Current Basement Updates, Dec 7, 2007...

With the early completion of the Speedster rolling chassis, focus has shifted to the basement once again. This time we will complete the project.

Things started with a load of drywall (40 sheets) my dad helped me pickup and carry into the basement. Many loose ends needed to be tied up too, including rerouting some low voltage wiring, jacking up and supporting our back room with a 2x6 supporting wall, and in a classic case of scope creep, a complete replacement of the stairs to the basement...

There are captions below the pictures: I'm pretty sure this put Bob's back out for a good week or so...
A typical image of where I started with this latest round of renos.
This the the 2x6 supporting wall I built to support the kitchen back in 2006...

This image (barely) shows the supporting wall under Ashley's room and our new organized storage.

Me measuring for the first piece of drywall...

Once the new stairs were built it made sense to get rid of the doorway going downstairs and leave it open concept.

Pretty neat, eh?
Here's the current state, ready for drywall compound and tape.

At long last the "pool" light I found at the dump has been installed!

Here's a shot of the bathroom with the new light fixture temporarily installed.
The washer and dryer are functional for now, just not in place.
A little more cupboard space......really just hiding that air conditioner pipe.
Another door...

...for access to the water meter in the bathroom.
A really big door...
...hiding the circuit box. Yes, I know, the cover isn't installed and the wires aren't stapled down. one thing at time!
This looks complicated, but I removed some bricks and concrete, then made some filling strips to allow the basement ceiling to extend to the landing at the bottom of the stairs, where it raises a few inches...
Here Cole is enjoying the new, full width stairs.

Basement Time Machine - Preliminary Work January 2006

It was nearly two years ago that Vanessa and I decided to begin renovating the basement. This meant removing the remaining "finished" basement from the previous owners and starting from scratch.
Along the way some additions and improvements were in order. As you can see from the pictures below, I smashed up the floor, cut the original cast iron piping, and roughed in a bathroom as well as relocated the main floor drain, and added a gravity drain for the condensate and excess water from the a/c and humidifier in the furnace room (which wasn't built yet)...

Next I jacked up the house and replaced the rotten 4x4 and brick supports with proper steel teleposts. I also removed the 4x4 supports under the original basement stairs (they carried the load of about 6 floor joists from the kitchen) with a 2x6 supporting wall.

The images should explain the rest...