House

My dad is here and we're working on remodeling about 2/3 of my basement. My brain is now full and I'm starting to forget so I thought I'd write ... and I'm hoping that typing will make my hands flex again. *laff*

Day 1 - Tuesday 5/2:
$$: ~1000

• Start to flesh out the plan of attack and the parameters of the job. For example, we're going to demo the bathroom and stub out the existing plumbing to leave for a real professional to do later because the floor will need to be jackhammered and a sewage lift installed.
• Find somebody who is willing to come and notch out the cement wall for the egress window.
• Demo
• Stop for supplies (new egress window, flashing, electrical stuff like cans & wire & boxes)
• Wrap up on external paint job work that was already in progress.

Day 2 - Wednesday 5/3:
Casualties: one hammer, one pair of pants
$$: ~1200

• Review the daily plan.
• Roughly estimate what we will need for supplies, especially items that cannot be carried in the jeep.
• Demo
• Rent open trailer from UHaul to haul stuff (both supplies and demo trash)
• Go to lumber store and buy supplies (insulation of multiple types for heat and sound, 2x4s treated to sit on cement floor & untreated, outer corners for walls over sheet rock, AC plywood for shelving, various fasteners, 2x6s, order 3 doors for bedroom/bathroom/closet, etc.)
• Build header to rough opening of new window (2-2x6s with plywood in between to match width of 2x4s, 3.5 inches, double 2x4s on ends to help support load-bearing wall and to ensure window doesn't get crushed, 2x4 along bottom edge)

Day 3 - Thursday 5/4:
Casualties: Dad and I both have fabulous matching bruises on our upper quads.
$$: ~600

• Review the daily plan.
• Notch out cement.


• Harley came to notch out the cement and brought his saw along with him. He's this gentle giant that held that incredibly heavy saw with the steadiest hand I've ever seen, no matter how it jerked when it hit all the stones in the old concrete.
• Hurriedly go rent a wet/dry vac because the water required for the cement saw is copious and running into the untouched areas of the basement.
• Dad and I were on water sucking duty while Harley sawed. There wasn't much else we could do until the cement was cut.
• Install window
• Put up foam alone cement face over caulking layer.
• Set in header
• Fasten
• Set in window and nail to header

Day 4 - Friday 5/5:
Casualties: Another pair of pants, Dad pounded his finger with the heavy framing hammer - OUCH!
2nd attempt to make a solution for flashing on the window.
$$: ~400

• Review the daily plan.
• Take 1500 pounds of demo to the dump.
• Return trailer.
• Stop at store. We need flashing and trim but can't buy trim because we aren't sure what's on the other windows. We also need a better way to drill into the cement and fasten things to it, including the bolts called for in the seismic structural requirements. It turns out my house frame is simply sitting on top of the cement ... completely unfastened. We get lucky in Home Depot. The Hilty salesmen is working the tool area and we get great advice and a cool new tool.
• I go back to store alone to get trim and take another try at concocting a flashing solution. I finally decide to buy a roll of galvanized steel to lay over the Z-bar even though we will have to cut it in half (It's 7 inches wide). There is no other pre-made solution and there is no person in the store who can give me any advice but most agree that my idea will work. Argue with the salesman about trim. He keeps pushing me to buy no-rot synthetic material. I want wood. Beyond the fact that I like wood better, the rest of my house is wood. He says he can't tell the difference but I can ... can't you? And then I have to cut the 14 ft. trim pieces in half to get them into the jeep. The commercial saws are out of order so I set them on this cart to do myself with a hacksaw. And ... this cracked me up ... I had to chase down help when I really needed it ... but if a man sees a girl with a hacksaw, they jump all over themselves to do it for her ... I had two nice guys who offered to cut my pieces for me ... I let them because it made them feel good and because I don't really enjoy using a hacksaw ... seemed like a win-win to me!! Ha!
• Finish flashing (Yay! It worked!), put on moisture barrier and caulk. I now have a window!
• Dad begins building frames for the internal walls. (I wish I could show you the old bathroom and how the frame sat on top of this platform built over the plumbing. Anyway. We demo'd most of the walls but left those so he had to build a little frame to sit under that where the box used to be. It's pretty funny.)
• I work on more caulking for old window we filled in and putting on a moisture barrier there.

Day 5 - Saturday 5/6:
$$ - ~500

• More shopping (Ugh.) This time I need to get more 2x4s, the recessed staples for the tack hammer, expanding insulating foam, a medicine cabinet and the wall heaters. The wood at Home Depot is terrible - don't go there - I did my best with what they had but still brought home alot of crap - and Dad managed to deal with what I brought home luckily. I can't find the staples for the hammer at Home Depot. I can't find a cabinet I like in stock but decide that since this is a basement and everything is "cheaper" to ditch my champagne taste and buy the simplest one I could find. I get the wrong foam (turns out there is one kind that expands alot to fill big gaps which is all Home Depot had and another kind that expands a little for smalls cracks around windows and such). I struggle with the wall heaters. I'm unsure how much BTU/Wattage is required to fill my square footage and I also know (cuz Dad said he plans to wire them on one circuit) that I need to go with 120V rather than 240V. I decided on two 1500W/120V units, one for bedroom and one for bathroom, that have the thermostat on the unit. I hope that does the trick!
• Dad continues work on framing new walls and making sure we have backing for sheet rock where we will need it.
• I layout and drill bolt holes to secure house and new walls. Dad pounded in the bolts because it takes his heavy framing hammer (which he was using) and brute strength. I tighten them down.

Day 6 - Sunday 5/7:
Casualties: My hands look mishapen and barely move from pounding and drilling and sawing. I wonder how my Dad manages to swing that heavy framing hammer all day without the same thing happening to him!!
$$: ~400

• We drive up to Dunn Lumber to get a huge load of 2x4s, treated and untreated, to do the outer walls. We also got more framing nails and a different kind of cement fastener because the heavy bolts aren't necessary for the inside framing walls (not load bearing).
• We framed and drilled and fastened like maniacs. Dad had me use the skill saw to cut some of the framing boards. I'm not very steady on the line. It's heavy and hard for me to see because the boards are above my waist. But I'll get better. I want to be competent at this.
• And then we took a break and went to see Mission Impossible III. We needed it!!

And here I sit. It's Day 7 - Monday 5/8. I know we have to finish framing out the other walls and make boxes for the recessed bathroom cabinet and recessed electrical wall heat units. I suppose we'll likely fuss with the plywood shelving as well.

Dad just arose. Time to get cracking. More later...