finish my basement

First things first: We’ve gotten our water problem (mostly) solved. The sump pump has been replaced with a better quality, and quieter, pedastal pump. This will keep the water from backing up in the hole and flooding the room AND it’ll keep it from backing up along the basement wall and coming through cracks higher up. Now, we can get those cracks filled with hydraulic cement and go on with life.

This Spring I hope to buy a few loads of top soil to put a better grade on the the North side of the property. Hopefully this will help keep water directed toward the ditch, instead of the house.

We’ve removed a wall in the basement and replaced it with a floor jack. Once the house settles and resettles, we’ll hide the jack with a frame and drywall column. Removing the wall has opened up a ton of space and let in more light to both the workout room and the pool room.

I’ve gotten a bunch of Phil’s crap (old bike parts, random empty cardboard boxes, tools, etc. taken care of. A lot of it has ended up being pitched. Other things have just gotten “homes” in the garage or in the tool area of the basement.

As weeks pass, I keep throwing out bits and pieces – whatever the garbage men will take. At some point, a bunch of stuff is going to end up on ebay.

I’ve organized the posters and things to go on the walls once they get finished. At some point I need to clean up Phil’s motorcycle head and pistons to be mounted on the wall. He’s going to love it. There are a few things I’m going to stick in a shadow box or two and hang for him as well.

Things have been moving slowly but surely in the basement. We haven’t spent as much time working on it this Winter as I originally anticipated. However, we’ve had a lot of paying side jobs to take up our time.

I’ve sold a handful of things taking up space in the basement. I figure, if we don’t have the money to work on it, we might as well get some money out of it sitting (emptier).

I still need to sell:
- Little TV (bought it used, have yet to use it)
- Weights and benches
- Stroller
- Car parts
- Bike parts

And, I bought a papasan chair off of a friend for a few bucks. It’ll be extra seating for parties and what not. I still need to get my fabric and chair back from Ashley (who has probably never touched it … and it’s been since October).

We tore down the majority of the two walls in the pool room. Drywall, insulation, and the framing behind it all. The drywall was mostly thrown away because of mold. The insulation has been kept, and the framing is partially dismanteled, taking up most of the other large room.

I’m in the slow process of DryLocking the cement walls. I started late in the year and got the majority of the biggest wall in the pool room. The problem I encountered: the entire house smelled absolutely terrible. To the point where I was getting high and had a sore throat for three days. Neither Phil or I slept much that night in our fume infested house. Unfortunatley, it was so late in the year that I could only run the attic fan with the windows opened up for so long before the entire house was sitting just under 50 degrees.

After that day, I’ve stopped ‘til the warm weather returns. We have a partially drylocked wall that looks horrendous. But, frankly, so does the rest of the basement.

A few months ago we rented a dumpster and threw away a ton of stuff from the basement. Moldy drywall, old pack rat things, warped wood, old broken toys, etc.

And, frankly, we need to do it again. We have so many more things to throw away, it’s ridiculous.

I’m also selling a few things piece by piece. First, the kid’s old Powerwheels Jeep that she never played with. Tomorrow, her old car seat. And next, the old high chair and stroller.

Beyond that, I’ll have to go through some car and motorcycle things with Phil for ebay or craigslist. It’ll be nice to free up at least one of the rooms (the “movie” room, I imagine).

Luckily, the money received will be going toward his racing season this year … something he definitely needs money for.

With the exception of a treadmill and a punching bag (which I don’t think I’ll be moving), I’ve gotten all of the work out equipment all into one room, where there will hopefully be a stereo set up and some mirrors.

This room has undergone a lot of rearranging and purging. There was a TON of crap down there that no one used, no one cared about, and that was damaged by past floods. The majority of it is gone and out of sight. If gas prices weren’t so high, I’d fill the back of the truck up with a few more things to dump.

Next up for that room: ditch some more stuff, get some electricity to it, clean it up a bit more, dry wall (not going to happen ‘til we get our flooding issues figured out), flooring, and finishing touches. My goal is to get it useable (some electricity and cleaning) for winter work out sessions.

The basement is frustrating, so say the least. We have water issues. Lots of water issues.

It seems to me that the basement was built incorrectly. The walls should be poured before the foundation, I don’t believe that is the case with this basement. Our north wall leaks at the base and has a few holes in it that let water in.

Beyond that, our sump pump line that runs to the ditch has been clogged. Instead of getting it snaked and cleared out, Phil cut the hose just out side of the house. So, as soon as you step outside of the sliding back door onto the deck, you find yourself in a swampy, humid environment complete with mosquitos and two hyper dogs that love to play in the muddy water.

The biggest problem with that is that the water gets dumped out of the line and then runs right back into the ground to the sump pump where it gets shot back out of the house. It’s a never ending cycle that only goes to collect more and more water as it rains.

With winter coming, I’m definitely worried about this. A good two days without power and the basement is going to be flooded again. Whenever it floods, I’m the person that takes the time to clean it up (the ShopVac definietely gets a work out) because I’m the person that gets super sick because of the mold that develops down there.

Luckily, I don’t have anything in the basement. However, Phil does, and I hate to see him lose things that might be important to him.

I need to figure out how to go about getting that line snaked out so that the water goes all the way to the ditch within the next couple of weeks. And I need to go along the north wall again with some more hydraulic cement.