Finally!!

I decided to enter this in Tackle it Tuesday for Jan. 27th because it is my most recent project and I'm pretty proud of it. Plus, after getting to this point, I want a break from projects for a while....LOL!

This week we finally finished up something we started more than 3 months ago. The day before my husband found out he was being laid off, we started some work in our house and there was no turning back. Perfect timing, right? We had signed a contract to have a new drain system and sump pump installed in the basement and also a new window well and basement window. To save a little money, we tore out the old paneling and wall frame ourselves. Oh....and a MASSIVE brick wet bar. Man, that was HARD work. Once it was out, we had to carry out all the rubble and since we only have a minivan, we just dumped it into the back yard until we could deal with it. Later we rented a U-haul truck and loaded it all into it and took it the dump. Um, don't tell U-haul that we used their truck for more than moving furniture....LOL! They asked me that when I called...I certainly didn't want to tell them, "No, we plan on loading a crap ton of junk in the back and taking it to the dump". We were careful and lined the back of the truck with a tarp and they never knew what we had done...LOL!

To save even more money, we decided to put it all back together once the hired out work was done. Now, we are not professionals, so it is not perfect, but I think we'll be able to tape and mud it just fine. Oh, one more thing. Our house is approaching 40 years old and nothing is square in here. That means that a square piece of drywall is not guaranteed to fit in the corner without some adjustments. First, we had to put new Dry-Loc paint on the wall. Then hubby built a new wall frame with a vapor barrier attached to it(I don't know if that is what it is called or not), then we installed new electric for 8 outlets, one switch and 4 wall sconces. Once that was done, we put up insulation (something that was completely lacking before!!) and then it was time to hang drywall. We bought ourselves a T-square to help with making the cuts needed for the outlets. Sounds pretty straight forward, but remember, nothing is square in our house! Then, add to that we found out after making all cuts except on our final piece of drywall that our T-square wasn't square after all. No wonder our cuts were off e.v.e.r.y s.i.n.g.l.e time! Luckily, we were able to just buy the large outlet covers to hide the larger holes :). Anyway, this was no easy task and we aren't done, but we've made MAJOR progress! Once we get some money flowing back into the house, we'll tape, mud, sand and paint, then get a new floor in there!

You can see the sump pump in the floor under the ladder. You can also see a pattern on the floor by the wagon where the bar used to be. Also, we presently use it for our freezer, storage, and our setup for wireless throughout the house. Eventually we will clear it of the junky furniture!

I didn't take before pictures really because the room was so dark and dungeon like. I hated it! However, I wanted to make sure we had proof of just how big and hideous that wet bar really was!

Before:
The reason we got our sump pump. We didn't know the full extent of the damage until we got the paneling down. The sump pump is now in this corner.
The dinky window and rusted out aluminum window well....and weeds..LOL! Oh, and dryer lint since our dryer was vented through there, too.
Speaks for itself!



After: