Our Reno Marathon

Posted on Wednesday 31 January 2007 at 11:54

Well, we've been working on this "basement, etc." project since 2004, with a year off in 2005 for Dave's broken neck. So it was really great to get back at it this fall.

We started by seriously debating the financial wisdom of taking out a renovation loan. For one thing, we're trying to get out of debt, and I know it can be done by low-to-middle income people, because my grandparents started out far worse off than we have, and they did it - plus helped send their kids to university. I'm not afraid to live on our actual income rather than credit, regardless of what mainstream society claims our life should be like.

We ended up deciding, with trepidation, to have our home assessed and our mortgage extended. We were amazed to find that our property value had nearly doubled over the past three years. We still couldn't sell it debt-free and have enough to buy any place else, but it was nice to hear it's doing better than we thought.

The gal at the bank was quite clear with us that Dave's job at one of the best employers of the region was basically a golden ticket. They offered to bend over backwards to make sure we could get the amount we wanted. We said, "The amount we want is only the amount of equity we can access after rolling our vehicle loan in."

The bank gal said, "Oh, really? Most people want to know why they can't get more."

And we wonder why our country's in a fragile economic state. Nobody actually owns what they have. We're trying really hard to change that for ourselves, while still providing our kids with good living conditions.

The consolidation cut our interest on the truck in half and provided us with an amount that could fulfill our plans if managed very carefully. We're still buying our supplies on sale, shopping around, trying to avoid dipping into the loan for small things. Any purchase under $100, we try to just make from the disposable income portion of Dave's current paycheque.

Two years after jackhammering and bucket-hauling out the old, wrecked concrete floor, Dave finished installing weeping tile inside the foundation and across the middle. This had to be done because we have a high water table that was seeping up through the floor in spring. Then it was time to spread a gravel base, put down plastic and styrofoam, and lay a grid of rebar for the in-floor heating coil.

The biggest challenge with the in-floor heating pipe was just not to crimp it when bending it. It is a continuous coil for each loop, so there are no joints in the pipe that could leak inside the concrete floor. There are several loops for the different rooms we plan to put in, so the heat can be adjusted for each area of the floor.

After that, we got the guy with the cement truck in. This was huge excitement for the kids, because it backed right up to the kitchen window and put the chute in the basement window below to dump the concrete. We had Granddad and Uncle come over to help spread the concrete and smooth it.

One of Dave's co-workers recommended taking small pieces of ready-rod (metal bar) and having them stick up out of the concrete where the walls will go. Then the wall footers can be drilled and bolted to the bars, rather than risk puncturing our heating coil by putting a nail into the floor to secure the wall.

As one last feature, Dave placed some of that white styrofoam insulation vertically in the concrete to isolate one corner that has no heating coil. That will be my cold storage room for root vegetables and canning, once it gets walls.

We were a little concerned about how the concrete would cure, since the basement wasn't heated at all, and it was late October. After three or four days, Dave got the outdoor coal boiler online and ran some heat through the floor. A bit of moisture came out in the form of isolated damp patches, but nothing too severe.

Next time I get around to this topic, it'll probably be the Stairwell Saga.

Untitled Comment

Posted by BlueApple on Thursday 1 February 2007 at 12:51 - Link

Wow - that looks like a very involved process! I've heard about those heating coils but I've never seen how they are put in.
J