After work, Liz and I suited up and headed to the basement. I have to tell you – it was not an easy or pleasant thing, to keep that momentum going. The last thing I want to do after a day of work is to come home… and then do more work.
Everything else mostly fell into place after that, though it was a bit slow going. The first set of measurements took a while, as Liz and I talked through the logic of what needed to be recorded, and how those lines translated over to the plywood.
The board, cut to fit along the studs, with a 30 degree taper at the base, as well as notches for the electrical outlet and floor joists.
The big cement pour was a large step for us, and the stairs will allow us to start to bring down boxes from the second floor. We’ll have to clear out more space in the basement, but the eventual goal is to relocate most (if not all) of our “things” on the second floor, down to the basement.
After work today, Liz and I went in the basement to clear up some of the debris that accumulated during Liz’s solo run a few days ago. She had put most of the demo debris in bags, and continued clearing out the space above where the stairs will go. For my part, I started hauling out bags of trash and drywall.
I came home around 7:30PM, and on opening the door heard all sorts of banging and crashing from the basement. When I opened the door to the first floor bathroom (which also leads to the basement), I saw this.
After a very busy week involving us getting 45 bags of cement, setting up a new support beam, and cutting/prepping the pit… the big day finally arrived. Our final basement pour, which will give us a whole, solid floor again. Something we haven’t had in quite some time.
Big night for us in the basement! With a second column pad poured, and a new support beam installed, and a first pass taken at lowering the pit depth… we were ready to cut a clean ledge for the pour, and to do a final pass at getting things to the proper depth.
The striped line on the bottom represents 4 inches (the actual depth of what we need to get). The line above with the arrows is adjusted for the height of the laser level itself. So if the red dot is hitting that line, we know we’re good.
Bob getting the second column prepped. Note that these are not the final columns, and are just to help raise the joists up a little more. Again, look to the line and the red dot on the left.
Though we were both a little tired, Liz and I suited up after work and went down to the basement to keep the house train going. With the concrete set from Saturday’s pour, we got things ready for the second pour.
Working in the basement felt really good tonight, and I walked away from the evening feeling really proud of myself and Liz. While we had Bob on hand to help advise/guide us, Liz and I fell back into our familiar cement mixing routine.
To make space for a new support column, we needed to remove some concrete. A plumb bob and some measurements later, we had the space marked out. Broke out the grinder again (been a while since I’d used it).
Today, Liz and I went down to the basement for a few hours to tackle the last remaining portion (in the main basement area). We’re close to finishing up all the paint work, and are making a push over this weekend to get done.
It’s been a mess over here for a while, and this is the last stretch of wall that we need to paint in the main area… so it was high time this all got swept up and cleaned up.