Starting All Over Again, Part 5 (Yes Virginia, It's Another Kitchen)

While all of the behind-the-walls work was going on during the day, I used the evenings to plan out the new kitchen. Though the cabinets would not go in for several months, they needed to be ordered so that we would have them delivered at the right time. Parts procurement is an under-appreciated part of the remodeling process. We all watch those shows on TV where lots of time is spent designing and putting up the fancy 3D drawing of the project, while parts just magically appear later when they are needed. If you have all the money in the world (or all the money for an HGTV remodel) then you just order it all right away and you're good to go. But if you're an Andreasen that option just won't do. For starters, an Andreasen never buys anything at full price. Sales are appreciated. A clearance item is a bonus. Adding interest-free financing to nearly every purchase is an especially satisfying two-fer or three-fer. The drawback to this approach? You have to plan much farther ahead than they do on HGTV. Months before starting the project we began collecting some of the items we would need. We took the flooring from our for-sale house and didn't finish that project there, using it for the basement apartment instead. We took with us every item in that house that we could use in the new apartment, removing it all before listing so that prospective buyers knew exactly what they were (and weren't) buying. We had already upgraded the Whirlpool dishwasher in the new house, not because Jon and Myric liked that one better but because we liked the standard one for our apartment and they wanted a different one. After we moved in I removed the dishwasher and brought it down to the basement, then installed their chosen model in its place. For a couple hundred bucks extra we made use of an item already there. The list of items we collected in that way was long and amounted to about $3,000 so we were off to a good start.

You can (sorta) see the bathroom vanity behind the right side of tub

There were many other items that would be needed down the road. Electrical lights, bath vanity, tile, doors, trim, furniture, tv console, shelves, appliances, sink and faucet, cabinet handles, island lighting, ceiling fans, window blinds, rugs, and the list goes on. Nearly every one of these decisions was a hard fought battle with each of us not wanting to get something we hated. Sometimes it was quick and easy, other times it was protracted and difficult. But that's how couples figure things out. There's give and take needed to get the job done. (Our nation's political leaders need to figure that out, but that's another topic entirely.) Let's take the bathroom vanity as an example. Because the bathroom was now large enough, she wanted a six foot long vanity with double sinks. Try to find those in stock anywhere at a reasonable price! We took a drive to a "discount" warehouse and the least expensive was around $2500. And it was ugly! Putting in side-by-side three foot wide sinks would have been my solution (much lighter) but she'd had her heart set on the larger one because it would have more counter space. One night I opened up the Home Depot app (we were on a first name basis by now) and started searching for six foot vanities. They were running $1300-$1500 but at least they weren't ugly. I showed one to her that was about $1200 and she said it was alright. Any husband knows that means it's not alright so I asked her which ones she did like, and she showed me. Of course, hers were far more expensive.

A couple weeks later I looked them up again and one showed up for $600 (I always sorted from low to high price and it was the first on the list). It was white with doors and drawers and an extra shelf behind the doors. It had a marble top with oval white sinks that drained properly. (The nice square sink in the last home bath never drained completely.) She said buy it and I did on the spot. When we agree I don't mess around. It's in my cart and on the way! That thing came packaged with an inner box and and outer box strapped to a wooden crate and weighing 450 pounds. The delivery guy got it down the hill and near the door and I begged him to help me at least get it inside. Thankfully he acquiesced. I don't remember how many times I had to push that thing around the basement to be out of my way but it was a bunch. Super heavy to move as it was delivered in one piece. But it was so worth it when it was finally placed in the bathroom. A fantastic quality product at a clearance price. You have to grab those when you find them and we were always ready. And it seemed like the Lord showed us just what we needed at the time we needed, and at a bargain price. Most all the items we bought were placed down in the basement and sat for months until we needed it. But we got exactly what we wanted and we never were held up by something being missing. We called that collection of items our "store" and I was always going to the "store" to find something.

The kitchen walls are insulated, ready for drywall

The kitchen from our previous house did not come with us as that was one thing that sold the house to the buyer. So we would need to come up with a new kitchen plan to work in the basement, and we would need to get moving so it could be ordered to arrive in the new year. This meant finalizing what we wanted some time in October as they told us to expect delivery in three months after ordering. We used the same company we had used for the last kitchen since there was a knife drawer, cutlery divider, and trim pieces that would use to help lower our cost several hundred dollars. That meant we needed to use the same color but, thankfully, Kathy liked the white. She did shake things up a little by choosing a slightly different style which had flat drawer fronts instead of the Shaker framed look. But there was another benefit, and that was that this style and this color were the absolute lowest priced cabinets offered by this online company. Many are not aware of how style and color add significantly to the cabinet budget, more than doubling it if you choose a more desirable offering. I've joked to Kathy that companies must get volunteers, put them in a room with a variety of items, and ask them to guess the price. If people expect an item to cost more then they aren't surprised when it costs more. That may not be how pricing is done but it is a certainty that kitchen cabinets are not priced according to their actual cost. You will pay more for a "designer" color even though that paint or stain is not any more costly to produce than another. You can pay double, or even more, for a "designer" cabinet style even though their cost is not double. Since the basic box of the cabinet was the same across all face styles we chose the least expensive. It would work exactly the same and we would save thousands. We learned this after doing the Rockford kitchen where we had two different colors for the cabinets, glass doors, large handles, and Corian countertops and paid the bigger price.

Two-color cabinets + big hardware + glass doors + Corian = big price

In designing a kitchen for a remodel, the sink is normally put under the cabinet-height window and appliances are kept in the same space so as not to mess with water lines, gas lines, and electrical outlets. However, we did not have a sink window and we could put electrical and water where we wanted. But there still are limitations. The sink had to be on the wall with the drain line running through the bathroom walls. The range had to be on the outside wall so the microwave fan could be vented straight to the outside. The refrigerator would then need to go on the wall with the sink and I had an idea for that. Kathy wanted a counter-depth refrigerator this time, which meant it was about six inches shorter in depth. While not looking completely like a built-in refrigerator, it did have a much cleaner look than the protruding full size model. Since they no longer use stainless steel for the side panels, but rather a muddy gray painted steel, I wanted to cover up the sides. But those custom panels cost a fortune from the kitchen company so that was a no. I suggested we use a couple smaller pantry units on each side of the refrigerator and Kathy liked that idea. We would not have the full pantry room like the last house but would end up with three pantry cabinets in the kitchen! The third would go at the other end to give it a finished look. With those decisions made, it was just a matter of adding a few cabinets in the empty spaces.

Our kitchen utility table (not quite an island)

Kitchen islands, as we know them now, came into mainstream use in the 1980's. Before that there would have been a large table placed in the kitchen when there was room. Since this relative time frame coincided with us getting married, such an island with cabinets below and stone on top might have been on Kathy's mind in every one of the kitchens we had up till now. The closest she got to that ideal was the small utility table in the middle of the Mayfair kitchen. It served the purpose of an island as a place to gather around where food might be. But it wasn't quite an island, because who really wanted an island that small? Also in that kitchen was a peninsula, which is also kind of like an island but attached to the other cabinets in the kitchen. By getting rid of both the peninsula and the utility table there would have been room for a large island, but these things were in their infancy. So it was with great fanfare that Kathy now proclaimed that this new kitchen would host as large an island as we could possibly get in that space. After decades of her watching HGTV there was little use in arguing. That space was meant for an island. It would be about four feet by six feet and there would be no sink or stove to diminish the useable surface area. After much back and forth with the kitchen designer, we had a drawing of what it would look like. (The side of the pantry and the back and sides of the island look unfinished because Kathy would buy some wood-grain paneling to spice it up a bit.) We ordered the cabinets in the middle of October and they were delivered in the middle of November. So much for the beginning of the next year. We ended up storing them in Jon and Myric's dining room until needed.

The kitchen designer's plan

Getting back to the purchasing process, the kitchen backsplash was one of the first items we bought in the entire project and we hadn't even started the cabinet design process. We were at Lowe's and Kathy saw this decorative mosaic small-pattern tile and had to have it. She had someone track down every box in the store and we bought them all. Then we went to two more Lowe's stores and bought them out. She had in mind to do a large feature wall with tile in front of the sink, all the way up to the tops of the cabinets. I was sure it would look good but I was also sure I was going to hate putting it up. As I reasoned out loud that these foot-square sheets would go up fairly easy for each of the rows, my dear wife added, "Oh, did I mention I want this installed on the diagonal?" I nearly passed out. I was so leery of this install that I got a price quote from a tile installer referred by the countertop salesperson. His price was $1,250 just to put it up! For about only 12 hours of work! That was not an Andreasen-friendly price. In the end I would bite the bullet and do the install as long as Kathy helped. And you know what? For the first time ever I uttered the words "that wasn't as bad as I thought" when doing tile. It took us only one day to put up the tiles and a couple hours the next to grout. It actually turned out very well, thanks to the tile guy who gave us the quote. He had given me a full description of how he would start and what he would do and that ended up working well for me. And Kathy was pleased.

Decorative mosaic kitchen tiles, on the diagonal

The countertop choice would be the final piece of the puzzle. I had wanted granite and Kathy wanted this new thing out called quartzite. It's actually solid quartz stone that looks somewhat like marble, but it wasn't anything like the quartz composite that looks too man-made. It also happened to be the most expensive countertop material on the market, so that was a no. However, on the day we ended up checking out the slabs she couldn't really find any bargain granite that looked right to her but she did find a quartzite slab that was on clearance because there were only a few left. She fell in love with it so now we have the latest countertop material at a third of the price. And David was pleased.

The quartzite island countertop is installed

We also chose a different route this time with the appliances. In the past either Kathy wanted a set of white Maytag appliances, or I pushed for a set of Smudge-Proof Frigidaire stainless steel models. I had expected Kathy would agree to the stainless steel models like we had before, but then she threw me a curve. She's really good at that in case you hadn't noticed. We were in one of the big box stores looking at the Frigidaire appliances when a GE electric range caught her eye. Of course, I thought, it's one of those new slide-in models that costs a fortune. Turns out it was a hybrid of sorts, halfway between the new slide-in models that sit on the countertop and the standard freestanding models we're all familiar with. This one was different. It looked like the freestanding model as it would sit in the 30 inch spot like the others but the controls were on the front like the slide-ins. These were called front-control models and Kathy thought it made sense not to have to lean over hot pots to change the controls. Turns out she liked this one more than she had to have smudge-proof stainless so that went on the list. And when we found it at Sears for about the price of the standard Frigidaire that made it even better. Then she turned her eyes to microwaves and chose a Samsung model that had the button controls on the front window with a full width door. And a super strong fan. Sold! Then I found a GE counter-depth refrigerator just like the Frigidaire but better made. It also turned out to be nearly silent, unlike the Frigidaire that was very noisy. All of those joined the aforementioned Whirlpool dishwasher, which was smudge-proof. I'm not absolutely sure which ones of those four appliances are actually smudge-proof and which are not, but I haven't heard screams of horror coming from the kitchen yet, so all must be okay. We ended up with the best of each kind of appliance and I haven't given a thought to them not matching because they basically look exactly the same. And they look great together! And we got them all on sale! Very Andreasen.

GE front-control range and Samsung microwave

I put all of the kitchen decisions in this post because these were a lot more of them, but let me finish with a few of the next steps before we did the final room designs. I had been working on the electrical in between all of the other priorities but I finally got the rough-in finished and called for the inspection. He walked in, took one look, and said it was all wrong. What he meant to say was that he saw one thing that was wrong to him and so there was no use in looking any further. Being an Andreasen I pull just enough wire into the box that would be long enough to attach to the switch or outlet and there is no need to trim the wires later. Being an inspector, he said he wanted the wires much longer so it all had to be redone. Some wires had to be replaced but on most of them I drilled holes in the studs that made a beeline for each box which made the wires sticking out of the box longer. I also did all the things I asked him about so I'd pass the next time and called him back. This time he walked in, took one look, and said it was perfect. Go figure.

With drywall up the taping begins

But this meant I could now move on to insulation and drywall. Kathy and I took about five days to put in all the insulation batts, wearing gloves and a mask. I called the drywall guy that did the rest of the house upstairs and he gave me a price that was actually reasonable. I didn't expect that. The supplies were delivered, the drywall installed in one day, the taping in three days, and the sanding in one more. I might have been there three months or more if I had to do it myself. Kathy was adamant that I let someone else do it and for this job she was right. I wasn't a spring chicken anymore. Then we bought paint and primed all the walls, following up with a couple of the color coats. It was truly looking like a living space and we were really getting excited. It wouldn't be long before it was ready to move in!

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

 

The Lower Level, Part 4 (Sleepless Nights)

We went into this shared-house idea in January of 2019 with the express plan of building out the basement when we took possession of the new house that August. Obviously we were busy with the sale of our house as well as that of Jon and Myric's home, but there were certainly moments given over to what exactly that basement space would become. Towards that end we approached the home builder and their representatives about the possibility of doing the work for us so that we could move in more quickly. We received an emphatic "no." In fact, we approached them a few times during the construction of the new house to ask if we could doing something on our own and the answer was always an emphatic "no." Clearly, the prospective buyer of one of these houses is not looked upon as the owner until the completion of the house at the closing, no matter how much money they have paid the builder, and therefore has absolutely no say over what happens in said house. And they were not at all nice about it either. I was bullied for asking to get some measurements of the basement and coerced to stay away from the building site. Clearly the company needed to work on its people skills, but that goes to what I said previously about this not being a custom build. Or perhaps they just didn't like me, since nearly every house build since then seems to have some kind of custom change that was not in the plans. Whatever the case, I simply went by late at night after the workers left to check on the status of the house build.

The first task was setting up all the tools for the job ahead

Since I didn't have the time to measure out the basement floor plan, I had to try and remember what it looked like when I got home. I drew a couple rough sketches to show Kathy and give us a starting place from which to plan. One thing I did figure out early on was that the walls built in the basement were not placed only for the purpose of setting up an apartment, but to actually support the upper floors and rest of the house. For a very short time I had assumed that a new house would be built without posts or walls in the basement and that I could start building with a clean slate. Probably too much HGTV where they're always removing walls! Since the numerous walls already built in the basement could not be moved, we had to be a little more creative in figuring the best way to utilize the space. There were all sorts of logistical errors in my early plans but they helped us to decide how to arrange the most important rooms.

Corner rooms get the best light, center room needs extra light

One of the features of this walk-out basement was the windows and door at the one end. This brought in a great deal of light in those two places. We wanted to take advantage of that in both the bedroom and the kitchen. The room with the door would be the kitchen for the entry point. There were no windows in the center bay wall but that would not be a bad thing in a family room as there would be no glare watching TV. The room behind the kitchen would be the bathroom as that was where the builder put the drain pipes under the concrete. Behind the bathroom would be the shared workshop and storage room because it was the first room at the bottom of the stairs. That left the space next to the bedroom for the office. There were a few things about this that we did not consider ideal but that was the template we were given when the walls were built. One of those early computer-generated floor plans was given to the county building department when I applied for my permit. I'm pretty sure they did not care of the angst that floor plan had caused me. We were approved to start construction at the end of August.

The final far-more-accurate floor plan done on a computer program

There must have been two or three dozen variations of that floor plan over that following month or two but eventually the plan took its final shape. Obviously there would be no space for a guest room or second bathroom or a media room. This would need to be looked upon as a basic apartment that gave us more flexibility than just one large bedroom. We extended the small furnace room about five feet into the family room to add storage space. We put a little sitting space in the hallway for reading. We added space in the workshop for the utility sink brought over from Jon and Myric's old house. And we were able to make the bathroom HUGE!

Drain pipes were placed for a standard 5x8 bathroom space

Of all the spaces we planned, the bathroom was the one that brought the most "discussion" between me and Kathy. Arguments. Confrontation. Strong Opinions. And then I was allowed to talk. All kidding aside, we differed in our understanding of the bathroom. From my perspective there was little I could do than to follow the dictates of the drain pipes already sticking up out of the concrete. Those drain pipes reflected a 5 foot by 8 foot bath space with small vanity, toilet, and tub taking up most of the room. Kathy was convinced that was way too small to be our only bathroom and was looking for a spacious bathroom spa the size of a garage. She wanted a large double vanity and a closet in addition to all the other stuff because she watches HGTV. But the location of the drain pipes and the rules of plumbing stymied me at every turn. I spent a great deal of time searching for a solution without success. Kathy resigned herself to being confined to a closet-sized space for the rest of her years. Her nightly dreams of being destined to spend the rest of her earthly life in such a tiny space brought heaving sobs heard all throughout the house. And then one night I stumbled upon the solution. I was not a plumber but had done some plumbing in the past and I was convinced this would work. I would expand the bathroom to put the toilet, tub, and closet on one side with the double vanity sink on the other. The drain for the sinks would flow through 35 feet of serpentine walls, making 7 turns, and exit into the original sink drain. From all I read online that plan was to code and the length was not a problem. This bathroom would end up to be 10 feet wide by 16 feet long, about four times the size of the builder's planned bathroom. And Kathy was pleased and pronounced it good.

View into the now-large bathroom

During those two or three months of wrestling with the floor plan I was not sitting idle. No matter what the wall configurations were to be, the concrete basement walls needed to be painted with a masonry waterproofer and covered with a sturdy foamboard to create a thermal break. It was painstaking work as I also needed to consider the implications of "fireblocking to code in both the vertical and horizontal planes." That's what the building inspector told me, though I had no idea what he meant by it. I didn't want to ask him what he meant since I had just been dressed down by the receptionist who told me that those who pulled a permit were expected to know what they were doing. As a homeowner doing my own work, that put me in a bit of a conundrum as I was not familiar with their way of doing things. All I was looking for was a clue as to what they would be looking for when they inspected. Building codes are interpreted in different ways by different locales and you could argue with them about how you read the rules and they would tell you they are expecting something else. I decided to ask the internet for opinions, who responded with drawings, charts, and videos. I now had an idea of what to do. Strangely enough, I was not told how to do something when I asked about it and when it was time for inspection these difficult issues were not even mentioned. All that angst for nothing. Either that or I actually did get it all correct.

The bathroom space from kitchen side

I had started my concrete waterproofing at the bathroom area because my very first real project would be to get the plumbing roughed in. Since I was a bit unsure about my plumbing plan I figured it would be good to get it done first. If the plumber and the plumbing inspector didn't like the plan it would be better to find out early on so I could come up with another one before all the walls were up. The plumber came over to give his bid and I explained what I had planned. He did not like it at all. My plan to send a drain pipe from the sink drain location through winding walls to the bathroom sink location 35 feet away in order for the water to drain by gravity was seen as too time-consuming. He said it was too long and that he would let the water drain to a nearby pump that would pump it up and over the ceiling to that drain pipe. I did not want another pump that could quit when the power goes out and end up flooding our apartment. He gave me his bid and went on his way. I thought about what I should do for a week when I got a call from the company about whether I wanted to set up a time for install. I told them what happened and how I did not want to do it his way and they said they'd send out another plumber for a bid. His solution was to dig up a huge part of the concrete to run a shorter distance to the drain, which of course cost 50% more. I waited again not knowing what to do. The plumbing manager called back in a few days and said my idea was sound and that he would send the original guy to do the work but at a lower price.

Sewage sump pit with the vent and exit drain

So the original guy came one day and started putting in the pipes, grumbling the whole time as to how horrible my idea was. No matter. The pipes were in by the gravity method, the water pipes were in with PEX, and the sewage pump was set in place. The sewage pump is like a sump pump, with a special pump placed in a 30 gallon pit. All the drains of the bathroom and kitchen are sent under the concrete to that plastic pit. As the sewage level rises the pump automatically turns on and pumps it up to ceiling height, and from there it drops by gravity through the pipes in the ceiling until it reaches the drain pipes exiting the basement and on to the street. For our basement that pipe was about four feet above the floor when it headed to the outside. In our previous homes the drains under the basement floor continued straight outside to a far deeper sewer location in the street. I had not expected this kind of arrangement but it has worked well. But that is why I didn't want the second pump like that. One was enough.

Heat pump waiting to be placed on new concrete pad

Close on the heels of the plumbing job was the HVAC system install by the same company that did the plumbing. Where the plumbing install left a lot to be desired, the HVAC guys did a spectacular job with no complaining. They kept asking where I wanted things put and they put it where I told them with no arguments. For the first time ever I chose a heat pump system which takes the heat out of the air and pumps it into the house like a backwards air conditioning system. So the same system can heat and cool the house with the same equipment, down to about freezing temperatures. Since there isn't a lot of very cold temps, the heat pump is a good choice in the south. It also meant we wouldn't have to use a gas-fired furnace inside of our living space. The furnaces for the first and second floors are in the attic so any potential fumes or carbon monoxide would exit through the roof. But because we are in the basement with thicker walls that allow for extra insulation, the system rarely goes on except in extreme cold and extreme heat. That makes it very inexpensive. It took just one day for the team of guys to put in all the duct work, set up the furnace, and hook up the outside heat pump. Job well done. Both rough plumbing and HVAC systems were inspected and passed after a couple tweaks, and work continued on the electrical. I was doing that particular job myself and it would take awhile.

Heat pump HVAC system heats and cools

It was now near to Thanksgiving. We had planned a trip to Missouri to see family and spent a few days together enjoying family and food. Sometimes those breaks are necessary in order to keep your sanity in trying to wrap your head around all the details of a build. During the first three months I ran into several unknowns and it can be frustrating figuring out the next step. While contemplating the answers I ran into a similar scenario that happened to me while working on the church project. Each morning I started with a plan for that day and by the evening was worn out and rarely thinking clearly about the day to come. I might do some checking online seeking answers but it's tough to think without a clear head. So I'd go to sleep hoping for the best in the morning. But more times than night I would find myself awake in the early morning hours, usually 2-5 am, and I'd think of a solution. I'd write it down or check it out online and save the page but I'd know what to do the next day. I can tell you from these experiences that I am no MacGyver in the night coming up with a plan to save the day. I'm convinced that God provided the answers just in time when I need them. I don't know why those come to me in the early morning hours, I just know that I'd better take them seriously when they come. If I don't take thorough note of it and write it down then the idea is completely lost in the morning. But I am thankful that He helps me and answers me in that way as I continue on these DIY projects. For me they are more of a DIYWG project: Do It Yourself With God!

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

The Lower Level, Part 3 (Making Sense of the Options)

At this time, we had been in our own home for a year-and-a-half. It was January 2019 and we had finally gotten all the boxes unloaded, set up all the rooms, and cleared out the garage so we could park both cars inside. We had renovated the kitchen and half bath to make Kathy happy, installed new front and rear doors to stop the leaks, and replaced the 50-gallon tank water heater with a small electric tankless model since the old one was living on borrowed time. We had two different water heaters in past years start leaking all over the basement and it was never fun having to stop everything and fix the problem. Much easier doing it on your own timetable. But now our commitment to the new house meant we would have to sell this house, and soon. We called our realtor and set up a timetable to close on the house during the summer.

 I had just cleaned the garage and installed the tankless water heater

If you've ever sold a house you know you don't just put up a sign and hope for the best. Years of watching the various home shows on TV convinced Kathy of our need to prep the house for it to show the best. This meant fixing up all the little things yet undone that would surely be noticed by a prospective buyer, and staging the house by de-cluttering every room. Nobody knows how to "clutter" a house better than Kathy, and I say that in the most positive way. When you live in a home you make it your own by painting it your colors and decorating it in a way that makes you feel comfortable. The surroundings of a new house may be new but it begins to feel like home when you see the familiar. That might mean a wall full of family pictures, shelves full of knick-knacks, or a garage filled with junk while your cars sit out in the driveway. Prospective buyers are not interested in your decorating know-how but prefer to see more of a clean blank slate from where they can start their own journey. So we started packing up all the extra stuff and cleaning the entire place to show its best. I'm always amazed at how I put off fixing all these small projects "until later" only to never get them complete until we are ready to move. (Note to self: Do better on this next project. Get all the little things done right away!)

These shingles would not lay flat so I tarred and clamped them

Our next project in the house was to have been new laminate flooring. Some of the glued-down hardwood pieces near the front and rear doors were deteriorated from rain penetrating the old doors. I did not relish the thought of tearing out all that glued-down flooring, carefully removing all the baseboard, installing the laminate, and then just as carefully re-installing the baseboard. It never occurred to me that the floors were perfectly acceptable if the bad pieces were replaced, but my son thought of it and suggested I leave the floors as is. The floors were still unacceptable to Kathy because it was the dreaded "orange" wood, but now it meant we had one less project to do, and she wouldn't be there to see it. My son even had a better reason for saying so, in that I could use all the laminate flooring I had already purchased when we did the basement build. Problem solved, at both places. After realizing the usefulness of items already in the house, I made sure to save all the items that would be helpful to me in the new build that weren't needed in this house. Certain lights that were Kathy's favorites were removed and replaced with others I had around. I removed my Nest thermostat and put back the one that originally came with the house. I took the water softener with me as nobody I talked to in Georgia had ever even heard of a water softener. I ended up with a collection of small items that would help me in my new project, but didn't affect the house I was selling. In the past I had left everything behind and always regretted it. This time, no regrets.

I took my stack of flooring with me to the next project

So by the time May rolled around we had packed up many boxes, cleared out the clutter, and cleaned everything within an inch of its life. It was time to call the realtor to get this house on the market. This was the same realtor who had gone out of her way to help us get the house in the first place after many disappointments when deals fell through. She surprised us with her suggested listing price, took all her photos, wrote up the details, and the listing went live. After just three days and numerous showings, we had an offer that would lead to a closing about 45 days later. The obligatory inspection showed the need for some shingle repair which we had fixed. We had never had any leaks during out two years there but had seen a folded over shingle which led to a number of minor issues that were repaired. By the end of June we had finished all the packing as we prepared for the closing.

It's always exciting when you make it to the successful closing!

In a perfect world, our house would have closed the day before we closed on the new house. I'm sure you know we don't live in a perfect world, not yet anyway. We still had not heard of a closing date on the new house so we figured it would be September or later. We now had to figure out what to do with our stuff from now until we could move them into the new house. Jon and Myric were getting their house ready for the market and it would not make sense to move everything back into their house. We checked out storage units in the area but there were very few available and they were all small. We'd need several of them. In the end we found a local company that rented large storage containers by the month, delivered them to your house, and then picked them up and stored them indoors until you needed them. Our goal was to fit everything into this one container but that was a goal unmet. Despite my best efforts at packing tightly and to the ceiling, we came to the back end of the container with more stuff to go.

One last garage sale to find a home for the last few items

Moving the storage container into our driveway

Since we needed a place to stay until we could all move to the new house, we moved our bed and a few items to Jon and Myric's bonus room. As they say, deja vu all over again. We held an impromptu garage sale and disposed of some items, gave some more to Goodwill, and then sat down and cried. I can't remember if we really did or if we just felt like that but the fact remained we needed to find more storage space. We decided to check storage units once again and found a nice one close by that was indoors. It was small, like the others we had seen before, but we only needed enough room for the last necessary items. Many trips in the car later, we had the storage unit filled and the house empty. It was a bittersweet moment as we had really enjoyed living here in this house. But there was no time for sadness as the closing was right around the corner. After all the necessary signatures the house was no longer ours. We were exhausted but we were moving on.

No doubt the renovated kitchen helped attract a buyer for us

After moving back into Jon and Myric's home temporarily we started helping them prepare their house for listing. I went down a list of items to be fixed while Kathy helped with the cleaning and staging. After it was listed we made numerous mad dashes to straighten up the house and go somewhere else while prospective buyers examined the house. Their experience would be a little more frustrating. Several made offers only to back out days later. We were all happy when they eventually closed, though it was a couple months after moving into the new home. In the meantime we had the closing on the new house, thankfully using the funds from our sale to complete that purchase in August of 2019, nearly seven months after signing the contract.

Boxes got stored in one corner of the basement

Two days later, Kathy and I emptied Jon and Myric's house of our items and then proceeded to the storage unit to empty out those various items. These all went into the basement. The next day our storage container arrived at the house and we decided to hire a couple strong young guys to empty it for us as we were just fried by that point. All of these boxes and furniture items also ended up in the basement, with some of our daily living possessions going into a couple bedrooms of the new house until we could finish the basement. We would once again be faced with living in a home while building. Those boxes and furniture pieces were moved countless times back and forth in the basement as we cleared out space to work on a section, and then moved on to the next. Would it ever end?

Furniture and larger items stored

Jon and Myric had all the items in their old house moved to the new house a couple days after us. Kathy and I took a few days in Gatlinburg to clear our heads for the next stage of the new house project. The house was built over an eight month period (on and off, with a lot more "off" than we would have liked) and now our basement apartment project would begin. Yes, we had thought about what we wanted to do down there and how we would do it, but we were just now able to look the basement over and get a clear picture of what we had to work with. There were many thoughts about the project that were discussed over our time in Gatlinburg and on the trip there and back. But when we returned the project would begin in earnest, and each day we would be just that much closer to having a place of our own once again.

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

The Lower Level, Part 2 (Shifting Gears)

Over the course of forty years together my wife and I have lived in two different apartments, one purchased mobile home, one church-owned parsonage, and four different homes with a mortgage. So what was it that caused us to switch gears from having our own place to joining our son's family in a new house? We talked about what we were doing at our house, what Jon was wanting to do at his house, and about downsizing as you get older. I certainly don't remember all the conversations and the subjects but there were some overriding themes that surfaced. One was Jon's house and the projects they hoped to pursue. Most everyone who buys a house makes a list of things to make the house their own. This list was filled with both wants and needs, a some of them would be costly. Building new would cost less in the long run. On our side of the ledger was the idea of preparation for retirement years and downsizing even more. And Kathy never having to move again. Somewhere along the line the idea was floated for combining our families for good.

I started thinking about this distinct possibility during the final months of 2018. My mom and youngest son came to Atlanta to visit for Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas Kathy, myself, and my son's family went to Texas to visit family. There's something about spending time with family that gives you a better perspective. My brother-in-law Bob is great with people and has never met a stranger. He enjoys visiting open houses in new build neighborhoods to see what the state of new homes was like. They all knew Bob by name and that meant we had the royal treatment in looking around and asking questions. I looked at these homes with an eye to carving out two or three room areas that might work for us. The houses we looked at had this type of space on the second floor, usually a loft area with a bedroom and bathroom. I figured such an arrangement might work, though there would be no separate entrance.

Our bedroom in the bonus room

We had a taste of this idea years before when we moved to Georgia at the end of 2016. We moved our belongings into the basement of Jon and Myric's first house, and moved ourselves into their bonus room on the second floor as our living space until we found a home. For six months time that large room was our personal space, serving as bedroom, living room, office, and storage. Kathy was of the opinion that such an arrangement worked better as a temporary solution rather than a permanent one, and she was not shy in sharing her thoughts. Her conclusion was that there was really no way to make this all happen at their present house so a move would be necessary. She promptly went online and showed us all the houses that struck her fancy, though all the pre-owned houses seemed to need work as well. Nothing seemed likely to be a solution for our housing question.

The living room and office area of the bonus room

As we started 2019, Kathy shifted gears and started showing us websites for new home construction in our area. Again, most of those would allow us a bedroom and bathroom at our own end of the house but nothing more. And, just like we saw in Texas, we were not finding homes with basements. Though we were not thrilled with the idea of living in a basement, it could provide another option for greater space. Then she suggested we take a Saturday to check out a small neighborhood that was just starting up and was just ten minutes away. She had driven by it on the drive from our home to the kids' home and has followed the progress of removing trees, putting in the utilities, and grading the site. For my part, I never noticed that subdivision even though I drove by it daily. Since that day I definitely notice all the new subdivisions that are sprouting up in every crevice and cranny near us.

I was not impressed with the drive up to the model home. It was the only finished home on the street, with the one across from it just underway. Lots of dirt mounds everywhere. While I had only driven up to a barren road, the model home was complete and more impressive than I had expected. Having built a new church and extensively renovated a home, I was pleased with what I saw in the construction of the home. To me the structure of a house and other hidden parts are more important than the visible areas. Once you build a house you can't just move walls (at least not easily or cheaply) or yank out plumbing and electrical. But you can always paint the walls or change a faucet or replace a lighting fixture. Considering the problems with my previous two houses it was good to see proper sheathing on the exterior walls for structure, and the air infiltration barrier covering it. That may have been standard on these homes we were looking at but I wasn't taking anything for granted.

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

One home might be mostly just like another home but it's the details that stand out and make the difference. There were a number of items that stood out to me. The windows were very well made with all the right features and were far better than any home we had ever lived in. The ceiling height on the first floor ceilings was nine feet and made a big difference in the feel of the space. Jon was especially looking for taller ceilings so as not to feel claustrophobic. I liked the cement board siding which would not blow off like vinyl siding, and was far more durable than the fiber board siding on older houses. The builder also offered two options for the kitchen layout and two options for the master bath layout. And, in what I considered a huge feature, the hot water was provided by a large tankless unit. No doubt the plumbing would be optimized for the tankless system.

Interior of the model home

We also walked across the street with the agent and looked at the house under construction, which was a different model and had a basement. We went down to the basement, as they called it, and looked it over with a thought towards how we would use it for an apartment. Kathy has always said she didn't want to live in a basement, but this wasn't a basement in the typical sense of a Midwestern basement. Those basements are basically a giant hole in the ground into which a house is dropped. This is why most basements leak. Water and pressure builds up in the ground and finds its way through any little crack in the concrete walls or floor. Been there, done that, wasn't happy about all that got ruined. Storage is one thing but actually living in a basement is something far different. And what was different about this basement is that it would be more correctly called a daylight basement, or a Georgia basement if you live in Georgia. Only the front half of the house contains basement walls which then step down to ground level at the back of the house. The grade outside also steps down so that all the water runs down the hill and off into the back yard, thereby keeping it out of the living area. In addition, there are windows on the back wall to let in light, and a door that can be used as a separate entrance. Clearly Kathy was on to something here.

The unadorned daylight basement

This would not be your typical subdivision. Only sixteen houses would be built on this single dead-end cul-de-sac street. Nine of them would be on a slab and the other seven would have a basement. There would be no pool, no tennis courts, no walking trail, no clubhouse in this small HOA. But we saw it as perhaps the best option we had seen yet. When we got home I ran some quick numbers and felt that it could work for us. So I put our findings in a detailed email and sent it off to Jonathan to look over. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Jon and Myric then checked it out on their own and liked what they saw, so all four of us---Jonathan, Myric, Kathy, and myself---got together to talk it over. Jonathan said the numbers looked good for our budgets, and the commute to work would be about the same. He liked the smaller neighborhood that he felt would be quieter on the street. Myric liked the open concept kitchen and family room, plus the master bath. Kathy was excited that the space was large enough on the lower level to have an apartment instead of just a room or two. And I was pleased with the overall quality of the house construction, based on what I saw. We all felt God was directing us in this. We all agreed that me and Jon would go back to see about putting a deal together.

We did that the next Saturday. I walked around the properties down the street to see which lot seemed best for us, but Jon had already decided on one of the lots that fit the bill. We had to pick out a few of the building options in advance, like the walkout concrete patio and the large crown molding. But in a short time we had signed a contract, put down a deposit, and drove away as the first owners to purchase a house in this new subdivision. When we got back to the house and we told the girls that we bought a house, they thought we were joking. But we weren't. Instead, we were all soon to embark on the process of building a new home. There would be a lot of unknowns, but with God's help we know it would all work out!

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

The Lower Level, Part 1 (I Think I've Been Here Before!)

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.

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)