Basement Remodel
So, we decided to remodel the basement. This is the one project we thought we'd never do in this house, but after Kayla was born we decided to rethink that plan. For Christmas we got a a basement remodeling do-it-yourself book, a toolbelt, a HD giftcard and some money to get us on our way! So, after much thought and planning the project started. We tore out all the old shelving, moved the freezer (including electrical), built new storage in the back area of the basement and moved everything out of the main area. Next step was to get the new lighting setup and then the framing of the walls. After that was done, we added outlets throughout the room. All of this work was done in a hustle and a bustle as we wanted to get all of this done before Mom & Dad Slighter came out to visit as I planned to put Dad to work helping me out. Together he and I finished framing the soffits that covered the gas and water lines and the Heating and Cooling duct work. We had someone come in and add 2 new registers and 1 return for the room to make sure we had adequate air in the room. This turned out to be a leading project...
I say leading because, this company spent close to 10 hours at our house over the course of 3 days. They started with just the new duct work. Then on Saturday as dad and I were tiding up some wiring, we found old phone lines, which I traced and found to be dead so I cut them, and then cut a few more.... Oops, that last one happened to be the line to our thermostat :( So, now we had no heat and it's 36 degrees outside. I was able to get in touch with the owner and he came out and fixed us up and proceeded to give me a hard time (in jest) about cutting the line. He also quoted us on a new hot water heater since ours was 24 years old!!! So, bright and early on Monday they were back out with a shiny new water heater. At least now we won't have to fret about our basement flooding because of the old water heater dying on us.
Having all the work out of the way, dad and I were able to make quick progress in the basement with the drywall. We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging the drywall and Monday and Tuesday doing the mud work. Without all the work that dad helped with, I know we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are with the project. I've put a few pictures below for you to preview what's happened so far, and here's a link to the whole project album.
Oh yeah, you can't have all work and no play! So Lisa is the definitive pinball wizard in our house seeing as how she has an all time high score of over 500,000!
