Basement Remodel Day 61

(OK, this post is late. I actually took the video a week ago. After that, I sent an email to all my business contacts with a special offer, and my business has been so busy the last week, I just now got around to posting...)

It's done!! The difference is amazing! The entire basement is beautiful! The only problem now is, Kathy wants to do the rest of the house!

Living Room

Rather than just give Dad a bedroom, since the space was already divided in two, we made the larger area a living area. That way, if Dad needs privacy, he can just stay down there. Plus, it gives him his own apartment. The large window was made even larger. This, along with removing the paneling, makes the space so much brighter. It used to be that we always had to have lights on downstairs. Now, during the day, you can easily do without any lights.

Bedroom

I think this is the most impressive. A few years ago I framed in this bedroom when Matt came to live with us. It was small. With the cabinet with the sink on one wall, there was hardly room enough for his twin bed. Plus, there was no window in there. So it was like going into a cave. With the cabinetry removed, and the bump-out for the dresser, there's plenty of space for a double bed. Add the large window, and it's just a beautiful space. We put mirrored doors on the closet to make the space look even larger.

Bathroom

I have to confess that Dad and I will be sharing this bathroom, so I've been using it for the last week. It's great!!! The shower is soooo roomy! The granite counters and under-mount sink are easy to keep clean. And there's actually room to turn around in there! Makes me wonder why Grandpa made the room so small to start with.

Pantry

This was the area I was most concerned about. Seems like we never had enough room in the pantry. Turns out existing layout of the pantry is what prevented us from using it to its fullest. The old pantry had exposed plumbing on the ceiling and walls. The shelving was built to accommodate the plumbing, which made it hard to fit anything on the weird-sized shelves. Now, with everything hidden behind sheet rock, we have free-standing shelves. Even though the pantry is narrower, it's also longer. So it turns out we actually have lots more storage space than before.

There are a few areas that aren't shown in these videos. There's a hand-rail going from the back porch to the back yard, to assist Dad in getting out there.

When sitting on the recliner in the living area, he will have an unobstructed view of a fir tree in the back yard. On the fir tree is a squirrel feeder. It's great fun watching the squirrels scamper about. I'm also going to add a couple more bird feeders, also visible from downstairs, giving Dad even more to view.

And, of course, there's the two level play structure out back, complete with sandbox, slide, water cannon and swings. This assures that there's a steady stream of grandchildren about. And if Dad ever tires of the company, we can simply shut the door going upstairs giving him privacy.

So, we're ready for Dad whenever it's time for him to come down!

Basement Remodel Day 52

OK, no basement video today. We are soooo close to being done. The countertop should be in Monday or Tuesday. Everything else is done. Furniture's all in place. But you don't get to see anything more until it's all done - so just be patient.

So our video today is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. About 2:00 I went outside to mow the lawn and found a swarm of bees on a small cold frame sitting on the ground. They had just arrived - they weren't there at noon.

We called a beekeeper who came out about 6:00 this evening to remove them. She was astounded. She said she'd never seen a swarm on the ground like that. Also, it was one of the largest swarms she'd seen - 50 to 60,000 bees by her estimate.

This first video is of her rounding up the bees. None of us got stung. She says the bees gorge themselves on honey before swarming, so they're too full to put up a fight. It was incredible - we were out there with bees flying all around us as she was scooping them into a cardboard box.



She got the majority of the bees into the box, but there were a lot that she couldn't get out of the grass. So she left the box there. Since the queen bee is in the box, the other bees will find her. This second video is of the bees finding their own way to their queen. Beekeeper's going to leave the box where it is for about two hours. By then all the bees should be in there. Like I said, fascinating!

Basement Remodel Day 49

Woo hoo!! Carpet's in! Doors are all hung! Moldings all in place! I think the only things left are handrails on the stairs and the vanity countertop. It's looking great!!

Basement Remodel Day 45

It's been a while since I posted anything - simply because there hasn't been a lot of visible progress. Most of the work has been on trim and detail. All of the molding's in place now, the plumbing on the shower is done, doors are all hung, we're coming up to the finish line!

Basement Remodel Day 36

Got the vinyl flooring installed. Next (later today, tomorrow?) comes wood trim!

Basement Remodel Day 35

Wow! As you'll see in the video, the new windows are in, and the basement's A LOT brighter! Making that large window even larger made a huge difference. And the window in the spare bedroom is wonderful. Before, it was like a cave in there. Now, it looks like a bedroom! Imagine that!

The new lights are terrific, too. We replaced the ceiling mounted fixtures (three of them) with lots of can lights. Last night we turned them on, and it's no longer this dim space. New heaters are installed, along with outlets. It's getting there...

Basement Remodel Day 28

Finally got the sheet rock all done - tapped, mudded, textured and primered. This week promises to be an exciting one - we should get windows in! I'm looking forward to seeing just how much brighter the rooms are with the new windows.

Basement Remodel Day 25

Day 25 of our basement remodel leaves us with no big changes to share. As you saw on the last video, the sheetrock has been installed. Friday morning a crew dropped off the sheetrock mud and tape. The contractor stopped by early afternoon to check progress and was surprised that no one was here. At 6:00 the crew came back and were gone by 7:00. I went downstairs and everything was taped and mudded! Monday, the contractor came by and again was surprised that no one had dropped off any fans. That evening a guy plugged in two fans to dry the mud completely. Tuesday afternoon the crew was back and did the second coat. So Wednesday morning, nothing looks much different than it did almost a week earlier. But, they are making progress.

Anyway, since we have nothing new to show you downstairs, it has come to our attention that not everyone has seen the upstairs bathroom remodel we did last summer. As you recall, this was the "pink" bathroom - pink tub, pink toilet, even the hamper surrounding the laundry chute was pink.

We started the project early last summer. I came home from my gig in Tacoma one weekend to find the bathroom half demolished. I guess that was my hint to get to work! So we took out all of the fixtures, removed the existing sheet rock and scraped up the old vinyl flooring. I redid some wiring for new fixtures, put up new sheetrock and started taping and mudding. (That last part is definitely not my strong suit!) Keep in mind this was only during the weekends. During the week I was working up in Tacoma.

So, after about six weeks of this, Kathy got tired of waiting and called a contractor (different than the one we're using now) to come in and finish. They did a great job, as I hope you can see by the included video.

Basement Remodel Day 20

Day 20 brings us the most dramatic change yet. They've installed the sheet rock! They had a crew of about a half-dozen men in here and got it all up in a single day. Now it's really looking more like a finished space. The bathroom is nice and roomy, the pantry, while narrow, is much deeper. It doesn't have near as much exposed plumbing, and all the wiring is behind sheet rock, so it's going to be lots more versatile.

Basement Remodel Day 19

I wish I'd been home today. They cut through the cement foundation in the bedroom and cut the hole for the window. I'll bet that was quite the undertaking. It's going to make such a difference in that bedroom! It won't feel like the little cave that it has.

As you'll see in the video, they're moving right along. Every day we see more and more progress.

Day 17 of the basement remodel finds the posts removed, the new section of the beam in place, the rough plumbing in and most of the rough electrical in place. Hopefully next week we'll see some windows installed, and maybe some drywall?

Tristan "Spike" Smith

OK, this has nothing to do with the basement remodel. It's MUCH more important. Here's a video of grandchild #9, Tristan. This is Alex and Liz's first. After 25 hours of labor and an emergency C-section, she gave birth to a beautiful 7-pound 5-ounce baby boy. Congratulations Alex and Liz. We love you.

Basement Remodel Day 16

End of day 16! They're ready to remove the post in the middle of the basement that is supporting the beam. The existing beam isn't one long piece. There's a seam over the post that's to be removed. This means they have to but the beam back to the other two existing posts and replace the removed pieces with one new piece.

There are temporary braces in place, and the existing beam has been cut at the posts. Next they will remove the center post and the two beam sections. Then they will add the new beam spanning the two remaining posts. These posts will be incorporated into walls, so they won't be visible.

Electricity was off all day yesterday as the electrician installed a new breaker box. The old one was no longer up to code. The large window has been framed even larger - another foot wider and about 6 inches taller. It lets in a lot more light. We opted not to enlarge the smaller window facing the driveway. We could have made it about 6" wider before it crowded the new bump-out in the bedroom. We figured it wasn't worth cutting into the basement wall for just six inches.

The tub enclosure is in place and some rough plumbing has been done.

It's exciting to come home each night and see what's new!

Basement Remodel Day 13

It's been nice. I leave in the morning just about the time the contractors start, and when I get home - how 'bout that! - work has been done! Today was an electrician-intensive day. They got the rat's nest of wiring pulled down and the entire basement rewired. And, as you'll see on the video, they also got some framing done over the concrete. The old studs on the wall were simply 2x2's. They're replacing those with 2x6's and adding insulation behind the wallboard - something we were lacking before. So it should be lots warmer down there next winter.

Basement Remodel Day 10

Day 10 of the remodel finds our bathroom floor jackhammered up, the drains moved and new concrete poured. In addition, some framing has been done. Thursday was the jackhammer day. It was also the day I'd set aside to do paperwork at home. Big mistake! I could feel my desk vibrate all the way upstairs! So I packed everything up and hid out at the coffee shop!

Basement Remodel Day 8

The contractor has been busy! And he's uncovered a few surprises! Kathy tells me that she kept hearing - coming from downstairs - "What is that there for? Why did they do it that way?" He's exposed all of the wiring in the ceiling and it all needs redoing. The wires run to junction boxes, and then to light switches, back to the junction box, and then to the fixtures - or something like that.

Bottom line is, the surprises aren't all that big, and he's plugging right along!

Basement Remodel Day 5

So, the contractor came out and reviewed everything. He said he needed all of the wallboard off, plus the existing 2x2's over the concrete needed removing. He's going to replace them with 2x4's which will accommodate the appropriate amount of insulation. And he showed us where the shut-offs were for the sink in the bedroom (way over by the water heater!). So while I was on appointments all day yesterday, Kathy, Brian and William got to work and got everything else torn out. I came home and everything was done! THAT'S the way it should be! So now we're waiting for Monday when the construction starts!

Basement Remodel Day 3

!whew! Got the tub out, all the paneling off, we're *almost* ready for the contractor. If I hadn't spent half the day yesterday on appointments, we would have had it done. Anyway, once we're done today, we'll call the contractor and he'll come out and look it over and verify that it's good to go.



(By the way, we've heard that some people can't view the videos. We've verified they work, but it seems like sometimes Blogger fails to show them. If you can't see a video, then click on the Labels link below the video. This will load today's post in a its own window and the video should play.)

Basement Remodel Day 2

Did I mention yesterday that I'd hoped to have the tear-out done in one day? I hope I didn't. It went LOTS slower than I'd planned! It's not entirely my fault, though. Those pesky customers kept calling and wanting to give me money. Anyway, I'm looking at today a bit more realistically. I *MAY* get the rest done today, but I realize it may take two days, since I do have a couple of appointments and a couple of networking meetings scheduled today.

Basement Remodel Day 1

Today's the day. We're "officially" starting the basement remodel!! We selected a contractor, and told him we're doing the majority of the demolition. So before we tear things apart, we thought it would be a good idea to document the current state of the basement. We did a little tear-out before recording the following video, but this should give you a good idea what the area currently looks like. As we progress through the remodel, we'll strive to document the changes and update this blog accordingly.