Wow, where has the time gone! I was asked by a friend when I might start the blog on our apartment build and I realized that six months has gone by since posting the five-part blog "Home Sweet Home" which ended with a cryptic possibility of such a thing. I suppose I may have felt at the time that a write-up of a mere basement build would be anti-climactic to an entire house build. However, the difference is that the house build went along without any assistance from any of us (in fact we were discouraged from being "in the way") while our basement build had our complete time and attention from the very start. So perhaps I will look at this as another multi-part series and give more of the details than I was able to give on the full house build. You can always skip over the parts that don't interest you!
That wooden structure is the majority of our basement apartment
At the moment, we are at the stage of nearly being done and ready to move in. That also happened to be the time when COVID-19 took center stage in everyone's life. (By the way, COVID-19 stands for COrona VIrus Disease 2019. You're welcome.) As the details trickled out slowly it became clear that this would be more than a mere blip in our lives. School was cancelled, store shelves were emptied of everything useful or not, more people worked from home, sports and other large gatherings were cancelled, and we learned about social distancing. Several states have mandated people stay at home and others require self-quarantine. All of this is supposed to slow the spread of the disease and keep new victims to a minimum.
Who didn't know a hammer arrestor was needed here? The plumber.
Social distancing has been interesting. I have been to Walmart with Kathy once in the last week, and everyone seemed determined to keep at a six foot distance from others. We wore masks and were careful as we could possibly be. I've also been to Home Depot two or three times in the past week as we were keeping a pace to have all our inspections and get our certificate of occupancy by the end of this week. Folks in Home Depot wear masks and gloves and all the employees wear gloves. The Home Depot in Hiram was limiting how many could be in the store at any one time by making people wait outside the store until someone else left. The Home Depot in Powder Springs was setting up a pickup line for online orders where you could stay in your car and workers would load your car for you. Kathy and I also drove to Floor & Decor in Kennesaw where we were treated to first class service as one worker took our info and told us where to go, another worker got our order number and called it in, then we drove to the pickup spot where another workers opened the hatch and put our items in the back. All of that to keep "essential" services going while at the same time eliminating contact was others in order to slow the spread of the virus.
These lovely bulbs need to be replaced with permanent lights
Even as I write this more states are adding extra restrictions as new cases of the disease are skyrocketing. We keep hearing that it will get worse before it gets better. In the midst of all of this the average person is just trying to keep his or her life together. Many companies are enacting helpful provisions for their employees but other businesses may go under before this is all over. Daily life has been upended. For our families together in this house, our schedules have not been all that different. Myric has been homeschooling the three girls for months now so that continues as before. Kathy and I continue to work nearly every day on the build and that continues as before. You could say that most of us are continuing the same "stay-at-home" protocol as we have have done for quite some time. Only Jon's routine has changed as he has been required to work from home, setting up a temporary home office for some sort of quiet work routine. Our difficulties have centered around our supply runs, be it groceries or building materials. On our run to Walmart there was no fresh meat to be had. When a store had TP and paper towels we were disappointed to find you could either have one or the other but not both. Clearly, life has changed immeasurably for most everyone.
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| I'm sure I'll have to close these in. |
Last week was to have been our plumbing final. Everything was completed and working as it should, but we received a call from the Code Enforcement Office that inspections were being suspended for our build. I had to look online to find the reason for it: "Given the current health concerns, we will not be inspecting inside homes that are occupied (for instance, basement remodels, etc.) in order to minimize the risk to our inspectors and community." Either I'm getting called out or there is a whole lot of basement remodeling going on! I asked them what this meant for my permit as it expired in a few weeks and was told that they would renew it at no cost when they started inspections up again. Nevertheless, because I have been through all the rough inspections which you must pass before moving on to the next stage, I will be able to continue putting all the lights up to be ready for the final electrical and get all the trim and baseboards and other details complete so that I will be ready for the Final Final (that's what I call it) that gets me my certificate of occupancy. Well, in addition to the plumbing final that never was.
Will I be able to leave these stairs unfinished? Who knows?
So, tomorrow I will head downstairs to the work site and continue on baseboards while Kathy follows behind caulking and touching them up with paint. She'll also be cleaning the floors and getting ready to move our furniture and belongings into the finished rooms so that we can clear out of the dining room and library room on the first floor that has housed all that stuff for the past seven months or so. As far as I'm aware there's nothing to keep us from setting up the rooms, considering how we've moved all that stuff from one room to another several dozen times while we've been working. Kathy is adamant that she's not moving it any more after this last time, and who can blame her? Unfortunately, as many of you know all too well, that is the price you pay for renovating or rebuilding while you're living in the space. We did that once before and it took us seven long years, so coming up on eight months for this build should be considered a minor miracle. My wife even paid me the supreme compliment when she said she couldn't believe how fast I was moving! She never says that! During the aforementioned seven year reno she was always telling me she couldn't believe how slowly the project was going. So there's that.
Anyways, I will be following through with part two by starting from the beginning of our "new home" saga, and it might even end up to be more than five parts! If you haven't checked out the "Home Sweet Home" series now would be a great time to do so as it sets the stage for this latest project. I hope to have you along with me for the ride.
Arktander
(aka David Andreasen)
