Basement Additions: Bathroom & Egress Window

BEFORE:

Laundry Area/Pre-Bathroom 6/2010

Den/Recreation Area/Pre-Egress Window 6/2010

I am not a fan of contractors. I will admit that I can be a very difficult person to work with, especially if I hire you to do a specific job and you are not meeting my expectations or contractual obligations. Three things are very important to me: my son, my house and my money. Therefore, committing to a contractor to put in an egress window and a second (3/4) bathroom in my basement, affects two if not all three of the things most important to me.

I had anticipated blogging daily about the progress of the construction, but obviously I didn't. I didn't want to focus on the negative and the trivial. Besides, who wants to read about my daily issues exacerbated by home improvement woes? Yes, my thoughts exactly.

So in summary - the job is done and we are squabbling slightly over the final bill. The inspector required that a new stairway handrail be added as it was too short as well as a partial half wall on the other side of the stairs! I went out and purchased the vanity, light fixtures, floor tile & grout and was suppose to get a credit, which hasn't happened...yet. Little of any of the details were discussed with me. Tile went in before I was given the go ahead to paint the drywall, therefore I had to paint over my new tile! Trim went up pre-primed but not painted (Anyone who has seen me paints knows this is a double nightmare!), fortunately they didn't put up all the trim and I located the pile of pre-cut and was able to put two coats of paint on those before they went up!

AFTER:

New Hand Rail & Partial Wall 6/2010

Landscaping - they tore out two trees and all shrubs on the side of the house for the window and told me if I purchased plants they would plant them. Almost $100 later in perennial plants that I hadn't anticipated, I received the bill for landscaping of $95 for mulch, potting soil and grass seed.

Seriously? I could have done it for less! But I was told, "You weren't charged for labor." Great, since they didn't plant the plants where I had told them and they used cedar mulch instead of red that is throughout my yard. But at the time, I thought it was free.

Almost every day I came home to every light on in my basement and the house unlocked. One weekend I came home to the house smelling of turpentine as a bottle had been left opened and several dozen flies! They drilled a 3" hole out of the side of the house for an exhaust fan but didn't bother to cap it or fill it until they installed the fan!

I didn't have laundry usage for two weeks. When I inquired I was told to go ahead and do laundry. During the first load of laundry I walked by the drywalled bathroom and found a small pool of water on the floor. 11:00p.m. call to the contractor, eight towels later and laundry sitting in the tub mid-cycle = priceless. Water quickly creeped up the new drywall as the floors aren't level. The next morning, the drywall guy (who showed up 2.5 hours late on a Saturday and then subsequently locked himself out of the house!) took off the lid of the enclosed pump and found that the pump was wedged against the side wall. Resolved. BUT, wasn't it tested first? Guess not. I do have a nice utility tub and an extra floor drain too!

Apparently my house, which should be a bomb shelter, has nothing normal about it (including the occupants!) and has 10" cement walls with large rocks in it vs. the normal 8" walls. So I was charged an additional $310 drilling fee. In addition, the water drill caused lots of water damage to the concrete so I needed to clean and scrape up the walls to repaint. While doing this, I discovered that I had mold growing on one wall! I was appalled. Amazing the difference a dehumidifier makes - and the contractors kept turning mine off or not putting it together right and water ended up all over the floor, again. So I had to treat the wall, which then bleached out some of my black carpet. Really, how much better does it get? Oh how I love home improvement projects!

All in all though, it's done. I now have an additional bathroom and an egress window that anyone can break into or escape out of. Did I really think this through prior to installation? Nope.

AFTER:

(Oops, missed including the light fixture!)

New Basement Bathroom 7/2010

Egress Window 7/2010

Reorganized furniture and moved t.v.'s (big one is in the nook)


I'm just thankful that I received the grant money to pay for the majority of the window. On a side note, the licensing requirements are completed and my study was submitted to the state for approval on 7/12/10. Let the fun continue!