Casazza

Eubanks Basement August 2008 - May 2011	Back to Home Page

When we moved into our house in August of 2008, the basement was beyond filthy, bug-infested, leaked so much around the windows that it was more of a waterfall than a leak - I really think it was a health hazard. Unfortunately, we didn't think of taking pictures until after Eric had gone down there armed with a garden hose, gloves, a mask, and a whole roll of garbage bags. So even though the "before" pictures look bad, they show only a fraction of how bad it was when we first moved in. Now it's a fairly decent, pleasant area. We also haven't had any water leaks since we finished the remodel (although it's been a bit dry). We put a huge amount of work into it but overall, we're very happy with the results.


Someone had made a lame attempt at painting in the past but gave up fairly quickly. When I decided to paint, I stayed the course and did the whole thing.


The view as you start down the stairs from the kitchen.


This view includes the busted step that Eric fixed.


The view as you approach the basement used to be of the furnace. We hired our friend DJ to build a closet around it for us which looks much better.


The furnace area pre- and post-closet. Big improvement! My friend Noel helped us get rid of that drain pipe you see that used to run across the floor.


Facing the east wall - it used to be nothing but flimsy, dirty paneling. It was nailed up every which way. This was also an access point to the crawl space but to use it you had to unscrew about 8 screws. Eric framed in a wall, put up drywall, built a door for the crawl space, built sturdy shelves, and added an access point for the water shutoff. This was his first experience with most of these skills but he did great!


This shows the 2nd of three crawl space access points. All 3 of them required removing a bunch of screws each time you wanted to use it. My friend Noel re-arranged the pipes for us, Eric built the access door, and I stained and finished it.


Water used to pour in that window like a river. This whole area was too gross for words. We had one of the pipes replaced and I I used rust dissolver and elbow grease to scrub the other one. I scraped the walls with a chisel to knock off the loose bits, then put on two coats of Drylock to seal the walls, and painted everything. Eric "YouTubed" a how-two on masonry and totally bricked in the window & window well, and moved the dryer vent to this area (which is under the deck so not seen from outside.) Our friend DJ put in the hanging ceiling and added fluorescent lights as well.


This is a close-up of what the walls looked like before I went after them with my 1" chisel. The chisel did not survive the experience and I was feeling a little used up as well.	Close-up of the crawl space access on the east wall.


This shows how awful those pipes looked before. On the right you see the inside part of Eric's masonry work.


This used to be the only plug-in in the entire basement. Our electrician friend Dale put in some wall sockets for us. There was only so much we could do with the pipes coming down, so we made the best of it by just painting them.


These blue things had been the only shelves in the basement. They were rotten, sagging, narrow, and generally gross. Eric built me new ones based on the size of the giant plastic tubs I love to use. (Notice how nicely labeled they are?!)


This duct work hung way down so that you had to duck to get under it. (Yes, I thought that was ironic the first 3 or 4 times, then it got old.) I got pink insulation in my hair every time I went into the basement. We decided we could live without that vent in order to have a more normal ceiling. Another thing I haven't mentioned yet were the floors. They had been painted an ugly gray but since there was so much water flowing in there, most of the paint was chipped, worn, and looked awful. I spent hours and hours down there with paint stripper and my friend Noel's floor scraper, trying to get all the junk off the floor. Then I cleaned it really good and put a sealant on there. It isn't perfect, but it was a big improvement.


This was the second window on the north wall. Nice, huh? Except for my getting stain on the caulk around the window, the new situation is a great improvement.


There was some kind of half-hearted structure for the hot water heater before. Who knows what they were thinking. The tank had a big, rusty bulge on the side that we probably should have fussed about during the inspection. At any rate, we just got a new one and let it be tucked behind the furnace closet.



Disturbing images of the window on the west wall. Nast-y!

	This shows a new, insulated, non-disgusting replacement. The windows were done by our buddy Dub.



This is the 3rd crawl space access that Eric replaced with a nice door. Much better! We finished up the basement three whole months before we sold the house. We may not have enjoyed it for long, but at least we learned a lot of skills in the process!



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