A year later

and this is where we stand. The basement still isn't done but progress is finally being made. Jason's been working on removing the old paint from the walls and glue from the floor. The grey areas on the wall have been scrubbed clean. It takes hours in removing the paint. We have one last possibility in paint removal before going back to the lovely lead based haze removal.

The floors are slowly being brought back to normal before we lay down self leveling concrete. If you pay attention you'll also see the crappy fluorescent lights are gone! We have proper recessed lighting and the lights on the stairs are working. Took us forever to figure out what the little boxes were.

During the next two weeks a flurry of activity will be happening downstairs. Okay, I admit we also have a deadline with the insurance company in turning the rest of our claim in for the mold damage of last year. Dare I say we'll have a proper ceiling with insulation by month's end? That we'll have brand new bamboo flooring downstairs? Yes, yes I dare.

You're not in code.

The electricians came out today since we, I mean Jason, knows his limitations. Several of the junction boxes and lights were not in code, something which doesn't surprise us one bit. They're coming back next week to install recess lighting in the basement. I refuse to have anymore fluorescent lights down there. Okay, so it's also because we don't want the pain in the arse drop ceilings either.

Jason's been trying to remove the old paint on the cinder block. The only thing working at the moment is grinding it off. This results in a fine haze making it's way upstairs. He'll come out covered in gray soot and his mask completely dark. None of this crap is helping us feel any better since we're both fighting something off at the moment. He's ordered a product which is supposedly guaranteed to work. Keep your fingers crossed because I don't want anymore dust.

I'm tired of dusting and vacuuming daily because of this shite. It's everywhere. I know I'm missing quite a bit since I won't move furniture around. He didn't realize how bad it got up here until the other day. The last time he'd worked down there I'd mention the haze. I also said I didn't know how much was coming from downstairs or my glasses buggering my eyes. I haven't been wearing my contacts very much so it was a likely excuse.

One of these days we'll have a functioning basement again.