We officially finished the remodeling portion of our basement area over the weekend. Rachel, Taylor and I applied the epoxy basement floor coating on Friday night. It required 24 hours to fully cure, so by the time her family arrived on Sunday we were able to give the first full tour of our proud accomplishment.
Here is what the space looked like when we purchased this place. It was dark, dingy and uninviting.
Until now, we mainly used the space as a place to “put stuff.” We didn’t use or utilize it for any meaningful purpose. We knew the time would come when we would have to use it, and that time came quickly.
One issue that we weren’t sure about was if we had any structural issues. The downstairs would get water when it rained heavily. The first step was to take out all the old paneling and carpet and get the space down to its bones. To our luck, there were no visible issues. We corrected a majority of the water issues with a repair to the gutters.
We had many decisions to make, all of which were extremely difficult. We needed to decide what to cover the walls and floor with, whether or not to install new cable and phone lines. Many of these decisions brought on major arguments-in which we were able to bring to the surface any issues we had with each option.
In the end we decided to go with new paneling, an epoxy basement floor coating, and to add some electrical outlets and completely rewire our homes phone and cable lines. We decided to add a wired LAN as well.
The only step left is to connect all the new phone, cable and LAN wires, which I plan on doing this week. I will then officially move my office to a space we have dedicated for that purpose.
The other area, which I am calling the “Den” we have purchased and placed 2 futons and added an area rug. We needed a space for guests to stay, and this space is perfect.
We did not remodel our fireplace, as all aspects of fireplaces are very expensive. The things I want to do are not major, but are expensive. I hope to have that complete within a couple of years. There’s nothing more comfortable and calming to me than laying by a fire listening to music or reading.
I now have a bedroom to remodel for our growing arrival, baby girl Lawmaster!
Much time and effort has been spent recently on finishing the basement. My dad came over 2 days this week and helped me, and Rachel has helped me when possible.
I finished installing the new paneling on Friday and we starting installing trim today. To help save money, we have went with a “rustic” look. Instead of using “regular” trim, we are using 1×4 standard boards for baseboards and ceiling trim. We are going to leave them unfinished to help with the effect. We are then using pre-finished trim for inside and outside corners and filler strips. These pre-finished pieces are interesting, as the finish isn’t a stain or wax, but like a sticker.
My plans for tomorrow are to work on the trim some more, and get as far as I can. I start summer classes on Monday, so I will need to rest up as my first class is at 8am. We are also going to look at 3 futons for possible purchase.
Our plans were pushed way up due to an unforeseen email I received from my aunt Beth. She’s coming out! They should be here July 3rd. We always stay with her when we go to see them in Oklahoma, so we need to return the favor and show her some Hoosier hospitality. We have currently planned taking a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as they’re big racing fans, fireworks at Memorial Stadium and a tour of Monroe Reservoir.
We’ve decided to purchase 2 futons for our sitting area downstairs, to make it cozy and a good sleeping area. We are also bumping up our plans to install a shower downstairs for my aunts arrival. This way any guests we have will have their own full bathroom.
We will soon get to finally utilitize all of the space in our home, and not just half of it!
I’ve been too busy lately with all of my on-going projects to post any lately. Since I’ve got some free time, let me update you about the ongoings happening in my life.
It’s a Girl: We found out last Wednesday that we’re expecting a baby girl. While Rachel is happy she’s having her first child, I’m a bit indifferent. I’m not saying that I’m disappointed, I was just hoping for a boy – merely because I already have a daughter. She was acting up during the ultrasound and wouldn’t let the technician get a good look at her heart, so Rachel is going to have another ultrasound during her next appointment, just to make sure she’s developing normally. We have had a boy’s name picked out for over a year now, but have been having trouble with a girl one. We’ve finally decided on 2 – which we are keeping secret until she’s born.
Remodeling Blues: I’ve been over-occupied lately with remodeling. While I have made a lot of progress, there is still much to do. Last week I finished the next to last set of wires I need to pull. It was a complete nightmare, but this will give us some flexibility in the layout of our living room in the future. My next job is to cover up our duct run and post downstairs. We have decided to use some decorator panels downstairs instead of paneling or drywall. These panels are relatively inexpensive and will eliminate the majority of painting we would need to do with our original plan. I hope to get the downstairs almost complete by the time I go back to school in June.
No Flash: Friday while in the midst of “wire pulling hell” I wanted to take some pictures. I discovered our camera, a Nikon Coolpix 7600 has a problem. The flash isn’t cooperating, you can’t turn it on in most of it’s modes – and even in the modes it does “function” it doesn’t work. We’re working on finding a solution and have found a nice one with the Nikon Coolpix S210. Now it’s just a matter of purchasing it.
Demon’s Are Gone: The spring semester has officially ended. The last few weeks were quite the nail biter, as I did horrible on 2 chapter tests in my Math-050 course. I’m pleased to say that after 10 years of taking this course off and on, I have passed it with an 86%. This summer I am taking 5 courses, this will enable me to finish my degree in 7 semesters. With a baby coming, the sooner the better. The next course I am dreading is Math-111, I took it once and failed. I hope with 050 off my back, and a little help from Rachel I can conquer this as well. I’ve decided to change my degree and concentration. I originally was seeking an Associates of Science in Computer Information Technology with a PC Support & Administration concentration, after reviewing the coursework I know a little about everything. I don’t feel like I’ll be challenged or forced to use my brain to it’s full extent for that matter. I’ve decided to get an Associates of Applied Science in Computer Information Systems with a Programmer / Analyst concentration.
Free Tix: Being a smoker, I get mailings from time to time with coupons, offers, etc. from tobacco companies. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a voucher for free tickets to the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. My mother has received this same offer, but for Kentucky Speedway (as she lives in Louisville). I’ve decided to bring my mother, as I don’t think Rachel will be comfortable in the heat all day. We get free parking and free rental of headset radios to listen in on the teams. I’ve never been to the 500 before, and being free makes it that much better.
It was an amazing trip. Rachel and I have both came to the conclusions that the stigmas regarding New York from the “old days” are still around, at least where we live. We felt safe at all times, and only saw a handful of homeless. I saw many people out trying to help the homeless. They seem to have people on every block asking for donations.
The first day we arrived late in the day due to plane delays, so we just walked around a little bit and ate dinner. Our hotel, the Marriott Marquis is located right in the heart of Times Square. We could see a sliver of the new years ball from our hotel room.
Enjoy the slideshow containing all of our pictures from the trip!
I am currently in NYC with my wife who has a conference with NAGAP. While she’s busy, I’m at play exploring Manhattan. I’m taking many pictures and will write a blog explaining my adventures.
It turns out that my computer wasn’t on it’s death bed, my hard drive was.
For the past few months I would have these symptoms:
The power supply was extremely loud after being on for more than an hour.
No response on occasion, which would lead to a reboot.
Slower than normal function.
It all came to a head when all of these symptoms came together and after a reboot I got the dreaded message, “Disk Read Error.”
I knew the hard drive wasn’t dead, but there was a problem. I switched the power cables and it worked. So I backed up everything onto one of my other hard drives and purchased a new drive.
I bought a Western Digital 160 Gig PATA drive, that I must say is super quiet. You have to put your head up to the case just to hear it! It turns out that one of the pins on the 4 pin power connector had “sheered” away. I gave it to my co-worker Tito, I’m sure he can get it going again.
I knew my computer would run Windows XP, but I thought I would see if it could handle Vista. I think it runs Vista better than it ever ran XP.
I’ve had a few glitches, but nothing that wasn’t the case about XP years ago.
The biggest scare was last night. I’ve been re-installing all of my software, using my DVD-RW drive. When I went to install MS Visual Studio Pro 2008, my drive was nowhere to be found! Vista gave me a message that “there was something wrong with the driver.” After some searching I found that Vista has a quirk with some older drives. A quick registry patch resolved this.
While my computer cannot import video or audio directly anymore, it is working great as an all around PC. This is awesome news. I’m not feeling the pressure I was to purchase a new machine anymore. I can hopefully wait until our renovation is complete and I have a new office area before acquiring more equipment.
Last night Rachel and I had a computer meltdown. My main hard drive was not responding, so I rebooted to get a “disk read error.” I removed the computer and cleaned it out, switched some power cables – which lead to a rant about all of our computing issues.
I’m purchased a new 160 gig hard drive to replace the failing one. I was surprised at the price for a small hard drive these days, for $40 you can buy a 160 gig!
This is mainly a band-aid on a bigger problem, but I’ll remain optomistic.
This summer is going to have a big change of pace for me.
My wife is expecting our first child, and I am remodeling our basement & a nursery. I am also going to school to finally get an education that I’ve been working on for a decade.
We’ve decided that I shouldn’t work this summer. This is easy due to my academic year positions. Instead I am going to focus on my education and try to cram as many summer courses as possible.
Even though I have been working on this degree for a decade, I’ve only achieved 3 credit hours towards my degree. This may sound astounding, but my educational history has been filled with disappointment.
I’m going to take 5 classes, with one of them being online. I’m very nervous about this online course, as I took one several years ago and failed it. It was the same math class that I am doing very well in right now. The class in particular is Introduction to Microcomputers, something I could sleep through. I will be nervous about this until I get a few assignments in.
Here are the classes:
CINS-101 – Introduction to Microcomputers
ECON-101 – Economics Fundamentals
COMM-101 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking
IVYT-107 – Professional Presence
HIST-101 - Survey of American History I
It’s a total of 13 credit hours, a big load for someone who hasn’t went to school full time since 1997. All of these classes are in my general education requirements for a CINT (Computer Information Technology) degree. After completion of these courses, I will only have 2 other gen ed classes left.
I’m excited and scared as hell at the same time. I wasn’t lucky enough to have a “real” college experience. I think this will give me a piece of it. I don’t think I will have the availability to do this again, with the impending arrival of my second child.
So far I have mostly completed the office area of the basement, it just needs new paneling, paint and the floor coating.
I have begun on the other side of the basement, beginning with the removal of the hideous ceiling fan. It worked, but did not fit the look or atmosphere we want in our home. I had a fun time trying to wire the replacement light fixture we put in it’s place, as it had a remote switch wiring scheme.
I have not completed much work on the other side besides the removal of the paneling and replacing the one fixture. From what I can tell, our walls are sound. We did have a slight worry since we have a pine tree about 10 feet away from that corner of the house.
We recently had the corners of our gutters repaired, which I think may have been the root of our water leakage issues.
There is one issue that I’m still trying to wrap my brain around, and that’s how I’m going to run new cable, phone and LAN lines to the exterior wall in the living room. I had believed that there was a line directly going to the corner of this room, as the label on it said “attic.” I was wrong. Access to this particular spot is difficult due to the placement of our fireplace. This particular spot is almost just above the fireplace. I’ve always wanted a fireplace, but for this particular instance I do not.
My concrete repair work started out slow, but is going much better now.
When I attempted this method of repairing, I came into many issues. When my sander would contact the patch, the patch would fly out of the hole. So I changed my game plan, and just filled the hole and not the surrounding areas as well. This method has went so well that I would like to do the whole basement, but Rachel will have none of that. She just wants the rooms done.
Our next few weeks are booked, so the time I have to dedicate to working on this is little at the moment. I have basically the same things to do on this side as I did in the office. The key difference is there is less wall area to renovate. I guesstimate that with only 2 or 3 more weekends, I will be ready to put new paneling up.
I’ll be buying a new computer within a couple days. It’s just a matter of finding the proper hardware for the right price. Right now I’m leaning towards a Dell Optiplex 760, it’s a solid business class machine. KSoB uses them exclusively, and I know their inner workings inside and out. I wanted a quad core machine, but to get this machine I will have to sacrifice that feature.
I have everything completed in the walls of my office. I have one more thing to do before I can move on to the other area downstairs.
This is just a sample of what the perimeter of our basement floor looks like. The floor originally was covered with carpet. As a part of carpet installation, tack strips were put down on the perimeter of the floor. Since the basement does get some water from time to time, we are not going to put a floor covering down that has the potential of being damaged due to water. We have decided to either stain the concrete or apply an epoxy coating.
I want to repair all of these chips to make the floor visually appealing, and smooth. I have no experience with masonry or concrete, so this will be an adventure.
With anything I have no experience with, I first search the internet for any available information to try to learn as much as possible before undergoing a project. While there are many articles and how-to’s on how to repair a crack in a concrete sidewalk, or a missing corner from a concrete sidewalk, there is absolutely nothing on this particular issue. I’ve searched endlessly as I don’t want to mess this up. I hope my trial and error can help someone out in cyberspace.
I purchased some masonry crack filler that comes pre-mixed in a 1L bottle. It seems like the proper patch tool for the job. The first step was to remove all of the existing nails, and clean the area thoroughly.
I then poured the filler in to the holes, making sure to overfill each hole.
I tested it out to see if I could sand this filler to make the patch perfectly smooth and level with the rest of the floor. It seems to sand very well. There is a cancer warning for the dust particles that come from this, so I will be wearing a mask whenever sanding.
The patch is still drying and my Monday is booked. I am planning on sanding this section down on Tuesday night. I will update my progress then.
I was filling an order for ROX season zero and upon testing the DVDs for playability, they would only play on my computers DVD player. Not standalone units. I think it’s time for a new PC.
My PC is dying a long, drawn out death. It’s to a point where I cannot do the things I need to do with it.
The first sign was when the motherboard died. I should have just cut my losses and ran, but not me. I found what I thought was a suitable replacement and got it going again.
This suitable replacement has been nothing but a pile of headaches. I can no longer import video on my machine. I must do that job on my wifes’ laptop and then transfer it to mine. My disc burning speeds have been halved to 8x. The last two DVDs I burnt had an audio sync issue, so I believe there are more issues there as well.
My main hard drive crashed as soon as the new motherboard was replaced. While we did recover all files from it, and actually still use it, the end is near for that as well. The computer does not want to shut down and performance is like that of a 486.
Last night was the breaking point, as my USB ports are only working intermittently. I use my USB ports for everything, I have 15 of them! When I can’t sync my phone or access my flash drive for school, that’s big trouble.
All of this in a time of change. As of right now, we are about 1/3 of the way done on our basement remodel. I have finished all the “real” work on one side. All we have to do is add some more insulation and vapor barrier, then it’s on to the next.
I’m hoping to hold onto this until I get the basement done and a new machine can have a proper place. Whether that happens is yet to be seen.
We officially began remodeling our basement on Saturday. Rachel and I removed the trim to all the paneling. Sunday I got ancy and removed the paneling and installed a new light fixture. What was waiting for us was shocking and interesting at the same time.
First surprise: Ants!
What you are seeing is not dirt, it’s ants. They must have been living behind the paneling for years. When I removed the corner pieces they just came flying out. We hosed them down with some mean stuff that we have. It was very surprising to me that they could live behind there without coming out. There isn’t much behind the wall except for wood, insulation and concrete blocks.
Second Surprise: Pepsi Bottle!
Behind the hollow wall that our utility room shares was this bottle. We’ve traced it down to being made between 1960 and 1967. The puzzling thing is that our house was built in 1974. Not being alive during this time, I’m not sure how long glass bottles stayed in circulation. My dad told me that it’s possible that this bottle was still in use during the construction of our home. We cleaned it up and will give it to my father-in-law the next time we see him. My dad collects these things, but I think it would be more special to Joe.
This is where my progress has ended as of now. I haven’t removed the insulation on the walls yet, but from what I can tell thus far it is in good shape. If there is no mold on it I will reuse it and add a vapor barrier.
We have split the downstairs into 2 seperate areas for remodeling purposes. This makes for 2 smaller jobs versus 1 bigger one, thus making it more manageable. I have some re-wiring work to do as our home was constructed “pre-cable.” It has plenty of flat antenna cable, but not RG6 (what is used for cable and satellite TV). I am also re-wiring all of our phone outlets, as right now they are shoddy at best. I had to re-wire them to make our DSL connection work.
Once all the backend work is done, I’m going to put the paneling back up. I’m hoping to save as much of this as possible, but much of it is rotted or has big holes in it from 30+ years of living. I’m going to call my “daughter’s mother’s step-dad” to put the trim back up. He’s a master carpenter – someone needed for some of the complex angles this has.
After that’s done twice, we will paint the paneling to lighten up the area. There is only 1 window for the entire downstairs and it can be a little creepy down there. Then onto the floor. The first step is repairing the surface. There was carpet in there originally, and after removal of the tack strips it has caused little chips to be removed. Shouldn’t be a hard problem to solve. Then onto the finish, we have been discussing 2 viable options, concrete stain or epoxy coating. I’m a fan of concrete stain, as it gives a very nice appearance. Rachel is a fan of epoxy coating as it’s a bit cheaper.
After all this is over I then have a bedroom to re-do. This bedroom is where I’m writing this right now. It has a shelving unit that was crudely attached which I’m removing. After repairing the drywall there isn’t much work to do except paint and a new closet door.
Those are the plans, but I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road. I’ll be writing as often as I can to document the first “real” remodel of our home. I can’t wait to see my Home Office / Man Cave become a reality!
I’ve got some mighty big news to share. I’m going to be a father for the second time in my life.
We found this out several weeks ago, but wanted to wait until the first appointment. We didn’t want to tell the world, just to tell them that there are problems and so on.
The news has been both shocking and exciting. It means I have many things to do around the house in preparation for the new child.
I have to remodel our downstairs to move my office down there. I then have to remodel the new nursery to make it hospitable for a child.
There’s much to be done, and the clock is now officially ticking. The due date is October 6th – I believe.
Nothing seems to be going right lately. The things that normally bring joy to my life have disappeared or are disappearing. It’s hard to wake up in the morning when you don’t have a lot to look forward to. The only thing I have currently that brings some potential light at the end of the tunnel are my classes.
Education is sought after more than skills at this point. At least in my experience. I learned this the hard way and it’s really doing a number on me. There was an opening at my job in Technology Services at the Kelley School of Business. It’s almost exactly what I do, with a few other added responsibilities. I’ve been here just one month shy of a year now and I thought I would be a good fit. The only caveat, they wanted someone with at least an associates degree which I do not have.
They must have thought I was a good fit as well, because I almost immediately was asked for an interview. It went extremely well. I thought it was only a matter of time before the job would be offered to me. Then my boss’s boss wanted to speak with me, it was regarding the position. They offered it to someone who had “more rounded experience.” They said she “can give a different perspective that nobody else in the department can.” While I understand they have to do what’s best for the department and not myself, it didn’t hit me until today – the day she started.
There is really nothing I can do to make myself happy but continue my education and hope to find something someday. The only real issue bugging me is that I know that day won’t come soon enough.
This on top of all of the other issues I’m facing. I need a new computer & printer, I am on a deadline for remodeling the basement and old “office.” I need to start planning a summer job or load up on classes for the summer semester and get a large student loan to cover the lack of income.
I feel like I haven’t moved forward at all, but just taken a few dozen steps back since I started on my own back in 1999.
My only solace at this point is my love affair with ROX and computers in general. The computer doesn’t care about how much money I make or any of the other human conditions.
Baby Tat (named by Taylor) was originally named Olivia and then named Baby by our friends Jeff & Sara who we got her from. They have numerous cats (8 or so) and she didn’t get along with another alpha kitty in their household. We decided to take her from them to possibly give her a better living environment.
Our other cats, Furby and Oreo were mixed on the addition of a new roommate. Oreo loved it, and we eventually started calling the two “lovers.” Although they couldn’t consummate their relationship they acted very much like a couple. Furby is the embodiment of a “grumpy old man.” He is an alpha kitty as well. The two would sometimes get along, but most of the time fought to the bone. Those fights would sometimes rattle the house.
Baby Tat has been showing her distress by leaving bombs all over the house. When I say bomb, I really mean feces. We know there is nothing physically wrong with her, but nothing we tried to do would help or solve this situation.
Out of frustration, we gave her a new home. A gentleman came over Sunday to meet her, and they seemed to make a connection. She stayed in his arms (which she wouldn’t do that long for any of us.) He grew up with a cat and missed the companionship. He doesn’t have any other animals at home either, which is a big plus for this princess.
Although the house is a bit quieter, and there seems to be an empty hole where she used to be. I believe she will be better off.
