Basement Floor

Gah...It's been an age since I last posted. I've changed jobs, Shawn's changed jobs twice, and just last month we got married (whoot!)  But as much as our daily lives have changed, the home improvement has been rather moderate.

The major one was replacing the roof.  This before picture shows the two different types of roofing that we had up there.

The original house (near in the pic) had corrugated metal roofing over top of cedar shingles.  The 'new' part (far left in the pic) had layers of shingles.  Shawn did the shingled part first in the fall of 2010.  In order to avoid exposing the whole layer of sheathing to the elements, he did it in sections.

 When this was completed, Shawn worked as a long-haul truck driver for about a year.  Which sucked because a) I missed him, b) nothing major got done on the house, and c) I missed him.  Now he drives locally for a nearby business and he's home every night.  Yay!  So...

The original portion of the house was re-roofed in May of 2012.  Under the old corrugated metal roofing was the original roofing material: cedar shingles.  And after years of living under the metal they were dry, dry, dry--that is, a fire hazard.  Not so yay.  Here's the process:

 First, the cedar shingles, then the bare bones, and third, the new sheathing.  Here's the nearly final product:

I'd go out and get a completed shot but it's raining just now.  But comparing even this to the image in the header of this blog makes my heart go pitter-patter.  Now, back to the basement:

We've hired a guy to pour our four inch thick concrete basement floor.  Yes, that's right.  We've hired someone who doesn't live here.  Reason being: no single person can put a smooth finish on a nearly 900 sq. ft surface faster than the concrete can dry.  It takes a team.  Furthermore, it takes an experienced team where everyone knows his job and can get it right the first time and fast.  (So, not me.)

What we have done is place thick (6mil) plastic sheeting down as a vapor barrier (it'll be forever covered by the concrete) and installed three drains that run out to the french drain which runs out to our sump well and a backup dry well. 

 Because, why not?  Shawn's done everything to prevent water in the basement including waterproofing the concrete block, grading the yard, running gutters, digging a dry well, and installing a french drain.  But just in case of torrential weather some year, it's cheaper to install these drains and never need them than to buy flood insurance.  

So, now we wait for our floor guy.  In the meantime, some smaller fun things are happening inside!