We've reached another milestone

Or should I say, we've PASSED another milestone...

At any rate, there we were two weeks ago, merrily enjoying our new carpet, and busily moving stuff back into the office from the garage where it had lain forgotten and ignored for (great Caesar's Ghost!) a year and a half. I had just found a home for all of my files and papers in a new filing cabinet (scored for free from the War Department's work - sweet!) and was preparing to start filling up the bookcase.

Then the War Department woke up and realized something rather disheartening. We still hadn't had the final occupancy inspection.

Of course, this meant removing all of the stuff from the filing cabinet, putting it back into boxes, and finding a place to store the boxes while we finished off the last couple of things we had to do before the inspector could come and look.

The first of these things was the bane of our entire existence, the dye test. (See here for the whole sordid story of why the dye test has nagged us since Day One.) We had done all that work on the drains, but had never actually called the city back to have them make sure all our work wasn't for naught, and that we really are connected to the city storm drains.

As usual, and of course, getting the dye test done meant I had to physically present myself at City Hall and fork over the sixty bucks in person. I wanted to book the final occupancy inspection at the same time, but I had this niggling little feeling that if I showed the least amount of cockiness, the karmic bastards in charge of home renovation would make the dye test fail or something, and we'd be scrambling around with picks and shovels in the rain. I resisted the capriciousness of fate and simply booked the dye test.

Which, of course, went off without a hitch. These pipes are clean!

That left the final pre-inspection task: building a cover for the electrical panel. Which we've been putting off and putting off because we KNEW it was going to be an absolute bitch to design, and an even bigger pain in the ass to build.

And we were right.

As usual, the best way to explain why this thing was such an enormously unpleasant undertaking would be to illustrate it with a picture. This one's from a while back, but aside from the color of the walls, nothing in the general area had changed at all:



Covering the actual panel itself wasn't really the problem. The real difficulty lay in designing something that would cover the corner and the ceiling and tie into the bulkhead without impeding anyone trying to get into the panel to work on something. Oh, and of course, I hadn't really framed in any extra support to attach whatever we finally did design to the wall. Bad Don.

Anyway, after a few heated discussions and some wildly unfair accusations of incompetence leveled against the cats, we decided to take the simplest approach, and just build a cover in place using 1/4-inch plywood.

So I hauled out my trusty framing implements and some scrap pieces of two-by-four and set to work. Several hours and a couple of minor injuries later, I had this:



Then I made these:



Then I attached them to the framing, filled, sanded, and painted them, cut and painted a door, attached some magnets, and now it looks like this:




Ta da!

Not the most elegant of solutions, but it actually doesn't look too bad (from a distance), and it didn't seem to even warrant the inspector's notice, so I'm going to call it a job well done.

Fortunately, you don't have to book the inspections in person, but you do have to be at home to let the inspector in, and as luck would have it, (Injury Report Exclusive!) I was home nursing a really sore neck that day. Which I'm pretty sure was caused by the awkward angle at which I had to hold my head so I could paint the bottom of the electrical panel.

Anyway, the inspector showed up, checked the interconnected smoke alarms, had a look at the programmable timer for the bathroom fan, signed the papers, and left.

We passed our final occupancy inspection! Wooo!

Of course, this is by no means the end of the reno. It just means we don't have anyone checking up on our work anymore.

Anyway, lots more to come, including some shots of the finished (yes, FINISHED) bathroom, and the re-furnished office.


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We seem to be running out of holes....

There seem to be fewer and fewer holes in the basement these days. Because we keep putting things in them or covering them up with other things. And no, not just random things we find lying around. Things that are supposed to go there. Things that we bought or built for that specific purpose.

It's actually somewhat freaky, to tell you the truth. Things are ... getting finished. Like, actually done-finished, not just finished-until-we-finish-this-other-part-we-needed-to-finish-first-and-then-we-can-do-more-work-on-it.

Yeah.

First off, we do have a small cause for celebration: we passed the final plumbing inspection! Woo! Couldn't have done it without Leonard, of course. The guy's an absolute gem.

With that all wrapped up, however, it was time to turn some serious attention to the trim and other bits of finishing that must be done before we can pass the final, FINAL inspection, the dreaded (and deservedly maligned) Final Occupancy Inspection(tm).

Not that the inspector is likely to care how much attention to detail we apply when filling nail holes and sanding the edges of things, but that's more for our benefit anyway.

Oh, and something I think I forgot last post: we installed one more of the doors in the basement, the one between the office and the laundry room:





We had to put that in as a barrier to keep the cats out of the office while we were sanding, prepping, priming, sanding, painting, caulking, and painting the window wells. They're still crooked, but at least they're white, shiny, and crooked:





Oh, and did I mention, done?

Anyway, the big project this past week was the built-in bookcase. (You can see the hole it's supposed to go into in the second of the two pictures of the door up there- the big hole to the right, with all the crap sitting in it.)

I, of course, had never built a built-in book case before, but I know someone who has. And he just happened to be in town this week! Amazing coincidence, that, eh?

So poor Top Brass Pa had to spend his Saturday on vacation helping me manoeuver a jinormous sheet of 3/4-inch good-one-side plywood around on top of the table saw out in the driveway. He was very gracious about it, however, and I must admit that I probably couldn't have done it without him. That's not to say that he actually did any of the work, mind you - I made every measurement, cut, and tool mark on the bookcase myself - but his advice was invaluable, and he was always on hand to catch the pieces of lumber as they came off the other end of the table saw. (I actually only made one wrong cut - and we had enough spare wood from the sheet that it didn't matter at all. For me, that's pretty damn good!)

What we did was to take some measurements of the hole and design the shelf layout on paper. We then built a box, complete with back, that could be lifted right into position on the two-by-four supports I had built into the wall when I framed it. Overall, it worked like a freaking charm.

So here's my wee beauty after we sledge-hammered it into position (it was a shade tight on the bottom. Just a little):



And just in case you thought it was a simple matter of nailing some boards together, think again:



All of the shelves are dado cuts - and yes, that took a lot longer to do it that way. Nearly the whole day, in fact.

Here it is with the trim around it and the edge pieces glued and nailed into the shelf faces (the tape is just to hold the trim until the glue sets - it's not staying, no matter how well you think it matched the colour scheme):



And yes, the nails in the trim are some of the holes we've spent the rest of the weekend filling.

Among the other holes-that-aren't-holes-anymore, are the two heating vents and the cold air return:







And that's about it for this update. I'm hoping to do the final sanding on the trim for the door and bookcase tomorrow, followed by a coat of primer on the bookcase. Then it's paint, paint, paint. Oh, and caulking of course. And then some painting.

But damn me to hell if it isn't starting to look like a real room!



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Electrical update

The electricians came back yesterday to finish up and get ready for the rough-in inspection which, I'm happy to say, went off without a hitch.

According to the War Department, who was working from home to keep the kitties company while strange people tromped around our house, the only comment the inspector made was that we should be keeping our building permit in a plastic bag. Which is funny because she took the papers OUT of the plastic bag to give to the electrician to give to the inspector.

But we've learned not to question the wisdom of the inspectors, and our electrician managed to restrain from bursting out laughing, so we have officially passed the first electrical inspection! Yay! (We celebrated by putting down some more sub-floor. Oh yeah. Fun never stops.)

Full warning: this post is picture heavy.

I have to admit that it's kind of hard to capture the awesomeness that is our revamped electrical system in the basement. I think the best I can do is to just post some pictures of various parts and components and hope that the whole becomes more than the sum. Or something like that. I was never very good at math.

First up, here's the electrical panel, after they moved it to the right about four or five inches, and cleaned up a lot of the surrounding wire:



Sadly, I don't really have an establishing shot of what it looked like before but trust me: that's a vast improvement.

Here are some of the newly installed bathroom bits, in no particular order.

Our new fan:





Our new wall heater:



The wall switches (lights, fan, and thermostat):



It's all so neat and tidy, and secure, and really well done. (I have every confidence that the War Department could have done 90% of that herself, but it would have taken her a whole lot longer!)

And lest you think that we've been hiring out ALL the work, here's the current status of the subfloor:



As you can see, we've got the foam down into the corner, and just - heh, like there's anything "just" about it - have to lay the plywood down over top. Weekend work!

Well, that's about it... what's that? You want to see a picture of my finger? Well, all right...

But I'm not posting it out here in the open. You have to WANT to see it. Like, really WANT to see it.

If you REALLY WANT to experience the gruesomeness, all up close and personal like, in LARGE, living colour, click this link.

That was taken when I took the band-aids off last night, after five days. Yes, it hurt. A lot.


Ghouls. All a ya.
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We passed!

Woohoo! We passed the framing inspection!

As a matter of fact, he even complimented us, saying that it was something of a pleasure to do an inspection on some good, solid work - for a change.(He also complimented us on keeping such a clean and tidy work area, so we have that, too.)

He even had some helpful suggestions for the ducting and bathroom fan configuration. All in all, it was a quick, constructive little visit.

We are highly relieved.


It's a trick. There's no more post to read. Ha ha!
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It's concrete day!

All right, enough of the simpering about keys and kitty litter. It's picture time!

A warning to users on dial-up: ha ha!

First up, the plumbing inspection. Our poor beleaguered plumber booked the inspector for 2:45 on Thursday afternoon, and came over a little early to get everything set up. When the inspector arrived, and they filled up the system with water to test the seals, they found a leak in one of the connections between the crappy old cast iron pipe and the new PVC. The inspector, bless his cold, cold heart, said he had another job to inspect, but would come back in an hour or so to give the plumber a chance to fix things up.

Well, the plumber scurried around the basement for the better part of an hour, getting absolutely soaked and covered in mud (the contents of the pipes were under pressure for the test, and when he attempted to let the pressure off... well, let's just say it didn't release as smoothly as he planned). Fortunately, he was considerate enough to do the mud and water spraying outside, so the basement didn't get trashed again.

When the inspector came back, they went to conduct the test again, and the bladder they were using to plug one end of the drain wouldn't work. I don't know what was wrong with it (I was getting the play-by-play third hand as I was at work), but it wouldn't inflate properly to close off the drain. So he's running around trying to get it to work (getting more soaked in the process) and the inspector is RIGHT THERE... ah, it must have been a glorious scene.

Eventually, however, they managed to plug the drain, fill the system, and check for leaks. All good - we passed the rough plumbing inspection! W00ts! Of course, we also had to pay the piper - er, plumber - for all his hard work. The War Department handed over a cheque that was five bucks south of $4000. Um, ouch. Still, the guy worked his butt off, and we're pretty sure he STILL cut us a bit of a deal as far as the number of hours he actually put in.

At any rate, with the plumbing inspection completed, we have the green light to start covering up those damn holes in the floor. Which means... concrete!

We picked up 20 bags on Thursday night and stashed them in the garage for safekeeping. After work on Friday, I picked up a half-a-yard of washed sand. We used the sand to cushion and embed the pipes, and then covered them up with some of the better quality dirt and the rest of the sand. Did I mention that all of the sand and dirt had to be passed in through the window in buckets?

Here's the result:




(Ha ha, cats can't get out the hole!)

After we were finished that, I went back to Rona and picked up another 12 bags of concrete. Of course, my back and arms started to stiffen up on the drive, so loading 12 bags really, really hurt. When all was done:



That is 32 bags of Sakrete Concrete Mix, and we're hoping it will be enough. We had to get it in two trips, because we didn't want to find out that the truck couldn't handle 1760 pounds of crap while coming back on the highway at 90kph. Oh, and by the way: picking up and putting down 32 bags of concrete means more than two "Vitamin I". I'm just saying.

All in all, it was a hell of a lot of work for a Friday night. It's worth it though: no more enormous piles of dirt in the basement:



The plan for today: pick up the concrete mixer (what? you think we're mixing 32 bags of concrete in a wheelbarrow? HA!) at 10, clean and prep the holes, and start laying concrete. Oh, joy. If I don't post pictures tonight, I'm probably stuck in the foundation.

Fortunately, Amy's done a fair amount of concrete work in her time, so once again, she'll be in charge while I do all the heavy lifting.

One last picture before I go get started:



Ah, my favorite hole. Want to know the best part? We can't fill it in yet! We have to make it BIGGER!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem.

Sorry about that. Anyway, we need to dig down some more on the right side there to expose the drain tile - that's where it connects to the pipe that runs through the front yard and out to the city storm drain. We have to expose it so we can install a clean out. Joy.

I'm going to need more coffee today. I can feel it already. Read more...