Basement Remodel Day 110

It is almost 2:00 in the morning...I can't sleep.

Can't get "life" out of my head. Too much going on. Too much to stress about.

One of my favorite stresses right now is the Basement Remodel. Since I haven't updated our progress since the end of November I thought an insomniac post was in order. (all spelling and grammatical mistakes can be owned up to my sleep pattern this morning)

End of November Brandon's parents (The superstars of my last post) came out to help us tear out one of the shelves in our basement. After Christmas they came back to do it again. That was a huge long process with constant hard labor...digging...pounding...prying...everything-ing. Wow - how GREAT to have their help. How nice of them to come out here on their vacation time to do hard labor.

But that was the the start.

Since then we have continued to push the project forward. Luckily we have had the talented help and endless generosity of our family to get us going.

Even if everyone hasn't been able to come and help the fact that everyone has been so willing to help it gave us the courage to actually do it!

After Brandon's parents left to go back home we had to call on the Utah clan to help out. Bro-in-law and framing saint, Jake, has spent multiple Saturday's/Sunday's yelling 2x4 sizes for me to cut while he uses his expertise to know what to put where. We'd be lost without him. I'd say at this point we are about 95% done with framing. We are SO close. One more good day and I bet we are done. As an added bonus to Jake coming over we have the Astle troop here a lot as well. Deeters loves to climb all over everything and Tay loves to "help" as much as he can. And then there is Chelsea - the woman who knows how to keep at least one kid on her hip and clean a basement like you've never seen before!



Our other super helper...and when I say super helper I mean - jack of all trades, building expert, 10 life experiences in one life, father extraordinaire - my Dad. He's been here (sometimes dragging wife or son along) to build walls, dig holes, offer advice/direction/criticism/opinion, and most recently rewire our 100-year-old house. Wow. There is no way we could have done it without him.

This old house, once powered by an old knob and tube system (scary), is probably close to 95% wired up, including the new addition, and NO more knob and tube! Of course, this process has included hours of climbing through the moon-like surface of our attic (mostly Brandon) which has put inches of dust in my lungs, Brandon's lungs, and all over the house.



Done so far: Digging, building wall, carving for laundry, plumbing rough in, most framing, most wiring

Need to do: cut out larger basement window, insulate, sheetrock, paint, carpet, enjoy

Our journey in pictures:


In the beginning:




Above: one of the "great" ideas Jake had was to carve out just a bit more of our shelves to create a built in pedestal for a new front-load washer and dryer. No big deal - just another week+ of digging/carving/hauling (Brandon did most of this).

Above: A moment of clean...we had three giant loads of dirt to haul out. The first two were from the wall (you can faintly see the line in the difference in concrete where the old wall was...that dirt filled the area to the left of the line twice. That dirt was conveyored out. The third load was from the Laundry area (above) and the new plumbing lines. That was hauled out by hand - mostly by Brandon

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Above: One of the most thrilling moments is we wanted to "sink" the support beam for the whole house in the sections that would be doorways so that we could get through without ducking. This is the end result. Yes, we were terrified our house would collapse. Good thing we trust Jake.

Above: Our new furnace being put in. We got a new high efficiency furnace with a super air filter and humidifier, new ducts, and new vents upstairs. The best part is we were without heat for 3 weeks in the middle of January. Luckily we own a couple super space heaters.


Above: Some of the holes we had to jack-hammer out and dig out for our new plumbing for the new bathroom downstairs.

Above: The girlies like to be by us while we work, they don't like it when we are up in the attic (barking at us from the bottom of the ladder), and in turn track dirt all over the house. Result:

Above: Lacey's Bathwater


Above: A wet, yet clean, Sue.

And finally here is where we are now. Things are looking good!


A little messy...but it's coming together

Above: There is our shwanky new laundry area...was it worth it? I think so.

Above: We moved the entire electrical box downstairs....what a task. The hours Dad and Jake have spent over here...we are SO grateful.

Onward soldiers!