Building phase

The demo is done. The concrete has been washed and painted so no more mould will grow there - ever! (Apparently.) However, the paint was extra stinky and I'm surprised that none of us suffocated in the night. But the basement does look a lot better now! Spray foam insulation might happen on Friday, which would be lovely as the workers are, quite reasonably, taking the week off between Christmas and New Years...

Wet floors - but it's ok

Demo is done in the basement. How do I know? The big waste bin that has been parked in our driveway for the week has disappeared. So the demo must be done. Also, we have no more walls in the basement. It's weird to see it so unfinished. The contractor (or someone) power-washed the entire basement today, and the walls are dripping and the floor has puddles on it (small ones, but still). I guess it's ok - we are plugging in the dehumidifier overnight... Oh wait... that means we need a plug.... Hmm.....

Basement reno - update

Came home Tues and our downstairs bathroom was gone gone gone. Just a hole in the wall. Well, not even a wall really. The boys think this is amazing. They have plans to take out ALL of the walls and make the entire basement one big huge play space. This is not an entirely bad idea really - it would be a lot cheaper than what we actually do have planned...

Weds morning, however, we had no hot water and I loooove my hot showers in the morning - especially when the weather is cooler. So on top of a demo'd basement and various other (perceived) stresses in my life, I almost broke down and cried when I had to take a cold shower - and my feet didn't warm up for hours because it's cold in my office at work too...

Called the contractor 8am - he told us about how he found the water heater unplugged and thought we had done it yadda yadda yadda and so he plugged it back in and it should be fine, except it wasn't. So he said he'd pop by. Turns out that our house has the wrong coloured wires for the different lines (or whatever - he was speaking some sort of electrician dialect...) and so while he plugged our hot water heater into the standard system, our house apparently is not standard. Matches the occupants I guess...

Good news- hot water was back in the evening. YAY!

In other news, Kid#1 managed to lose another wire from his braces (I think we're up to 3 "emergency" ortho visits now - and the braces have only been on for about 2 months out of a total of 6...). Called the ortho, got the front desk person just before she closed, and we're heading in 8am tomorrow morning - because the office is closed down for two weeks starting 5pm Thurs. So bad news - Kid#1 is going to have to HUSTLE tomorrow morning.

Which means I should go to bed. Not that I need the sleep  myself necessarily, but I will need the willpower and stamina to keep nagging at the kid...

No wonder I nearly break down emotionally over a cold shower!

ACK - basement reno!!!

The demolition of our basement started today. The premise is that there is probably mould and almost definitely animals (mice) that we need to get rid of. However, we're also moving a few things around and so on... I'm sure it will be great when it's all finished. However...

- the entire basement is off-limits for the kids
- no visitors or entertaining for the duration (both good and bad)
- the front room of our house contains much of what was in the basement, and so is also off-limits
- we have lost our downstairs bathroom
- my "home office" is now in the upstairs living room
- I don't do well in chaos

My biggest fear? Of course that we all get horribly sick and wish we had the second toilet. Argh. And, of course, Kid#1 tells us today about a kid who puked in class. Hooray.

My anxiety is through the roof. At least that's still there! for now....