Basement Progress

The basement has drywall and (in a few short days) should have primed walls - ready to be painted. It's so exciting! Trent has already started on the shower in the bathroom. We decided to tile it because there wasn't any way to get a shower insert through the front door and down the basement stairs...so I guess we really didn't decide anything. Either way, a tiled shower looks nicer (in my opinion). It takes several days of layering the floor portion of the shower to get the slope just right. So, it will still be quite some time before the tile even goes in (but that hasn't stopped me from shopping for the tile I want).
All in all, we are thrilled with how the basement is currently shaping up!

Booby Trap

Bailey (cat) has been part of my life since 1999. He is the most nervous, scared-of-everything cat that I have ever met. However, true to his species he simply cannot avoid his curiosity. Our basement is in the process of being drywalled and it's entirely open to the main level. We knew that it was going to be messy, but we assumed Bailey would be far too scared to head into the basement. After finding little paw prints all over EVERYTHING, we decided to try and keep him out of the basement for this week. Eventually (after trying several other things) we were forced to booby trap the stairway. We stuck tape (with the sticky side out) across the stairs. I wasn't paying attention and heard a loud thump as Bailey came tearing into the main level. I'm guessing he got stuck (explaining why our perfect grid of tape is not quite perfect).
I will not surrender to a 10 lb. feline.

Workin' Weekend

We spent the weekend working on the project house. It was long, difficult and (thankfully) rewarding! Trent worked on the basement. He had loads of tedious stuff to get completed before the drywall starts. (Drywall starts today at 8am) However, the electrical is entirely done, the plumbing is done, the old electrical is removed and new insulation is up everywhere.

While Trent worked in the basement, I spent my weekend outside trying to get the front landscaping to (at the very least) look like someone lives here. After a couple hundred dollars (a few plants, edging and mulch) and a LOT of shoveling, it looks acceptable. Not like a professional did it, but definitely better. We still have more exterior work to do, but this was a project I could mostly handle on my own.

Now we sit and wait for 4 entire days - while someone else does the drywall. What will we do with our time?!

More Progress

The framing in the basement is entirely done and the electrical is almost done. It's a good thing since the drywall starts at 8am on Monday morning. Drywall is generally the only thing we don't do ourselves. We purchase the drywall, we unload it and drag it into the house (piece by heavy piece). However, we use a professional to hang it. Yes, Trent has the ability to do drywall (me....not so much). We've found that this is the one job that we get our money's worth by paying a pro.

Sidenote (that just makes me happy): the drywaller came by this morning to give us a final estimate. He was in the project house when we first started the ENTIRE project (he did the drywall in the kitchen). His first words in the front door were, "Wow! I would have never guessed this house could look this good." Thanks!

Basement Framing

The basement is finally in the framing phase and we're both terribly excited. The basement was one large open space. We removed the paneled walls but decided the mustard yellow flooring could stay (we'll just put the carpeting right over it). We have divided it up into a storage space (that will remain unfinished), a full bathroom, a bedroom and a large family room. It will give this house an extra 1,000 sq ft (approx) of living space...and let me tell ya' that we need it. Now. Only a few more days of framing and then on to the electrical!

We Sure Are Tired

The past 36 hours have been rather productive around here. We officially started on the basement. (By "we" I mean that I managed to have a completely packed weekend schedule that didn't allow me any time to work on the house.)
"We" were able to rent a hand concrete saw and cut through the basement concrete in order to start on the bathroom plumbing. "We" then shoveled out all the dirt that went through the entire trench and 36" deep for the sump pump. After that, "we" put together the plumbing for the shower, toilet and sink. To end it all, "we" mixed new concrete and covered it all back up.
"We" sure are tired.