Our concrete mason, Mario, was back this past Saturday building the forms for the stairs. He pointed out that the basement drain we put in was too high. Somehow, between the time we put it in and when he came by it had lifted by about an inch, which I confirmed with the laser level. Since I needed to adjust it anyway, he asked if I could center it in the landing because it would be easier for him to slope the landing to it. That meant not just shortening the length of pipe, but adding an elbow that I fortunately already had.
Drain reposition
I got that taken care of Saturday afternoon, and Mario was back on Monday to do the pour. He wound up tenting the whole operation with a tarp to keep out the rain. Yesterday he came back out to remove the tarp, clear the forms from the basement footing curb, and make sure everything looked good. We’re pretty happy with the finished results, and we plan to bring him back to pour the basement floor once the plumbers finish their work. If you need a concrete mason in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana area, we recommend MG Concrete.
Finished steps
It was snowing this morning when I snapped a photo of the finished stairs. I need to check the basement and see if the drain is working. I also plan to grind down the bit of footing stone that is proud of the landing by a couple inches so we don’t have a tripping hazard. Hopefully I can get some photos of the finished footing curb as well.
One of the biggest frustrations with our project for the last several months has been the basement plumbing. First, it took us forever to get quotes from more than one plumber. Then we selected a plumber (not coincidentally one that gave us quotes fairly quickly) and gave them the initial deposit. The original estimate for work was about six weeks, which was over two months ago. Most of the work hasn’t been done yet and the source of delays has largely been the City of Chicago. We pulled our original permits three years ago with a different plumber. Because the permits were already pulled, the existing permit had to be reactivated and the plumber changed. Once that was done, they were able to put in the underground plumbing for the basement bathroom, the floor drain, and the utility sink, including the ejector pit. That was when they told me they were waiting on me to finish the weeping system, which I did.
New basement plumbing
At the same time, they scoped the sewer with a camera and submitted the recording to the City, who came back with a concern about the “tap”, or the connection between our sewer and the sewer main under the street. The plumbers ran another scope, after which the water department decided they wanted the tap repaired. Around this time they said that our other permit for the new water service was approved, but then they turned around and said that the whole project had a “red flag” on it because the original permits weren’t pulled properly. We didn’t get an explanation of what was wrong or how that happened, but the result was that no work could be done at all.
The plumbers reported that they were able to negotiate with the city and get the red flag lifted, and the last update is that we should finally have our permits today. Then the plumbers can finally schedule the tap repair, the new water service, and the sewer re-lining. At this point I’ve gotten a bit skeptical, but this is the most positive sign so far that something is actually going to happen before the ground freezes. The plumbing is the only thing we’re waiting on to pour the new basement floor.
We put in the steel beam in the basement over two-and-a-half years ago. Our friend Mike, who got us the steel and helped us put it in, told us at the time that when the weather got warm we should paint it. We didn’t get around to doing that until now. For the record, I don’t recommend that.
Steel needs to be primed at a minimum to keep it from rusting and our basement is especially humid. Hopefully our new weeping system will help improve that but the beam developed some surface rust since we put it in. Since we’re planning to move into the basement and leave the concrete floor bare (stained and sealed) it makes sense to do any painting we can before the new floor goes in. Maybe not as much sense as painting it right away or anytime before we started the dig out, but more than waiting any longer.
Cleaned
Starting Priming
Priming progress
Priming done
I started with a thorough cleaning, using the air compressor nozzle, the shop vac, and a wet rag to get the accumulated dust and rust off. With that done I put on a coat of rust-inhibiting metal primer. I have a sprayer but with all the nooks and crannies between the joists I just used a brush. Cleaning actually took longer than priming, and as soon as it was done I wondered why I hadn’t done it a couple years ago.
Starting first coat
First coat progress
First coat done
Second coat done
Once that was done I should have put the top coat on right away. Instead I did all the masonry on the windows which involved making a bunch of dust with the angle grinder, so when I circled back several weeks later to finally do it, I had to wipe it down all over again. I brushed on two coats of high-gloss white metal paint and now my neck is sore, but the beam looks good. The plan is to paint the ceiling joists next and we will use the sprayer for that. I’m giving the paint a couple days to dry before I vacuum out the joist bays and throw a bunch more dust around; I don’t want it to stick to the beam.
The most complicated window installation was the one at the back of the house. The side and bay windows are fairly narrow and the top of the window is at the top of the basement, meaning there are no bricks above the window since the rest of the house is frame. The back window in the basement is over five feet wide but it’s short, with two courses of bricks above it. I was able to remove the existing window buck without the bricks above falling, but redoing the upper brick and installing a steel lintel seemed like the smart way to go. The existing window opening also didn’t have a sill, maybe because it used to be covered by the porch. I wanted to add a sill so that rain water would drip clear of the brick, preventing damage.
Removing the upper courses was a challenge because I didn’t want them to fall on me, so I wound up sitting on the new retaining wall and prying them loose (as seen in the video above). As expected they came down a dozen or two at a time, so it was a warranted precaution. I decided to go ahead and remove the second course as well, also captured on video. Once I removed everything and was down to good brick, I started with the lintel and upper bricks instead of the bottom so I could still put weight on the bottom as I worked. I bought and painted three six foot pieces of “angle iron” L-shaped steel. Our basement wall is three bricks thick (multi-wythe) so without getting a special piece of steel this was the easiest way to do it. I anchored the lintels in with brick and mortar on each side and then put in the middle course first, then the outside and finally the inside.
Demo complete
Installing the lintel
Laying the upper courses
Upper courses complete
Sill and sides complete
The next day I put together the sill, rebuilding the damaged courses and installing the limestone sill. I forgot to center the sill under the window, so it’s not perfectly symmetrical by a couple inches, but I can live with it. Then I rebuilt the sides where the center wythe of brick had erroded. Unfortunately I still wound up having to grind the sides to get it flat enough to fit the bucks. Since I bought my windows months ago with little to no clearance, I needed the rough openings to be big enough, which meant the sides had to be perfectly flat. On the side windows I did a lot of trial and error with test fitting the buck, but by this point I’d realized I could use my laser level to cast a vertical exactly where I wanted it, then grind away the red line.
Initial profile
Grinding…
Grinding…
Done!
Once the sides were smooth I installed the bucks the same way I did the side windows: pressure treated boards (though I increased to 2x10s in this case) with sill gasket installed using Tapcon screws. With the buck in place I slid the window into place, shimmed it on either side, and screwed it in with vinyl window screws.
Window Installed
In the photo I took there were some shims underneath, but those were removed. On a horizontal slider you want it to rest on the sill. The final steps are sealing: backer rod, caulk, and spray foam. Once the pressure treated wood has properly dried (next summer) I’ll come back and paint the bucks. I plan to eventually clad the bucks on the outside with PVC trim boards, which will further protect the wood and make it look nice.
Mario, our concrete mason, is planning to form and pour the steps and landing outside the back basement door soon. One important feature of the landing is a drain for rain and snow. I’m a bit paranoid about flooding in the basement. I’ve known too many people get water in their basement and cause thousands of dollars of damage to half-ass the drainage when we have the opportunity to do it the right way now. The good news is that even without any weeping system, the old basement never flooded, despite some heavy rainfall. The bad news is that was before we dug it down by a foot, and we’ve definitely had water at that level, though mostly due to bad gutters. I have extensive plans for storm water management with our house, but most of them haven’t been implemented yet.
Catch basin drain
Two of the people I know that have had flooded basements live in houses very similar to ours, with a basement door to the outside and steps up to grade. In both cases, water coming in from the back door was a major cause of the flooding, so I want to be extra careful with ours. First, the landing outside the back door is going to be a couple inches lower than the basement floor. Second, I’m using a 6″ catch basin style drain that ties directly to our interior weeping system. The advantage of this style drain is that any debris that gets past the grate settles to the bottom of the drain rather than going down the pipe and causing clogs or problems with the sump pump. Using a 6″ drain means that it will be more difficult for leaves and other debris to clog the grate. Third, rather than center the drain in the landing I put it towards the retaining wall, so that when Mario pours the landing it will slope away from the house. Doing that math on square footage of the stairs and landing, this system will easily handle the 3″ per hour 100-year storm water rate for Chicago as long as the drain doesn’t get completely clogged, and this drain should resist clogging.
Area drain installed (looking out from basement)
The installation itself was pretty straightforward. We dug out the landing a bit and took out the old concrete threshold at the footing level of the basement door so we could run a trench to the weeping system. A bit of pipe, some stone, and the drain itself went in with a bit of test fitting and trench re-grading.
Ready for stairs and landing
Mario came out and put in more stone to prep the area for the steps and the landing. We got some snow over the weekend and a holiday coming up, but hopefully we can get them formed and poured soon.
