off and reapply after your done underneath.

 

[Bald1]

Why not remove a few tile from floor ? Tile are cheap . Granite is not. If you break the tile and cannot match it , it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity!!!!! Put on a mosaic or something.

 

[Rotorhead1026]

I would find another location for the cooler, and entomb the perp in the existing unit, using concrete.

 

[LVSteve]

LVSteve ... you still need to get the replacement in that space. Can you elevate the granite at the front edge enough to slide the unit out? If there are side splashes you can gently pop those off and reapply after your done underneath.

The replacement is not as tall as the broken one. The counter also includes a sink. I guess you could describe the whole thing as a mini wet bar.

 

[LVSteve]

Why not remove a few tile from floor ? Tile are cheap . Granite is not. If you break the tile and cannot match it , it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity!!!!! Put on a mosaic or something.

I wondered about that. I do have some spare tile, but have neither the skill or patience to work with the stuff.

 

[LVSteve]

I would find another location for the cooler, and entomb the perp in the existing unit, using concrete.

Don't tempt me!

 

[Dave.357]

I think cutting it out is your best bet.
Is there room for a sawsall?

 

[Rule3]

As mentioned, remove some of the tile.


What size are the tile? How many would need to be removed??


Break them up, scrape the adhesive and reinstall
The trick is matching the grout color.


OR


Call a tile guy. if you have granite, tile and wine cooler you can spend a few bucks

 

[SweetMK]

I was watching Hickok 45 yesterday,,
he talked about removing tree limbs with 00 buckshot and a shotgun,,

Hmmmmmmm a 629, and two boxes of ammo,, plus hearing protection,,

Short barrel, of course,, to reach the corners, easily,,,,,,,,

 

[LVSteve]

As mentioned, remove some of the tile.


What size are the tile? How many would need to be removed??


Break them up, scrape the adhesive and reinstall
The trick is matching the grout color.


OR


Call a tile guy. if you have granite, tile and wine cooler you can spend a few bucks

My mistake, the counter is Corian (sp?). The wine cooler was installed long before I bought the house. We do have some hooch that we keep in there, but for various reasons my wife and I rarely drink.

Yes, if the cut it up plan fails, then tile destruction will follow. Mutter, mutter....

 

[Onomea]

I'm thinkin' in about two weeks LVSteve is gonna have a new counter and tile floor...

 

[taz666]

Busting up the floor makes no sense. Sink ... no big deal as your looking to raise the top an inch maybe ( at the front edge). If its in a three walled area , make a spreader to push the wall opening some ... makes tilting the top up a lot easier.

 

[Bald1]

I did not know new unit was smaller. Demo the old one with sawzall and remove. Easy peasy.

 

[SMSgt]

What gets entombed in Vegas stays in Vegas.

 

[LVSteve]

I did not know new unit was smaller. Demo the old one with sawzall and remove. Easy peasy.

It's awful tight in there. I might have to use a grinder or rotozip device.

 

[chief38]

Whenever you move or relocate Granite you take a chance on breaking it - been there, done that! I'd wreck the wine cooler before attempting to move the Granite. Yes - a p.i.t.a. but your Granite will be intact.

When my wine cooler (in my last house) went south after only 3 1/2 years, I ripped it out and installed another matching cabinet. The cabinets got used every single day - the wine cooler for us was was not important as we like other spirits more than wine are rarely got opened. they are pretty expensive now days and only pay to get if you really need one.

 

[fordson]

You gotta be careful about home projects mission creep ……. We bought new washer & dryer recently and (long story short) wound up remodeling the laundry room.

 

[Heymatt]

Sounds like the contractor built boats before houses. We often have to involve a carpenter to get OE refrigeration units out of a galley. Built the galley around the fridge/freezer.

 

[LVSteve]

Here's a question. Is fridge insulation flammable?