The Projects

Garage. Check. August. Will be done. Good.

Fence. Fall. Will be done. Good.

Basement. Spring.

Car. Spring.

Wall ... Someday.

H and I have struck a deal. We must set a budget for our basement project. If we can come in substantially under budget, we will get central air conditioning. Woot.

H and I are not handy people. We don't even know how to fix a running toilet. We are renovation and repair challenged. But we aim to learn. And we aim to rely heavily on friends who are more handy than are we. Which is pretty much everyone.

The basement has issues with space. Because of placement of the furnace, hot water tank, and plumbing rough-in, we need to conserve as much space as possible in order to fit our bathroom into its proper place. We need a stackable washer/dryer unit in order to meet this goal. Cheapest ones run around $1,000. More expensive are laughably ridiculous. We will, of course, go with the cheapest that will do a proper job. 'Cause that's just who we are. We also need a shower stall, not a tub. We don't have room for a tub. We will go with a slightly higher-end model of shower stall, not wanting to deal with the cheap-o and impossible to clean plastic walls. There are things better than those that we can afford.

I think we can do the framing ourselves. I know we can do the drywall. The insulation is already in place, so that's not an issue. We will need professional help with plumbing, electric, and HVAC (including the central vac instalation, since we have the rough-in already). We've allowed ourselves a luxury basement item, and it is going to be a corner direct-vent gas fireplace with an insulated mantle for the TV. This concept makes me happy, as I've always wanted a house with a fireplace. I really hope our plans and budget will allow this to work. We will, of course, need professional help with this too. I don't know if we can do the flooring ourselves, so we may need professional help with that one too. We'll have to see. It will be basic flooring, and it will just go right over the concrete; I don't want a subfloor down there.

We have a floorplan drawn out. It makes good use of our available space. Pocket doors are used a fair bit. There is a nice storage space, and there will be a walk-through closet if we can make it fit. We've planned for a nice set of built-in bookshelves. All in all, it should be quite practical and homey.

We have to price things out, try to catch sales, and see what we can do. Will need to negotiate financing for this project. (Ick; more debt!) But we are running low on room just now, and the top floor is too hot in summer. We need our basement. And truly, I just can't wait to get it done!