Day Three

Day Three. It was only a few months ago that we were thinking about finishing the basement ourselves. I remember when I first met Tammy and how impressed I was that she refinished her own counter tops in her townhome. She's never been one to shy away from projects like that. It was around that same time that she also bought a few pieces of furniture at a garage sale and reupholstered them. I figured that between the two of us we could cobble together a basement project we'd be happy with. Maybe not. After watching Dan and John work their magic the last few days and realizing early on that they think on a much different level than I could ever hope to in matters such as these, I'm glad we've got them doing the job for us.

They set about pouring concrete right away this morning. The bathroom and sauna plumbing was put in place yesterday and today it was cemented. They also dug out the spot for the sump basket and installed it. It looked like it was a bit of a struggle to get it in place but they did it.

One of the major obstacles of the entire project is to remove the post which sits in the middle of everything once you enter the basement. This is the sort of thing which I'd never imagine taking on if I were doing the work. Dan figured it could be done and brought an engineer in the confirm his belief. To do this it will be necessary to remove the two section overhead beam which the post supports and replace it with one continuous 24 foot laminated beam. Have a look...the kind people at Menards (not the orange store) dropped these off this morning. Now all we had to do was find a way to get them in the basement where we could put them to use. I say 'we' because it was at this point where I volunteered my services as it looked like they could use me. There were three of them and we took each one around to the side of the house and lowered them through the egress window into the basement. They're heavy buggers coming in at somewhere around 200lbs each. After a few breaks to catch our breath we successfully got them situated in the basement.

The last job of the day was to remove the broken-up concrete from the basement and take it to the dump. Once the laminated beams are in place Dan figures most of the grunt work will be done. John is looking forward to beginning the framing work maybe sometime next week. One thing which struck me early on is how they both have to know not just one or two aspects of construction but just about all of them. From breaking up concrete to understanding the engineering which goes into keeping a home sound and everything in between. I'm just along for the ride and hoping to learn a bit along the way.

Day Two

What a difference a day can make. They got to work ripping up the concrete in a couple areas. The first thing they did when they arrived though was to spend some time with Toby and Allie. We set up a fence to keep the pups from going downstairs but Allie found that she can fit through the rungs in the railing and go around the fence all together...Toby is a bit too heavy to follow.

To keep the dust to a minimum upstairs they sealed off the doorway leading to the basement and had a fan blowing air out the basement window. They punched the hole for the additional sump basket and also dug up the concrete in the future bathroom and sauna. Hey, you can actually see the sauna drain as it sits in place...wow, this dream is coming together.

Their prefered store for product is Menards as they've gotten to know much of the help there but when they don't have what they need they like to let them know that they won't hesitate to go to the orange store (Home Depot)...I thought that was pretty funny.

Day One

We're finally doing it...we're finishing our basement. We'll take this baron, cinder block lined enclave and turn it into a warm and cozy family place. I say warm because part of the plan is to build a sauna where we can melt away the cares of the world. I'd love to be able to do the work ourselves but I'm no pretender when it comes to matters such as this and I think it's best left to the pros. Keith will be doing the cabinets and bar for us while his friends, Dan and John, will do the rest of the work.

Dan is a former Northwest Airlines mechanic who began his remodeling business after being laid off several years ago. John is also a laid off airplane mechanic and together they come highly recommended from Keith.

We had a garage sale a few weeks ago and were able to part with all sorts of stuff we'd been storing in the basement. It actually looks pretty nice down there now without any clutter.

Today was day one of the project. They mapped out some room dimensions on the floor then left to go shop for supplies. I think one of the first things they plan to do is to punch another sump drain in the concrete on the opposite end of the basement from the existing sump basket. That was my idea in an effort to prevent any water damage from future heavy rains. It also affords us the protection of having another sump pump online should either one fail. I'll need to get a battery backup for at least one of them though in the event we lose power during a storm. It's the nature of the beast I suppose when you finish a room below ground and the potential for water damage is there. We're investing too much to not try and do all we can to protect it.

Another big obstacle they'll tackle early is to remove the support post which is in the way but does serve a vital function. The post is positioned on a seam in a 26 foot beam which supports the main level. The plan is to jack up the main level and remove both the post and beam while replacing them both with one continuous 26 foot laminated beam. It will be nice to not have the post in the way.

There is so much to do to pull this whole project together. Tammy and I will be doing some stained glass for the cabinets Keith is making. We still don't have a design figured out, much less an idea of what we'd like. I began work on a stained glass lamp to hang above the bumper-pool table. We're making the same 18" Tiffany reproduction Tulip lamp we made for Don and Dorothy. Yea, I know...it's not your typical pool table lamp but I think it'll look nice.

I spent last week trying to figure out what to buy for a tv. We initially bought a 50" Sony but then Tammy got to thinking that a little bigger might be better. Keith agreed and so I cancelled the order and continued shopping. I stumbled upon an online Sony forum and found that they'd organized a buying group. I was able to buy a 60" set though the group for $900 less than I would've paid at BestBuy. It was delivered today...it's a monster! I came home from work to find it sitting in some free space in our family room. I couldn't get over how big it is. For all its size though it weighs just a little over 100 lbs.