Let's make this official!

I've spent enough time polishing my Visio floor plan - I've had enough conversations with friends, contractors, and architects - I've stared at my basement walls long enough - it's time to make it official!

Yesterday I walked into my township's building, entered the Public Works / Safety Codes Enforcement Dept, and talked with Rose to apply for my building permit.  A lot less scary than my first visit, but I still felt like a fish out of water.  I knew that I needed to make 3 copies of the plans, but I didn't know that they didn't need before and after drawings.  So in order to make my plans complete, I picked up a pencil and transcribed dimensions from my as-is drawings to my to-be plans.  $194 later, I'm official.  

So the next step is to wait for a phone call.  The inspector is going to review what I submitted and call with questions and concerns.  Hopefully that is a short phone call...

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It's sticky time!

If you didn't read my last post, you didn't hear about my unique basement and my fascination with spray foam.

Well, after searching online and talking to the guys at Lowe's, I was surprised to see that there wasn't much available for the DIY'er.  There are only a few options...I ended up buying a Foam it Green kit for 200 square feet.  It was fun to see it come in it's little box, complete with a Tyvek Suit, Goggles and Gloves.

I think the suit was a little over-kill, but hey...it came with the box, some I'm puttin' it on!

The instructions and warnings on the website scared me into reading over every little detail before I started spraying.  The short story is that the canisters need to be about 70-80 degrees and that you can't stop spraying for more than 30 seconds without replacing the nozzle with a new one.  They give you about a dozen nozzles, so you can take plenty of breaks if you'd like.  

Once I started spraying, it was off to the races!  I was scared to stop!  It's really fun to see it bubble and rise. My main disappointment is that I wish I bought more.  I was planning to cover the ledge around the sides of the basement, but I was also hoping to spray the rim joists because I heard that they leak a lot of heat.  I thought 200 sqft would cover both, but I wasn't too good at considering the thickness.  Oh well.  Great Stuff will need to fill in the remaining gaps and some extract batt insulation will help pack out the rim joists.  Check out the final result:

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An insulation problem...

Did I mention that my basement used to be a crawl space?  Hmm...maybe I didn't.

The guy across the street is actually the one who bought this house in the late 90's and converted the crawl space to a full basement.  He's a builder with an awesome house and a large pickup that leaves at 6:30 every morning like clockwork.  He called me over one day and showed me a couple pictures of the project.  Impressive.

Anyway, his work left me with an insulation dilemma.  Because the first 4-6' of the basement is new, there is a "step" around 3/4 of the basement, where the new cinder blocks meet the old bricks.

So you notice how I have the rigid foam board on the top and the bottom, but nothing in the middle?  I considered laying insulation batts over that space, but quickly abandoned the idea when I imagine them  turning into sponges.

I first learned about the perils of basement insulation when...who would have expected it...when reading Amazon reviews for the best basement remodeling book available: Remodeling A Basement Revised Edition.  Everyone loves the book, except for a couple guys who disagreed with the author's approach of using insulation batts directly against the concrete wall.

These reviews sent me on a wild Google-based research project about basement insulation techniques.  It seems like a really controversial subject.  I mean, how many times have you been in a finished basement that smells like a basement?  The standard approach is to put the studs right against the basement wall, fill the center with insulation batts, and then cover the inside with a vapor barrior.  Some people think it works, others think it's crazy.  Apparently the batts wick the moisture from the walls and the vapor barrier holds the water in place.  The result is that the batts lose a lot of R-value and become a nesting ground for mold.  This whitepaper (pdf) on the US Dept of Energy's website helped confirm this line of thinking, along with a bunch of other articles.  It just made sense to me.  So I decided to go with the foam board / spray foam plan against the wall.  I also plan to fill the stud cavities with batt insulation, so I'll have all three!  The triple play!

Back to the spray foam...YouTube has a few videos showing their awesome power.  Julie can attest to the fact that these videos got me a little too excited.  I think I just wanted to wear one of those suits and watch the foam fill in all the cracks! I could watch those videos over and over again.

In the next post, I'll tell you about my experience with the stuff...

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I caved in

Hey, remember back when I used to blog?  Wow it's been a while.  I can't say that I've picked up a hammer in a while either.

While I haven't been busy constructing anything, I have been busy planning.  It's these slow parts that are hard...the times when I need to step back and think about what I am doing.  It's much more fun to see it coming together, setting insulation  in place, building walls, etc.  But I would much rather sit in front of my computer planning than have to dismantle a mistake (or sit in my finished basement wishing I did something differently).

I've been blessed with a couple helpful fellows from my church.  One is an architect (Brad) and the other is a seasoned general contractor (Gary).  I walked through the basement with Gary, explaining my stairwell dilemma and the potential solutions from Brad.  Gary reviewed my ideas, gave me a couple alternatives, warned me about   my lack of fire blocking (more on that later), and encouraged me to "go for it".  I think I am going to do it!

Gary, with his background and experience with township inspectors, came up with a new alternative Option 1.  It's the same as the existing option, except that 1) I won't dig out and pour a new basement floor under the support walls, 2) I'll execute the plan before I apply for the permit, making it an "existing structure" and greatly simplifying the permit process.  He also suggested how I could use a steel plate to support the bedroom wall above (the part that was a little fuzzy in my design).

Then Brad came over to take a look.  We crawled into the attic to see how the attic joists run and on which wall they rested.  Luckily they didn't rest on the bedroom wall that is resting on the steel beam we are going to remove.  If they did, the wall would be supporting more weight than we planned, requiring us to provide extra supports to replace the removed section of the beam.  Brad really liked Gary's idea to fix the stairwell problem and then apply for the permit.  The biggest concern is that we aren't going to dig and pour a deeper basement slab.  We think that we can convince the inspector to look at the entire solution, and that he'll like the overall result.

For completeness, here is the new, adjusted, solution:

1. Fix the cantilever problem
1. Weld all the support columns to the steel I-beams
2. Weld cantilevered I-beam to the other beam that butts up against it
3. Build load-bearing walls on either side of the bottom of the stairwell, each about 2' 6" long.  These sections will support 3 joists, allowing me to remove a portion of the cantilevered beam. 
4. Cut back about 2' 6" from the cantilevered beam.  In the webbing of the cut-back beam, weld a 3 inch angle clip that will eventually secure (with 2 3/8" lag bolts) to a wood "header" that rests on the 2' 6" wall. 
5. Since the joists currently overlap on top of the existing steel beam, lag bolt the two joists together with 4 1/4" lag bolts on each overlap.  
2. Fix the stairwell height
1. Drill holes every 4' through the other steel I-beam in order to bolt (3/8" lag bolts) the wood plate to the beam.  
2. Secure the joist to the wood plate using brackets.  Steps 1 & 2 will secure the I-beam and house laterally after we completely remove 3' from the center of the beam. 
3. Remove the 3' section of the I-beam that is above the stairs
4. Remove the plate and header that is on top of the I-beam
5. Remove a 3' section from the 8" joists that are closest to the bottom of the stairwell.  We can support the floor above by adding a piece of 2x lumber that runs along the joist and rests on the new 2' 6" support walls.  Interesting point....Brad taught me that it's best to avoid cutting 90 degree angles as I form this custom fit, since 90 degree angles create weak points.

Two stud bearing walls replace steel beam

View from above

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Won't a "Watch Your Head" sign be enough?

In my last post, I pointed out a few significant problems with the stairwell and support beams in my basement.  I must admit that I've been a little discouraged about these setbacks, but I've satisfied by frustration by demo'ing and replacing the hopper windows (more on that later).

So what am I to do?  I'm starting to settle on two options:

1. The full blown fix (the permit-satisfying route)

This solution is definitely the most complicated.  I am thankful for my architect friend, Brad, for walking me through the approach.  Here are the steps (the pictures from the last post will help visualize the problem):

1. Fix the cantilever problem
1. Weld all the support columns to the steel I-beams
2. Weld cantilevered I-beam to the other beam that butts up against it. 
3. Dig out a 1' x 4'+ swath in the concrete floor on either side of the bottom of the stairwell, and pour a new 6"-8" slab.  Apparently my concrete floor is 4" deep, which is probably too thin for a load-bearing wall
4. Build load-bearing walls on either side of the bottom of the stairwell, each about 4' long.  These 4' sections will support the floor, allowing me to remove a portion of the cantilevered beam. 
2. Fix the stairwell height
1. Drill holes every 4' through the other steel I-beam in order to bolt the wood plate to the beam.  
2. Secure the joist to the wood plate using brackets.  Steps 1 & 2 will secure the I-beam laterally after we completely remove 3' from the center of the beam. 
3. Remove the 3' section of the I-beam that is above the stairs
4. Remove the 10" header on top of the I-beam
5. Remove a 3' section from the 8" joists that are closest to the bottom of the stairwell
6. This part is a little fuzzy...add some extra support to the bedroom wall that is resting on the joists that were removed...or maybe replace some of the joist...or maybe keep some of the joist in place. 

2. The simple fix (permit, what permit?)

This solution simply fixes some of the problems related to the cantilever before I cover everything with studs and drywall.  

1. Weld all the support columns to the steel I-beams
2. Weld cantilevered I-beam to the other beam that butts up against it. 
3. Do not dig out out a 1' x 4'+ swath in the concrete floor.  6" deep is probably a little overkill, and I would only do it to satisfy an inspector.  
4. Build load-bearing walls on either side of the bottom of the stairwell, each about 32" long.  These 32" sections will support the floor, making up for the long run on the cantilevered beam

I'm starting to like Option 2!  ;)  Plus, my father-in-law has offered to buy us a wooden "Watch Your Head" sign from the Amish in Lancaster...

Now I need to find a good welder!

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Were the stairs an afterthought?

It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I would make up with a long one!  A terrible cold tore through our family, and set us back a couple of weeks...it's nice to be back in the saddle again.

So my stairwell has a problem.  At least that's what the township inspector says (and all the codes books). You see, a stairwell to a finished basement is supposed to have head clearance of at least 6' 8".  I thought that meant that I had an 8" problem, but then I found out that they measure from any point along the toe of the stairs, even between the treads.  Its as if someone (a leprechaun?) rested a really thin imaginary board along the front edge of the stairs...any point along that board needs 6' 8" clearance.  So now I know I have a 12" problem.

How do I know that?  Well, like any good engineer (or maybe a procrastinator?), I modeled the problem in Google Sketchup.

Looking up the stairs from the side

Looking down the stairs

Notice those two steel I-beams?  Look closely...notice that portions of both beams have been cut away?  Its almost like the stairwell was an afterthought!

Remember that imaginary board?  The nice thing about Google Sketchup is that I can actually draw it!  Using Sketchup, I rested the board on the stair trends and then raised it 6' 8".  Since the board is imaginary, it cut through all the beams, headers, and joists that are in the way.  The result is a clear picture of the problem.  Green is the color in my imaginary world...

Part of the cantilevered beam and the first set of joists are in the way

Most of the header is also in the way

While analyzing this problem, we also noticed another one (doesn't it usually work out this way?).  The I-beam that ends at the bottom of the stairs (it runs the length of the basement) has a ~9' cantilever from the last support beam.  Apparently that isn't good either... 

Notice the 9' cantilever (on left side of picture)

And there are a few other problems:

• The cantilevered beam doesn't actually run the whole length of the basement...its actually two beams that butt up next to each other.  But they aren't welded or secured together!
• The support columns are not welded or bolted to the beams.  Instead, steal clips that are welded to the column are wrapped snugly around the beam.

And for those of you who prefer real-life pictures over the imaginary world of Sketchup drawings, these photos will bring us back to reality: 

The header and steel beam as we look down the stairwell

The cutouts in the two steel I-beams

What is a do-it-yourselfer supposed to do?  I'll present a couple ideas in my next post...

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Too much stuff!

  

So what do you do when you have too much stuff?  Goodwill and Craigslist!  I previously blogged about organizing the basement, but for me that generally means taking everything in the room and throwing it into the center.  It lets me survey the damage.  And once the center starts to clear out, then its time to grab all the "scraps" and throw 'em into the center.  I'm a little strange, eh?

And if you are thinking about throwing something out, don't!  Post it on the craigslist "free" listings. Seriously, within a couple hours I had about 8 emails asking to pick up 6 panes of glass (who knew?) and a semi-operational sewing machine. Great stuff.

I'm also happy to give old cloths and household items to the Goodwill.  It feels so good after it is all packed up and in the car!  If you itemize on your taxes, don't forget to record what you gave...otherwise you might be missing out on reclaiming a good chunk of change back from the government.  I bet that this pile of clothes will help us reclaim $100-$150!

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Lowes Tax Refund Card

Today I got my first Lowe's Tax Refund Card in the mail.  I say "first" because I definitely plan to get a few more of these.  And I was happy it came today because I wanted to pick up a couple hopper windows.  Field trip to Lowe's!

So here's the deal: First you buy one of these gift cards from now until March 14th.  It will come in the mail in a couple days and you can use it right away.  On March 18th, regardless of how much of the card you have used, Lowe's will automatically add another 10% of the original purchase price back on the card.  Sweet deal, right?!  I look at it as a way to cover the taxes...and a little bit more.

The only "catch"...if you consider it a catch...is that Lowe's requires you to put at least $500 onto one of these cards.  That doesn't stop me because this is project is definitely going to cost more than that.

Now the trick will be to figure out how much to put on these cards.  I guess I'll need to get friendly with the budget spreadsheet again.  I'll also need to determine if there are items that Lowe's doesn't carry or that I would rather buy at another place.  For instance, Lowe's doesn't carry 1.5" extruded polystyrene insulation board, which I need.  Or maybe I would like to get my lumber from a lumber yard instead of Lowe's.

Either way, I'm happy to save a few bucks!

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Permit Process (3 of ??)

Ugh.

So that meeting on Friday didn't exactly go as I hoped.  If you recall from the last blog entry, I needed to talk to an inspector about the head clearance in my stairwell.  Before the inspector came, I started to worry that I should have a half dozen donuts and some coffee from Dunkin' Donuts on the counter.  So I brewed a pot.  I guess it wasn't enough.

It wasn't a good sign when he stared at the ceiling above the base of the steps for about 5-10 minutes and said things like "hmm..." and "oh!" and "I'm not too sure about this".

Ugh.

When it became clear that it wasn't going the way that I hoped, I decided to pull out some last ditch ideas...ideas like, "What if I put some warning tape or lights above the stairs?"

I don't think he responded to my question.

In fact, in addition to telling me that I would need to make some structural adjustments to pass code, he also told me that he wasn't comfortable with the way the support beams were currently configured.  Let's not dwell on that conversation...

So in light of  the circumstances, I think I am left with 3 options:

1. Call the structural engineers that he recommended and rearrange the steel beams that are holding up our house.  Do this so people can have an extra 6-8 inches as they walk down the steps.  Since it costs $350 just to have a "consultation", this option isn't very appealing.  
2. Forget the permit process.  (is there anything else to say about this one?)
3. The "Hybrid Approach".  Continue with the permit process, submit drawings and have way-point inspections, but don't apply for a Use and Occupancy permit at the end of it all.  Why would I do this option?  For one, I would appreciate the reviews along the way.  Second, when we sell our house, I want to tell the Realtor that everything is "up to code", except for the fact that the codes department likes tall people on my stairwell.  I'm guessing that prospective buyers would feel more comfortable if they knew that.  

I think I need to talk to a Realtor...

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Permit Process (2 of ??)

Well, that wasn't so bad.

I knew I was off to a great start when the receptionist replied, "Permit questions??  Well, you won't have any of those left after you leave here. Come 'on in!".

And then I met Rose.  Have you ever heard the phrase "Administrative Assistants rule the world"?  Well, that was definitely true of Rose.  I had thought that I needed to wear a flannel shirt and carry a free coffee from Home Depot in order talk to the Codes Department.  And maybe grow a beard.  Rose put all that to rest by simply saying, "You're going to do most of that yourself?  Well, we like people like you around here.  You are going to do alright."

I'm still not sure about all of the paperwork that she showed me, and after taking 3 long minutes to explain the fee schedule, I told her that I would come back with my checkbook in hand.  I asked her about submitting Floor Plans, and I'm not going to lie, the examples she pulled from the counter looked a little intimidating.  When they tell me to put "all detail" on the drawings, I don't think they know who they are talking to.  Should I attach all the iPhone photos I took of materials at Home Depot (and another round at Lowe's for comparative pricing)?

I'm not sure if the best part of the experience was that she told me that I don't need an egress window (since I am not using the room as a bedroom), or that she made me feel like they were there to help.  She suggested that I call the inspector, Brian, early the next morning to get a few of my big concerns answered...and I did.  And now Brian will be visiting at 7:30 Friday morning to see what we can do about my 6'-1" stairway clearance.

Nervous about the conclusion of that conversation, but excited to be rollin'.

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Permit Process (1 of ??)

What's the scariest part of the entire remodeling effort?  Carrying large amounts of heavy material into the basement?  Sacrificing time and effort away from my young family?  Raiding the bank account?  Accidentally meeting the circular saw in an intimate setting?

No, none of these things scare me the most.

The scariest part is the Permit process.  Maybe it is my healthy respect for the law, or the fact that I've had one too many speeding tickets in my life, or that my job has granted me a government security clearance, but I'm most nervous of the folks with pencils at our township building.

I'm nervous that with a simple stroke of the pen they will cause great harm to my basement plans.  "You need an egress window here, and you need to tear down the basement steps in order to have proper head-clearance, and the ceiling is too short so'll you'll need to dig and pour a new foundation."

Lots of people say, "Do you even need a permit? Couldn't you just do it without anyone knowing?"  Honestly, I'm not sure.  At the end of the day, I'm happy to live in America.  I've been to Africa and I've seen how they run their electrical wire.  I view the township personnel as my allies.  Hopefully they'll be excited that the people who are paying their salaries are improving their homes and communities (and boosting their home assessments...comes full circle doesn't it?).  And when I sell my house in a few years, I want to have a powerful argument as to why I can list the new square footage on the MLS listing.

I tested the waters a few weeks ago with a short and polite email to my township's Safety & Codes Enforcement department with a few questions.  I was pleasantly surprised with the speed of their response.  Additionally, I'm lucky enough to live next door to a local builder who knows these folks by name.  Unfortunately the email response and my neighbor's comments don't agree...so I am more confused than before.  But I feel like I am headed in the right direction.

So tomorrow I head to the township building in the early afternoon.  I'm going to bring a couple of my Visio working diagrams (more on that in a future post), and a bunch of questions.  I don't want to overwhelm them with an overly eager and anal software engineer who thinks he is an armchair architect...I'm most interested in understanding the process.  Which forms do I fill out?  Will I have a sit down meeting with these folks?  Can I ask some questions and get a blessing before I get started?  How do I get inspectors to visit my basement?

Hopefully I'll feel a little more comfortable after tomorrow afternoon.

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What do I do first?

ORGANIZE!

If you are anything like my wife and me, having an unfinished basement means you have an "infinite" amount of extra storage.  At least that is how we've been treating it.  "Where should we put this?"  "Just stick it in the basement."  Extra scraps of wood from the last project?  Don't throw it out...you might be able to use it later.

I think I inherited this disease from my parents.  Since college, they've slowly jettisoned Eric-memorabilia preserved from over the years, sending it home with me in Rubbermaid containers.  Baseball cards, 4th grade writing assignments, and my favorite toy airplanes.  Ugh...how do I throw that stuff out??  I've been employing the "slow and painful" strategy, using successive sessions to select my least favorite items to throw out.

My new favorite date-night is to spend the evening in the basement with my wife, side-by-side, straightening, organizing and purging.  Oh sure, she rolls her eyes, but we end up having fun in the end (right girl?).  We've got the Goodwill/Salvation Army pile, the Craigslist pile, and the I-don't-know-what-to-with-this pile, and the what-on-earth-is-this? pile.  Valentines day is coming up...what better day for a last-hurrah grand finale?

The end goal is to have a clean slate.  The area that will be remodeled needs to be c-l-e-a-r.  Even if I never pick up a hammer, clearing out that area will be a victory...

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So why refinish the basement?

It all comes down to a truce between me and my wife.

Seriously.

We started looking for a house a few months ago.  Apart from setting up realtor.com and trulia.com searches and driving by houses, we didn't get very far.  You see...I'm a slow mover...and I just wasn't getting warm fuzzies about buying a new house.  Blame it on a lack of peace or maybe my newfound interest in Dave Ramsey, but we decided now is not the time.

But my wife wasn't comfortable with the idea of staying in our 1152 sq-ft house either.  We LOVE our house, but our plans for multiple children meant that I either needed to refinish the basement or install padding on every wall.  The basement seemed like the most sane alternative.

Honestly, the fact that we have a 3 bedroom house means that we don't have it that bad. But the arrival of our son Levi meant that guest bedroom became the office and that pieces of the guest bed are now lining a wall in our basement.  It's a mild pain to lug the bed upstairs and transform the office into a guest bedroom when friends and family visit.  It's interesting, though, how much a single rug-rat transforms the decor in our small house.  The nightly ritual is to put Levi to bed and then pick up all his toys.  I doubt it will get any better when a second and third arrive.

So what do we hope some extra space in the basement will provide?

• A more permanent space for Julie's desk and sewing equipment
• An open area for Levi to roam, kick a soccer ball and build a train set that doesn't need to be packed up at the end of the evening.  
• A little bit of privacy for our guests when they spend the night.  
• Maybe I'll actually use the ping-pong table if there is some more lighting and stuff isn't cluttering the surface (will we really be more diligent keeping junk off of it??)
• A retreat for watching TV...if we ever get one!

So there we have it...I think those are reasons enough.  I am not really interested in increasing the value or our house (but it will be nice).  Life is nice when you can face the uncertainty, plan ahead, and have a lovely wife to share it all with.

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Let the Adventure Begin!

Well, here we go!  My wife and I have decided to remodel a portion of our basement...and I thought it would be fun to let others share in the ride.  So in a sense, this is an adventure in two counts: one happens downstairs in the basement and the other happens up here at the computer.

I'm not sure why I've decided to write about the process.  Isn't remodeling the basement enough?  Maybe I'm inspired by my talented wife talented wife who has been blogging for a few years now.  Maybe I'm doing it for accountability. I mean, can I really stop or take time off if I know others are reading about my progress?  I think what motivates me the most is...although I feel like I am pretty handy around the house, the idea of remodeling my own basement is a little overwhelming.  I figure there are others like me out there, and I hope you find this inspiring.

So let the adventure begin!

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