Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Done by $DATE

Long time readers of this site (Hi, Mom!) know that there was a time when I talked about remodeling the basement. Astute readers will also note that I stopped talking up the remodel about a month or so after I started grousing about it. Just do a search for “remodel” here on the site and you can see all the crap I’ve talked about in the past.

There are many reasons why I’m not done with the remodel. I can’t recall them exactly. But I do know that if you let the basement sit unfinished for a while, tiny elves do not materialize and finish the project while you play Kingdom Hearts II with your kids. That doesn’t happen at all. If only wishing made it so.

Anyway, we’ve basically shoved ourselves into teensy corners of our house for the past 8-9 months. Neither Jonah nor Ellis have proper rooms and tend to fall asleep wherever they land. Usually this is on the couch in the living room. Jonah likes to make himself a little fort out of blankets and this awful vinyl bean bag chair. Every now and then everyone lands in our bed and I end up sleeping in the Jetta.

But all that is about to end. Because we are back on track! And not just because I finished KHII, though I think the ending is stupid, frankly.

My main problem with finishing the basement was that I had gotten to a point where my skillz were being taxed to their natural limits. I was going to have to hunker down and either learn some now skills or hire out. And as many of you also know, I’m not prone to learning new things and I’m also cheap. Plus, I’d done all the fun stuff like destroying the old sheetrock and tearing out nasty carpeting. It’s far easier to cause mass destruction than it is to build something. (The current administration should have known this before marching willy nilly into Baghdad, BTW).

Here is what’s left to do downstairs:

Build framing around some of the ductwork

Lights and new wiring in one part of the basement

Bulid framing around the pipes in the basement bathroom

Build a closet in the Man-Cave (I used to have an office in that room, plus it had DARK paneling, so we called it the Man-Cave and the name stuck. It’s going to be Lucas’ room)

Sheetrock (hang, tape, mud and sand.)

Hang the really cool track lighting I bought forever ago

Paint

Lay down the Pergo, which started this whole fiasco in the first place

I predict that we’ll be done with everything by the time the snow flies.

In 2008.

Home Depot score for yesterday: Two visits. One on the way home from work and once after dinner.

1. Jon,

   Here’s my take on what lies ahead of you.

   Framing in ductwork and pipes: not too hard, don’t drink a lot of coffee while doing this as figuring out geometry while standing on a ladder having to pee sucks.  Plus, running saws while jacked up on caffeine isn’t a real good idea. 

   Lights and new wiring: time consuming, but not hard.  Check wiring books out from the library and make lots of sketches. 

   Hang the really cool track lighting: Easy, do it in this order: consult with wife, sketch things out, measure everything exactly, consult with wife, then drill the holes.

   Sheet-rock:  If you have a lot of sheet-rock to hang it might be advantageous to hire someone to do it.  A good sheet-rock crew can do in a half day what would take you all weekend.  I’d ask around.  Hand textured sheet-rock looks really good if you can do it, I tried once; I failed.

   Paint: I’d rather have knee surgery and 2 root-canals AT THE SAME TIME with no anesthetic.

   Build a closet in the Man-Cave: I love the name, could be easy, could be hard, it’s up to you and Lucas. 

   Pergo: Pergo is the home improvement gateway drug.

   Reha,

   I think Jon’s estimate of late fall ‘08 is right about on schedule for that type and amount of work.

   Posted by michael  on  08/09/06  at  08:34 PM

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Holy Crap! Look at all this STUFF down here. It's awesome!

 

Really, I'm glad you made it down here. Almost no one ever comes down here. I'm like in a freaking dungeon down here. I get lonely. But not you. YOU made it all the way to the end of the page. For this I think I've a little crush on you. I don't know, is "love" to strong a word to use in this situation? Well, if it's not "love," then it's very strong "like." I'm totally in like with you for coming down here. You are awesome. Please love me back! I know, I know, I shouldn't be all needy, it's not attractive at all, but you don't know how it is to be stuck down here. Who scrolls all the way to the end of a page anymore these days? Anyway, thanks for shedding some light down here in the depths. I appreciate it. Shoot me an email and I'll send you a dollar, OK?

©2005-2010 Jon B. Deal All Rights Reserved. All comments belong to the respective commenters.