{"id":300,"date":"2023-03-04T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/?p=300"},"modified":"2023-03-08T21:05:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T02:05:34","slug":"you-cant-get-there-from-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/miker\/you-cant-get-there-from-here\/","title":{"rendered":"You can’t get there from here…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cabinets are wonderful devices. The corner curio solves the problem of eliminating wasted corner space in a dining room and elegantly displaying your finest items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this situation, the previous homeowner wanted theirs to resemble built-ins, so they trimmed out the edges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

However, they had a problem with the dining room light switch\u2014which was installed with no forethought of cabinets or integrating them onto the wall<\/em>. They oddly chose to contour the molding on top of half the light switch cover. The result was using the switch was awkward and cleaning the cabinet was <\/em>less than ideal. The switch was also put into a defacto unserviceable state for an electrician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since we were about to upgrade and modify this circuit, servicing the switch was required. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of a basic single-pole single-throw switch, we were making the lighting circuit into a three-way switch set-up. One in the kitchen and this one depicted here at the living room threshold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its placement was just wrong for the new plans.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When it came to the new homeowner, it was a simple ask; “move the light switch over about four inches<\/em>“. The reason they didn’t know they can’t get there from here<\/strong> was, most people don’t know what’s inside the walls, or why it’s there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where ever there’s an opening in a wall that you walk through, there’s at least one extra two-by-four hiding in there to keep the beam above the opening up in place. Compounding the issue was this is a load-bearing wall. Furthermore, on the other side of the wall from the switch is a partition wall dividing the bedrooms from the living room and dining room; we always add extra 2×4 lumber in places connecting walls. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not all was lost here because one of the old work options in gang boxes is<\/em> the shallow-work type<\/a>. If the chosen light switch and the wiring complexity of the existing gang-box are amenable, this shallow box can be a viable solution. It has a depth of only 1.25″ so depending on the wall coverings, chiseling away the lumber might not be needed at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

As it turned out, we did need to chisel a bit, but because it was the King-Stud instead of the Jack-Stud, it’s not the primary load-bearing stud for the header that runs across the opening, so it’s going to pass building code scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were able to nick off only a quarter inch of the King-Stud to get it to fit because the lathe & plaster makeup of the wall was fairly thick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fortuitous nature of the interior wallboard (not reinforced by a metal lathe<\/em>), allowed us to use the removed piece as the patch over the old location of the switch. <\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

The final trim that the original installer of the curio cabinets used was not available to buy anywhere we looked after 5 different lumber\/hardware\/big-box stores and on the websites of some of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a non-wood type material they originally used so the shape was very unique and its delicate edges wouldn’t be feasible for a store to stock and sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were able to recreate the finished trim work from standard wooden cove molding and the clever use of a table saw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now this job is all done except for the painting, which they want to do for themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cabinets are wonderful devices. The corner curio solves the problem of eliminating wasted corner space in a dining room and elegantly displaying your finest items. In this situation, the previous homeowner wanted theirs to resemble built-ins, so they trimmed out the edges. However, they had a problem with the dining room light switch\u2014which was installed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,100,62,75,102,72,42,74],"tags":[77,66,65,76,69],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-woodwork","category-walls","category-power","category-modification","category-fixing","category-gangbox","category-trim","category-copper-power","tag-challenge","tag-functionality","tag-one-of-a-kind","tag-solution","tag-wood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}