Work Begins - Day 1

bye bye basement floor

The rattling started today around 8:30. There are two workers on our job and they jackhammered pretty much all day.

Today they made a trench around almost the entire basement, including around the old exterior walls since that area was wet too. Here Brian is admiring his busted up basement floor.

I know this isn't the greatest picture but you are looking at the trench along the wall that has given us the most problems. It's all full of water right now.

And here is the wall where all the new leaks were detected yesterday.
You can tell it's wet from how dark the concrete is.

It was loud today...an a little unnerving. However, given how much water is coming up through the trench I know that we made the best decision to get this done right now rather than waiting! The two guys that are here are very nice and even thanked us for giving them such a spacious and well organized work space. I'm so glad that our, mostly Brian's, preparation work did not go unnoticed. There was some talk about rerouting our old sump pump to the front of the house, which really made me happy. Right now we have some ridiculous job made out of PBC piping that has never given us any problems, which is why we haven't touched it. This is perhaps the one thing, other than the closet mentioned yesterday, that we haven't touched on this property. However, it is unsightly and generally is a topic of conversation whenever someone comes over and notices it. Unfortunately, Milwaukee county won't let them reroute it because they aren't licensed plumbers. If we lived in Walworth county this wouldn't be a problem. Stupid Milwaukee county. Either way, I think this is something we are going to consider doing...I may have to move it ahead of my Solor Tubes on the home wish list.

Look for Brian's post tomorrow night!

How Many Wet Dry Vacs Does a House Need?

Three. The answer is three. Here's why...

Last June, two were a necessity because the water was coming in so fast that by the time one got emptied, the other was almost full. Brian and I were relieved we had two...for the hour or so we had them both going.

Today Brian ran to Home Depot to buy a third, one with a pump attachment. The flow of water coming into the basement/up through the floor was so constant that it again required the two of us and our two wet dry vacs to keep up with the water...all afternoon. At least with the pump we didn't have to constantly run the buckets out. So, there you go, we need three wet dry vacs to keep up with the water.

Today I felt like we were fighting a two front war. We are trying to beat the house at the water war by becoming allies with a basement company. Therefore we needed to take some time and prepare. Before this morning we were almost done. All we had to do was hang the plastic. However, our house didn't really allow that to happen because every time we turned around this afternoon water was coming in from a new place. A good 5 solid hours was spent trying to complete a task that should have only taken 30 minutes - tops.

I just keep reminding myself that at least we have a plan and are doing something about this. Tomorrow is the big day. Here are some shots from the weekend preparations:

Saturday, Brian worked very hard at removing the last of the drywall and cutting all the studs 8 inches off the floor. Since that needed to be done for the entire perimeter of the basement the closets also needed to be attacked. This closet was here when we moved in and nothing had ever been done with it. Therefore, we had no idea the shelves were secured by no less than 7 million nails. What were the previous owners storing in here? Gold bars?
Here is the wall of main concern. Yes, all the dark areas are water and those are sandbags. A feeble attempt to divert water under the stairs and to the sewer drain. It mostly worked...things could have been much worse.
Here is our bookshelf bench, all covered up
Just pretend E.T. and Elliot are at the end of all the plastic.

Every inch of the basement is impacted by this. Even the "new" room. If you look closely at the corner on the right, near the sump pump, you can see how dark our walls are. That's how high the water table is right now. While there is no water on the floor, there is in the cinder blocks.

Even the wall under the stairs had to be removed.

Date Set and the First of the Non-Fun Home Improvement Projects Completed

We got more attic insulation today. Fun huh? This was a project we intended to do prior to the basement crisis and decided to go forward with it since we really needed it.

As for a basement update...Drywall is half down, studs have been cut 8 inches from the ground, what parts of wall that still remain have been braced and the closets are almost emptied. Brian's workshop is ready to go. The basement people are coming next Monday which doesn't feel soon enough. Last week we got rain on Thursday and the water was coming in so fast that it was whistling or gurgling. I think it's supposed to warm up again at the end of this week and if we get water again it will be okay...there is nothing left to ruin!

Option #2 It Is

We have decided to go with Option #2 and are thrilled that an insurance adjusted is going to come out and take a look at our basement. While I highly doubt anything is going to be covered there is a small part of me that is hoping that SOMETHING will be covered. Even if that something is the carpeting or drywall - every little bit is going to help.

No date yet for the 3 day drilling out of the basement. Next week an insulation guy is coming to add more insulation to our attic, clean out the vents and properly vent our bathroom vents. Not exactly the sexiest home improvement project, but a necessity nevertheless. This was a project we knew we were going to do prior to the whole basement fiasco.

Like I said, our house has it's own Economic Stimulus Plan.

Three Options to Consider

We know we need to fix the basement. It's hard to blame the company that did the addition because, frankly, they warned us that we'd have problems if we didn't fix all the drain tile...someday. We hoped "someday" would come later rather than sooner. So we have three different options to pick as we decide how we are going to fix this problem.

1. Just replace the drain tile where there is known damage and add a 3rd sump pump...based on experience, I feel as though you fix the problem in one spot and then the problem just moves somewhere else. This is exactly what happened to us. This is by far the cheapest short term solution.
2. Just replace the inside drain tile with their fancy system. The company that we are considering will provide a warranty so we feel pretty good about that.
3. Replace the inside drain tile, basically redesign the sump crocks and (shutter) dig up the around the entire exterior perimeter of the house. The saleswoman wouldn't say "excavate" which started to irritate me. Instead a couple of guys are going to come with shovels and dig down to the frost line. How is that not excavating?

Option three causes me to have visible signs of stress...we have all that brand new landscaping out there, brickwork, gravel service path and DRIVEWAY. Since our walls are fine (everyone agrees that) I have a very hard time accepting option 3. It's also twice as expensive as option #2 and about five times as expensive as option #1. Therefore, it's not really an option.

July 2008

Oh Good...

4-8 inches of snow is coming our way by Wednesday. On Wednesday there are going to be a bunch of people coming for various projects around this house. Two different basement people are going to be here (we thought it would be responsible to get some other perspectives on our problem) and an insulation person. There is a chance that the snow will actually be rain. Perhaps the basement people will get to see a water show in the basement! I suppose, there really isn't anything left down there to get damaged. Bring on the leaks!

Our Own Economic Stimulus Plan

A look at the mess

I don't even know where to begin. First of all, this mess is not the most inconvenient project to ever happen in this house. The kitchen is an obvious first and when we rebuilt the garage is second. I'm tempted to put refinishing the hardwood floors in third but since that only lasted two days it's going to be knocked out of third place by what we are going to call, "Our Home's Economic Stimulus Plan."

Thursday afternoon Rick was able to come over and assess the problem. Brian had already pulled back the carpeting and things were starting to dry out. Rick had a little gadget that looked like a plug that measured the moisture content in whatever it was touching. The drywall was dry...about 2 feet up. Everything below needed to be torn out, along with the installation. Without having an expert coming in, his initial assessment was that it was drain tile problems...again. Our half clogged drain tile (if you don't remember this go look through the archives...mid September 2007) are overwhelmed with water and we are suffering the consequences every time the water table rises. There was a hope that the second sump pump from June of 08 and the partial drain tile replacement of 07 would fix the problem but it hasn't. Without ripping apart the entire basement the easiest solution is to replace two walls of drain tile and, are you ready for this...a THIRD sump pump. We are getting a second opinion on this but I do have to admit I'm relieved that the suggestion to dig up the driveway and the front of the house to get at the exterior of the walls has not been suggested.

Today we started demolition of the basement walls and moving all the toys upstairs. Just as Brian was getting started Rick pulled up (he had forgotten something when he was here on Thursday). He hung around for a little while helped Brian. Rick even left his Sawzall for Brian to borrow. Talk about customer service...we love these people.

So, here is where we are and how our house plans to stimulate the local economy:
- Our carpet may be salvaged. Brian contacted the business that installed it back in 2005 and they can install a new pad and re-install the carpet (hopefully). This is going to cost almost half of what we originally paid...geesh!
- Some concrete people and basement people are coming this week to either concur with Rick or not. I shudder to think what the "or not" might involve.
- This isn't the only project we have going on. We are continuing work on the bathroom with a tub liner and shower surround. We bought the new shower door today. The quest for fixtures continues. I expect to be on that company's schedule by the end of the week.
- We have only 5 inches of installation in the attic. This really shouldn't go ignored any longer.

We are trying to be optimistic about all of this and looking at all of the positives. For example, because large scale projects seem to happen around here every two years or so we have a third bedroom that has never been committed to any permanent use. Whether it's due to a lack of imagination on our part or utter laziness, this room has never had a real purpose other than to be whatever we needed it to be due to a home project. It's been an office, bedroom, storage and now a true playroom.
I guess it's good that while we got rid of three large pieces of furniture in January, I haven't picked out a new chair for the living room. This has left us with a vacant space that is now occupied by the computer designated for Ethan and Logan.
While I see a pile of carpeting that makes me sick to my stomach wondering if we are going to be able to keep it or not, the boys see a labyrinth of tunnels and caves. The carpeting is draped over saw horses and chairs and the boys have enjoyed crawling and pretending they are snakes.


Here Brian is admiring his removal of the drywall. Shortly after I took this picture he began removing the installation.