Basement Complete

At last glance, the basement was framed and electrical rough in complete. Not pretty, but well along. At this point, I can proudly say the space is complete. We brought in a contractor to hang and finish the drywall as well as hang and trim the doors. At the time, I was unsure of using contractors, but in the end I'm glad we did this. The price was reasonable and in the tight timeline of getting the place rented out we needed this done quickly.

The contractors finished up on Thursday. Friday through Sunday we had a lot of help from the Bro in Law (BIL) and Sister in Law (SIL). By the time the dust settled and the carpet was installed, we went from a space with drywall and doors hung to this.

We are still amazed of the transformations. The ceiling height is only around 6'6" but thankfully it doesn't feel too short. I wish it were taller but it wasn't worth the extra money of digging it out. We painted it the same color as the master bedroom, and are glad we did so. We painted the area underneath the return duct semi-gloss white for contrast and to the right you can see how the window and bench turned out.

Looking back from the front of the house toward the stairs is the door to the utility closet to the left, the door to the unfinished area in the middle, and to the right the stairs up to the first floor.



Thus far our only regret is that we didn't do it sooner. With buying the new place we won't ever have a chance to truly enjoy this basement. Hopefully our renter enjoys it, and looking back, it is quite an improvement.

Basement Framing & Electrical Rough-In Complete

Now that we are under contract on the new place, the basement renovation kicks into high gear. Much like in December of 2008 when we decided to refinance our mortgage and creating a deadline to finish renovations, we are now in a similar position. We want our house occupied by a renter on 9/1. Yowza. With a basement under construction, a new house upcoming, a trip to Irelend, and finding out what the hell we need to do to rent the place the next month will be crazy. Time to kick things in gear...

In keeping with this, we are bringing in some help on the drywall. We got a bunch of quotes that were surprisingly reasonable. We ended up picking a mid-cost quote of a guy that I trusted. We then got him to throw in a bunch of extra work like hanging all the door jambs and doors and fixing a three switch that had gotten the best of me. An aside, when picking contractors, I usually go with my gut. This is never the high cost bidder, but usually someone at the mid to low end that will end up working with me a bit. This sometimes means quality is 90% instead of 100% but the lower costs have been things that I've been able to help fix.

Here is where we stand. Coming down the stairs, all the paneling, plaster and lathe, and most importantly the stairs were ripped out and recessed lights on a 3 way switch were put in. It looks great now.

During the renovation it didn't look as good. I was hoping to keep the stairs as is, but after looking at them in detail they needed to be replaced. They literally bounced when you walked on them and were held up by about 6 nails total. Scary. Luckily, my amazing father agreed flew in from Detroit to help frame the basement and (little did he know at the time) replace the stairs. This basement would not be done if not for him. As you can see, the stairs were scary.



Walking to the bottom of the stairs and looking out things look much different than before. Before, it was a pile of crap.



The view looks much better now. All the recessed lights are in, the plumbing lines and electrical to the second floor have all been rerouted to increase the headroom, and insulation is in place to help isolate the sound from the first floor living room.



A look back at the stairs and portion of the remaining basement that will remain shows the recessed lights back in that area. I put the lights on a motion sensing/IR switch so when you walk in the space with your arms full of laundry you don't need to find a switch. We were talking about making a bar or closet in the area to the left but now that we are going to rent the space, this isn't a priority.



To the right of the stairs is the framing around the HVAC. I added a small step at the bottom of the stairs to steer you toward the center of the room and away from the framing around the HVAC return. I was going to put a custom wine rack in this area, but again, this isn't a priority at this point. I added electricals circuit here in case I want to get fancy in the future with lighting the wine or potenially add a small bar over here.



Walking a few steps forward, you can see more of what the living space will look like. A small closet is on the left, and I made a bench underneath the window to fill this dead space. On the right, there is a storage area that is accessed through the utility room door. Originally I was going to just do a soffit in this area, but the HVAC and water heater exhaust would still have been too low to make this area usable so I just closed this space in. The soffit change resulted swapping the seating area to the left instead of the right, but it shouldn't be that big of an issue.



Looking back toward the stairs you can see this utility room. This room required moving the water heater to allow one door to be able to service the equipment while allowing space into the closet space to the left.



While overall I don't like using contractors, it is nice to know that by the end of this week the drywall will be in and mudded and all doors hung. As I type, guys are loading drywall into the house. Hopefuly it will be hung with a first coat of mud in place by the end of today. :-)

Updated Mechanicals

After looking at the blog, I noticed a draft I never completed. So I finished it. :-)

Looking back to '08, I was considering a new HVAC system. Our system was old, energy usage was up, and the system wasn't keeping up with the heat and cold. I should have redone the system then. But I didn't. And it continued to get worse.

Last October the furnace went down, and since we were in a better financial position than we were in '08 we decided to update the system. Since we had issues with both the furnace and the A/C it was time to update both. I got quotes, and ended up going with a SEER 16 2.5 ton unit outside, and a 80% efficient gas furnace inside. All said and done the costs came in at $5100. We then got $600 in rebates from Rheem, $500 from the State of Maryland and an additional $350 from BGE. With the combination of the SEER 16 outdoor unit and 80% efficient indoor unit, we were also eligible for $1500 in tax credits. What originally was a ludicrous cost became a manageable cost, especially since replacing the equipment late in the year minimized the time between our payment and subsequent tax return. Also, by negotiating our deal in late fall the HVAC companies were looking for work which allowed us room to negotiate.

While the up front costs were high, overall it was a good decision that I wish we would have done sooner. I don't know if we will ever get the money back for this, but doing this change two years later than we should have cost us a lot in extra energy bills. If I had to do it all over again I would have done it sooner.

Also, as we were looking at the HVAC upgrades we realized our ducts were undersized. Especially our return ducts upstairs. We decided not to undertake this task yet, as we wanted to see how much just changing out the units helped. While it has definitely lowered our costs, at times I can tell we need more air changeover upstairs. In the long run I think this task is something that should be done, but for the next few years it is definitely on the back burner.

And the Saga Continues...

While some news of late hasn't been good, there have also been some positive developments too. The largest development as of late has been that we are now under contract for a new house. :-D

It is the three story house on the left. Isn't it beautiful? Yeah, not so much. But that is the before picture, and we are definitely purchasing this place in after condition. So, after renovating a house ourselves, why are we buying a renovated house, and more importantly why this house? Here are a few reasons:

1. Some high end properties are going for cheap. Prices have dropped a lot in the past 5 years, and it is a great time to buy.
2. Mortgage rates are really low. Low prices and low rates? Double awesome. After paying for the current house's renovations with cash on hand, we know major renovations require major cash on hand. Our cash, blood, sweat and tears are in the house already. We may be able to generate more sweat and tears but cash is hard to come by.
3. Our 2 bed/1.5 bath won't magically sprout more bedrooms and bathrooms and overall square footage. While renovating the basement helps the value, it only helps to close the gap of making us competitive instead of just being overpriced for the size.
4. After going back and forth for the last couple of years of city vs. burbs, we've found that despite higher taxes and increased crime we like cities. Also, most burbs houses we like require us selling our house and taking a hefty loss. I don't like taking losses.
5. It has parking. The parking pad is essentially removing your backyard and replacing it with a parking space. Being in a city with mostly street parking and higher than average crime rates, having a guaranteed spot is important. We would have liked a yard AND a parking space, but most properties with both were coming in at $150-$200k more. Ouch.
6. This house price allows us to get approved for this mortgage without selling our current house. While home prices and rates are low, rent in the city is increasing. A great time to buy means sellers are screwed. By not selling our property and getting decent rent we will have someone else pay off our house for us as the market improves.
7. We are ready for something new. Hopefully this scratches our itch. :-D

Most importantly, I'm glad this blog will be able to continue, though probably more in a decorating/life updates stance versus a ohmygodicantbelieveimdestroyingthewholehouseblog. Hopefully this is ok.

At this point, we are hoping all contingencies are met and there aren't any issues that prevent the sale. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, and will keep you posted along the way.

P.S. I swear I'll post some pictures of the basement soon. It is framed, electrical run, and sound insulation in place. You'll have to trust me on this since there are no pictures.