tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59017272009-02-23T05:26:08.729-06:00A diary of our basement remodeling projectKevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1104401627619001942004-12-30T03:20:00.000-06:002006-12-28T02:30:34.194-06:00

I took some photos with my 35mm camera the other day and Tammy had the idea to put some before and after photos together. Here's a before picture looking toward Rachel's future dance room from about where the bar would be located. Here's the after photo. This before photo was taken looking through what would soon be the half wall. Here's the after photo. The kitchenette before...and after.

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1104127744472146922004-12-26T23:57:00.000-06:002006-01-12T03:45:51.930-06:00

I thought I'd put together one last video of our finished basement. I don't think we could be happier with the outcome. I'm not even sure that we'd change anything if we had it to do all over again. Dan was great to work with and I can't say enough good things about him and the guys he brought in to do their parts. If you're reading this and you live in the Minneapolis area and are considering a

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103606072884444422004-12-20T22:42:00.000-06:002005-03-01T10:08:19.693-06:00

We're so close to being finished with the project but we still have a few things remaining not the least of which is to try and figure out how to get the tv and all its components singing in harmony. Dan wants to try his hand at finding the reason why they're not working correctly before we say uncle. The tv is working fine but it's not connecting with the surround sound. The dvd is connecting

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103497713318619862004-12-19T16:40:00.000-06:002004-12-19T19:31:59.203-06:00

John came by early this morning to finish the finishing work. He'll leave just a bit of trim remaining to be done in the bathroom and Dan will finish that once the caulking is done. Dan also came by this morning to work on some of the odds and ends. I was telling Dan last week that when I'm in the final steps of completing a lamp I always underestimate how much more time it will take to complete

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103349558740270172004-12-17T22:48:00.000-06:002005-05-08T22:07:08.133-05:00

Before I get started...here's some Christmas music...click. Today was the biggest day of all so far. I couldn't believe all the stuff coming off of Keith's trailer and into our home. We had to stage some of it in different areas of the house so there was room to work in the basement. We suffered one casualty along the way. Dan and I were carrying in some cabinets with Dan walking backwards ahead

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103251744968842332004-12-16T19:14:00.000-06:002004-12-16T21:51:12.926-06:00

Dan finished laying the bathroom tile. He told me he spent quite a bit of time last night thinking and rethinking the tile. His inclination this morning was to tile only two of the walls. I was sort of thinking the same thing yesterday after the first wall was done. We all agreed that tiling all the walls would maybe give it more of an industrial feel. Just tiling two of the walls gives it a rich

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103161716302466452004-12-15T19:08:00.000-06:002005-10-29T11:37:46.400-05:00

Here's another track from the City on the Hill, Christmas cd. It's from Sara Groves, a local artist from Apple Valley. The song is called Child of Love.I stopped by Keith's shop today to drop off the knobs for the cabinets and the dart board and to also take a few more photos. I think the counter tops are going to look pretty cool. The laminate probably isn't something you would use in a kitchen

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1103116614005908122004-12-14T22:51:00.000-06:002004-12-15T21:55:02.750-06:00

Keith got the doors and trim stained so Dan's finisher, John, could come in and do the trim work and hang the doors. They look real nice and they're so heavy compared to the hollow core doors we've got throughout the rest of the house. It makes me want to change them all out but I don't think that's very high up on the list of things to do. These are the sliding doors in front of the storage area

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102990375347849702004-12-13T19:56:00.000-06:002004-12-13T23:01:09.456-06:00

City on a Hill is a collection of artists who sing contemporary Christian music. Here's the title track from their Christmas CD...City on a Hill The people at Polar Saunas got back to Dan early this morning about the problem we were having with the heater control unit. They suspected we had a bad cable and suggested we try another. Sure enough, that's what it was. While Dan was finishing up the

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102883389995117502004-12-12T14:28:00.000-06:002004-12-12T17:48:48.696-06:00

The sauna is about 95% complete. They need to shave just a bit off the overall size of the door. The fit is exactly perfect as it is but the concern is that once it's exposed to higher humidity levels it may swell and become difficult to close. They also need to attach the door handles and put a vent in the bottom of the wall adjacent to the bathroom. Dan had the sauna heater working but the LED

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102745113943119322004-12-10T23:07:00.000-06:002004-12-11T00:06:02.390-06:00

The sauna is about 70% complete. They got the walls and door up as well as the thermostat and light in place. It looks very nice. I don't think the installation was a straight forward as they would've liked but it worked out well. They'll put the flooring and benches in place tomorrow and then it should be done. Dan says we can use it tomorrow night but I think we're going to wait until the

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102651858551320682004-12-09T21:33:00.000-06:002004-12-09T22:13:19.236-06:00

They got several items off the to do list today. Dan cut the arcs in the tile this morning and they turned out very nice. They also grouted the floor tile. Dick stopped by to patch a hole in the wall where they had to move a light switch. The switch was where Keith intends to join the bar top to the wall. It was an easy fix as the switch could still be accessed from the backside of the wall

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102553255061012082004-12-08T18:16:00.000-06:002004-12-08T18:58:51.486-06:00

I'm glad Tammy brought up the question of the tile last night. Had she not done that we most likely would've taken delivery of our furniture only to be horrified to find that there was no way we were going to make it work. If you're not sure what I'm talking about you'll have to read yesterday's post. Anyway, I fiddled with some graph paper and some measurements at work this morning trying to

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102479351703771542004-12-07T21:41:00.000-06:002004-12-08T07:25:48.730-06:00

Dan put in an eleven hour day today. John was called back to Champion Air for some seasonal mechanic work so he won't be able to help much with the rest of the project. He did say he'd be able to help out tomorrow though and I'm sure that's good news for Dan. Today saw the pendant lights get hung. They add a nice touch to the room. I told Dan I was going to send him a link to the place we got

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102477286704358472004-12-06T21:19:00.000-06:002004-12-07T21:41:26.703-06:00

Dan and I did a walk through of the basement this morning and made decisions about which lights we wanted on dimmers. I had some errands to run and I was able to save Dan a trip to Menards while I was out. He gave me a list of a bunch of electrical things to buy...switches, covers, eyeballs, etc. I came home to see the trim rings in around the canned lights and the wall sconces up. I don't really

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102299575062266492004-12-04T23:48:00.000-06:002004-12-05T20:19:35.063-06:00

I hope it's a long, long time before I see another paint brush. I spent nearly every waking hour of my weekend trying to get it wrapped up before I had to go back to work. For some silly reason I figured I'd be able to have the job done by late Friday...no way. Thank God...and I seriously mean that for sending me back into our furnace/utility room early this morning. I don't know why I was back

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102297175092463212004-12-03T23:44:00.000-06:002004-12-05T22:02:45.063-06:00

This morning came very early for me. I was hoping to make some progress before Dan and John showed up so I could get out of their way as I knew they wanted to get back to work on the bathroom floor. I'm pretty sure the last thing they wanted to see was me down there spraying. John came by first and met me downstairs. Allie came down to greet him but Toby was upstairs whining. I went up to find

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1102292884786406422004-12-02T23:30:00.000-06:002004-12-05T18:28:04.786-06:00

Today was a frustrating day for Dan. The self leveling compound on the floor in the bathroom began to crack and deteriorate. Dan put the compound down over the heated coils for the floor. I first noticed it last night when I stepped in there and the floor felt spongy. I didn't make much of it as the light was out but I did notice some cracks in the cement. We're still not sure exactly what

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1101946044751253622004-12-01T17:53:00.000-06:002004-12-01T22:24:02.476-06:00

There wasn't any activity on the project yesterday as Dick had to be at another site to hang drywall. There isn't much for Dan to do until the drywall is done. Dick arrived this afternoon to spray the 'knockdown' ceilings. He had a slow start as his gun was acting up. A friend of his came by and together they made quick work of the job. I'd never watched the knockdown process and I'm guessing it

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1101823706757141212004-11-29T23:39:00.000-06:002004-11-30T08:13:41.000-06:00

Work continued today on mudding the sheetrock. Dick plans for me to be able to begin painting sometime on Friday. As it looks, I'm going to need as much of Friday as I can get and all of Saturday to get it done. Tammy has to work this weekend so I'll be solo much of the time. It'll be nice to have that job behind us. We got a good amount done on the lamp over the weekend and I'm hoping to be

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1101342591397871792004-11-24T18:21:00.000-06:002004-11-24T18:29:51.396-06:00

This is Dick Wilson, our drywall professional. Dick finished putting on the 2nd layer of mud today. I think he plans to do one more layer this coming Monday and then the sanding will begin. I'm guessing that's when the dust will really make its way through our home. Dan spent the day working at finishing up another job in our neighborhood. He'll be back on Friday. I think we're all looking

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1101263298646932592004-11-23T20:18:00.000-06:002004-11-23T20:28:18.646-06:00

Our house is becoming more humid as the sheetrock work continues. I had to take out the dehumidifier to try and help dry us out. I'm guessing the moisture is coming from the mud being put on the walls. Dick put on the second coat of mud today and will do a third tomorrow. On Dan and John's advice I went out and bought a couple paint sticks in prep for painting. The paint stick sucks up paint

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1101184835503021482004-11-22T22:24:00.000-06:002005-10-31T20:36:06.480-06:00

Our home has been invaded by a light film of dust which is everywhere. It's a sign of progress though so there's no cause for alarm. They finished hanging the last half dozen or so pieces of sheetrock this morning then Dick put his stilts on and got busy working his magic taping and mudding. Tammy thought Dick must've stayed here until around 7:00pm. I know he's got another job next week so he

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1100921603485278972004-11-19T21:23:00.000-06:002004-11-19T21:34:38.390-06:00

What a change a day can make. They got 95% of the sheetrock up and have only the bathroom and storage closet to do. They'll finish it on Monday and then begin taping. The taping and mudding is expected to take about 4 days. Dick has been hanging sheetrock for I think most of his adult life. Here he is setting in one of the arches. To get it to bend into shape he set the piece out on the driveway

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901727.post-1100840966849469152004-11-18T22:43:00.000-06:002004-11-19T20:52:34.703-06:00

Well whatdya know...we passed our electrical inspection this morning. We also passed the mechanical inspection and were given the green light to begin sheetrocking. Watch closely and see if you agree that it appears Dan and Dick are rehearsing for a spot in the Village People's new lineup...Roll the video. Okay, I was exaggerating there but I couldn't help but notice the choreographed moves. They

Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com0