Tackle It Tuesday: Renovating some more!

Thanks Elaine for today's blog!!

We have wanted to redo our basement since we bought our house 7 years ago but never had the time, money or the motivation to do it. At the end of July our basement, along with about a thousand other homes in our neighbourhood and surrounding area, was flooded after heavy rain. Luckily no raw sewage (gag) just rain water but no one could guarantee that there was nothing damaging in the water so virtually everything it came into contact with had to go. Suddenly we had the motivation and the money to redo the basement. Time, not so much, but motivation and money, yes. With my husband working full-time, a 2 1/2 year old boy terror running around and a new baby due come the spring (we were out buying a pregnancy test when the basement flooded, actually, and wouldn't have known about it if our neighbour hadn't asked us when we pulled into the driveway), time is something we don't have a lot of.

So, you know all that stuff you pitch into a room/closet/in our case basement that you'll "get to later"? Well, we were forced to "get to it". A lot of it was tossed in the garbage as was all the furniture which was great because most of the furniture was old and crappy anyway.

~ Round 1 ~

Restoration company rips out bottom two feet of drywall throughout the rooms. We clean out all the junk that had accumulated over the years and toss all the furniture.





~ Round 2 ~

Tear down walls, ceiling and remove the bathroom. Make a mental note to force all those helping to wear face masks so they're not inhaling the minute dust particles floating in the air...





Attempt to figure out what the heck the previous owner did with the wiring. *scary*





~ Round 3 ~

Remove the remnants of torn up linoleum left on the concrete floor because previous owner glued it down. For the record, this sucks. There is no easy way to do it and believe me, we tried all sorts of things. We used a heat gun and tried to scrape it up; incredibly slow going. We poured boiling water on it and tried to scrape it up; slower than the heat gun. We tried a blow torch; slow going and emitted a horrible odour. Finally we pulled out a belt sander and after filling our entire house with dust (note to self - cover ALL vents when we start sanding the drywall) the linoleum foam and glue was gone. *Happy dance* After the dust has settled we cleaned the floor, primed it and sealed it with paint.



This is what happens when you put too much pressure on a cheap paint roller handle. Snapped off at almost the base of the handle forcing the person who snapped it (AKA my husband) to finish half the floor on his hands and knees.





~ Round 4 ~

Put up new insulation that meets the R requirements to get a refund from the government. *Another happy dance* Frame the exterior of the room. Take a stab at the so called laundry room and see what sort of damage we can do to the remaining drywall (that's behind many pipes and wiring).

Apparently the floor was a little messy so Ben took care of it...



Nothing is work when a compressor and nail gun are involved.



I do believe the end is in sight. *Yet another happy dance* We still have a long way to go but once the walls are up it starts to become fun. How often are you given a big cheque and told to buy all new stuff? After the government rebates (for making our house more energy efficient) and tax credits we'll get a good portion of the money we pay out back. *Final happy dance* Now if only there was a way to get a little more time (like 3 day weekends) so we could have the work done by Christmas.


How do you balance your renovations with family life? Share with us at www.mothershideaway.com!

Thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom for hosting Tackle it Tuesday!!