It's been almost 6 months since we last updated the blog. Our absence on the internet(s) isn't for lack of real world work though. In addition to a Fall and Winter full of wedding planning and busy work schedules, we've done some work on the house.

This is the stairwell Dad and I built on the south side of the house. As part of the remodel, we removed the interior staircase leading from the first floor to the basement, so as of now, this is the only way in and out of the basement.

The hole in the ground with the white pipe is a sump pump that keeps the stairwell from filling with water. For most of the winter, the bottom of the stairwell had 2-6" of icy water in it. When the water got too high, it would spill over the door sill into the basement. Luckily it was able to flow through into the drainage system under the basement floor without causing any damage, but obviously, having a moat outside your basement door can be kind of a bummer. This system keeps the stairwell high and dry. It also allows the window wells on the west side of the house to drain.

I still have some work to do here. The steps you see in the foreground are finished, but there are several steps still to be built and I should have the railing done this week.
The yard is a true disaster area, with no grass at all to keep the mud in check. I think 1/2 the soil in the yard is now in our house (mostly thanks to Baker). When the cold weather came, the yard project ground to a halt. Little did we know this winter would be so mild. I really could have worked through most of the winter on the yard. We only got 3" of snow all winter. Our average is more like 12". No matter though, there was plenty to do inside...

This is the south wall of the new laundry room. The door leads out into the stairwell. As you can see, the plumbing is roughed in for the laundry sink. The electrical is up and running and will get trimmed out at the very end.
At some point there will be cabinets along this wall and a countertop extending over the washer and dryer. Should be a good place for Hun to fold the laundry she claimed she would do if I bought her the shiny new washer and dryer. (The reality is that I did two loads of laundry last night while Hun wrote a speech).

The area cut out of the drywall with the wires hanging down will be the media control panel for the house. The house is wired for multiple phone, internet and TV lines in every room of the house.

Soon there will be a step up from the concrete floor to the door sill. For now, it's a step down into the basement from the outside.

Here you can see the electrical panel. I've left this corner of the room unfinished. As we work on the rest of the house, I'll be able to drop wires down into the panel from here. Finishing this corner will probably be one of the very last things we do in the entire house.

Uses for the alcove along this wall are still somewhat up in the air. Originally it was going to be a bench with cubbys and coat hooks, to make the laundry room a true mud room. While this is a good use, we've also talked about putting a second fridge or freezer here, or even a dog washing tub.

(Left) This is the door from the laundry room to the hall.

(Below) The front half of the hallway is drywalled, and just needs a couple more coats of drywall mud. Currently, it's stacked with drywall and the remaining sheets of foam insulation. These will be gone soon, as I frame the back half of the hall, the new stairs up to the first floor, and the bath.

The door on the right is the bath, the doors on the left are the bedrooms.

The bath remains a disaster, with all kinds of framing "anomalies", temporary plumbing, HVAC and electrical. It is kind of fun to go in there and remember what the basement looked like when we started though. Soon this will be all cleaned up.

It's a nice big bathroom, about 8' deep by 10' wide. This picture shows where the new window will go, though I need to make some adjustments to the framing.

This picture prominently features the PEX plumbing we're using in the house. While it has some drawbacks, this stuff is certainly what we'll be building houses with for the foreseeable future. It can be a bit unruly and sometimes it kinks which takes some work to fix, but it is certainly easier to work with than copper. It's also so much cheaper. Every time I buy copper pipe or wire, the price goes up. It's worth enough that someone went into our back yard and stole a small pile of copper pipe that I was going to take to the scrap yard.

This picture shows the old stairwell and first floor stair door. Baker still runs to this door at full speed when we say "basement!" or pick up the laundry hamper. He certainly loved the old basement and it's resident crickets.

I had to put up the railing, mostly because I didn't trust him not to forget that the stairs had been removed. He stands up there and whines when he knows I'm working downstairs.

This week I'll frame up the floor and this door will become a much needed temporary coat closet.

The bedrooms are coming together. The drywall only needs a little bit of hand standing and final finishing.


This weekend I put down a subfloor of 1/2" foam covered with 3/4" OSB. It should make the floor a bit warmer and more comfortable than concrete. We have the Brazilian Cherry flooring stacked upstairs, ready to be laid soon.

The silver snakes along the floor are the high velocity HVAC ducts running to the laundry. There will be a 12" deep box running along the floor on this wall. It will house the HVAC plenum and some wiring.

The bedrooms are almost perfect mirror images of each other. Each is about 12' x 16' (to the back of the closet). The alcove behind the doorway has room for a built in bookshelf, if I ever get to it.

The closets are pretty good sized. They are about 8' long and just over 2' deep. I built them with some flexibility in mind. If the room will be a bedroom, it would be a closet. If the room were used as a media room, it could house a built in entertainment center.

So, more or less, this is my fall and winter progress. I work a few hours a night a few nights a week, and usually I get one weekend day to try and make some headway. If I remember correctly, we're coming up on one year since I cut a hole in my house and drove an excavator in. That hole would be just to the left of the fluorescent fixture in the above picture. I had aspirations get this done more quickly. Last September I thought I was close to finishing. Oh well. It will be done soon, and I can't tell you how happy I am about that. I have to say though, I'm really happy with the product.

The next post will probably be floors, stairs or bath, whichever comes first, and whenever it comes.