Next up was the hardest bit: removing the existing gas line. Originally, I had intended to just pop off the cap. I struggled with this a bit, and decided halfway that it would be better to remove this length of pipe entirely (which connected to the gas shutoff valve).
The laundry has been piling up. And under normal circumstances, I’d be going to the laundromat. But we’ve had a washer/dryer combo sitting in the basement for some time now, waiting to get hooked up.
We’ve punted on setting these up, choosing instead to focus on the first floor of the house. It was a conscious choice, and the bulk of our efforts have been on getting the first floor a bit more in shape, a bit more habitable.
I think that for Liz, she needs to keep active and to do things. It helps her, to keep her mind focuse on other tasks. For me, diving into ordinary chores and tasks is incredibly difficult, due to the dissonance between the mundane thing I’m doing and the world outside my window.
It’s a last little area that needs some drywall. And ultimately won’t be seen all that much, since the furnace will be right in front of it.
We got a really late start today, but Liz and I got into the basement around 1PM to do some house work. Bob took out the furnace for us, exposing this back wall that’s one of the last spots where we need to touch up with concrete and Drylock paint.
Liz and I were working outside for much of the day today, while Bob was working on the inside. We got a lot of the yardwork/outside work done, and then came inside to work on house stuff.
After work, Liz and I both suited up and spent a few hours working on some cleaning tasks. I was downstairs in the basement, and she was upstairs in the bathroom.
Another odd and slightly unsettling discovery: this bit of heavy plastic. At first it seemed like a small bag – but on tugging it, I encountered a decent amount of resistance. The more I pulled, the more plastic that was revealed.
After work today, Liz and I spent a bit of time in the basement. We didn’t do a ton, but got some prep work finished so that we can better clean/organize things later on this week.
Over the last week or so, Liz and I got pretty good at walking up the risers. But this is so much better.
Liz continued work on the basement treads tonight, applying a first round of varnish. Since she was all about this task, I ended up taking on some of the outside/garden duties, and watered the back garden boxes, and all the plants along the fence and in the front yard.
Though we ran into problems staining the basement steps, Bob came over today while we were at work… and using new boards, re-cut all the treads (using the old ones as guides).
We gave ourselves a cutoff of 2:00 PM. But we kept on working a bit longer, and wound up going through all ten bags of mulch I had picked up.
Liz is handling the more involved staining process, given her extensive experience. It involves first using a sanding sealer, then the stain, then a few coats of varnish.
Bob was at our place today for a super long time, arriving around 1PM and leaving around 9:30 PM. Liz and I came home to find all the treads cut and in place – allowing us to walk up/down the stairs!