April 02, 2008

The Basement

POSTED BY CAROL:
The basement was finished when we bought the house, but in the first six months, we had four different water issues ((1) frozen water pipe outside the house burst and flooded; (2) 100+ year pipe broke and resulted in a slow leak; (3) when the plumber fixed that pipe, some debris must have got loose and blocked the pipe further down the line so that water backed up into the bathroom and flooded our floor; and (4) last but not least, bad grading on one side of the house resulted in water seepage during big storms) that effectively ruined the possibility that we might use it. The silver linings are that we've learned a lot about caring for your home and fixed various issues and now Wayne and his dad are working to make it into the "basement of our dreams." Though I supposed the real basement of our dreams would have more head room. At about 6' 7", not sure we'll be to fit a treadmill in there that Wayne could use without having to hunch over.

They've encountered some interesting things. The scary part (okay, Wayne not a scared as me) - mold on a lot of the sheet rock, but fortunately, just the sheet rock. The different kind of scary part, see picture below.

The previous owner told us an artist had once lived in the basement as a separate apartment. I can see why the artist did not become famous. Wayne somehow first saw the guy as an alien, but I'm pretty sure most other people see the devil. We've covered him back up now. At least he was drawn in more of jovial way I think, not so menacing.
Anyway, Wayne and his dad have been working very hard and Julia is very excited to see her new playroom. When it's done, we'll share the results.

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