And it's done. For the most part.

It's going to be weird having a functioning basement again.  We're still not sure about the gray for the ceiling and trim.  Not the color we expected once it was on the walls.  No issues with the yellow. 

The basement will once again become the boys ginormous playroom for the next several months.  Or years.  They need a place to run around and we're short of furniture thanks to the mold.   

A photo montage of our basement. Or a twofer if you like.

There's actually been quite a bit more progress but it gives you an idea of what's been going on.  Since these have been taken, all of the drywall is up and things are at the point of being painted.  We caved and hired a person to finish the job for us.

Jason and our neighbors got almost all of the drywall up one drunken Saturday.  Another neighbor gave us the name of the person who finished their mudding and taping.  We hired him after he checked out the scope of our job, especially since the price was well below what any of us would have thought.  He finished up the drywall, taped and mudded for us.  The basement looks completely different now, if incredibly dusty at the moment.

And I wonder why I'm sick

The week started off innocently enough as a random sore throat. The occasional hacking loogy was there with the intermittent cough. As the week progressed, the throat became more swollen and scratchy. The lungs are fighting back. The pain is, well, a pain in my fucking ass. I've been popping Tylenol like their Tums while I shine a flashlight down my throat.

All during this week Jason has been working on stripping the paint off the walls and glue crap on the basement floor. The haze! The fumes! The air we're breathing! It's no wonder more of us aren't hacking within the walls of our house.

At least I'm not the only one hacking. Jason is firmly entrenched in the same misery.

How many staples does it take?

Apparently 20-30 staples per tread on our stairs. I started removing carpet staples yesterday from the stairs. I still haven't finished because my back gave out on me from bending over. I wouldn't have to do this if I had the tool for removing the tack strips. I also realized there are smaller ones which I glossed over on the first couple of steps. Oops.

Next week two waterproofing companies are coming out for estimates. One I'd initially asked about our carport roof will have his engineer in tow. We'd started talking about the mold issue after he'd shown me the roof. Mike called us yesterday saying he'd talked with his engineer about another possibility for grading our backyard. He won't have a proposal for us until later on next week.

Between the three, we'll have anywhere from waterproofing the outside again to regrading the yard. It'll be interesting to see the different proposals and final costs.