9 Fingers and Half a Liver

Almost lost two digits.....Would I have had to rename the blog?

2009-03-30T13:00:00.003-04:00

Well, for those of you keeping up with my "lost time accidents" will notice there has been a reset. We are back to one entire day.... Between the HVAC and the electrical my hands will never be the same. Now I can officially say I poured my blood, sweat and tears into the basement project. I was up on a ladder, bleeding all over, and crying like a little girl! Thankfully, the child brought me regular band-aids instead of "My Little Pony".

All HAZMAT stories aside, the next step of this project is going rather well. I have finished all of the supply ducts now I just have to figure of what to do with the return air? I am working on it, but still have some measurements before I can make a purchase and install it.

Electrical has been going well and I am a happy cheap-skate since the price of wire has gone down. See.... this economy has an upside! The wife and I made a trip to Menard's last weekend and bought recessed can lights and other electrical supplies. We needed 18 so it was a pretty big purchase. It's pretty sad when the highlight of your weekend is to drive 45 min. away to get light fixtures but it's true, we were excited. Oh, how we miss Menard's. The closest store is in Jackson, MI, so its no longer just around the corner like when we lived in Noble-Tucky. I have heard a lot of complaints about Menard's in the past and have complained myself. For example, the fact that its super unorganized and hard to find stuff, but you don't know how much you will miss it until its gone. Menard's, please expand to Ann Arbor.....we are begging you!

Anyways, enough sharing my odd-random longing for Menard's. I put up all the can lights when we got them home. They were pretty easy and now, I am on to stringing the wire to connect them.

I also had previously put up all of the switches, outlets and other fixture boxes. Everything is ready for wire which it what I am currently working on. Maybe in a week or two I will be done?

What is next you ask.....Inspections! My "main man" Rick from the Superior Township Hall has to come and check my work. This could be good or bad. It's a crap shoot. I have been pretty thorough and have spoken with him repeatedly with questions, so hopefully he will give me the OK. When I built the deck, he did a great job and there was one little problem, but we fixed it and he signed off ASAP so I am not worried. I guess with the deck there wasn't plumbing, electrical, and HVAC involved......I guess we will find out? More too come....

My little McGyver.....

2009-02-21T20:54:00.002-05:00

Give the kid some scrap wood and a marker and she is entertained for hours......Wait until you see what she can do with some duct tape!

I even remembered to wear a belt.....

2009-02-21T20:29:00.007-05:00

You know, plumbers have a bad reputation. I figured that I would be in the midst of my first piping experience and turn around to find the Mad Blogger behind me taking pictures for publication, so I wore a belt.

The plumbing lines are finally in! Here is a quick tour of the new bathroom below before I expound on the details......

Shower.....

Shitter.....

Sink......

So, I went with CPVC - Abby says, "Why don't you just call it PVC?". Just so you know, the answer is because if you use PVC, you will die. So, no sweating of copper pipe was a good thing. At the onset of the project, I was planning to outsource the plumbing, but the building inspector encouraged me to do it myself with plastic.

Moving on. I was speaking to a wise man who told me that when you are doing a plumbing job there are two measures of success: 1. not many leaks and 2. number of trips to the store. Well, the good news is no leaks (so far). The bad news is that after the fourth trip to the store I just bought 4 of everything so I didn't have to go back.

So, I spent about 3 hours in the basement working on the joints today huffing some major fumes. The primer and cement were pretty rough. Ellie was in the basement while I was working and I realized when she was going "THUNDER, nah, nah, nah, THUNDER-STRUCK" riding her bike into walls that she was probably a little overwhelmed.

That's it for now. Next step is HVAC. Hope to get it done in less than two months like the plumbing (that earned me the accusation of "slacking" today). If I had to guess, when I am cutting the outlet holes for the new drops is when the 10th digit will drop. If it happens, I'll post a picture!

Oh my Chet! The framing is done!

2008-12-24T19:57:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Man Cave (OK, kind of considering there is only 1 male & 4 females in the house). This is the entry way, we ended up opening the stairs so it wouldn't be so dark. This was probably one of the coolest parts, because when I was cutting it Ellie came to the door and called me. I stuck my fist through the drywall and she started screaming.

This is a view from the can (I'm pretty sure Abby sat on the pipe when she took this). You can see the framed column and the soffit for the ductwork. A word of advice, the soffit was tough, a second set of hands would have helped. Amazingly enough, I was able to complete it myself without any lost time accidents. There were a few minor incidents that were resolved by a quick beer.

This is the storage closet. Another major suprise is that Ab and Ellie seem to think this is greatest part of the basement. Elle likes to keep her Princess Bike (again, think Man Cave) in here and the wife keeps coming down "dreaming" about all the crap she is going to jam in there.

Here is the bathroom. We went with a full shower, even though it is small. I figure given the economy and our friends, that once this joint is done there will be a line out front of people that just want to hang out. Rick, it's all you buddy!

Finally, the bedroom/office. I am looking forward to getting my office back. Right now I am set up on a card table in one of the spare bedrooms. It just doesn't seem quite as powerful, but I will regain my proper throne. When you look at this wall, think about how cool that full size mural of Wrigley Field is going to look! Shhh, don't tell Ab!

Tim Hortons, A Sawzall and our very own Lake.....

2008-11-24T13:04:00.005-05:00

So this weekend Big Poppa Paul was here again to lend a hand. We made our rounds Friday night and Saturday morning at the local Home Depot and Poppa got to squeeze in a trip to Tim Hortons so the weekend was looking as though it would be a productive one. Why two trip to the Home Depot? Sometimes you have to listen to those around you and get the correct tools.....Engineering a solution only gets you so far. My dad believed I should have purchased the Sawzall, but I held out, we compromised and just blew through tons of blades instead.

We had quite a long day of work on Saturday and ended up ahead of the game at the end of the day.....speaking of games, we also had a productive day of football viewing with the current subterranian set up by the "Saw Station". We refer to this station as "Saw 5 Action Set". Don't think I am sacrificing my college football saturdays or NFL sundays by doing this project! We cut a hole in the wall to add a bannister at a later date and framed the rest of the closet under the stairs and most of the hall way leading from the stairs to the open Tv room. We left the bathroom to begin on Sunday.

Well, the next morning we had a morning like all other Sunday mornings, until I went to the basement to get set up for a long morning of work and began to scream like a little girl!!!!!

The sillcock (yes, that is the correct term for it and yes, I do enjoy saying it!) exploded in the storage area of our basement an made somewhat of a Niagra Falls/Huron River through half the basement. I guess there would be no framing to do today.......I had the next 7 hours ahead of me, filled with the wife yelling, Shop-Vacing, and now can look forward to yet another plumbing project! What a mess but I guess we were lucky it did not happen when we were gone because then our house would have had a nice indoor pool downstairs!

We have, what are the beginnings of a 5th bedroom...

2008-11-11T16:50:00.003-05:00

This is what I finished this weekend. I know you are thinking, what does a family of three do with 5 bedrooms, but we are thinking property values in the very distant future. Cha-ching in twenty years right? But seriously, I actually just need a place to go when the wife gets mad at me! By the way, see that little old black chair in the corner of the closet? That is where my foreman sits when she comes downstairs.....then she looks around and comes up with new ideas, like maybe we should drop the central vac. system to the basement? Needless to say, I love the foreman, but I do not look foreward to her visits!

So this weekend was pretty straight foreward and I am happy to announce no lost time accidents! I still have 10 fingers and my liver is still in tact and functioning. We are ahead of schedule on framing and life is grand except the addition of the central vac. system ;)!

Two Pollocks, 84 studs and a closet....

2008-11-03T22:05:00.003-05:00

The Godfather of the Polish Mafia was here this weekend to assist in the framing. We worked on framing the bedroom and built the closet, and at the end of the weekend our lesson learned was, "Don't ever build a closet!" The accident counter had to be reset due to a laceration on my arm. I wonder if I will ever go more than 6 days........

Not bad for my first weekend.....

2008-10-26T23:16:00.000-04:00

Well, this is the progress after my first weekend. I am pretty proud that I got this far with all of the obstacles I had to contend with on Saturday. Now I have a system down and highly efficient tools to help with the work......

Don't "hate" on my wardrobe either.....who says you can't be "preppy" when you are constructing a basement? "Dress for success" is what I always say!

X marks the spot....

2008-10-26T23:00:00.001-04:00

My little associate and I have been hard at work in the basement this weekend. We have a system.... she marks the studs, I drill the holes, and she hands me the screws to drive into the concrete.

Holla Back!!!

2008-10-25T23:07:00.002-04:00

Ok, first lesson learned.......

When your wife tells you that "even the Amish framers who build houses don't drive every nail by hand", you should listen. I went into this project thinking the basement was not "that big" and I did not want to invest in a Framing Nailer that I would only use for this project, so I had the intention on driving every nail by hand. Guess where it got me? Not very far and a whole 'lotta "I told you so" from the old ball and chain!

I broke down today and went to Lowes to pick up this Bad Boy. I say, "Hard Work. Bring it on"!

HOLLA!!!!!

2008-10-24T15:34:00.004-04:00

Lets give props to the Ryobi Hammer Drill!!! Every man needs one of these!!! These are the first boards that have been laid and so far, so good.

Before construction begins....

2008-10-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

Here is our basement before I begin on this long journey, which will hopefully end with an additional 1000 square feet of finished useable family space. Our plan has been drawn up to include a home theater area, bar area, storage area, full bathroom, and a fifth bedroom. I have been to the Superior Township Hall to meet with my main man, Rich, the building inspector to get the ball rolling on permits. (Yes, there is only one building inspector in the S.T.!) Wish me luck and away we go............

A Durango, a Polock and Whole 'lotta Wood

2008-10-22T23:00:00.001-04:00

Tonight was the beginning of the basement project. We went to Home Depot to score some Wood and packed it in the Family Truckster. It was a miracle we made it back to Superior Township with it all still in the car! Can I get an Amen?