Let there be lights!

Today the electricians came.  It was fun walking through and deciding where every light switch and most outlets will go.  I've never done anything like that.  Now of course I think I'm an expert ;)

These two are so nice but a little camera shy. Their names are: Steve and Steve.  

Goodbye Garage Door

Rob and Dano came today and ripped off the garage door - yaye!  That thing hadn't worked for years and was our - the cellar dwellers - main means of entry/exit.  It seems like a small thing, but manually lifting and shutting that door multiple times a day was seriously annoying!  In it's place will be two exterior doors.  One that opens to our mudroom and one that opens to the garage which Wood & Deb have now designated as a large storage area.

Later that night Ben continued to dig out the ground in the bathroom to sink pipes and an ejector pump...

Worst job ever :)

DJM + ROB (week 2)

Yesterday DJM brought along, a one famous: Rob Waters. Here's some of what took place:

The bazooka.  Really guys?

A few lally columns were taken out and an LVL beam was put in.

New stairs were built and installed.

Later that night, our next door neighbor Al- also a PLUMBER score! - came over and started cutting the floor where pipes will have to run..

DJM Construction (week one)

Dan Mortimer and Sam Rowe are: DJM Construction.  They came for two days and...

Framed in new windows.

Cut out metal frames of existing windows.

Started framing...

And stretched their back at lunch.

A Family Affair

Woodie helped us clean and prep the wall for a coat of dry-lock.  This is a thick paint that help seal basement walls so that moisture doesn't get in.

Deb and I painted it on while Woodie and Ben mixed concrete to patch certain areas of the floor.

Now we were ready for our framers!

Concrete Cutters

It started with googling "Concrete Cutters Leominster" and ended with a guy named Mike here for the day.  He measured where the windows go and marked that on the wall.  Then he bolted these brackets to the wall which would mount his cutting machine. He told us that the blade alone on these machine's cost $3,000!  They are loud as heck too and spray water alllll over the place.  This video is slightly boring but I thought some would find it cool to see the wall being cut:

And there you have it.  He cut three of these.

Plans & Demo!

Every successful project starts with a good floor plan...

Thanks Renee Fair, LEED, AP!

Next you need to do a good job of demolition in a semi/fully finished space.  Here's an idea of how the basement rooms looked:

Bedroom

Entry

New Year's day was dedicated to demo.  Ben had quite the trio to help with heavy stuff: Meg. Tiff. Steph.  Here's us killin it:

All that was left when we were done was the raised floor.  So two days later Ben and I tackled that..

The woman approaches her prey...

Then attacks.

Goodbye floor.  Now we're ready for windows to be cut!