Sigh of relief...

Well, I saw the thunderstorms coming yesterday evening and went to bed around 10:30 because I had a feeling I'd be getting up. The storms woke me up around midnight, and some of the bomb-like lightning strikes spooked the dog. So I had to go down to the living room to ease his fears and try to catch a glimpse of radar.

I have DirecTV, and I have no complaints...I expect that it will go out during a severe storm, and it does. OK. But, from about 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. yesterday, I think the Weather Channel showed a closeup of the Chicagoland radar maybe once. All they did was talk about stupid tropical depression Bonnie.

I digress. I happened to notice the insane amount of water in my backyard. I began to get nervous about the basement flooding again. Fortunately, the sandbags are a near-permanent part of the landscape around the stairs by now. But I was worried about the sewers backing up into the house. The street in front looked fine -- no flooding. But we just dropped a pretty penny to have our sewer line power-rodded and scoped, and the city had replaced several lengths of damaged sewer line in the street that may have contributed to our last sewer backup.

So I waited "in between" storms to go out, check the catch basin (no backup!) and drop my pump down it, just in case.

Thankfully, for once, we got only a minor bit of seepage in the laundry room, which I knew about from last year's not-so-epic-anymore flood. That flowed into the drain and out of the house. Same with the little bit of water that seeped under the sandbags.

So, even though we had more water in our backyard than I've ever seen (O'Hare airport, which is due west of us, recorded 6-7" of rain in 24 hours), the basement survived this round. It's nice when investments pay off, particularly in the realm of mental sanity.

Several bloggers I follow weren't so lucky, and my condolences go out to you...and, even though I didn't suffer any damage, I will be heading down to my buddy's house in Elmwood Park to help him tear tons of stuff out of the basement. He had about a foot or more of water throughout. So my thoughts are with all of you...

The pain of DIY work...

main part mostly done.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

I was going to not take the pic and/or share it until I was completely done because I didn't want to give away the big reveal yet, but I had to. I worked too hard and killed myself too much to not. Anyway, here's the basement family room at this stage. You can now see the paint scheme/colors (more or less), and here's the floor, with the main portion of the room finished. This space is about 30 by 12 feet. I did all of this MYSELF -- a little more than half the room on Saturday alone...(from just right of the outlets on the far wall to the left edge of the floor. I was a machine.

Laminate flooring is "easy" but it isn't as easy as they say...it takes a lot out of you. I'm not a marathon runner or weightlifter, but I'm not terribly out of shape. There's a lot of pushing, pulling and the like, and it KILLS your knees and back (even with kneeling on a foam pad). I was dead-tired today and still sore a bit...thankfully, I was able to sit down and watch the Super Bowl and do mostly nothing else.

There's another picture on my Flickr site of the "layers" of subfloor too, if you're interested. It's Tarkett Heartland laminate (I believe it's discontinued...bought it at Menard's more than a year ago, because it was something like 79 cents a square foot and came with a 25-year warranty!) on top of a vapor barrier-enhanced pad (DuoFoam with Self Seal), which is on top of Platon (www.systemplaton.com, if you don't know what it is). The Platon is placed on top of landscape fabric, per recommendations on the package (for sound dampening against the concrete floor, I believe).

I still have to finish the "wing" off to the left, but that's a much smaller room (13 by 10, or so, I believe), and then I have to cut smaller floor pieces to fill in the gaps near the walls (such as the one in the lower left). I should be able to knock out most, if not all, of this in the next week -- assuming all goes OK.

So, enjoy the sneak preview of the family room...once we get it all settled, I'll take another pic...there are a few other cool things we have up our so-called sleeves. :)

Hit the deck...well, it's concrete, so be careful...

As promised, here's what up with the basement floor...

So, we have your standard concrete slab floor. The nice thing is, it's pretty even. It's mostly level, not perfect, but there are no major mounds or valleys that would cause a problem with laying laminate.

To update, I did not want tile flooring. It was going to be expensive to cover the entire floor in the family room regardless of what we went with, and tile just was OUT of the question. Too much work, too much money and too cold a result.

So I wanted laminate wood-pattern flooring. But I was worried about water seeping under the floor and ruining it from underneath. So I decided to go with a product many of you might know about: Platon. It's used on foundation walls, but is also recommended as a waterproof underlayment for floors. It creates an air pocket between the floor and the concrete, which also helps insulate the floor somewhat too. I wanted this in case the drain (now UNDER the floor) backed up again. My thought being, if it backs up a little bit (like last time...it wasn't much and it was clean rainwater from the pit in the backyard), it will spread out underneath the floor, eventually drain back out and eventually dry (the floor "breathes" around the edges beneath the baseboards). Mold should not grow because there is no "food" underneath, and the Platon is sealed together. Yes, if the drain backed up really badly, the water would eventually overwhelm the space under the floor and overflow into the walls and onto the floor, but if that happens, I figure I've got a lot of other issues to worry about...by then the whole basement will be done for anyway.

On top of the Platon, according to manufacturer's instructions, goes the pad and the laminate right on top of that. Right now, I have to do half the basement at a time (because we have furniture already), so I have the Platon laid and sealed on the largest part of the basement, and the padding spread across about half of that area. Tomorrow I expect I'll start laying the laminate. I'm excited, as I just bought a table saw for the project -- so I'll get to open that and "play" and also get this project even closer to done. My goal is to get the floor down before the Super Bowl...it's going to be tight, but I think if I can knock out a major portion of it tomorrow, I'll be OK. The remainder of it is a much smaller section, and even better, is mostly a straight square (whereas this part of the room has a few jogs in the wall that I'll have to cut around).

Pictures when I'm finished...no fair peeking! :)

Is it 2010 yet...

house decor 2009
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Here's what the bungalow looked like all decked out this year. We actually expanded our decorations to the lawn and the yew bushes, special thanks to our getting our pre-lit tree 75% off the previous Dec. 26 at Target. So we had extra lights, which we then traded in at Home Depot for LEDs (during their trade-in coupon deal prior to Christmas).

Now, I'm obviously way behind, so here goes nothing ...

2009 is in the rear-view mirror, and we're none the worse for it here at Building a Better Bungalow. Sure, there are folks out there who fared far, far worse than we did -- hell, we both kept our jobs, even though I took a tremendous pay cut and tremendous staff cuts all around me. Basically, the old adage: more work, less pay.

That led to far less time to work on the house, as did A.J.'s rapid growing up. We are preparing for birthday No. 2 -- suffice to say, the attention and love we've given him along with everyone else around him has paid off. He can recognize every single capital letter of the alphabet, can now mostly count to 12 (though he doesn't know what "counting" is...) and can "sing" a couple songs, such as a few lines from "Frosty the Snowman" and most of "Baa, Baa Black Sheep." He's a great communicator for his age...of course, with all this attention being given him, he's only now finally learning how to even consider playing or "reading" a book by himself. Either way, I love him, of course. But he has obviously taken up tons of my time (and that's a good thing, of course).

Since my last post in September, I'm not sure what I can say has gone on around here. We've fixed some things, decorated the house big-time for Christmas (as you can see). But really, there wasn't much "bungalow-related" action around here for a while. My garden indeed was a hit. I actually was able to harvest some broccoli ON THANKSGIVING and cook it up instantly for our families. It wasn't much, but as many of you know, there's nothing that beats fresh-picked produce.

Since December, though, things have been picking up. We got the family room to the point of being drywalled for A.J.'s party last March, but then work fell silent down there for quite a while. Well, aside from a few touchups, painting is finally DONE, finished a couple weeks ago. That allowed me to move on to more fun tasks, such as laying the floor...I've been waiting for this for a while. I'll post more on my progress and step-by-steps in a future post...

Once I get the floor in, we'll be ready for trim work and final electricals...we already have the TV, sectional and most of the furniture we need...so after that, we're done. That will be a great, great day!

We recently also bought new dining room table and chairs, mission style from Broyhill. They look much, much better than Gina's iron-and-glass set, in the sense of they fit the room and style much more. We're fighting through getting bedroom furniture -- but that too is another story for another day. Suffice to say, the Chicago Bungalow's staircase has foiled us once again.

I got a seed catalog in the mail the other day, and that got me itching to put in an order...I'm excited to get the veggies going again, building off what I learned last year. I also planted a TON of tulip bulbs in the backyard, and I'm hoping to see the fruits of that labor in the spring. Then, of course, there are plenty of flowers and perennials to deal with.

Lastly, I'm hoping against hope that the relatively dry winter we've had (relatively) continues. One of the main projects this year will (MUST) be to basically blow up the backyard and "start over" -- ripping down the hot tub and "carport" over it, and filling in the areas adjacent to the alley to prevent flooding of the yard backing up into the house. I cannot and will not jeopardize the work and money we've put into the basement because the city thought the alley should sit 8 inches above our yard decades ago. Too much at stake.

So, anyway, I leave you with that, for now...as things move along well into 2010, I wish you well and look forward to actually having projects, photos and stories to talk about again -- thanks for sticking with me! :)

Just insane...

Well, hey there everybody...anybody who I've disappointed, no doubt, over the past two months with my lack of blogging. I'm a journalist for a living, so you'd think, you know, I'd have plenty to say and report on around here and all, but it's been just crazy.

An 18-month-old son will do that...along with a crappy economy that just affects everything you had planned to do. And then add in the need to still be social, do things and somehow keep up with the household chores and stuff, and well, you know how it goes.

So, in bullet form, here are some updates since last I spoke:

1. Garden
The vegetable garden in the back was pretty much a smashing success. But I learned a few things.
--(a) 9 cherry tomato plants and 9 Big Boy tomato plants is too many tomatoes. And don't tell me about making sauce and ketchup and all that. I tried making sauce one evening, and it took me all evening. I simply don't have the time to do that, sadly, nor the canning ability to can tomatoes either. Not at this stage. Fortunately, I made a lot of friends and family members happy with the "free" tomatoes. :) After really struggling to start the year, over the past two months, I've pulled probably 1-2 dozen cherry tomatoes off every 1-2 days. The Big Boys took forever to grow and ripen, but I'm getting maybe three per 1-2 days now. They bounced back. But, it's very much a jungle back there.
--(b) Broccoli does much better when given sunlight. In Bolingbrook, I grew it in dappled sunlight, and it did well, I thought. But now, much better. I've cut main heads that were larger than my fist a few times already. Only thing is, I planted too late, as what I'm cutting was supposed to be my spring crop. It just now is producing.
--(c) The soaker hose hooked up to the rain barrel has made a huge difference, but I'm tired of stepping over it. Next year, I'm going to look into a less "in-the-way" option...copper tubing, maybe. We'll see...
--(d) Knock on wood, for some reason, I had NO critter invasions. I hope that lasts. I know I'm lucky. :)
--(e) Grapes need a lot more room to spread out. Sometime in the last two months, a windstorm blew over my top-heavy arbor loaded with grapevines. The grapes were doing OK, but it wasn't going to work. I cut the vines down, removed the arbor, and planted some new perennials. You can go over to my Flickr account to see the result. I'm hoping next year they'll come back as strong as the others have.
--(f) Two years in a row proves you can control Butterfly Bush and get it to grow 7-8 feet tall in a narrow space, with the use of a tall tomato cage and pre-emptive "training" of branches to stay in the cage and grow upward rather than outward.
--(g) Garlic takes a long, long time to grow. Still waiting on my garlic.
--(h) NOTHING beats carrots right out of the garden. Nothing.

2. Family room
Well, this is the project that has suffered from the economic downturn. It's been pretty much static since early to mid summer. Until recently, when we bought a nice sectional from Ashley Furniture, finally paid off the floor (which has yet to be installed) and turned around and purchased the subfloor materials. We still need to do a decent amount of painting/priming, install the floor and the trim. But we do have cable down there now, and like I said, we'll be getting a comfy sectional, so there might just be motivation to get this thing done already. Stay tuned.

3. Other projects/happenings
Outside of those two things, really, there hasn't been any major goings-on at the house. My parents just had their house (a pre-bungalow bungalow, if that makes sense) exterior walls repointed, washed and the brick walls on the roof (they have a flat roof) completely rebuilt, and for cheap. So, if my dad gives me the contact info, I might give this company a call and get them out to repoint the facebrick on my bungalow. I was going to do it myself, but if these guys are as good as the work they did on my parents' house suggests, I'd be comfortable with it. But we'll see. The only other thing I'd like to do/have to do, is to weatherstrip/proof the windows and some of the doors. Gotta do that before it gets too cold...but time's ticking away.

Ah well...I hope I still have some readers left! Thanks for sticking around and checking back...I'll try to be better, I promise!

And the rains fell, and the dryer broke, and so did my wife...

So, between a trip to the hospital for emergency surgery (she's fine now) last week for my wife, the dryer breaking down and general Memorial Day madness, I was only able to construct the third veggie bed, though I need to get another bag of garden soil to really complete it.

This is a bummer, because I wanted to plant the tomatoes I started indoors. They're ready to be transplanted, but because of the rain showers, they're still inside. I had to economize my time outside in between downpours, so the picture-taking got sidelined.

It was also sidelined by us having to buy a new dryer (and then deciding to get a new washer too, since we "have to" have a matching set -- so if anyone wants to buy an older, but working well, wash machine for a cheap price, let me know!). I had to disconnect the washer and dryer, which is simple enough, except when the gate valves are seized up from years of immobility. I broke one and couldn't budge the other. Fortunately, I had two perfect gate valves laying around from a previous plumbing event, and was able to change them out without any trouble, amazingly enough. Also, I was nervous about the gas line to the dryer, but after shutting off the valve, it held (no leaks) and there was no problem there either (for a change)! I had to connect the new dryer, though, because the delivery guys did not have a vent pipe, and I wanted to replace the fire-hazard plastic pipe that the PO had put on there. Again, amazingly, no problems going to get a vent chute (UL listed flexible aluminum), installing the vent chute or reconnecting the gas line. I was thrilled.

The good news for the backyard is, the first two veggie beds are sprouting nicely.

In Bed No. 1, the garlic is growing great and was the first to sprout. Then, the asparagus started coming up. They aren't kidding about it being spindly the first year -- the spears are no wider than a typical spaghetti noodle. But they're neat to watch. Once they break the surface of the soil, they sure shoot up in height pretty fast. I was impressed! Finally, in Bed No. 1, the broccoli I started from seed began to sprout. It seems to be lagging a bit, but the plants appear healthy and in good shape, so I'll just need to be patient.

In Bed No. 2, I planted beans, carrots and beets, all from seed. The beets started sprouting earlier this week, and today I went out to find nice rows of seedlings peeking through the dirt. Yesterday, the beans began to push their way through the surface, and today, they've broken through nicely. Also, a surprise, the carrots are sprouting like mad today...I'll have to cull those rows heavily, as I simply scattered the seed in rows. So that will start soon. All in all, Bed 2 is in good shape, it appears.

Bed No. 3, like I mentioned above, is a few inches low on soil, so I have to go get more before moving on to construction of Bed No. 4. When that will happen, I'm not sure...but it has to be soon! Even though they're predicting storminess on and off for the next few days...might be sketchy.

Complicating matters is that my birthday is coming up this weekend, and my brothers were nice enough to get me Lego Indiana Jones for the PS3, and a Best Buy gift card, both of which have and will, respectively, distract me from doing "yardwork" around here! Ah well, I'll get back to it soon enough, I'm sure!

So there's the update...I leave you with this: It's a picture of my son attempting to eat a marigold when I told him to sniff the marigold in the planters out in front of the house. I did plant those up, and the flowers are doing well.

Oh, the humanity...OK, that's a bit overly dramatic...

halfway 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, hey there loyal readers...Wow, almost a whole month of no posting by me. That's a record that I'm sorry to admit to for this blog (I think).

Basically, I've been way the heck too busy to post of late. Much has happened, though, in the last week or two, so I thought I'd share some photos and an update. It's long overdue.

1. The basement family room has been mostly primed and is just about ready for paint. The review of the Behr New Drywall Primer is that I really liked it. I put one coat of the primer on the ceiling, and my buddy Luis (who has made appearances on this blog in the past) put on one coat of Behr White Ceiling Paint, and other than probably a touch-up here and there, that's ALL the ceiling needed. Primer on the walls was a little thinner, but it looks like it's covering enough to put paint up. So that will be the next step.

I've decided I'm going with two-tone walls. Top half will be a color called Harvest Brown (710D-4) and the bottom half will be a color called Smokey Blue (540F-5). I got the color combo off the Yellow-Toned Neutrals Style Card, actually. Even though in the style card, the Smokey Blue is only the napkins in the photo. I think this will look really nice, and I like the fact that I'm adding some color, not just beiges and yellows and browns and whatnot. I'm gonna split these with a white (or ivory, we'll see) chair rail, which will run perfectly below the windowsills and perfectly above the fireplace to form the top part of the simple mantel.

Of course, I bought the primer and paint on Tuesday, and Home Depot decided to have a $5 rebate per can offer that started today. Bunch of jerks. I wish I would have waited two stinking days...

I did get the floor I wanted, so I can't gripe too much, I guess...since it was 89 freaking cents a square foot and no interest till 2010. That gives us several months to pay it off without penalty of any kind. And that's HUGE.

2. Backyard plans are running full bore right now. I've started some tomato seeds and broccoli seeds, and have a whole slew of other vegetables waiting in the wings to be planted in the new garden that I'm working on constructing (currently in my brain, very soon in the yard). I'm going to have to get three cubic yards of dirt/compost/peat moss/manure/whatever to raise the bed up high enough in the back that floods to avoid future floods. So this garden will have the dual purpose of being a garden and taking care of part of the flooding problem. So I hope anyway.

The veggies I have in my possession (and should have room for, I hope -- I probably won't plant a forest of each of these, just a couple of each...I don't need 200 tomatoes) are: cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, garlic, green beans, carrots and beets. I'd like to get a pepper plant as well, and maybe some rosemary.

Today, I knocked down the "walls" of the little shelter that the hot tub is under...40 pickets of a fence. Fortunately, they were nailed to the rails, so I just hammered the hell out of them to break them free. Several of the pickets are in fantastic shape still and will be used in this garden, either as backup support around the beds or as walkway planks or something. We'll see for sure. It was definitely hard work, but I wanted to get it done because the garbage men come tomorrow, and there were some unsalvageables that I had to toss.

As you can see from the pictures on Flickr (click on the photo here), the yard looks significantly different with the walls of the shelter down. You can also see that I tried to pry the roof off, piece by piece. But, after climbing up the ladder and working for about 15 minutes plus to get that one panel off, I realized that it was going to work, and that, oh, these appear to be some sort of fiberglass panels, and my forearm itches and hurts like hell. I got a ton of fiberglass fibers rubbing on the underside of my forearm because I rested it briefly on the panel to try to pry it up. Live and learn, I guess.

So, tomorrow is supposed to be another unbelievably spectacularly beautiful day here in Chicago. I took the day off today, and will have most of tomorrow off, so I think that I will do some more work out there. Maybe I'll go buy the 70 or so bags of topsoil and stuff...but that would mean I'd have to rent one of those menards or home depot trucks...anyone done that and had good/bad experiences? (Anyone still reading at this stage?)

Anyway, we shall see how it goes tomorrow. I'm pretty tired from today's adventures...more soon, I promise!

Stay on target...stay on target...

It's been a quiet week and a half here at the bungalow...and that's OK. We've just had too much going on. But I haven't lost track of things that need to be done. It's been brainstorming time, and here at the house, we've been brainstorming ways to solve the backyard flooding issue, brainstorming ways to get the painting and flooring done in the basement family room, and brainstorming ways to feel a heckuva lot better about the sewer main situation.

I've also been getting the gardening itch. Ever...so...slightly.

The good news is, I visited Menards and Home Depot today, and definitely found the laminate floor I want. Let's hope they still have it in stock tomorrow, when we'll probably go back to get it. It's EXACTLY what I want, on sale and everything. Plus, the no interest until 2010 is a big, big plus right now!

Also, at Home Depot, I took a gander at primer and paint colors, and I actually think I might have found some colors that I really like that seem to go together and may very well go with what we plan to move down there too! It's Behr paint though...any reviews from any of my regular readers out there? Have you had any problems with Behr? Gina and I, since moving in together, have used exclusively Benjamin Moore. But I've not been all that impressed, specifically, for the price. I mean, it's been fine, don't get me wrong...but it's not like it's been so above and beyond that I'm dying to use it over anything else.

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Behr paint. I'm looking at a darker color on the bottom half and a neutral on the top half.

The tropics, without the warmth...

Just when I think I have the damned floodwaters figured out, something else happens. (NOTE: This is long, but I got a lot to say...a lot happened)

Friday night, I went to two Home Depots and one Lowe's to get those stupid 60-lb. tubes of sand that people put in the backs of their pickup trucks in the winter to weigh them down in icy weather. Got five of them, knowing that I'd be gone most of the day Saturday, and I could sandbag the basement stairs in the event that water flooded the backyard and got close enough. So I set them up Friday night.

Saturday morning, I double-check them, and we were gone for the day. In the evening, I come back to find no floodwaters in the yard. Nice. But rain on the way overnight. Rained all night Sat/Sun. I woke up purposefully at 2:30 (3:30 after the spring ahead) a.m. to go outside and downstairs to check the situation. Happily discover no floodwaters in the yard or the basement.

Get up Sunday morning around 9 a.m. Electrician comes at 10, done by 11:30. Still no danger, although I notice there is some standing water in my catch basin in the backyard. Odd, but not bad. I decide to keep an eye on it.

Then, the niagara falls apparently opens above my house. Suddenly, the backyard is flooded badly, but I suspect that the sandbags will hold up fine. My plan will be tested, but appears OK to work. Then, while I'm checking the sandbags, I look down the stairs into the basement to notice that, what the hell? Water is rising up from the drain, and that kinda fast. It's going right into the laundry room, which is fine, except that drain feeds the same pipes.

I scramble (I'm on my own at this stage) to grab all five 60-lb. sandbags and try to manipulate them between the drain and the door to the basement. But I'm too late. Water is not going down in the laundry room, and I look off in the distance to my newly remodeled family room and notice that there is water now coming up through THAT drain as well...much more and much faster than in the laundry room.

I get the sandbags positioned as best as I can and at that stage resign myself to simply hoping and praying that the water coming up stays pooled "around" the drain and doesn't hit any of the new drywall or framework. Thankfully, it does. The drain is depressed in the floor, which is good, because about an 8-foot diameter portion of the floor has been soaked, and there's still about 3 inches of water over the drain at this juncture. This after two downpours.

Now, I'm pissed and confused as well. Also, the yard floodwater is now coming down the stairs slightly, only adding to the backed up drain problem. I get the pump and set it up in the stairwell drain and run the house out to the front of the house. I'm confused because there is no standing water at all on the street, and nobody else is out running around trying to bail out water except me. I surmise that I must be the only one getting water in the basement, or the only one who cares.

After talking to my dad, we realize that my main must be clogged/blocked. That means, I need a plumber/water department guy to come out with a power rodder to clear the main. Fortunately, Gina's cousin knows a guy, and this guy agrees to come out and help me out. He suspects the roots of the bushes (the evergreen-types you see in front of everyone's bungalow, practically) in front of the house have grown through the main and blocked it. I tell him that I was going to pull those out. He says good idea, because they are the absolute worst -- worse than trees. I say, good, one more reason to destroy them.

After two hours of power-rodding the main and pulling out a couple sizeable handfuls of root mass, and nearly $300 to get that done, the drain is opened again and working, and the catch basin is empty.

Supposedly, Tuesday, we're gonna have another similar freaking storm. That will test whether or not this was the real issue today. I hope it doesn't come back as a problem again, because I have enough of a problem with the backyard floodwaters. I don't need sewer backups, especially now that the family room is on its way to being done.

I'm tired as shit -- my back and legs hurt and I'm just so out of it. The basement is a total mess again, and I really don't even feel like cleaning any of it. It's such a freakin' pain in the ass. Sometimes, as much as I absolutely love it, homeownership completely and totally sucks.

Words are very, unnecessary...

The title is taken from "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode...and that's what I've been doing, at least in the realm of home improvement, for the moment.

A.J.'s first birthday party went very well. We had loads and loads of people, and when he wasn't overwhelmed, A.J. had a very good time. Thanks to everyone who came out, brought gifts or themselves and joined us for our son's big day!

The basement family room walls and ceiling got done, as did the electrical work. We cleaned the floor about 3-4 times and got it decent enough. The fireplace works and definitely warms it up down there, and overall, it's just a nicer room to be in.

We still have plenty of post-party cleaning to do (the garbage men don't come until tomorrow, and there's full trash bags all over that need to be shed). But we're getting there. Work is kicking me in the ass right now; but at least I'll get back to it soon enough. I now have motivation, and something I didn't have before the party: TIME. :)

Too tired to blog...will attempt post in near future...

A night that was supposed to be focused entirely on working on the basement was partially sidetracked by YET ANOTHER record-breaking rainstorm in Chicago. We got nearly two inches of rain today out near O'Hare airport. Two inches too many.

Me, my dad and my father-in-law spent a good portion of the night attempting to control the floodwaters that this time POURED down the back stairs. The drain couldn't keep up, so we had to makeshift sandbag to slow things. I had about 2-3 inches of water in the foyer out there, with some seeping into the laundry room (and thankfully right into that drain).

Eventually, the rain stopped and the drain caught up...but there is more water in my backyard than there ever has, and this water came relentlessly this time. This worries me, tremendously.

Worth noting, the family room, where the drain tile and sump pit service, was dry as a bone, and the sump pit filled up to the bottom of the drain tile pipes and stayed there. So that worked.

Too bad the backyard is a total, major problem.

Live from the new tropics: Chicago...more later.

If you've never seen our HGTV episode...

Then, by all means, you should set your TiVo, DVR or old-fashioned VCR to tape it...unless you're home on Wednesday at 1:30 Eastern time...

http://www.hgtv.com/designed-to-sell/an-aging-condo-gets-a-facelift/index.html

Enjoy! It's from the days prior to our bungalow ownership (obviously), when we lived in a condo a few miles east of here, in Old Irving Park. It was a great condo...but we needed MORE! :)

Oh yeah, and the final drywall mud coat is finished tonight...sanding on Wednesday!

What a difference a day-and-a-half makes...

drywall done 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the drywall was hung in approximately four hours by some drywall professionals. And today, the taper came out to apply the second coat of mud. Tomorrow, a third coat. Then, who knows, to make it smooth!

Either way, we're looking good for this coming Saturday. Just will have to primer the walls and ceiling, get the last of the electrical hooked up (Friday) and clean the shit out of the floor...that floor is technically painted a dark-ish brown. Seriously.

Either way, it looks like a completely different room, and now I feel really good about how things have progressed. I'm psyched now!

I'm thermal...

andy insulates 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the insulation is done. Here's a picture of me toward the end of the work, getting ready to do one or two quick patch-in jobs.

I confess, I cheated, in a sense. I squished insulation at times, I cut it as straight as I could without using 2x4s (though with a sharp blade, it cuts pretty easily, usually, so I don't know what people are talking about).

I also cheated because I decided not to insulate the interior brick wall that is over my right shoulder in this picture. The brick doesn't face outside, and even though the room under the stairs is not technically heated, it's not an outdoor wall, so it should be fine.

I also did not staple the flanges except in a couple places. Why? Well, first off, my cousin said it wasn't necessary because he put the studs up perfectly on 16-inch centers (and he was right). Second, when I had to cut to fit, I made sure to get it right. In both cases, friction is tightly holding all the batts in place. Including the ones in the ceiling (except, again, here and there).

My dad said, "If it gets wet, it's going to sag down inside the wall." I said, "Well, given the plastic I have behind it to prevent any future seepage from hitting it, if this insulation gets wet enough to sag down the wall, it will mean much, much worse has happened."

Suffice to say, I have 7 total bags of R-13 93-inch fiberglass batt insulation still sitting in my garage. I hope that means that my cousin was compensating for the spots I didn't insulate, and it doesn't mean that I did it wrong. I also hope that the Home Depot will take them back, since I still have the receipt. Let's hope!

I also cleaned up a little more of the remaining demolition trash and stacked a ton of trim pieces left over from the PO. TONS of them. I'm hoping I can use them myself, possibly in this room even. If not, maybe I'll offer them up for sale or give away. Or something.

Next up, insulation...

The framing is finished, the fireplace is finished (and it works -- we tested it successfully this evening!) and the electrical work is nearly done. Today, my wife's cousin and I ran two coax cables and two cat-5 cables from the utility room (where we can access them AFTER the family room is finished) to the area where the TV/cable/entertainment center will be.

I have to get some speaker wire and run it as well, in advance of the drywalling and such, and I want to run speaker wire for the upstairs as well, if at all possible.

Then, I get to insulate my ass off...shouldn't be too difficult (knock on wood). And it's going to make a huge, huge difference in the room, no doubt about it. Hell, the fireplace, which doesn't have a blower fan yet, coupled with the 12 can lights that are currently operational, was doing a decent job of warming the room for the short time we had them going. So it'll be great when the insulation and drywall is in.

I can't wait! Even though I drew up my overall plan for this room on the CPU, I could not have realistically envisioned this in the end. Obviously, for our son's b-day party, we're just trying to get it to a presentable, safe point. The "good stuff" will come in to play later. Then the space will really take shape and look awesome.

But for now, it's already taking on a good shape...

Meanwhile, back in the family room...

fireplace ready
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

The fireplace is in, the can lights are in and ready to go, and we're getting really close. Gonna run cable/phone/speaker wires Tuesday, probably, then insulate our brains out before the drywall crew comes in Saturday to rock everything.

We're within two weeks of my son's first birthday party...time's a-tickin', but I think we're gonna get it to a great spot for the party...which is awesome!

Because then I can slow the hell down and finish at an easier pace. :)

I was framed...

framed6
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the family room framing is done. Thanks to Gina's cousin. And only 19 days left to A.J.'s first birthday party! Tomorrow, a couple more steps will be taken...you can see we decided to just install the fireplace now, so we don't have to demo the wall again. Probably a smart move...helps to know the fireplace installer personally! :)

Catching up...

What a weekend and what a Monday! My wife's cousin Mike came over (he's a carpenter) and started framing the walls on Sunday. I tried to finish demolition of the shorter walls, and got about halfway before the Super Bowl rolled around and we had to stop, as we both had places to be. Mike came back Monday afternoon and evening, and he finished demolishing the old furring strips and the wall separating the boiler room from the family room. That wall was out of square, so we decided to just take it down and start from scratch there.

Mike the electrician (a friend of Mike the carpenter) came over Sunday as well to see what was going to be required, and we got a huge relief. Apparently, the electric box(es) are fine, they're just a little messy. Nothing is piggybacked or doubled up -- each breaker is legitimate and to code. Thankfully. As I mentioned, I was worried about this very thing costing us an arm and a leg. Now, Mike the electrician will probably charge us the most, because he's more distant, but at least it won't be a much bigger project (knock on wood) than we hoped, electrically speaking.

Finally, yesterday, Mike the heating/cooling guy, who is my cousin's fiance, came over to coordinate with Mike the carpenter on where the fireplace will be and plan for proper framing. We weren't going to install the fireplace just yet, because we weren't sure that (a) it would take a short time, or (b) we'd be able to afford it. But, we should be just fine -- thank God for friends and relatives. Of course, this now also means I have to think about exactly how I want it to look...so I'll have to look around and see what I can see.

And, yes, there has been talk that I will have to name the bar "Mikes' Place" in honor of the three Mikes. Or, "Tres Miguels" or something like that. :)

So many decisions, so little time! Although, it does appear that maybe, just maybe, we're on track to get this room at least presentable by Feb. 28, our son's first birthday party at the house. Boy, that would be totally awesome! Still crossing my fingers...

After careful consideration and some number-crunching...

Well, I ran the numbers yesterday, and pored over what we could and could not do. Barring the electrician walking in and saying that his work would cost us a billion dollars, we should be able to squeak by and get the family room in presentably decent-looking shape for this party.

So I just went to the ol' HD and placed a large lumber order, for a load of studs, top plates, bottom plates (pressure-treated), insulation and plastic sheeting. It will be delivered on Saturday, and my cousin-in-law will begin work on it Sunday (prior to the Super Bowl). Thankfully, because of those beautiful Chase Rewards points, almost half of the total cost was covered by gift cards, which I had redeemed the points for about a month ago in anticipation of this. Of course, though, with work starting Sunday, that means I'll have to stop and get a few cases of beer too (the "unbudgeted" cost of this remodel!) on Saturday, since I'm traveling tomorrow through Friday for work.

It may take a little finagling of finances, and creative use of sales, promotions and "no interest till..." credit card use, but I think we'll be able to get the basics taken care of before the party. And that's good. That's the goal. After the party, though, things will go "on hold" until things lighten up around here.

I can't say we've "survived the scare" if you want to call it that, because it's in no way close to over, economically speaking. But, barring any insanity in the near term, we should be able to do what we hoped, which was have the walls and ceiling done by the party at the end of February.

Let's cross our fingers!

An economic standstill...

Our basement remodel is now currently in jeopardy of being put partially on hold...well, it's definitely going to be on hold after my son's birthday party, but now, there's a question of how we'll afford to get what we need done by the party.

You see, the economy hath taken a bite outta my ass. No, I didn't lose my job -- for which I am eternally grateful, particularly today, a day in which tens of thousands of people were laid off in the U.S. I've been there before -- would prefer to not go back, particularly not at this stage.

No, instead, my coworkers and I were forced to take a very significant pay cut...(which came on the heels of layoffs last week, mind you). So significant is this cut that we're going to have to rein in the spending. And my wife and I are not big spenders to begin with, so it's not like we can just skip the caviar or the $500 bottles of wine.

This is going to make life a bit trickier over the next months/year(s), particularly with so many things needing to be done around here. Sure, nothing's outright falling apart (knock on wood), but there are plenty of things that could be done to make simple things work better.

I need to talk with my cousin-in-law, the electrician and others to see what we can do about this basement family room -- now even more realistically speaking than before.