The Basement: Spray Foam Fun

It looks like Barney threw up on my basement walls doesn't it? We've had the three exterior walls covered with spray foam insulation. We debated going with batt insulation, but in the end, we felt the additional investment in spray foam would be worth it. Because spray foam can adhere to almost anything and expands to fill any crevice or irregular shape, it can provide a 100% air tight seal resulting in reduced HVAC costs.

As well, the 3" of foam applied acts both as an air barrier and a vapour barrier so there is no opportunity for wall condensation that can result in mould or mildew. Oh, and it is also more resistant to rodents and other creepy crawlies.  Did I tell you that we found a mouse in the basement last fall? YUCK - so rodent resistance is very high on my list :)

This is going to be one toasty warm basement. Since we had the walls open (see, there's that scope creep popping up again), we had AirForce Insulation also spray the first three feet under the kitchen exterior door. When we renovated the kitchen three years ago, we thought of adding in-floor heating under the floor tile but it was late in the game - we would have to bring the electrician back in and delay the drywall. So we decided not to do it, but since our galley kitchen opens to a pair of sliding doors at one end, we've been living with a cold tile floor every winter since. Now with the spray foam underneath, we could make it at least a little bit warmer.

It was a quick job and the spray guys were done in a few hours. We stayed out of the house most of the day to let the fumes air out but the basement was odorless and the foam was nice and tight by the time we got home after dinner. Now that this is done, our contractor can start the job of putting the basement back together.

Framing will start this week. We'll have walls very very soon! Yippee!

The Basement: Scope Creep

Okay, fine, you convinced me. A playhouse will go under the stairs. Hopefully. Maybe. Depending on the additional cost. We hadn't budgeted for drywalling under the stairs (it was going to be rough storage) so now its a matter of how much it will cost to get this little slice of toddler heaven built. We're hoping we can offset this cost with things that were in our basement quote but won't be done (some were deemed unnecessary, some aren't possible). HandyMan and I really could do it ourselves, but since our contractor Basement Spaces will be doing the framing and drywall, it only makes sense to add this small project to the job.



And that my friends is scope creep. I think its inevitable to have a bit of scope creep no matter what renovation you're doing. "While we have the walls open we might as well..." is a common phrase around our house. Electrician coming on site? Well, we might as well have him do this and this and this while he's here.



But I'm not going to worry about the scope creep for now. For now, I'm all about the pretty. See? I'm already thinking up design schemes...

I'd like something cute, but HandyMan also wants something that will fit in with the rest of the basement decor. I would have loved to have a dutch door, but the doorway is too wide and it swings into a hallway so we'll have to go with swing doors. So many different directions I can go with this design! It'll be fun to surprise Chloe with this little room that is all her own. More ideas to come...

The Basement: Under The Stairs

So things are moving along in the basement, slowly. Lots of cleanup has been going on... old electrical, alarm wires, plumbing - all cleaned up, made more efficient, moved out of the way. We also moved the hot water tank into the storage are and and took the opportunity to switch it from electric to more efficient gas. Surprisingly, since we were renting the tank from Direct Energy, making the switch (moving the tank, getting the new unit, drilling for the external vent) was free!

What wasn't free... turning the furnace 45 degrees. See that blue tape line? A new wall to the storage room will sit just outside that line. There wouldn't be enough room to access the furnace if needed so it had to be turned. The storage/laundry room is starting to take shape. The laundry machines are in their new spot and that garbage can & plywood contraption represents the countertop and cabinetry on the opposite side. The laundry room feels bigger than I thought! We'll see if it still feels that way once the walls are up.







This is one area on my mind though. If you remember, we had a bank of cabinetry underneath the stairs. Great for storage, but we decided to take them out so we could access the area for insulation and match the look with the rest of the cabinetry going in the basement. A few ideas I'm playing with:

Full-height cabinets. This is similar to what we had before, except the doors would match the other cabinets in the craft zone (shown on the left of the mockup) and we would eliminate the separate access to the triangular area. Having a setup like this would be great for storage. One tall area could be used to store the vacuum and brooms. The other side would be good for storing our big Tupperware containers of off-season clothing.

Another idea: Create more of a built-in look with deep pot drawers below and drywall above. I find pot drawers so useful. I could totally see using these drawers for those random seasonal decor items I have stored in multiple places around the house. One downside to this option is we lose the extra storage space in the triangle area.

We could also do open shelving and have some room for display. This might be a nice way to break up all the cabinetry. We could possibly keep costs down by using off-the-shelf bookcases that we would make look built-in. However, since most bookcases aren't that deep, we'd lose all that storage space behind the bookcases.

And this is a really fun option... putting a playhouse for Chloe under the stairs. I'd love to create something like this one by Mossy. Growing up, we had a playhouse under the stairs (okay, it was more like a curtain and a table) and I remember spending hours there, reading books, playing grocery with my sister, hiding my treasures. How fun would this be?



Any other options you can think of? How have you used the space under your stairs?

The Basement: Demolition Done!

Progress has been made in the basement folks and its no thanks to us. We hired a contractor, Rob Pahl of Basement Spaces, to do the dirty work and take the space from demolition to finished drywall. We would have done the work ourselves but we're (a) a bit preoccupied with our day jobs and planning the next BlogPodium, (b) working on a super-secret project I can't tell you about yet, and (c) slow and tired and wanted the basement done at least before Chloe moves out of the house - which is questionable had we done all the work ourselves ;) No worries, we'll still be getting in there and doing all the tilework, painting, trimwork, cabinetry, and finishing details.

Rob came highly recommended to us - by HandyMan's ex-girlfriend. Its slightly amusing how many of HandyMan's ex-girlfriends have got in contact with me via this blog. More than one, several, they come out of the woodwork, I tell you! But we did our due diligence too and got quotes from other contractors, asked lots of questions, and checked references. As you can imagine, we're pretty "particular" clients (you've seen the architectural drawings, right?) and really expect a high level of detail and quality work. And so far, Basement Spaces has delivered.

In two short days, they did this...

 and this...

 this too...

 and this. Good bye beloved sunflowers!

Hooray! Luckily, there were no big surprises. No leaks, no mold, only a few little crawlies. Even the elevated floor area turned out to be just a platform with nothing noteworthy underneath.

Clean up happens this week and next with old electrical lines tidied up, some plumbing changes, and then sprayfoam insulation. Things are moving!

The Basement: The Before

And the basement renovation has begun! C'mon, take a tour and see what we're working with...

Basement Inspiration

And finally the basement reno is about to start! We were waiting for our contractor to finish up his last job and we just got word that demolition will start sometime next week.  Yippee!! And Ugh!! We have to get that basement cleared out and fast! I swear Chloe's toys multiply themselves overnight. I don't know where we're going to put all this stuff.



I'll do a video tour of the space this weekend so you can all see what we're dealing with. Its not pretty, especially the Van Gogh bathroom (done by the same artist who created the Monet formerly in our upstairs bathroom). But for now, let's focus on the pretty, shall we? Here's a few photos from my Pinterest that help convey the feeling I want the new space to have... slightly vintage, white and with an abundance of storage and light! Ahhh, now that's a basement.

via Design Mom

via Miss Mustard Seed

traditional hall design by new york architect Richard Bubnowski Design LLC

Source unknown. Via My Sweet Savannah

contemporary home office design via Leslie Goodwin Photography