April 2016
And there it is, a flattened pipe and trapped water.
April 2016
I dug a trench all the way down the hill so the water could drain. And it did, for weeks. We called JET Drain Service back and made an appointment for them to install a new pipe. We have electrical wires and our propane line in that area, I really didn't want the house to explode so we let the pros handle this one.
April 2016
April 2016
He got closer to the house, cut the pipe and a river of water came shooting out. With all this water trapped I am surprised we didn't have more water in the basement!
April 2016
When he got further down the hill he got the excavator stuck! Then there were swear words and shattered glass, that's when I left! He did eventually get out of there, had to drive all the way to the bottom of the hill to do it, but he did get out.
April 2016
And when he dug an area for the water to flow down the hill, it sounded like a waterfall. And it just kept coming.
April 2016
The new pipe was put in April 16, today is the 21st. We've had rain for two days straight and not a single drop of water in the basement!!!!!!!
Finally I feel like we're getting somewhere and we can finish putting the basement back together.
April 2016-July 2016
This continued to drain for months. It finally dried up in June, no kidding. It's July now and we still have no water in the basement. I'm still working on the drywall, a little at a time. The plan was to have it all rebuilt in 6 months. But now I'm thinking it will be more like a year.
August 2016
Then we got Little Mo. I really didn't want to get another dog. It was pretty hard losing Max. But the boys missed having a little buddy to hang with. And I started to come around to the idea of another dog. I thought maybe would could get large dog, one that could go jogging with me and go hunting with the boys.
But look at this little furry face! We love him so much! And he turned out to be a great jogging buddy! I get a better time with him than I do with Tony! Not sure how he'll do hunting yet...
Men, if you're looking for a woman, get a cute little dog. We went out to Ledges for an afternoon and Tony was carrying him around, he had sooooo many ladies come up to him, wanting to see this guy. Of course Tony really hated that.
March-October 2016
I worked on drywall in all the rooms from March through October. I've learned a few things. #1-I never want to hang drywall again and #2-Watching a youtube video will not make you a pro!
Mud, tape, then mud, sand, repeat a million times until it looks good. It's messy and takes a lot of time. I did the best I could. I also bought a few cans of spray texture to add to the walls. Then I had to remember what color paint, brand, and where in the hell I got it so I could just paint the new part instead of the whole thing. Luckily I was able to find it in my small paint supply in the storage.
November 2016
Oh hey, look who showed up to help with the finishing touches!
There was one more thing I wanted to do on the longest wall, which is about 40 feet long. I bought 4x8 sheets of 1/4 inch plywood. The saw at Lowe's was out of service and I don't have a table saw to cut these. So.......
I found this handy Kreg tool! It is a rip-cut tool. It attaches to your circular saw and then you simply slide it down the track to whatever length you want, lock it down and you're ready to cut! This worked great and I got nice even, accurate cuts! Tony was so thrilled to spend his weekend helping me with this!
Two cents here- A circular saw cuts on the way up, so make sure to place your good side of wood face down. This is the back, see how chippy it looks? The front was completely fine. I gave each piece a good sanding.
Cutting on the deck wasn't working so well so we moved to a table in the garage. Got a little close here! Oops!
Then we started nailing them up. We placed nickels between each plank and at each end so you could clearly see each individual plank. I used a jigsaw to cut areas for the outlets.
A couple coats of paint and I added some trim to the top, I love this!
All done!! Well, almost. I still have to add spacers to the outlets and attach the covers. This has been so much work! I still have two more rooms to finish. Oh and did I mention our insurance didn't pay for a dime?! Right now, with clean up, rebuilding, and finishing touches we are at about 3 grand. Merry Christmas, kids!
I love this wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You'll notice we don't have a lot on the walls down here. When the boys are getting rowdy and it's so loud you can't hear each other talk, we always tell them to "GO DOWNSTAIRS!" So this is a place they can just be the little angels they are.
I am impressed with this vinyl flooring. It's super durable and looks great. Can't beat the price!
Do you see that? Yep, a wine fridge would be perfect right there.
A sign I made from some old scrapwood.
Before/After
In memory of Max
http://www.yellowhouseinthesticks.com/Family/MAX/n-QwRmKK
