Finishing the basement

It's been a long time coming, but the basement is finally just about finished.  When we did the house renovation a few years ago, the foundation was fixed up and some basic framing was put into place down there, but we haven't managed to get the resources together to actually make it into a livable space until recently.  We had a little bit of work done on it last summer, putting in a window into the future bedroom space, but then things were on hold again until earlier this year.  We had originally thought we would try to do the work ourselves, but eventually realized that it would take forever and take up all of our free time and still might not end up the way we wanted.  So we brought Larry back in to start work on it part time while he was finishing up a different job.   He started at the end of May and progress was initially slow while the time was split with the other job.  Full time work started in September, and by the end of the month drywall was up, the bathroom was mostly assembled, and the cork floors and tile work were all done.  October covered trim and painting, and was the end of what we had contracted Larry to do.  Finally, at the end of November we had new carpeting installed in the bedroom and tv room, and it was all ready to use.

Looking south through the bedroom in Jan 2011 and in Nov 2014.

There are still a few things remaining to do, including putting tops on the half walls, finishing the wire terminations for the cable/internet/speakers, and eventually getting some cabinets and counters for the laundry room and furniture/electronics for the tv room.  But it's still all useable for now, and we're loving having all of this new living space in the house including a big tv room, bathroom, guest bedroom, laundry room, and little playroom. 

See photos from the past year and a half of work after the jump.

Master Bathroom Reconstruction

About a year ago our kitchen ceiling got a small water spot. We were all sure it was from a leak in the window. Larry came and fixed the window and all was well until this January when we started taking epic showers with Lillian. Steam was the only thing we could do to fight her cold so we had her in the shower for hours a day - and lo the ceiling leak returned worse than ever. We called Larry in and after some investigation he decided there was a leak in the shower pan. The only way to deal with that is to demo the shower floor and hope you don't have to take out the whole shower. 

Larry did the demo while we were in Arizona last week. He had to take out the drain as well because it was so calcified. Here is a picture of the floor boards being left to dry. The shower will be like this for a couple more weeks and then hopefully he'll put it all back together. We miss our nice big shower! 

In the house!!

S-s-s-studio

We'll miss you, tiny studio!  And you too, broken microfridge! And you, uncomfortable murphy bed!  But hundreds of cockroaches, we'll miss you most of all!

We had a wonderful view of the rowdy neighbors' rooftop party area, the CTA Brown Line platform ("this is Paulina"), and the Eiffel tower.  The doorway on the right leads to the dresser/closet/trashcan/changing table area and the bathroom

Almost there... stay on target...

There are still a few things left to do (a last coat of paint in a couple rooms, finishing the phone/cable/internet wiring, install the mirror and shower door in the master bath, move all the tools out of the first and second floors and clean up) but we're finally close enough to being finished that last night Emily and I were able to start unpacking a few boxes and putting things away into the kitchen.   We'll take a better set of pictures once it's all really complete, but for now here are some more shots of how things are looking now.

Looking from the living room over the peninsula into the kitchen and the back door.  On the left is the little "microwave closet" in the breakfast area.  We weren't sure what we were going to use for shelving in there, but Larry found a super inexpensive cabinet to install and used some of the leftover granite for the top

Kitchens, Bathrooms and more

The house is SO close to done I can taste it. Tiling and painting will finish in the next day or two. Then waiting for the glass and the plumber to finish up the faucets and we are in soon!! Goal move in date is next Friday, but this weekend we'll be doing some initial wiping down of the inside kitchen cabinets and getting furniture and bookshelves set up. Follow the jump for pictures.

We have Floors!

The house has drastically changed since the last house post. Alan will post to fill in the missing time, but somehow we always seem to run out of time lately!

So I'm going to jump to present and tell you that we now have all our roof, amazing blue siding with beautiful white trim, a lovely back deck with a spot for a grill, air conditioning, heating, wiring, and plumbing. You won't believe it, but we also have drywall and hard wood floors!! Here's a picture from the basement door looking back through the den and kitchen.

Next week we will be banned from the house while they sand and stain the floors. Then installing cabinets, tile in the bathroom, counters, painting and trim and then we move in! Date we are shooting for right now is October 28. Just around the corner!!

More pictures after the jump.

August House Progress

We've been pretty busy throughout August and haven't been great about taking progress pictures.  The main work over the past few weeks has been mainly on HVAC, plumbing and electrical.  These are obviously pretty important things to have in the house but don't make for as dramatic a picture.  So to inject a little excitement into these progress pictures I tried using a new app on my iPhone that takes 360 panoramic pictures.  They're not the most clear pictures in the world since I'm still getting used to the app, but they give a pretty good view of how things are looking as of August 22.  As always, click on each one for a larger version.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, with the center of the picture looking at the window over the kitchen sink

July House Progress Part 2 (July 14 - July 31)

Lots more constructions pictures here, including nearly-complete framing on the first floor and partially done framing on the second floor.

Standing by the front door looking all the way back to the kitchen window

July House Progress Part 1 (July 1 - July 7)

After the discouraging sight of our house basically completely gutted at the end of June, we were happy to see things really start coming together quickly in July.  It was a very tough month for construction due to the weather, which was the rainiest July in Chicago on record.  At least we weren't living there at the time, but having to deal with the aftermath of a mini-hurricane a couple of times a week for most of the month definitely slowed things down a bit.  Despite that, we were happy with the progress. We went from a house with practically no floors or walls to one with plenty of both in just a few weeks.

Standing in the first floor family room and looking out through the second floor master bedroom window.  Wait, what?

Post-Simon June House Progress (June 20 - June 29)

After Simon was born we couldn't bring him back to the house which was still so far from being liveable.  Emily and I could deal with the construction noise and dust but we didn't want to subject Simon to that.  So we ended up renting a tiny studio apartment just down the street from the house.  No longer restricted by needing to make sure that we had a place to live inside the house while it was being built, Contractor Larry took full advantage of his new freedom by basically gutting the inside of the house.  We knew all of this had to happen in order for the construction to proceed but seeing it all at once like that was pretty jarring for us.  Here we were with a brand new baby and our house looked further than ever from being complete.

Looking past the stacked chairs you can see the old back wall of the living room has been removed, leaving it open to the temp laundry room.  Off to the right you can see the initial framing for the new doorway between the future dining room and the future family room

Pre-Simon June House Progress (June 1 - June 14)

For the first two weeks of June we continued living in the house while the construction continued and more and more of our house became unusable.  By the time we headed to the hospital on the 14th for the beginning of labor we were pretty much reduced to just our bedroom and the bathroom.

On June 8 they built out the frame for a big window in the temp kitchen (which will eventually be a small family room off of the kitchen)

Basement Floor (May 19 - June 1)

I just realized I hadn't posted any house pics since May, which means it's time for a ton of house construction posts to catch up.

First up, let's jump back to the end of May for the basement floor.  It had been just wet sand since they tore up the old concrete earlier in the year, but now that the foundation was finished and the sewer and water pipes were in place they could pour the new floor.

Our basement in May 2011: wet sand and the occasional pit

Raise the Roof (May 3 - May 23)

I knew I was behind on posting pictures, but I just realized that even though I've posted some disaster shots from inside the house I haven't posted anything about the progress on the outside of the house since mid-April. 

By the end of the last post, we had the basement and kitchen framed out but nothing much done on the second floor yet.  The focus for the next couple of weeks was on the inside of the house so by May 3 they had only really finished up the sub-floor for the master bedroom but still no walls or roof.

More after the jump...

Breaking the fourth wall (5/3 - 5/12)

The reason the temperature and weather affected us so much this past week is because we're now getting to the point where they're tying in the new construction parts of the house into the existing original sections.  This means that areas that so far have been safe and untouched (the upstairs bathroom and the 1st floor living room in particular) are now starting to suffer some of the same violations that the master bedroom and kitchen already went through.

The start of the new second floor above the temp laundry room

Lots more pictures and details after the jump...

Laundry Room Cathedral

Lucky people that we are, we now have the luxury of impressive cathedral ceilings in our temporary laundry room.  Technically that's just because they've torn out the old master bedroom floor to prepare for tying in the second floor of the new addition, but for now we can pretend we requested this.

The water heater on the left there has been moved to the right about six times now, which is making it increasingly difficult to make it over to the washer/dryer while holding a full laundry basket.  Then again, at least we still have access to free laundry for now so we don't mind a little navigational inconvenience.

 Follow the link for 2 more pics...

Addition Progress (March 31-April 15)

House Picture Catch-up Day continues with pictures of the new back of the house over the past few weeks.  The framing is done for the basement and the first floor, and the second floor is partially complete.  It's been sidetracked a bit because of the crappy weather here recently, but now that things are finally starting to clear up a bit we'll probably see this start going forward much faster.

Addition progress on March 31.  Basement is done for now, the subfloor is in place for the first floor and framing has started for the new kitchen.

9 more pictures for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

Excavation in the Original Basement (March 29 - April 27)

With all the bad weather we've had out here lately, Larry and the boys have been focused on getting things moving along in the old basement.  It's been progressing along down there for a while, and they've gotten a lot more done in the last few weeks.  The main things to do in the basement are create new footings and move/replace the support posts (done a few weeks ago), tie into the new basement in the back of the house, and redo the plumbing/drainage system.   It's the plumbing work that's the reason for the basement being so torn up right now - the original plumbing was poorly laid out which was giving us weak water pressure and slow drainage.  The plumbing still isn't completely finished but we've already seen a huge improvement in both of those areas throughout the house.

Excavation on March 29, digging out a trench to access the old drain pipe under the basement floor

Click "Read more" to see lots of pics of the progress in the basement over the past month.

Changes in the Temp Kitchen (Mar 28-Apr 4)

Over the past few weeks the temp kitchen has been changed around a bit, with cabinets coming off and going back up, walls and ceilings being torn out, and temp drainage pipes being run through the open space.  Part of this has been to prepare for plumbing changes, both down in the basement and for the future new bathrooms upstairs, and part has been to start tying in the new back of the house into the existing house frame.

The same weekend the sisters were in town, we came home to find that the walls and ceilings in the temp kitchen had been torn out, and a new (temporary) drainage pipe had been installed alongside the big pantry cabinet

More pics after the jump...

Support System

In the last house post, I showed some pictures of the house up on jacks.  That setup only lasted for a couple of days though - they rebuilt the north wall frame and sill on top of the foundation and set the house back down all in one day.  Over the course of the next week they inserted new steel support beams and posts in the basement to change where the house distributed its weight.  In the process of doing this they leveled out the floors and the house as a whole.  The difference between the old supports and the new ones is noticeable right away throughout the house - not only is it more level but it just feels much more *solid*.  The floors and stairs don't really creak when you walk around anymore, and the house doesn't shake when you run the laundry or step too heavily.   The slight downside is that because the house had been slouching for so long a few parts had a tough time adjusting to the new leveling.  We have cracks in the walls all over the house now.  Some are tiny and barely visible but some look a lot worse.  Contractor Larry assured us that the cracks are all normal and expected and can be easily patched up later on.

See pictures of the new frame, support beams, and wall cracks after the jump.