Designing a new basement layout

Since we need to demolish it anyway, we try to re-imagine the basement layout as well, and how it might evolve over our lifetime. We’ll have to plan all of the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical to account for a re-positioned laundry room, an additional bedroom, and possibly adding laundry on the main level when we become elderly.

We can’t afford to replace our car.

Our car develops enough mechanical problems that it becomes cost-prohibitive to keep. We decide to sell it. The ongoing cost of house repairs means that we won’t be able to replace this vehicle, so we reluctantly become a single-car family.

A few more gutters

All sides of the roof have gutters except around the odd-shaped dining room addition. Because water in the basement has been such a problem, I decide to add gutters to this last segment of the roof.

Where else can we find storage space?

We still need to find storage for several items that are in the basement. A tall area in the between the garage rafters looks like a good candidate for a storage hoist.

This website has developed problems.

A few years ago, a virus targeted this website’s content management system, and has caused some problems ever since. There is no known viable way to fix the virus, and it’s getting worse. Saving this blog means moving years of content to a completely different content management system. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or skills for a project of that size right now.

I will continue documenting my work on the house and find a way to blog about it in the future.

Garage storage hoist for dining room chairs

I spent Labor Day using my theater carpentry skills by rigging a storage hoist for our extra dining room chairs. Apart from large family gatherings, these chairs were stored in the basement. But because we have to keep the basement clear for remodeling, the garage trusses were the obvious choice for additional storage space.

Operating a storage hoist in a garage.

The block and tackle system makes it easy for one person to hoist or lower the chairs. Now, we’ll have an easy way to access the chairs when we need them AND remodel the basement.

Extra dining room chairs are suspended between garage trusses using a storage hoist.

New basement design throws out the flipper’s mess.

We decide that our new basement design doesn’t need to save much of the old framing at all. At most, we’re going to keep the walls around the bathtub and furnace. Everything else is garbage.

New design of a finished basement. It includes 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, family room, laundry room, linen closet, and mechanical closet.

So far, we’ve tried to demolish as little of the basement as possible and salvage as much as we can. We thought this might be cheaper. But the flipper didn’t have an elegant plan for our house. Why should we try to save his layout? After all, we didn’t save the old deck. We tore it out and came up with our own design. The basement is much more complicated, but the idea is the same.

Pros

  • A drain tile system will keep everything absolutely dry
  • Our own layout will make more sense
  • Adding an egress window means we can have another legal bedroom (Bedroom 4)
  • Everything will be new and correct

Cons

An outlet covered with drywall!?!

While doing some demolition in the basement, I discovered an outlet covered with drywall. The flipper intentionally bent it back and covered it up.

An outlet covered with drywall is discovered during demolition.
An outlet junction box has been bent backwards and covered with drywall.

Temporary sink uninstalled

Seems like I just installed this temporary sink. It needs to be uninstalled to make way for the upcoming drain tile project.

A temporary sink in an unfinished basement.

Who cakes drywall mud on a support column?

While doing some demolition, I discover that the flipper framed lumber around a support column that was bigger than the lumber, leaving no room for drywall. So the flipper caked huge globs of drywall mud onto the column itself. In some places, the mud is over 1″ thick. As it dried, the moisture in the mud started rusting the support column.

Lumber framing around a basement support column.
Drywall mud over 1 inch thick caked to a basement support column.
Drywall mud improperly used on a basement support column.
Drywall mud was applied to this steel support column causing it to rust. Thick chunks of the dried mud have been broken away from the column and lay on the basement floor.