I have been bad at blogging this last couple months. We've been busy, with life, work, and house projects... but for some reason I have failed to really take any pictures (and in my mind there is no point in posting a blog post without pictures). Well I figured I should just get over it and post an update anyways... and make an effort for more pictures from now on.
Updates on the House... lots and lots of little projects... including finishing wood framing in random places to get it finally ready for drywall. This included framing in places like the ceilings of the closets in the basement, and around the main beam (so that its all the same size and will be smooth once we drywall). I give all credit for this to Matt. I am useless when it comes to framing walls or anything else in that realm.
We also have an official start date for when drywall goes in! The day after Memorial Day weekend, May 31st, we will have contractors in our house and drywall is going in! Overall they think it will take them 1 day to drywall our whole basement, but then 8-10 days total for all the mud and taping and sanding and texturing (with dry time in between some days). Super excited this is going to be done by professionals and we know for sure when it's happening now.
This also means the next 2 weeks we are going to be full force working on the house to be 100% ready for drywall. Our last projects will include: insulation in the basement ceiling (this weekend), getting internet & cable hooked up and wired to the basement (so that the wires will be behind the walls), and lots of clean up of supplies and tools...
I promise I will take pictures as the next few weeks unfold and things quickly progress with the house!
Showing posts with label Seattle House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seattle House. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
More electrical updates... and a new fan
This is where Matt has spent most of this weekend, up in our attic. He has been working on electrical still, and since he has just about everything in the basement done now, he figured he should do the updates in our attic we have been putting off while everything in the basement is still open and there is easier access to the panel and things.
The reason for the attic electrical updates is that it still had some horrible knob & tube wiring going to a couple of our upstairs ceiling lights. This came up when we had our inspection, but it was not clear what the extent was. We realized it was not just a couple places in the ceiling, but everything in our upstairs ceilings (Bedroom light, Bathroom lights, Kitchen ceiling lights, Living Room fan, Office lights)
(You can see a bit of it in the picture below with the white knobs with tubing running between them). Happily... every last bit of the old stuff is disconnected now, and about half is re-wired with new wire.
After the wiring in the attic above our bedroom was replaced, we decided to throw out the old ceiling fan in our room today and buy a new one and hook it up. Here is Matt putting in the new mounting for the fan with the new wires, and new fan below.
The reason for the attic electrical updates is that it still had some horrible knob & tube wiring going to a couple of our upstairs ceiling lights. This came up when we had our inspection, but it was not clear what the extent was. We realized it was not just a couple places in the ceiling, but everything in our upstairs ceilings (Bedroom light, Bathroom lights, Kitchen ceiling lights, Living Room fan, Office lights)
(You can see a bit of it in the picture below with the white knobs with tubing running between them). Happily... every last bit of the old stuff is disconnected now, and about half is re-wired with new wire.
After the wiring in the attic above our bedroom was replaced, we decided to throw out the old ceiling fan in our room today and buy a new one and hook it up. Here is Matt putting in the new mounting for the fan with the new wires, and new fan below.
Friday, January 28, 2011
More building
This post is a bit delayed, forgot to put it up last weekend... but figured I would still share now.
The (hopefully) last building project we had to do in the basement before we can really dive into all the electrical is done! We have already made a few updates with minor electrical things (moving a few wires, etc. we ran into as we were building some last walls)... but the major re-wiring of the basement is hopefully happening the end of January when Matt has a full week off of work.
Anyways, back to current projects. We had to build soffits around the main line of duct work in the basement so that when it comes time to drywall, we can actually put drywall around all of the ductwork.
The (hopefully) last building project we had to do in the basement before we can really dive into all the electrical is done! We have already made a few updates with minor electrical things (moving a few wires, etc. we ran into as we were building some last walls)... but the major re-wiring of the basement is hopefully happening the end of January when Matt has a full week off of work.
Anyways, back to current projects. We had to build soffits around the main line of duct work in the basement so that when it comes time to drywall, we can actually put drywall around all of the ductwork.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Another wall built
Matt finished another wall in the basement this week. We have realized building walls is pretty simple. This one took us a bit longer to decide how to do though, since it will have a door in it.
I mean it's just wood and screws... doesn't sounds that complicated right? But do we want a normal solid wood door or a french door? We finally decided french doors would be cool since it will be between part of our basement living room and the bedroom downstairs we are making into our new office. That way we can keep the doors open if we want and make it feel even more open downstairs. So then we had to decide the size (4 foot wide or 5 foot wide seemed the most common)? Finally after measurements and such we decided on a 4 foot wide version... and then Matt just had to buid the wall which will eventually support that door.
It was a little hard to capture a picture of it with the bad lighting in the basement right now and all the construction mess... but here you go!
I mean it's just wood and screws... doesn't sounds that complicated right? But do we want a normal solid wood door or a french door? We finally decided french doors would be cool since it will be between part of our basement living room and the bedroom downstairs we are making into our new office. That way we can keep the doors open if we want and make it feel even more open downstairs. So then we had to decide the size (4 foot wide or 5 foot wide seemed the most common)? Finally after measurements and such we decided on a 4 foot wide version... and then Matt just had to buid the wall which will eventually support that door.
It was a little hard to capture a picture of it with the bad lighting in the basement right now and all the construction mess... but here you go!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The day I've been waiting for...
Every since we decided we were going to tackle remodeling the basement, I've been looking forward to the day we could tear out the walls around the stairs we have leading down to the basement. Our upstairs living room is not huge, and I just thought opening this up (and having just a "half wall/railing" leading downstairs) would be awesome.
Well today was that day, and it was quite gratifying! While Matt worked downstairs finishing some more structural walls, I tore out all of the walls surrounding the stairs. I started by turning off the elctrical to the outlets in that wall, taking out the door, and then all of the drywall, and finally the wood that made up the walls and went all the way up to the ceiling.
A couple pictures of what it looked like before (yeah the house is a mess in these picture... oh well):
And... today! (still lots of work to do, it will be all finished with new drywall and finishings once the new staircase is put in... but you can see how much it opens up the room!).
Summer fun
It's been a great summer. While not working on the basement, we've had lots of time with friends and family. A couple weddings, graduations, trips, bbq's... all the good things of summer. Matt took a trip to Whistler with some of his guy friends, and I'm heading to Hawaii for a week with 2 of my girl friends this week.
I have to say, I secretly love fall though and can't wait until after labor day, when it is officially ok in my mind to have pumpkin spice latte's and switch to wearing boots and fall wardrobe. =)
Over the summer though, I was inspired to try my hand at making some sugar cookies (got some new cookie cutters and a frosting kit). I think they turned out pretty good, and can't wait until October to try out my new pumkin cookie cutter.
I made these heart cookies for a neighborhood block party in early August. Our block in west seattle does it every year during the official "national neighborhood night out", and we chat and get to know each other. I think its great to know your neighbors!
And here are a few I made and brought to Matt's company picnic this year (also in August). The ice cream cones turned out super cute, next time I think they need sprinkles though.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Furnace project update
Well, our furnace project in the basement is finally done. The old one was removed, and a new one installed. The gas line was also moved, and the duct work replaced (and some of it moved to make room for our new staircase that will be built). We are so excited to move on to more projects now....Matt has already begun building some of the new walls (more of that later)!
Looking forward to having a much more efficient house this winter once we need heat (it should save us almost $300-500 per year we estimate on gas bills), and it has a feature we didn't have before that circulates the air from downstairs to upstairs.... so even though we dont have AC we can cool down the house in the summer with the cool basement air.
Overall, the project including the new furnace plus installation cost us about $5,500. We should be able to get a rebate on the new efficient furnace though, which will be nice to get somewhere close to $1,000 of that back!
Here is a look at our old furnace. I'm pretty sure it could qualify as an antique!
Hmm... apparently the furnace had not been cleaned since 1994? Hopefully that wasn't correct and the sticker just wasn't updated, haha. Oh well, we have a new one now anyways!
And here is a look at the new one!
Looking forward to having a much more efficient house this winter once we need heat (it should save us almost $300-500 per year we estimate on gas bills), and it has a feature we didn't have before that circulates the air from downstairs to upstairs.... so even though we dont have AC we can cool down the house in the summer with the cool basement air.
Overall, the project including the new furnace plus installation cost us about $5,500. We should be able to get a rebate on the new efficient furnace though, which will be nice to get somewhere close to $1,000 of that back!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
A piece of advice...
For any other home owners out there... (Warning Reader Beware: some gross and graphic details below)
So when we first bought our house, Matt thought there was a slightly gross smell in one of the rooms in the basement. We could never figure out what it was, but we never spent much time down there (pretty much only stored boxes) so didn't worry about it too much. Well every time we went down there though it drove Matt nuts, so we figured during this basement remodel and demolition we would figure it out.... and boy did we!
We have never seen a mouse since we have lived in this house. That said, apparently the previous owners did.... and the way they decided to solve it is where my advice comes in.
You know those mouse traps that snap close? Yeah they freak me out and are probably disgusting to deal with once they have caught a mouse. Probably also what the previous owner was thinking... so instead they decided... "hey, why not try poisen tablets?". Doesn't seem like the worst idea right? The mice eat it, die, and you dont have to deal with those messy mouse traps. WRONG.
Poison tablets were tossed up into the "drop" ceiling in one of the basement bedrooms. The mice of course proceeded to eat it. This is where is gets bad. They then probably took about a week to die... making a HORRIBLE mess throughout the insulation (just think if you were poisoned what would happen). Luckily this was contained to one room. When we (and again by "we", I mean Matt in this horrible instance), pulled out all the insulation in the ceiling... debris came falling down that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
After all that and about 5 old petrified mice later....ewww good lord they had to have been up there about 5 years!... the smell was gone! Thank the lord.
Now I hope we never get mice while we are actually living in this house, and I hope nobody else out there does either. But if you DO.... learn from this and just use the old fashioned mouse traps.
So when we first bought our house, Matt thought there was a slightly gross smell in one of the rooms in the basement. We could never figure out what it was, but we never spent much time down there (pretty much only stored boxes) so didn't worry about it too much. Well every time we went down there though it drove Matt nuts, so we figured during this basement remodel and demolition we would figure it out.... and boy did we!
We have never seen a mouse since we have lived in this house. That said, apparently the previous owners did.... and the way they decided to solve it is where my advice comes in.
You know those mouse traps that snap close? Yeah they freak me out and are probably disgusting to deal with once they have caught a mouse. Probably also what the previous owner was thinking... so instead they decided... "hey, why not try poisen tablets?". Doesn't seem like the worst idea right? The mice eat it, die, and you dont have to deal with those messy mouse traps. WRONG.
Poison tablets were tossed up into the "drop" ceiling in one of the basement bedrooms. The mice of course proceeded to eat it. This is where is gets bad. They then probably took about a week to die... making a HORRIBLE mess throughout the insulation (just think if you were poisoned what would happen). Luckily this was contained to one room. When we (and again by "we", I mean Matt in this horrible instance), pulled out all the insulation in the ceiling... debris came falling down that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
After all that and about 5 old petrified mice later....ewww good lord they had to have been up there about 5 years!... the smell was gone! Thank the lord.
Now I hope we never get mice while we are actually living in this house, and I hope nobody else out there does either. But if you DO.... learn from this and just use the old fashioned mouse traps.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Who knew?
I had no idea so much water was just floating around in the air in our house. That sounds odd right? Maybe its just me. Anyways our basement always seemed dark and dank and musty. Maybe even a bit humid. Ick.
I've learned over the last couple months that apparently concrete is not a material that keeps water out. Who knew? I certainly didn't. Most basements just have insulation or other things on the inside of the concrete (or its sealed) before the wood and drywall and any other layers, so that when moisture comes through it evaporates and its fine. (ok this is my basic understanding from what Matt and others have tried to explain to me so this may be somewhat wrong, haha, but I trust that others know what they are saying).
Long story short, our basement is more moist than most...probably because its so old. And we noticed it even more after all the drywall came off and the insulation and wood framing. So we bought a "de-humidifier". It was about $200 (Matt found an online deal) and plugs into the wall. It arrived in the mail this weekend and after being plugged in for about 3 hours there was already about a litre of water! Geez.
We plan to keep using it. And once we get to the point of leveling the floor and improving the structure in the basement, we are looking into sealing the concrete also to keep it even more dry.
I've learned over the last couple months that apparently concrete is not a material that keeps water out. Who knew? I certainly didn't. Most basements just have insulation or other things on the inside of the concrete (or its sealed) before the wood and drywall and any other layers, so that when moisture comes through it evaporates and its fine. (ok this is my basic understanding from what Matt and others have tried to explain to me so this may be somewhat wrong, haha, but I trust that others know what they are saying).
Long story short, our basement is more moist than most...probably because its so old. And we noticed it even more after all the drywall came off and the insulation and wood framing. So we bought a "de-humidifier". It was about $200 (Matt found an online deal) and plugs into the wall. It arrived in the mail this weekend and after being plugged in for about 3 hours there was already about a litre of water! Geez.
We plan to keep using it. And once we get to the point of leveling the floor and improving the structure in the basement, we are looking into sealing the concrete also to keep it even more dry.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Flowers of the week
I'm trying to continue to bring fresh flowers into the house every week if I can. It's such a fun and inexpensive way to bring a splash of color into the living room or kitchen and I love it. Since it's summer I thought I should try and keep bringing in flowers from our yard since we have them. This week it's Daisies from the backyard...
The Furnace project
Our recent project on the basement is getting our furnace replaced, and we will be moving some of the duct work. We had 3 estimates done, and then chose our guy to do the work in a couple weeks!
In the meantime, to save some money.... we (and by "we" I mean Matt) tore out the old duct work. That way we dont have to pay to have the old duct taken out, something Matt thought we could easily do, and when they come in it will be all ready to put in the new furnace & re-route the duct.
In the meantime, to save some money.... we (and by "we" I mean Matt) tore out the old duct work. That way we dont have to pay to have the old duct taken out, something Matt thought we could easily do, and when they come in it will be all ready to put in the new furnace & re-route the duct.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Basement: the plan
Matt measured everything in the basement again, and drew up a plan for our basement remodel. Its fun to visualize what we are working towards! I added notes to his drawing, labeling what we are thinking each room will be used for...
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Sunday, August 3, 2008
Way too long...
It's been way too long since we've last updated our blog... and a lot has happened! So to start, here are a few of the latest updates to our house (these were all projects we completed before the wedding which was July 18th).
We managed to almost completely finish the fence, we just need to put in a couple gates still, but it is looking great and we are feeling really good that we were able to do it all on our own (with some help from friends and family of course).
I also decided before the wedding I really wanted to re-paint the green trim on the outside of our house of course =). This may seem really odd but the paint was peeling pretty bad in some places and I wanted everything to look great before friends and family from out of town came and saw our house for the first time. So Matt patiently set up the ladder for me and helped me with the electric sander.... we got all the wood trim on the front of the house sanded and then I re-painted it the same matching green color. I also touched up the back of the house (since I was already up on the roof!). If really does look 20x better though!
That's me on the roof painting some trim on the back of the house. =)
We managed to almost completely finish the fence, we just need to put in a couple gates still, but it is looking great and we are feeling really good that we were able to do it all on our own (with some help from friends and family of course).
I also decided before the wedding I really wanted to re-paint the green trim on the outside of our house of course =). This may seem really odd but the paint was peeling pretty bad in some places and I wanted everything to look great before friends and family from out of town came and saw our house for the first time. So Matt patiently set up the ladder for me and helped me with the electric sander.... we got all the wood trim on the front of the house sanded and then I re-painted it the same matching green color. I also touched up the back of the house (since I was already up on the roof!). If really does look 20x better though!
That's me on the roof painting some trim on the back of the house. =)
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