Progress!

The contractor touched base with me yesterday to say that he'd been delayed in finishing up his last job, and was ready to start my basement today.  Once he started, things seemed to go fast.  Framing is up, electrical goes in tomorrow.


Looking at it now, I can see that there's a long ways to go, but I'm still excited about the progress.  The wall to the left of this picture was extended about 6 feet, and then the wall at the end was framed in.  There will be a "piano" window there, like the three on the main floor of the house.  The door opening will hopefully be the secret door we have planned.  Other than the window and door, the rest of that wall will be floor to ceiling bookshelves.

This part is hard to tell, but it's at the base of the stairs.  The stairs basically go down the middle of the basement - we'll be opening up the wall to the right of the stairs quite a bit, and then closing things off on the left to keep the unfinished parts separate from the room we're building.  To the right is a 5' linen closet that is going in.  On the left is a temporary door and wall that will be removed when the basement is finished.

Framing and electrical inspection is in a week or two, when they can be arranged.  Heating will also be updated, to move the registers to the base of the walls instead of the ceilings.    Drywall takes about a week, I'm told and then it's up to me to paint before the tiles go in.

On a different but related note, Winter was curious about the activity in the basement.  The guys hadn't been there 5 minutes when walked past him and did a double take... and then another.   It never occurred to me that they'd be using chalk lines.  It never occurred to them that the cat would check it out so closely.  His feet were died completely red.  His legs, back and tail had a smattering of chalk that I was mostly able to brush away.  The red feet, however, will stay that way for the foreseeable future.  There's no washing that stuff out.