New Basement!

Earlier this spring, Diana and I decided to tackle the project of finishing our basement. In April, we met with a company called Owner Assisted Renovations, who helps homeowners complete projects by doing some portion of the work. They helped us work up a design and then we agreed that Diana and I would try to do everything except for the utilities. How hard could it be? They would do the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. The plan was for a main family room with a wet bar, a full bathroom, and a office/extra room.

Building plans.

Here is a look at the starting condition of the basement. Your typical unfinished basement that we used to store a lot of stuff... and to ride our bikes.

In May, we had all our permits in place were ready to start. But where? I guess any wall is better than the next, so I picked a wall and started framing. We got quicker as we went with me measuring, Diana cutting studs to length, and then me nailing them in place. Framing along the foundation walls wasn't bad since we had a guide to follow, but then came the bathroom. We learned a lot about framing, and angles, and doors, and shower stalls framing that bathroom in. But we got it done and then the plumbers were in to rough in the bathroom plumbing. Now this whole time I am working out of town all week so basement work was saved for Sundays or my other day's off. All of the framing took us until the end of July to complete.

Framing in the full bathroom

Framing complete

More Framing

After passing the framing inspection, it was on to insulation and flooring. Putting insulation in was relatively easy. For the flooring, we put down a dimpled plastic subfloor just in case we do get any moisture. We haven't had any water since we've lived here, but it's better to be safe. With this flooring, water can flow underneath the main floor through the plastic channels to the floor drain in the utility room.

Above the floor is plywood sheathing since we planned to put carpet down. This was where I really felt the sweat equity... We put that plywood down on a 90 degree day in august and I was cutting sheets out in the driveway and carrying them into the basement all day. Once in place, all of the plywood was anchored to the concrete floor with screws. We finished up the flooring by laying a tile floor in the bathroom. This stage was done within a month by the end of August.

Plastic subfloor with plywood

More flooring and insulation

Tile floor in the bathroom

After flooring, and passing the insulation inspection, we were on to drywall. Diana's favorite! No, not really. We had a stack of 60 sheets of drywall in our garage and we knew it was going to take some time. Once we got the "hang" of it, hanging drywall wasn't that bad. Just measure, cut, glue, and screw. Mudding and taping on the other hand, was a little less fun. This is one skill where it would have been useful to have an expert show us how it is done. We did improve as we went on, but we had a lot of sanding and smoothing to do. All of the drywall, mudding, and taping took two months to complete and we were done by the end of September.

Drywall view 1

Drywall view 2

Drywall in the bathroom

Drywall in the back room

Now we were on to priming and painting. At this stage the basement was starting to look finished and we were getting excited for the end. This was a nice easy stage where we could just turn on the radio and paint.  We were done with the paint by early November.

Priming view 1

Priming view 2

Priming back room

Painted view 1

Painted view 2

Painted back room

 By early November I was done working out of town and was able to crank out the finishing work. This included installing cabinets, hanging doors, and all of the base trim and trim for windows and doors. We hired out the carpet and counter top and did some furniture shopping. Now, just in time for Christmas visitors, the basement is complete! We learned a lot throughout the process and think it turned out great.

Completed basement view 1

Completed basement view 2. Cassie loves the basement and the room to run inside.

Wet bar.

Bathroom view 1 with custom made shelves.

Bathroom view 2.

Back room view 1. I still need to cover the electric panel.

Back room view 2

Long Project Complete

For the past 18 months I have been working on a remediation project in Waukegan, Illinois. It has been long hours and a lot of time away from home, but it is now complete! I am looking forward to taking some time off and spending a lot more time with Diana and Cassie!

The site before construction. Pretty desolate, but it was below ground in the soil where there was the worst contamination.

Overview of the site along Lake Michigan.

Another view of the site. Lots of equipment working together to get the job done.

Some of the early mornings had nice sun rises.

There were also many late nights.

Over 5,500 overlapping soil-mixed columns were constructed to solidify the contaminated soil in place.

Hundreds of samples were collected to ensure the construction was properly completed. That's me in the bottom corner.

We also had to work through the third coldest and snowiest winter on record. 

In the end, everything was successfully completed and the 300,000 cubic yards of soil on 9 acres of land is now cleaned.

The crew from all over the country that got the work done. Some interesting characters.

Summer/Fall 2014

Adirondack Canoe Classic

In the beginning of September we flew  back to NY so I could participate in the Adirondack Canoe Classic, a 90-mile canoe race from Old Forge to Saranac Lake. I have done the race a few times before, but this year we arranged to have all four Millspaugh siblings paddle together: Me, Philip, Robert, and Emma. We all converged in Old Forge from Montana, Wisconsin, Buffalo, and Rochester, and were ready to go. The race is split over three days and we camped overnight in between the stages.

Diana helped out with Mom and Dad as the pit crew, following us throughout the race and relaxing with us at the campsites.

Pre-race Picture!

Day one started out with us getting used to paddling together... and within 5 minutes of practicing we flipped the canoe. At least it was a very hot day. Once upright again, we were off covering the 35 miles from Old Forge to Blue Mountain Lake. It was a hot and tough day with long portages, but we were in second place in the mixed C4 event at the end of the day.

Off for Day 1

Coming through Brown's Tract

Over the Beaver Dam

Coming into the Finish at Blue Mountain Lake

Coral, the other member of the "pit" crew

Day 2 was cooler with rain. The stretch down long lake was increasingly windy with rolling waves. As soon as we got off the lake onto the river, the rain started and lasted most of the rest of the day. We finished the day one spot back into third place in our class. Fortunately, the rain let up after the racing and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner and fire at the campsite.

Line of Canoes on Long Lake

Day 3 started off with a fog delay, but  turned into a beautiful day. Boat 98 was ready for a battle, and our mascot the flamingo was ready to go. The top three boats in our class were neck and neck the whole stage. We tried our best to put time into the competition to finish in a higher spot. All three boats crossed the finish line just feet apart and we ended in 3rd place, less than 10 minutes off of first place.

Everyone knew the flamingo boat

Team Millspaugh Ready for Day 3

Off to the Start

Running through the Portage

Beautiful Scenery of the Adirondacks

Sprinting into the Finish

The whole crew at the finish line

Team Millspaugh, paddling together for 20 Years

North Face Trail Run

The week after the 90-Miler, we drove down to the Kettle Moraine State Park for the North Face Endurance Challenge 10k trail run. It was a beautiful cool day for running and was a well organized event. I finished 9th overall and 2nd in my age group.

Me and Cassie!

Cassie and Diana! Great support!

Coming into the finish

Post-race Cassie picture!

Miscellaneous

This summer we did some landscaping in our backyard. One addition was a "Butterfly Bush" that really did attract a lot of butterflies. Diana was able to get a good picture of a Monarch enjoying the flowers.

Butterfly Bush

At the end of August, Cassie celebrated her 4th birthday and we got her a nice vanilla ice cream cone. She loved it.

Happy Birthday Cassie!

Here are a few more Cassie pictures.

Cassie likes to check in on us in the morning to see when we are getting out of bed.

Last week we had friends visiting who have a great dane/bullmastiff mix, which is a huge dog. Cassie was a little cautious at first, but they became good friends.

Cassie and her new friend

Diana also made some more wall paintings for one of her coworkers. The theme of this set was butterflies.

Creative Diana!

Diana also put together a nice fall centerpiece for our dining table using some flowers from the local farmer's market.

Fall Centerpiece

Farmer's Market Flowers