Day One-oh-nine: Turning a new page

When we left off our intrepid homeowners has lost their contractors (they had long ago lost their sanity) and were wondering what to do next with their 3/4 done house. A few phone calls, a solid recommendation, and a site visit produced a new company to carry us over the finish line on the work we aren't doing ourselves. They started on Thursday (one week after our previous crew quit) and in two days have done as much on the downstairs bathroom as the previous guys did in 3 months. Here's where things stand now. We should get a toilet, a little more tile, and grout on Monday.

Day One-oh-four: Never thought we'd crack one hundred

We had plenty of drama this week but first let's get a mold update. On Tuesday we took down the walls and found the problem was better than feared. We've had people to give us estimates that had ranged from low (cover with Drylok) to medium (Drylok, reframe the walls, add insulation, and cover with drywall) to very high (dig a trench one foot from each wall in the whole basement and install a French drain system and new sump pump). We haven't decided which way to go, but the middle road seems attractive as a first step.

The drama was provided by our contractors who walked off the job on Thursday. There's too much backstory to go into, but this has been building on both sides for some time. We had our last major sitdown with them on 9 March and thought that we'd had a Festivus-like airing of grievances that would allow us to push through to completion. We guessed wrong because less than 2 weeks later they abruptly quit. Aside from doing something with the moldy room, our priority is to finish the bathroom that's been in a half-done state for a couple months. Here's how various projects have been left:

This is what counts as our shower hardware.

This is our toilet.

This is our sink.

This is the kitchen sink, not remotely ready for a countertop, sink, and faucet.

Day Ninety-eight: Hiccup

Remember how we declared that little bonus room in the basement done? Well, about that....this week we ran into a small problem. On Tuesday we discovered some water marking up to 8 inches from the floor on the wall that the room shares with the laundry room. It hadn't been raining, so we decided to monitor it for a few days. Come Friday and it's still there, possibly even a little worse, despite still having no precip.  

Things were bad enough for us to take off the baseboard and panelling on that wall. We saw some signs of mold on the backside of the baseboard and the 2x4s that frame the wall were damp to the touch along the floor. This really didn't reassure us, so the next day we took off the baseboard that runs along the two walls that front exterior/cinder block walls. Here's what we found:

There are no pipes anywhere near that corner of the house. And there are no signs in the attic of water leaking through. This basically leaves some crack or seepage through the foundation allowing water to come up. We have reps from our insurance company and waterproofing companies coming this week to assess the damage, source, and next steps. Needless to say, this was a very unpleasant development.

Day Eighty-nine: Is that a light at the end of the tunnel?

We'll let the pictures tell the story this week. Enjoy.


The basement's done, with new paint, color scheme, overhead lights, and ceiling.

A little room off the main basement space also is done, getting new paint, color, and overhead lights.

The laundry room is finished, with the same new color as the bonus room, drywall closing off the walls and ceiling, overhead light, new sink, and of course the new tile floor.

Heading upstairs, the stairway between the kitchen and basement is looking good with its transformation to maple treads. The walls have gotten all new paint (new color) and a new overhead light.

The living room, too, is just about complete, with new windows, paint, and overhead light. We need to change a couple light switches before we can call it "done". Yes, that's also new furniture, the first we've put into the place, delivered straight from the store. To quote Yakov Smirnoff, "What a country."

The library, which sits next to the bedroom (where else would you keep our books?), is finis. It got a bigger window, new paint, a new overhead lights, and a new closet door.

The two studios are close, with the smaller annex about 2% from being complete. Both got bigger windows, new paint, new lights, and new closet doors. The bigger studio also got a new maple floor.

All of the interior doors and closet doors have been replaced, with spanking new hardware.

One side of the kitchen is set. We need to paint the cabinets, doors, and drawers but otherwise it's ready for the countertop and sink. It even has a working refrigerator on its side. The new lights, floor, and paint are done. The other side is waiting for a couple new cabinets to complete the wall where the oven will go. They should be in by the end of the month, when we can have the countertop guys come back to do that side.

This will be the countertop, in a slightly larger form.