The Reaction

Well, it's all good. The surprise was a success.

!!!!

Finished for the week!?

Good morning, gentlest of readers. It is now Saturday, the day of reckoning. This shall either be my last post as a member of the human species, or it will be my most happy of days. All depends, of course, on how my lovely wife responds to the surprise. Hopefully, I'll be able to update this blog with a success.

Without further ado, I must acknowledge the prime assistance of my sister in law and her boyfriend this week. They've been instrumental in my success this year. Yesterday I was the most fortunate of souls, as some of my dear friends from church came and assisted. This family is so selfless and giving, and I thank you, dear friends, and your children, too.

You want to see pictures, don't you?

Well, fine. Here they are.

Looking out the doors. Notice the shiny lights and the pretty view out the door.


The hallway to the bathroom, laundry, storage and mechanical




Friday, looking at the fridge.




So, there you have it.

Monday & Sunday's progress

It's Monday evening, dear reader. I spent some time today on a wall, trying to finish around the door. We're into working on the soffets to hide the hvac stuff. Tomorrow should be a great day to get some work finished - like hopefully on the ceiling. To that end, I'm including 3 images to whet your appetite.

That's (look up) looking out towards the outside. The hall to the bath, laundry and mechanical is just barely visible to the right of the image.


this is the outer wall, below. There will be a covering the entire length of this ceiling - gotta hide those silly heat ducts.



And, finally, a view toward the pantry and the stairs. The basement currently looks kinda small, but that could be due to the amount of stuff in there. (yeah, there's a lot).




Today was not a productive day because of early rise and exhaustion due to the weekend's work. I did get a chance to get work done today at work - it was good. I'm looking forward to St. Patrick's Day tomorrow - a friend is coming to help (hopefully in the morning), and I get to have band rehearsal tomorrow night. I'm blessed to have great friends in my praise team - they make rehearsals great fun!.

More tomorrow, then. I've got 2 more work days.

Saturday, part deux

Saturday night, post script comments.

I have managed to almost finish the entire east wall (33 feet). The electricity is on, the lights are bright, and it already feels warmer.
This is what the room looked at the beginning of the day - What you are seeing is the beginnings of my new pantry. There will be the ability to store 2 wire racks with all kinds of stuff.

What you see to the left is looking from the door toward the steps. Notice the shiny new lights. There are many more lights than before. Many.

I've got drywall on the right wall. The back wall you see will be covered with drywall, as will the ceiling. That should prove to be fun.

This is the east wall. I've still got to make the soffitts to cover the HVAC, but that will go quickly once I get the drywall up.

It would be much easier if there weren't things in my basement, but hey, it's just the way it is.

The Secret Project

Welcome, friend, to my blog. It's been 2 weeks since my last update, and much has transpired. Let me bring you to the current state of disarray in my basement.

The framing for the bath and mechanical is finished. I'm waiting on a friend (licensed plumber) to return from a trip, and he's going to add the shut-offs for the bath, and I'll finish the plumbing. At least if I screw it up, I don't lose water to the entire house. (see last year's fiasco).

Added power in the mechanical room and a fluorescent fixture controlled by a switch. I can now see the beautiful sorting I've done of my paints, stains, tiling and other materials under the stairs.

Added 11 can lights to my basement yesterday and today. It's very bright. I'm over 1/2 finished with the framing down here (permanently finished!!!!) and am insulating and drywall adding as I go. See, here's the rub, my wife and daughter are out of town this week. She doesn't know I'm doing this "little" project this week. Mostly I'm just resting and watching movies. Which I am doing when I'm scarfing down food. There is all manner of stuff in my basement. I don't know what to do with it - except for move it away from where I'm working, then to put it back so I can work around it. Yeah, model of efficiency.

Oh, Home Depot in Arnold is my friend. They helped me this morning load 30 sheets of drywall, 55 studs and 15 bundles of insulation. Of course, nobody would come home with me and unload it, so at 6.45 this morning, I was a busy little bee.

I promise, gentle reader, to update tonight or tomorrow. Maybe I'll have a charge in my camera, and I'll be able to take a picture or 4 to share with you.

Moar basement!!!

Gentle Reader, greetings. It gives to me great suffering to know that it has truly been 3 weeks since my last post. Many things have transpired to keep me from my work, none of which will be of any interest to you, my friend. So, without further ado, here is my update for today, 6 March 2009.


I have, as you can see above, finished the framing for most of the mechanical and bathroom. I've yet to finish the closet framing (20 minutes) and 1 more stud on the bath wall. You can also notice the drywall that is beginning to take shape. It has been an interesting day today because I am working around plumbing and heating and wires and the list goes on and on.

In 2 weeks, I hope to have major advances in the basement. I shall endeavor to keep you informed, gentle reader. Thank you for your time.

I promised you an update either on Friday or today (Saturday), so as to not disappoint you, dear reader, here is my latest update.

Friday began with a nice promise of productivity - the sun was shining, the weather was warm. See, I do all my work in the backyard and take all the cut pieces into the basement for assembly into the walls, etc. This is to keep the dust to a minimum. No, it's not. It's to keep my lovely bride from seeing lots of sawdust everywhere in the basement. Yes, that's the ticket.

If you recall from reading the previous post, I have laid the wall plates out and did some wall work. This particular area of the basement is a bit trickier. See, there are lots of pipes and stuff in the ceiling. Attaching the studs into the ceiling joists is made difficult. So, after cutting and hammering and adhesive-ing studs, I've gotten a bathroom out of the deal. Here it is from the living space (to be)

That lovely batch of wires hanging in the stack is our internet and tv conglomeration. I'm putting in a nice distribution hub on that wall. There will be a closet there, so that's nice.

Here is an image of the shower from the hallway. It's not built for 2.
It's built, really, for one. So, if you ever come to our house for a while for an extended visit, please accept our apologies at this point. The bathroom's small. At least we have 2 1/2 other baths. That silly 1/2 bath - keeps leaking water from the 1/2 bathtub every time I try and fill it.








I have more lumber in my garage today, but I really don't feel like going down there and working on the walls. It's cold today - there's a breeze, nay, gale from the northwest, and the basement doors face south. I'd be cutting in the frigid north wind, and that's no good. So, there are other projects to do today like replace knobs in our master bath and finish the deadbolt on our garage entry. And other stuff.

And, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that I welcome your comments and I thank you, dear reader, for being the one person who comes and reads my drivel, er, posts.

So, it doesn't look like I'll be doing much today. It's too freaking cold. 34 degrees.