The Transformation of the Basement Begins

Here's the basement stripped. All the old interior walls are gone and the old wooden beams - many which were beginning to rot at the bottom because of the moisture they'd been "wicking" up over the years - were all replaced with jack posts. Large stone blocks were placed under the jack posts to bring them up the level of where the new cement floor will be.

We found the old coal chute behind the Styrofoam and sheetrock. I got a picture since it was later covered back up again with the Dimple Board.

The new pipes (white) run around the perimeter of the basement and into the drain. The concrete - at this corner of the basement - will be level with the top of the black drain that you see in the foreground.

The black Dimple Board covers all the exterior walls. It guides any water down the wall, into the trenches, into the pipes and then to the drain.

This is below the curved window in the dining room.

Here you can see where the old cement platforms had been on the floor. The partial wall you see above will remain and we'll build a new wall to the floor. There are some electrical switches on the other side so this wall that had to remain.

Here you can see the sand that was spread all over the old concrete floor in order to even it out. Then the plastic was added on top of it to keep the moisture on the other side.

The plastic is all taped together to make it water-tight and Styrofoam is added on top of it to provide the insulation value. We'll use spray foam insulation on the walls.

A better picture of the foam going down over the plastic film that covers the sand.

7:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, the first cement truck arrives.

The guys ran a sluice down the outside basement stairs to pour the cement. The same technique was used to load all the sand in previous to pouring the cement.