Basement Remodel: Almost Complete, Except Not

So today I was hoping to tell you that the contractors were done and gone and we were starting our DIY finishing projects.

But there have been a few delays, so here's another post on the progress that has been made!

 

Drywall:

• The uncovered the recessed light and air vent that got covered up.  I'm glad we've been touring the basement daily, and noticed these before more work was done!
• Everything has been primed, so it's ready for us to paint.  Painting the room ourselves will save over $1,000! 

 

Baseboards:

• We had been planning to install our own 5" baseboards after we put in the floors.
• A message got lost somewhere, and 3.5" baseboards were installed by surprise.
• But they look really nice, they're done, and we don't have to pay for them or do them ourselves, so this was a nice surprise! 

Most unique baby gift yet!

 

Siding:

• The siding guys were here for four days, and we now have new siding! 
• We had to have a little conversation about how they used my landscaped flower beds as their workspace.  Come on guys, what's wrong with working in grass?  Are bushes and flowers really that much better of a place to set up your tools and work area?  Now I've added "fix back yard landscaping" to my never ending pre-baby to-do list.

The pretty new siding makes me want to paint the utility boxes white to match

 

What's left?

• A little bit of touching up drywall
• Installing the patio lights
• Installing fresh outlets
• Finishing the recessed lights
• Installing gutters

After three days of rain, sleet, snow, and wind, we have some good news and bad news.  Good news: the leak that started this whole project is gone!  Bad news: The new French door isn't watertight, so there's a new leak.  Big sad face :(

You might also be interested in these posts:


Basement Remodel: Getting Started
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Basement Remodel: Imperfect Progress
Basement Remodel: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Bonnie Projects

Basement Remodel: Light at the End of the Tunnel

It's been another week of progress around here, and things are looking much different!

Recessed Lighting

• We now have receptacles for six recessed lights in the basement!
• Hopefully they don't look like this once it's all said and done
• I also noticed while taking photos for this post that they drywalled over one of the lights!

 

Other Electrical

• We moved the patio light upstairs to be centered between the sliding doors
• We added a light downstairs
• The kids bathroom upstairs had the vent fan and light on the same switch, so you were forced to use the fan at all times.  We had the fan put on its own switch.  Silence is golden!

 

Sliding doors fixed

• The door guys came out and fixed the issue with the handles being different heights
• The doors being 1/2" different is not easy to fix, and was a result of all the water damage, so it looks like we're simply stuck with that issue.

 

Drywall

• Drywall is on the ceiling, water damaged walls, and places where we demoed walls
• It's looking like a real room!

 

Plumbing

• There used to be a rigged-up method for watering the plants on the upper deck.  It was a 2" plastic hose threaded through the deck and attached with a 2x4 to the house.  It looked really amateur.
• The plumber put a real pipe in the exterior wall of the house and added a real spigot on the upper deck.  Once the siding guys come through, it'll all be pretty and perfect!

 

Waterproofing and windproofing

• New insulation went into the water damaged wall
• New doors and windows were sealed with special tape and foam to keep the water out

You might also be interested in these posts:

Basement Remodel: Getting Started
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Basement Remodel: Imperfect Progress

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Basement Remodel: Imperfect Progress

The contractors have put in a few long days at this point, and have been making lots of progress!  Not all of it is perfect though, and one thing I've learned is this: If you can be home for your remodel, DO IT!!!

I've been able to telework for 2 of the 5 days they've been at our house.  The days I was there, I learned a lot about where the leak was coming from and how bad the damage really was.  I also learned how people cut corners, mess stuff up, and don't necessarily respect your property.  I saw a lot of things I otherwise would never have known about.

Also this: If you can't be there all day, go over all the work EVERY NIGHT with a fine-toothed comb.

So, what's been done?

New sliding doors in the living room

• They broke the old one getting it out.  If I hadn't seen it shatter, I probably would have wondered about all those glass chunks under the couch for years....
• The door handles were 5" different.  Yeah that's gotta get fixed!
• The doors are installed 1/2" different in height.  Jury's out on the solution for this one.
• In general, I'm expecting at least one door will have to be completely removed and replaced. 

the handles are 5" different in height

one door frame is 1/2" higher than the other

New window in the basement

• Wasn't ordered with the grids like we asked, but it sounds like they can fix those after the job.
• So much more light down there now!  It feels like a real room!

new window, new French door, and no rotten wood!

New French door in the basement

• It's so pretty!!!
• The panes are definitely smaller than the original sliding door, but we were willing to sacrifice view to have the French door down here.  Good thing we added that window!

 

Structural Work

• It's not pretty.  I guess that's why they invented drywall!
• The corner of the header got crushed during installation.  We brought it up to the contractor, and the ended up pulling it out, rotating it, and installing it where the crushed corner wouldn't take any of the load.
• I also learned the extent of my Dad's engineering nerdiness, as he calculated the load on that crushed corner over the phone using his old textbooks that were copyrighted in 1914.  From what he calculated, and how bad the damage was, apparently we're really lucky the whole house wasn't caving in before we started this project!
• On the positive side, there's no more rotten wood!

 

What was causing the leak

• A big chunk of siding missing
• No waterproofing under the sliding door

The bottom piece of siding is missing a triangle, so all the water shed by the siding 20 feet above this is able to get into the house.  No wonder the damage was so bad!

This is what it looked like when they removed the sliding door.  Those are shingles used as "waterproofing" on the left side, and nothing at all on the right side.  Which is what allowed water to rot out everything and cause stuff like that awesome hole in the floor.

 Other issues and things I've noticed

• Only one of three exterior lights I ordered was shipped.  Good thing I opened the box and realized the error in time for them to send the other two before the electrician comes!
• Subcontractors seem to be unreliable, and your contractor may have trouble getting in touch with them!
• Keep an eye on how the guys treat your stuff.  Yeah, my landscaping looks like crap right now because it's the end of winter.  But that doesn't mean that throwing a sliding door on top of my crispy azaleas is OK!!!  And they're really lucky they only set the saw on my pansies and not my peony!!! 
• If you want your furniture to survive your remodel, move it yourself and cover it well.

Everything I was ever warned about seems to be true.  It's expensive, it's loud, it's stressful, and you need to keep a close eye on what's happening.

I've already made Tommy promise we won't ever do a project bigger than this if we can help it!



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Basement Remodel: Getting Started
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Basement Remodel: DIY Demolition Saves Money

Quick review, we are trying to get from a dark, cramped basement with structural issues to an open and bright space we'll enjoy for years to come.

In my last post, I mentioned that we negotiated with the contractor that they would deduct any work we complete on our own from the bill.  I love a bargain, so you can guess what happened next.

Tommy's grandfather, brother, and brother-in-law (thank you, I love you guys!!!) came to help, and the four of them started destroying our basement.  I say destroy with a smile on my face, because I hated the basement!!!

They started by taking down the wall that made 1/3 of the basement into a walk-in closet.  It's amazing how much more open a room becomes when you get a third of it back!

We considered building a new, smaller, closet, but couldn't think of anything to put in it that couldn't go on a shelf, so we decided to skip it for now and just stick with a big open room.

Next they removed the shed from the lower deck.  It was only storing potting soil and a few pots, and we plan to build a storage bench later this summer to store those items.  Removing the shed will allow us to add a window.

Our brother-in-law is really tall and strong (think offensive lineman), and he ripped out the ceiling without using a ladder or really any tools at all.  It was incredible.

Tommy took up all those carpet tiles.  They come up pretty easily, but it's tedious.

I ripped off the top layer of wallpaper, and Tommy and I spent many long hours scraping the backing and glue from the walls.  In case you're wondering, I would much rather spend my 6th month of pregnancy doing something - anything - else!!!  But that's life.

The guys carted all the debris around to the front of the house, and made four trips to the dump to dispose of it all.  (BTW, the dump is really cheap and it cost less than $50 for them to take all that stuff)

Our contractor came by to adjust our contract based on the work we'd accomplished.  My Mom's birthday gift to Tommy is painting the basement.  Between taking out the painting, and the crazy amounts of demo the guys accomplished, we're saving over $3,000!!!

We are already so much happier with the basement.  Even though it's covered in drywall dust, it feels so much more spacious, open, airy, and light!  I can't wait for more!!!

PS: What do you wear in a work zone when you're 6 months pregnant and don't want to sacrifice your new maternity jeans?  Your 15 year old overalls with the straps let out all the way!  As a side bonus, my Southern side was coming through all weekend and I picked up my accent and made a big batch of sweet tea.

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Basement Remodel: Getting Started

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Basement Remodel: Getting Started

We didn't like our finished basement when we bought our house.  The previous owners had used it as a master bedroom, and made some interesting choices.  They walled off 1/3 of the room for a walk-in closet, painted over the grasscloth wallpaper with baby blue paint, and installed eye-catching carpet tiles.

I generally wouldn't have problems with closets, blue paint, and carpet tiles (hey, you can pull up just one and wash it in the sink!), but these particular choices just weren't for us.  Besides all that, it was claustrophobic, cold, and dark (one sliding door and no overhead lights).

So we put our leftover furniture down there, stashed my boxes of books in the closet, and kind of forgot about the whole space.

But the basement wasn't happy being forgotten, and decided to garner our attention in new and astounding ways, namely in the form of LOTS of water coming in with every rainstorm.

At first, we tried to convince ourselves it was just this one bad storm, but it quickly became obvious that it was every storm, and it was more than just a drip.

Tommy decided to make a hole in the ceiling to investigate, and things got much scarier.  It turns out this leak had been going on for YEARS, even before we bought the house, and it had slowly eroded and rotted important structural elements of our house.

I got on Angie's List and lined up four reputable contractors to come take a look.  Some friends and neighbors also recommended their guys, and we ended up having seven different companies come to the house.

To properly fix our problem, the door, header above the door, band board above that, and several joists would need to be replaced, patched, or sistered.  Because they are integral to the house not collapsing, this would also involve building a temporary wall inside our house while the back wall is gone.  Oh how lovely!

They have yet to determine what, exactly, is causing the leak, but it's some combination of the mid-level sliding doors and the fact that there is no flashing on the deck.  So we grew the scope to include new sliders and a flashed deck.

But hey, since we're replacing the doors and have 30 year old aluminum siding (that the paint is wearing off of), why not also replace the siding?

And, since we're tearing out the back wall, maybe we should also add a window in the basement!

Better yet, why not tear out the entire ceiling (since 1/4 of it has to come out to fix the joists), install recessed lighting, and get rid of the ceiling texture too.

And finally, since it'll already be a huge mess, let's also remove the walk-in-closet, wallpaper, and flooring, and redo all that as well.

Can we say scope creep?

So the guys all came out, and we got 6 quotes (one never got back to us).  We picked our favorite, and negotiated the contract.  How did we negotiate?  Any work we managed to do before they arrived would be deducted from the total bill.  After seeing their estimates, we also decided to paint the room and do the flooring on our own.

And thus the project begins!