32 Trips...

No, I haven't taken 32 trips to the hardware store, at least not yet.  But there is still time.  Thirty-two is the number of times I went up and down the stairs to the basement taken the lumber inside.  Half way through, I was wishing I had taken Ken up on his offer to come help.  Oh well.  It took about thirty minutes and I was hot and sweaty.  (I know, more than you wanted to know).  I'm not really sure if 32 is the correct number but it is not less than 32.  The math doesn't quite add up... I carried in the treated 2x4s in pairs because they were heavier.  The untreated came inside in 3s, except one trip of 4.  So, either I lost count or I got less wood than I paid.  I'm thinking its the former.  Nevertheless, just in case you were wondering what 90 10 foot 2x4s looked like in a basement:

The First of Many?

Today was the first of probably many trips to the hardware store.  All I got today was lumber.  I had hoped to get some insulation and screws, etc., but they were a little busy and I need to go prep for class.  Work is scheduled to commence Friday evening after supper.  We will probably only do a little and hopefully do a lot on Saturday.  This is what the first trip got us.

Permitting Done

Thursday afternoon, I went back downtown and applied for the building permit.  It should be mailed out today, so hopefully, I'll get it Saturday.  I also applied for the electrical permit, as we will move a few things and add additional outlets.  I guess that will get mailed out too, but I'm not sure.  The lady only said that it would be billed out after the inspection.

Speaking of inspection, the inspector called me yesterday while my phone was dead.  He did leave a message with some good information and kept me from having to make up questions to ask.

I am still not sure what we "building."  The inspector's message said that if people we're going to be sleeping in there, an egress window was strongly recommended.  He came up while I was getting stuff taken care of yesterday and asked what the room was going to be used for.  I told him playroom or something, that we really weren't sure.  His was response was basically, "Oh, you can't call it a family room if it doesn't have an egress, so you better call it a storage room."  More than once, he said, "you better call it a storage room." 

I've read the code and know that what we a doing doesn't require an egress.  I did ask something to the effect of, "Even though it has direct access to the outside?"  Response was something to the effect of if it has two stairways, one going to the main floor and one going outside, it can be called a family room.  There was a little more to it, but that's the gist of the conversation.  However, I'm still not sure I the remodel is a storage room or a family room.  If it is a storage room, I think I'm going to store our extra bed in there.

After getting the permitting taken care of, I went home to do some work with no one around.  That worked out well (sarcasm, by the way).  I did get a chest of drawers upstairs and Cal's room.  I also got the mattress down to the basement, but not the box springs.  I tried to go down from the inside, then tried from the back basement door.  I even took the door off and couldn't get it.  Hey, if it didn't work the first time, try again.  I spent a good amount of then trying to get it downstairs from inside again and even took the door off.  I need for either 1) the box springs to bend like the mattress did, or 2) about four more inches of clearance.  I'm thinking I'm going to try the outside basement door again with some help to see if I just couldn't turn it to the right angle by myself.

Wow, I should really get to class now.

Supplies will be ordered early next week and construction will officially start the first Saturday in September.  I'm sure there will be plenty of stories from that adventure.

Permits and More Permits

After my last class today, I went downtown to inquire what I needed to do to get a building permit.  Apparently, all you have to do is say the word "permit" and they start filling out the application.  That's great, but not why I went in there.  Plus, we still have a few decisions to make.  The lady seemed shocked that the room already had outlets and lights. 

From talking to some friends, we have a very unique basement.  We have direct access from the outside, as well as inside, which most homes here do not; our basement is basically the same size at the main floor, which most are not; and, all of the rooms already have lights and most, if not all, have at least one outlet.

In addition to the buidling permit, we will need to get an electrical permit and have inspections before we dry wall.  We could get around that as there are three outlets in the room already; but, we probably either need to move a couple of them as they are all on top of each other, and/or add additional ones.

The lady is going to have the inspector call me because I have questions.  I hope he doesn't call too quickly because I probably need to make up some questions other than "what do you need from me so I can get a building permit?".  This could get interesting.

Nothing New So Far This Week

Day two of the new school year and things seem to be off to a good start.

Calleigh has been sleeping in her new room since Saturday night and is doing great.  Hopefully, we can get it cleaned out a little more and looking more like "her room" some this weekend.  Other than that, no real progress on the new room.

We did decide the other day to make some changes to the plans, which is kind of a return to our original plan with some minor changes.  Hopefully, I will be able to get away from the office a bit on Wednesday to go check into a permit and apply for it later this week.  Until then, we are kind of at a stand still.  Thursday afternoon, I'll come home for a bit and clean out the storage room, dig out some furniture for Cal's room, and do some cleaning to get the place ready for supplies and work.

How Cool is This?

Again, not home project related per se, but my blog, so my rules, right?  Christi brought this home after visiting a friend Saturday.

Megan worked for Christi in Admissions at York and we both had Seth in class while finishing his degree. A couple of years ago, I was asked to play guitar in the house band for the community playhouse production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Seth played bass.  We had a good time and started talking about putting a band together since Accidental Genius had imploded and he had recently departed his.  We tried twice; once with a r&b/soul/funk type group and the second with a college/alternative type rock.  The second group seemed to have the best chance, but Megan and Seth decided to move to Japan shortly after our first rehearsal.  So, off to Kansas for a bit to prepare for that trip.

Well, no Japan.  Seth now works for a drum manufacturer (Vaughncraft) that makes drum shells out of one piece of wood.  Sounds really cool and he's loving it.  Seth made a tambourine for me and it is way cool.  He was still finishing it up the morning they came up.  The shell is one piece just like the drums they make and is really awesome.

Seth and Megan came up for a wedding and Christi was able to hang out with her for a bit, and Seth gave it to her to bring home for me.  Maybe they'll let us know a little earlier next time so we can get together and play.

Enjoy the pics.

.

Calleigh's New Room In Progress

This past week, we set up the pack'n'play in Cal's room and let her nap a time or two in there.  Saturday evening we finally had time to move her crib downstairs.  It started during nap time, then the kids helped out for a bit.  We still have a lot to do in there, (move the bed downstairs, clean out the closet, etc., and paint), but its a start.

New Helper?

These are from the other evening close to bedtime.  I'm not really sure I will let him help dressed like this, but who knows.... And we didn't dress him this way; he did it all by himself before putting on pjs.

A Different Type of Home Improvement

Ok, this probably does not really belong on this blog, but it's mine, so I'll do it anyway.

Faculty had to report this week for meetings, class prep, and advising.  Christi also took advantage of some of that time to work on her classes.  This semester, instead of me going home when she is in class, etc., we are using a "sitter" twice a week.  It looks like this is going to be a good deal for all of us.

The kids went for the first time Thursday.  They had been with Barb a little during corn season and some before that, so they know what they are in for.  Apparently, the first day went well, as the kids were angels for her and turned to devils when Christi picked them up.  They worked on counting to 10 and writing the letter C.

Anyway, we picked the kids of some backpacks and lunch boxes earlier in the week.  Coop had used his old one so much it broke.  We don't put a whole lot in there, but they love pulling and carrying them around.  Here are some pics from the first morning.  Enjoy.

Kitchen Cabinets After

The new color is Red Caboose.  The old knobs and handles were replaced with brushed silver ones.  Originally we had picked out some that were kind of black with some bronze but the bronze looked orange in the kitchen.  The hinges are still the gold ones that were on the doors.  We are not sure if we will replace those with silver or not...if you don't clean them, they look aged.

Kitchen Cabinets Before Part II

Kitchen Cabinets Before

As promised, here are some pictures of the kitchen cabinets.  We did this sometime in June.

Drylock Part II and Irony

The kids went down early last night; well, kind of.  Calleigh cuddled up with Christi in the rocker and eventually fell asleep for a bit before the thunder woke her up.  She hasn't done that in quite awhile.  Coop sat with me snacking for a bit then wanted to sit with mommy.  A few minutes of that and he was out about 20 to 25 minutes before bedtime.  I'm thinking they are still worn out from Sunday's adventure trip into Lincoln.  Nevertheless, it let me get to work a little bit early.

Both extra walls have received a coat of Drylock.  I may post pictures later, but it kind of looks like the previous one of the walls with Drylock, just more of it.  The second gallon went on much easier and didn't look quite as "goopy" as the first, although it was still extremely thick.  Same for the third gallon that was started.  I'm not really sure if it needs a second coat or not.  Since we have a gallon already open, we may apply more to certain areas of the room.

It rained last night and through the night some, so that might be a good test.  Then again, it might not be, since we've never seen water leak in that room before.  I gave it a quick visual inspection this morning before leaving and it all looked fine.

Now to the irony.  While applying it last night, I had a thought about Drylock.  This is a masonry sealer that is supposed to help keep water out, yet you clean it up with soap and water.  Strange if you ask me.  Good thing rain and groundwater generally doesn't have soap in it.

The Walls

The walls are in really good conditions and pretty straight considering the age of the house.  Again, ask Ken about this one because I think he's a little jealous.

The exposed brick is really cool and would be neat to keep, but that might cause a slight problem with insulation.  As far as we know, we have never had any leakage issues in this room as we have in some others (which will be address sometime in the future).  However, to be safe, the walls are being coated with Drylock.

Never using Drylock before, I foolishly thought it would be like paint: one gallon would be more than enough for two walls and it would be easy to apply.  Wrong and wrong!  One gallon almost covered one wall and I may have put it on too thin.  So, Sunday we took another trip to Lincoln (as we can't get it in York) and purchased three more gallons.  Hopefully, that is enough to cover the rest of the walls and do a second coat.  Actually, I'm hoping its more than enough and we can take one gallon back.

Drylock is very thick and hard to apply.  The directions say you can roll it one with a 3/4" nap roller and backbrush it to fill in the gaps.  Well, the roller things didn't work out too well.  I'm thinking because it is so thick.  Considering I was going to have to go back and use a brush on most of the wall anyway to fill in gaps and seams, I've decided to go straight brush.  I can cover about one block with each brush full of sealer.

The goal is have the walls (and everything else) completely prepped for the rest of the work by the of this week.  Since I have meetings and other obligations during the day with my real job, that probably means some late nights, but in the words of Nebraska native, Larry the Cable Guy, we'll git-r-done.

Concrete Work

Removing the existing framing, left some areas in the floor that needed to be prepared.  (Remember, the 2x4s concreted in the floor?  Did you know that when you remove them you get a hole in the floor?)  Originally, I thought that the floor was poured around the 2xs on directly on the dirt; however, as I began to prep the area for new concrete, I discovered that this wasn't the case.

Four or five bags of Quikcrete came with the house when we purchased it.  At least one bag, maybe two, found its way in the basement bathroom during the shower installation.  That's a whole other story in itself...be sure to ask Ken about that one.

Nevertheless, I started one night around 9 mixing, pouring, and smoothing concrete.

Demolition Continued

Here's another shot of some of the existing framing that had to be removed.  With everything out of the room and framing gone, that little window puts in a lot of light.  That window will be removed as well as a portion of the concrete blocks for an egress window, but more about that later.

One wall had some siding and a little framing that needed to be removed as well. 

And here are some pictures of a newly open room.

The Demolition

The room to be finished was pretty bare but still needed some demolition.  Peg boards were removed from one wall and now hang in the garage where we get much better use out of them.  Also, a large work bench had to be removed.

Workbench

Here are a couple of pictures of the workbench.  It was pretty secure and sealed against the wall.  A number of the screwheads had been stripped, so a good portion of it was "muscled  out." 

In the second picture, you can also see some existing framing that was removed.  The 2x4s had been concreted into the floor which meant some concrete work would have to been done as well to prep the room.

No workbench.  The window looking thing is crawlspace under the porch.

The Guestroom

The second project for the summer/fall is moving the guestroom.  Currently, the guestroom is located on the main floor of the house; however, Calleigh will be moving downstairs into that room and we need a new place for all of the wonderful visitors we get to stay.  Calleigh currently resides in the room opposite of our bedroom upstairs.  I'm not really sure what to call that room, but it is large and open and on the way to the upstairs bathroom. (I'll try to get a picture up later to help explain it). Both of the kids have spent time up there; Calleigh may have stayed a little longer than Cooper, but then again, he basically kicked her out.

At lunch today, Christi asked if I had pictures of the new guestroom prior to doing anything.  I do not.  Most of the basement has become storage for all kinds of things; things we probably should hang on to, things we didn't have time to go through and decide to keep or trash, things we put down there with the intention of taking it to the trash...you get the picture.  Needless to say, all kinds of things were in that room and other rooms of the basement.

Our basement has four large rooms, is partially finished, and has direct outside access.  All of these things are somewhat unusual for York.

To begin the project, I had to clean out the room to be finished.  Arrangements had already been made for the kids for the anticipated start date for detasseling, but that was delayed by a couple of days.  We sent the kids anyway, I spent most of two mornings cleaning out, throwing out, finding items a new home, and utilizing the attic space in the garage.  I spent about 10 hours over these two days doing this and probably another 5 to 10 hours at other times cleaning it out.  Some of the other rooms in the basement took a hit, but we will attack those rooms after the remodel.

Kitchen Cabinets

Our first project of the summer was to paint the kitchen cabinets.  A while back the kitchen was painted, maybe a year or two ago, and it was time to get the cabinets updated.  This is the point where you should see some before and after pictures, but apparently I haven't loaded any of the cabinet pictures to my computer.

Welcome

Welcome to a blog about our home projects.  I am sure you will find it all very interesting.  Actually, I only expect a few family members to check this out...especially since it was created for them to follow our progress on a few projects from miles aways.