Midnight last night, September 26, 2010, marked the end of an inauspicious week in my 2010 cycling calendar. I've been training and racing this season ever since December 1, 2009. Consequently, not a week has gone by since then when I haven't been in the saddle at least once. Even since Labor Day Weekend, I've been able to ride at least once during the week. That streak ended at midnight last night.
So why did my cycling drop off so dramatically after Labor Day Weekend? As I mentioned in my last post, I discovered my basement was flooding when I was on my way to a race at Bethel this past March. I've been too busy doing the "summer things" of riding/racing/roadtrips/vacation/mowing the grass to do anything about it. And, frankly, I was too discouraged and unmotivated to even try.
With the coming of Autumn, and the promise of more indoor time, it was time to decide what to do about the basement, if anything. I was tempted to just leave it as is/was and leave it for the "next guy"/owners. But some of my friends convinced me that, even if we were to sell eventually, prospective buyers would not likely buy my "glass is half full" philosophy of the "partially finished basement" (as in "finished down to 16" above the floor"). And - even better - they offered to give me a much-needed jolt of encouragement by agreeing to come over and help me get started.
We got materials and started putting up 'rock Labor Day Weekend Eve (Sept. 2). At 6am the morning of Wednesday Sept. 22 I started on the last of the baseboards and finished them a few hours later.
It didn't take as long as I was afraid it would. It wasn't that I was that intimidated by this project, mostly just VERY unmotivated. I'd finished the basement in our Milford house from scratch, so this was small potatoes by comparison.
But I'm glad I waited - I certainly couldn't have afforded to lose a month of training/riding during the height of the racing season! Now I just hope I can get back in condition in time for my last race on Columbus Day. Guess we'll see - but at least now this major project is in my rear view mirror.
Here are some pics to show you how it went. . .
Here is a "BEFORE" picture - back in the halcyon days of being able to work on my bike in such a great environment. Nice wall-to-wall carpeting, wood baseboards & trim.
There were 2 large and one small rooms finished. Here's the same room as above after we got home from the Bethel race that day. Carpet rolled up, trying to dry out the underlayment.
I tried the wet vac, even rented an extractor. Not being confident that I'd prevent the mold, and having heard a horror story about a friend's house that got totally overrun with mold, I gave up.
Here is what resulted (pic of the same room as above, different angle) - I "short-sheeted" the entire finished portion of the basement. I removed all the carpet, carpet pad, pulled up all the tacking strips, removed the wooden baseboards and removed the sheetrock up to 16" above the floor (well above the highest point of any water or wicking). I also removed all the insulation, much of which had wicked up a lot of water.
After months of leaving it like this (I'd hauled to the dump all the debris you see above), some friends helped me get started the evening of Sept. 2.
Drywall up, taping & topping done:
After two coats of topping and sanding, primer coat done:
Two coats of color matching what was there, and all the carpet tack divots/holes patched around the perimeter.
The floor turned out to be the toughest part of the job. I decided to paint it, rather than risk ruining carpet again, but it was in pretty rough shape. As noted above, I patched the worst of the divots, and scraped/wirebrushed the entire floor, then TSP/cleaned it, then primer/sealer, then two coats of color. After that cured, I put on the vinyl baseboard material.
This is how it looks now:
Not too bad, if I don't say so myself.
And if we get another "100 year flood" sometime in the future, we're ready. There's no wall insulation below 16", the sheetrock is "greenboard" (the same thing that's used in showers), the floor is just sealed & painted (no more carpet), and the baseboards are rubber. No way for water to wick into the walls and I can use a wet vac to deal with any water I happen to get.
So, now that that project's done and out of the way, it's time to get back on the bike. Looking forward to some really nice days - just hope we don't get a lot of rain this Autumn!
Good work on the basement, bro! It looks very nice now. All you have to do is to keep it that way and don't let flood destroy it. If that were my basement, I'd turn it into an entertainment spot and a mini bar. But a bicycle workshop is also fine, hehe.
Posted by: Emerson Paynode | August 11, 2011 at 01:22 PM