chansen
Still waiting...
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
One of the things I've posted about here before is finishing the basement of our house. It has been such an on-again-off-again thing. I started when Carter was injured. Back then, the plan was to build a 500 sq.ft. rec room/therapy gym based on what we were using at Bloorview Kids Rehab. And if you know me, you know I could and would have pretty much re-created that place. Oh yeah, and a pretty kick ass 400 sq.ft. workshop.
Things change, and the therapy gym was going to be an office/workout area and rec room for Claire and friends. I mostly finished the workshop first so I had some working area. But then our friends wanted a finished basement, and I wasn't employed and money was tight. So I finished a 1700 sq.ft. basement, pretty much by myself (didn't install spray foam and didn't tape drywall, but did everything else) with a yoga studio, bedroom with new basement window cut into the foundation wall, shared bathroom and workshop. Those basement improvements increased the value of the house by $100K according to an agent, but this put our basement off by another year.
Then I got a job, delaying it again. Then Zach, so the rec room was now for Zach and Claire. Then I had the opportunity to start my own company last spring, so the workout area became an plan for an office. I quit my job and restarted the basement office, when work called a week later and asked if I could come back for two projects? I did. A third project was added. I finished them by the fall, quit again and got back to work downstairs. I was almost immediately called back by my employer again to save a project in distress. I went. Then I was hired to do some structural design, so I was off the emergency job, which I was told was in good hands and I told them it wasn't. Finished the design around Christmas, and went back to the work in the basement. Got another call. Emergency job was completely messed up in my absence and could I go back? I did. The guys they left in charge completely messed it up. Badly. It was more than I could fix by myself. I told them that, and quit again. And here we are.
The house is a disaster. Dishes and clothes are routinely washed, but some things haven't been cleaned or done in three years of work and plain unwillingness. Carter's room is pretty much how it was, with some things of his stored there. Toys and books come out as Zach is ready for them. But he's not sleeping in there yet. That's gonna be difficult.
But the office is at the taping stage. A few more days, and I have a good place to work and spread out drawings, other than the kitchen table. And this will open up more storage space, which we'll use to declutter our lives. We have so much to donate still. We can't manage to find a taker for a manual hospital bed. We have a custom therapy table in his room still. So much other stuff.
This will come as a shock to some of you, but I'm a complete control freak. I need to do this myself. Everyone tells me to hire, and it would be way faster and probably even cheaper in the long run, but this is our home and no one else will be careful enough. I can do almost every trade well, if slow. First you get good, then you get fast. I'm only good at most things.
40 years from now, someone is going to buy this place from our kids. They will want to update the basement and take down the ceiling and some walls. It's put together so strongly that I feel sorry for them already. I think I'll leave a note of condolence inside a wall.
Coffee break over.
Things change, and the therapy gym was going to be an office/workout area and rec room for Claire and friends. I mostly finished the workshop first so I had some working area. But then our friends wanted a finished basement, and I wasn't employed and money was tight. So I finished a 1700 sq.ft. basement, pretty much by myself (didn't install spray foam and didn't tape drywall, but did everything else) with a yoga studio, bedroom with new basement window cut into the foundation wall, shared bathroom and workshop. Those basement improvements increased the value of the house by $100K according to an agent, but this put our basement off by another year.
Then I got a job, delaying it again. Then Zach, so the rec room was now for Zach and Claire. Then I had the opportunity to start my own company last spring, so the workout area became an plan for an office. I quit my job and restarted the basement office, when work called a week later and asked if I could come back for two projects? I did. A third project was added. I finished them by the fall, quit again and got back to work downstairs. I was almost immediately called back by my employer again to save a project in distress. I went. Then I was hired to do some structural design, so I was off the emergency job, which I was told was in good hands and I told them it wasn't. Finished the design around Christmas, and went back to the work in the basement. Got another call. Emergency job was completely messed up in my absence and could I go back? I did. The guys they left in charge completely messed it up. Badly. It was more than I could fix by myself. I told them that, and quit again. And here we are.
The house is a disaster. Dishes and clothes are routinely washed, but some things haven't been cleaned or done in three years of work and plain unwillingness. Carter's room is pretty much how it was, with some things of his stored there. Toys and books come out as Zach is ready for them. But he's not sleeping in there yet. That's gonna be difficult.
But the office is at the taping stage. A few more days, and I have a good place to work and spread out drawings, other than the kitchen table. And this will open up more storage space, which we'll use to declutter our lives. We have so much to donate still. We can't manage to find a taker for a manual hospital bed. We have a custom therapy table in his room still. So much other stuff.
This will come as a shock to some of you, but I'm a complete control freak. I need to do this myself. Everyone tells me to hire, and it would be way faster and probably even cheaper in the long run, but this is our home and no one else will be careful enough. I can do almost every trade well, if slow. First you get good, then you get fast. I'm only good at most things.
40 years from now, someone is going to buy this place from our kids. They will want to update the basement and take down the ceiling and some walls. It's put together so strongly that I feel sorry for them already. I think I'll leave a note of condolence inside a wall.
Coffee break over.
