Category: Home Improvement?

I Can See the Finish Line

Much time and effort has been spent recently on finishing the basement.  My dad came over 2 days this week and helped me, and Rachel has helped me when possible.

I finished installing the new paneling on Friday and we starting installing trim today.  To help save money, we have went with a “rustic” look.  Instead of using “regular” trim, we are using 1×4 standard boards for baseboards and ceiling trim.  We are going to leave them unfinished to help with the effect.  We are then using pre-finished trim for inside and outside corners and filler strips.  These pre-finished pieces are interesting, as the finish isn’t a stain or wax, but like a sticker.

My plans for tomorrow are to work on the trim some more, and get as far as I can.  I start summer classes on Monday, so I will need to rest up as my first class is at 8am.  We are also going to look at 3 futons for possible purchase.

Our plans were pushed way up due to an unforeseen email I received from my aunt Beth.  She’s coming out!  They should be here July 3rd.  We always stay with her when we go to see them in Oklahoma, so we need to return the favor and show her some Hoosier hospitality.  We have currently planned taking a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as they’re big racing fans, fireworks at Memorial Stadium and a tour of Monroe Reservoir.

We’ve decided to purchase 2 futons for our sitting area downstairs, to make it cozy and a good sleeping area.  We are also bumping up our plans to install a shower downstairs for my aunts arrival.  This way any guests we have will have their own full bathroom.

We will soon get to finally utilitize all of the space in our home, and not just half of it!

So Far

So far I have mostly completed the office area of the basement, it just needs new paneling, paint and the floor coating.

I have begun on the other side of the basement, beginning with the removal of the hideous ceiling fan.  It worked, but did not fit the look or atmosphere we want in our home.  I had a fun time trying to wire the replacement light fixture we put in it’s place, as it had a remote switch wiring scheme.

I have not completed much work on the other side besides the removal of the paneling and replacing the one fixture.  From what I can tell, our walls are sound.  We did have a slight worry since we have a pine tree about 10 feet away from that corner of the house.

We recently had the corners of our gutters repaired, which I think may have been the root of our water leakage issues.

There is one issue that I’m still trying to wrap my brain around, and that’s how I’m going to run new cable, phone and LAN lines to the exterior wall in the living room.  I had believed that there was a line directly going to the corner of this room, as the label on it said “attic.”  I was wrong.  Access to this particular spot is difficult due to the placement of our fireplace.  This particular spot is almost just above the fireplace.  I’ve always wanted a fireplace, but for this particular instance I do not.

My concrete repair work started out slow, but is going much better now.

When I attempted this method of repairing, I came into many issues.  When my sander would contact the patch, the patch would fly out of the hole.  So I changed my game plan, and just filled the hole and not the surrounding areas as well.  This method has went so well that I would like to do the whole basement, but Rachel will have none of that.  She just wants the rooms done.

Our next few weeks are booked, so the time I have to dedicate to working on this is little at the moment.  I have basically the same things to do on this side as I did in the office.  The key difference is there is less wall area to renovate.  I guesstimate that with only 2 or 3 more weekends, I will be ready to put new paneling up.

Repairing the Floor

I have everything completed in the walls of my office.  I have one more thing to do before I can move on to the other area downstairs.

This is just a sample of what the perimeter of our basement floor looks like.  The floor originally was covered with carpet.  As a part of carpet installation, tack strips were put down on the perimeter of the floor.  Since the basement does get some water from time to time, we are not going to put a floor covering down that has the potential of being damaged due to water.  We have decided to either stain the concrete or apply an epoxy coating.

I want to repair all of these chips to make the floor visually appealing, and smooth.  I have no experience with masonry or concrete, so this will be an adventure.

With anything I have no experience with, I first search the internet for any available information to try to learn as much as possible before undergoing a project.  While there are many articles and how-to’s on how to repair a crack in a concrete sidewalk, or a missing corner from a concrete sidewalk, there is absolutely nothing on this particular issue.  I’ve searched endlessly as I don’t want to mess this up.  I hope my trial and error can help someone out in cyberspace.

I purchased some masonry crack filler that comes pre-mixed in a 1L bottle.  It seems like the proper patch tool for the job.  The first step was to remove all of the existing nails, and clean the area thoroughly.

I then poured the filler in to the holes, making sure to overfill each hole.

I tested it out to see if I could sand this filler to make the patch perfectly smooth and level with the rest of the floor.  It seems to sand very well.  There is a cancer warning for the dust particles that come from this, so I will be wearing a mask whenever sanding.

The patch is still drying and my Monday is booked.  I am planning on sanding this section down on Tuesday night.  I will update my progress then.

Dying Slowly

My PC is dying a long, drawn out death.  It’s to a point where I cannot do the things I need to do with it.

The first sign was when the motherboard died.  I should have just cut my losses and ran, but not me.  I found what I thought was a suitable replacement and got it going again.

This suitable replacement has been nothing but a pile of headaches.  I can no longer import video on my machine.  I must do that job on my wifes’ laptop and then transfer it to mine.  My disc burning speeds have been halved to 8x.  The last two DVDs I burnt had an audio sync issue, so I believe there are more issues there as well.

My main hard drive crashed as soon as the new motherboard was replaced.  While we did recover all files from it, and actually still use it, the end is near for that as well.  The computer does not want to shut down and performance is like that of a 486.

Last night was the breaking point, as my USB ports are only working intermittently.  I use my USB ports for everything, I have 15 of them!  When I can’t sync my phone or access my flash drive for school, that’s big trouble.

All of this in a time of change.  As of right now, we are about 1/3 of the way done on our basement remodel.  I have finished all the “real” work on one side.  All we have to do is add some more insulation and vapor barrier, then it’s on to the next.

I’m hoping to hold onto this until I get the basement done and a new machine can have a proper place.  Whether that happens is yet to be seen.

So It Begins…

We officially began remodeling our basement on Saturday.  Rachel and I removed the trim to all the paneling.  Sunday I got ancy and removed the paneling and installed a new light fixture.  What was waiting for us was shocking and interesting at the same time.

First surprise:  Ants!

What you are seeing is not dirt, it’s ants.  They must have been living behind the paneling for years.  When I removed the corner pieces they just came flying out.  We hosed them down with some mean stuff that we have.  It was very surprising to me that they could live behind there without coming out.  There isn’t much behind the wall except for wood, insulation and concrete blocks.

Second Surprise:  Pepsi Bottle!

Behind the hollow wall that our utility room shares was this bottle.  We’ve traced it down to being made between 1960 and 1967.  The puzzling thing is that our house was built in 1974.  Not being alive during this time, I’m not sure how long glass bottles stayed in circulation.  My dad told me that it’s possible that this bottle was still in use during the construction of our home.  We cleaned it up and will give it to my father-in-law the next time we see him.  My dad collects these things, but I think it would be more special to Joe.

This is where my progress has ended as of now.  I haven’t removed the insulation on the walls yet, but from what I can tell thus far it is in good shape.  If there is no mold on it I will reuse it and add a vapor barrier.

We have split the downstairs into 2 seperate areas for remodeling purposes.  This makes for 2 smaller jobs versus 1 bigger one, thus making it more manageable.  I have some re-wiring work to do as our home was constructed “pre-cable.”  It has plenty of flat antenna cable, but not RG6 (what is used for cable and satellite TV).  I am also re-wiring all of our phone outlets, as right now they are shoddy at best.  I had to re-wire them to make our DSL connection work.

Once all the backend work is done, I’m going to put the paneling back up.  I’m hoping to save as much of this as possible, but much of it is rotted or has big holes in it from 30+ years of living.  I’m going to call my “daughter’s mother’s step-dad” to put the trim back up.  He’s a master carpenter – someone needed for some of the complex angles this has.

After that’s done twice, we will paint the paneling to lighten up the area.  There is only 1 window for the entire downstairs and it can be a little creepy down there.  Then onto the floor.  The first step is repairing the surface.  There was carpet in there originally, and after removal of the tack strips it has caused little chips to be removed.  Shouldn’t be a hard problem to solve.  Then onto the finish, we have been discussing 2 viable options, concrete stain or epoxy coating.  I’m a fan of concrete stain, as it gives a very nice appearance.  Rachel is a fan of epoxy coating as it’s a bit cheaper.

After all this is over I then have a bedroom to re-do.  This bedroom is where I’m writing this right now.  It has a shelving unit that was crudely attached which I’m removing.  After repairing the drywall there isn’t much work to do except paint and a new closet door.

Those are the plans, but I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road.  I’ll be writing as often as I can to document the first “real” remodel of our home.  I can’t wait to see my Home Office / Man Cave become a reality!

Dad-da

I’ve got some mighty big news to share.  I’m going to be a father for the second time in my life.

We found this out several weeks ago, but wanted to wait until the first appointment.  We didn’t want to tell the world, just to tell them that there are problems and so on.

The news has been both shocking and exciting.  It means I have many things to do around the house in preparation for the new child.

I have to remodel our downstairs to move my office down there.  I then have to remodel the new nursery to make it hospitable for a child.

There’s much to be done, and the clock is now officially ticking.  The due date is October 6th – I believe.

Fit For a Princess, Almost

Over the weekend Rachel and I painted Taylor’s room “Pink Gingham.”  We also installed a new 6 panel door to her room.  Her door was the only one in the house that would not latch.

I wanted to do some other things to her room, but we really did not have the time.  Hopefully we can get this done soon.

I will have some pictures as soon as I get my  main computer back from the shop.

Phase II of her room includes painting her trim and door “whipped white,” and installing new baseboard trim and a new bi-fold closet door.

Next home project on the list:  Basement remodel.

The only task that really worries me is the wiring work I want done.  I need to hire someone to pull some cable and cat-5e wire from the attic to the basement.

We plan on gutting it to the block walls, and starting fresh.  I need  to re-wire some outlets and switches.  We are also going to rework our old and tired brick fireplace.

I hope to have this done by next spring.  Hopefully my wife will release her kung-fu grip on our checkbook so we can finally utilize our entire home.  Since we’ve moved in our basement area has been only used for storage.

The Bedroom of Her Dreams

The next project Rachel and I have is to actually finish a room in the house.  That room being my daughter Taylors’ room.

We are installing new baseboard trim, a new entry door and a new closet door.  Her room is going to be painted a light pink and the existing trim in her room will be painted a beautiful color named “whipped white.”

On deck after that is the remodeling of the downstairs.

Making Progress

Rachel and I were very productive this weekend.  We painted our foyer, I changed the oil in my  truck, trimmed some tree limbs with the help of my neighbor, and I mowed the front yard.

This week I plan on peeking  under the carpet on our stairs to see exactly what is under there.  If it’s hardwood, I think we might actually finish the foyer area.  It will only require some paint, stain, and some stair rail parts.

I love the look of stained treads with white painted risers.  I want our stairs to look similar to this picture.  I would also like a runner, but that is an issue of contention in the household.