Month: February 2012

The Next Step…

February 29, 2012 / / 1 Comment

So, the next step in this process (now that we have the basement mostly cleared out) is getting an architect and having a blueprint made.  At one point we debated either trying to skip this or do it later, but with the possibility that the structure work would be changed by the blueprints we decided to do this first.  It was just the logical choice when we sat down and went over the big picture.

Below we have a rough sketch of what the backyard and garage will look like when it is done.  Matt did this all from scratch and you can see that he’s very talented.  If he had decided to finish his degree in architecture, I am sure that he would have made a great architect.

Back Yard Model

With Derek needing a little less maintenance these days, we plan on finishing the demo in the basement shortly and possibly starting the next project (which hasn’t been determined yet).  We are both super excited to be going onto the next step/project, especially after seeing Marcus’s renovation progress at his Open House this last weekend.   We were glad that he hosted it, as he’s much further along in his renovation.  We were able to see what ours will similarly look like in the future (in terms of the guts of the walls and some of the utility setup).  You can see Matt, Derek, and I in the video on Marcus’s post about the Open House.   I can’t wait until our house is looking that good!

Basement Demo: Are We Done Yet?

February 23, 2012 / / 0 Comments

New debris pile

Last post I was proud to display the empty section of the basement that was previously filled with drywall debris. Well, there’s crap in it again, mostly due to moving an existing pile from one room to another in order to  consolidate. Then we added some more debris from the bedroom ceilings, from around the windows, and from the ceiling above the gas lines and steam pipes. Oh well, back to bagging.

Almost no bags

On a more positive note, the last two weeks have gotten most of the room full of already-bagged debris out to the curb. While that just means we need to get to work bagging the stuff in the first photo, it’s still progress and means things are looking a bit better overall.

Basement lighting

Ugh. Sorry these pictures are so blurry. I should really use the camera instead of my phone, but when I use my phone I tend to actually post to the blog, whereas when I take them with the camera they sit on the camera for a long time before I upload them to my computer, and then sit on the computer until I upload them to Flickr, and finally sit on Flickr until I pick some out to put into posts.

Anyway, I re-routed the electrical in the basement so that instead of having separate rooms each with a light switch located in the center wall, there’s a single switch by the basement door that turns on all the lights. In addition, the boiler and the freezer are now on their own circuit, which simplifies future changes. This was especially important since the center wall will be going away once we get the structural work done.

Drywall!

On a separate note, this past weekend we got our previously mentioned two tons of drywall. It’s in a neat not-so-little pile in the garage. Rob and sons arrived with the trailer Saturday morning and we quickly unloaded it. We’re probably not going to be installing new drywall in the near future, but when we do, we’ll be ready.

Basement Demo: Cleanup

February 7, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Debris bagged

There’s still a lot of work to be done in the basement, but it’s definitely over the hump. Sarah and I got the remaining debris bagged up, ready to be taken out to the curb. I pulled down all the studs left on the South wall. There’s still drywall on some of the ceiling, mostly in areas that have gas lines and electrical in the way. I’ve decided to leave the crazy gas lines for the time being, since hopefully we can just run a new line when the new HVAC equipment goes in and skip consolidating and re-routing the five existing lines.

Lumber pile

I’ve been piling up the lumber in one of the rooms. We’ll go through it and remove screws and nails so we can use some of it for forms and temporary supports. A lot of it is moldy, rotten, and/or chewed through, plus Sarah is convinced they’ll spawn cockroaches if we try to reuse them permanently.

I also need to get the light switches for the lights we’re keeping out of the center wall. I’m not sure exactly where I’ll put them, but there’s definitely more electrical to be done in preparation for the structural work. Focus will probably shift for the next week or so to getting a space in the garage cleared out for some drywall we’re getting from Sarah’s sister and brother-in-law. They scored a couple tons of it from Freecycle and don’t need all of it for their house, so we just need to make room for it, since it’s all 4×12 sheets.