Tag: basement demo

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.

Odds and Ends

December 21, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Bathroom Light

Despite the newborn, I’ve been finding time to spend on the house, mostly thanks to Sarah handling the lion’s share of babying. While work continues on the seemingly-unending basement demolition, I also did some odds and ends that needed doing. For starters, I finally fixed the bathroom light fixture that I’ve been meaning to rewire since before we moved in. Yes, we need another light bulb, but more importantly it lights up and works with the switch.

Insulation

Next on the list was getting the house a bit better prepared for the winter. For starters, I added some weather stripping to the front door so the foyer wasn’t so drafty (I’m pretty sure it would have snowed in the foyer otherwise). I can’t say it’s great, but it’s at least an improvement. Then I wrapped the steam pipes from the boiler in foil-faced insulation, so that more of the heat would make it to the radiators upstairs and less would be dispensed into the stifling basement.

Pipe wrap

I wasn’t entirely convinced this would pay for itself in only one winter, since we’re planning on ripping out the boiler and radiators in the spring, but it’s definitely made a difference and once the gas bill comes around we’ll see. It only cost about $40, so the return on investment won’t be too hard to find.

Dwindling Debris

Finally, as I said I’ve been working on the basement demolition. The massive pile of drywall is gradually getting smaller, though there’s still more to rip down. I need to get the old plumbing and electrical removed before I can get to some of it, so that’s my next focus. I haven’t filled up the garbage toters every week, but I’ve lost count of how many times I have.

Garbage Bags

Here’s last weeks allotment. I’ll be filling them up again this week since they collected today. I need to clear out room for some drywall that Sarah’s sister found and get the plumbing out so that we can finally bring back the structural guys to re-quote and then hopefully start work. Oh, I’ve also been continuing to work on the floor plans. I came up with a second floor plan that I like, as well as the attic. It may need some tweaking, but it’s getting close. Once that’s done I need to work out where how the electrical and HVAC will run. Suffice it to say that we’re keeping busy!

More Brilliance

November 20, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Basement electrical fun

Every time we start working on something in the house, we discover a new example of how not to do things. Yesterday I spent a lot of time on the previously discussed basement demolition. One of the things that slowed me down was the maze of the steam pipes, gas lines, plumbing, and electrical that festoon the basement like spaghetti scattered by a baby. The basement apartment was built recently, in the last five or ten years. Because they framed and drywalled without first addressing water issues, whole stretches of wall are rotted and moldy. In the above picture (sorry it’s a bit grainy), you can see the conduit come down to a junction box, then flexible conduit (BX) comes out, goes behind the adjacent studs, back up, back behind the studs, across the conduit, and finally terminates in an electrical box. The outlet covers were screwed in with drywall screws, and the whole thing is rusting from all the moisture that was trapped in the wall. The lower junction box was completely hidden behind drywall. I have no idea why they have a big unnecessary loop, but it’s just one of many ways they messed things up.

This is a minor example. The real fun started with the light fixtures in the bedrooms. I wanted to shut off the circuits and ideally remove all of the conduit so I could get all of the drywall down. The wiring contortions I discovered required videos to truly explain. The first one covers the bedroom light fixture and its branches.

The second video is an electrical line servicing the first floor.

The third video shows off the gas lines that were added in the basement.

So that’s the most recent brilliance of the previous owner. We’ll share more as we come across it.