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.