107 Year Old Basement Plan and Updates

Hi friends! We've been going like crazy updating our home. When I announced we were moving and buying a new house, the original plan was to work on the house two and a half months before closing. Things change and rarely go according to the perfect plans in our heads, and we closed the day before we moved in.

The first of our renovations, which started the week after we moved in, was to quite literally, start at the foundation of things and do work in the basement. Below you'll see our master plan and goal for the space. It's so funny looking at these pictures now, because it looks SO SO SO different!

We've been working on something or other non-stop and it's just now getting to the fun part - where we have actual progress to share, not just piles of renovation mess and shuffled around stuff.

Scary? Maybe a little. For 107 years old, it's not as bad as it could be. The scariest things we found were an asbestos wrapped pipe, a tiny bit of seepage, and a plug in electronic rodent repeller.

I also found a framed image of St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. My first thought was "oh cool, this family was Catholic too?" My second thought was "wait, is this home and renovation a hopeless cause?!?!?!" Maybe God has a sense of humor and we've gained a new patron saint. Haha! Either way I plan to reframe it and hang it somewhere else in the house.

St. Jude, pray for us, we need all the help we can get, LOL.

Like those telephone poles holding up the house? 🙂 It's not bad, but it needed work.

We know this is an old basement, so we won't completely finish the space. The goal however is to create storage (without threat of water damage!) and create a family living space. But there's a lot more we needed to do first!

Here's the basement master plan, for now: 

This is one area where we WILL have work hired out.

• have asbestos professionally removed from around pipes (before moving in)
• take down existing paneling and shelves on walls
• replace all existing support posts
• replace and add in new I beam to support house
• add in extra support posts (so we can remove walls upstairs)
• jack up the house to fix floor sloping issues
• strengthen/fix bowing walls
• improve drainage
• dig out perimeter of basement and add drain tile leading to sump pump
• replace all windows
• tuck point bricks and walls
• paint floors
• paint walls
• paint pipes/ceiling
• add temporary carpet?
• make a playroom area with toy storage
• create a cozy living space
• empty storage POD into basement
• new washer and dryer?
• add laundry room upstairs, move washer and dryer
• fix basement stairs

These photos were taken the day we closed on the house, July 29th. A little more than 2 months later, this view I'm showing you looks 100% different!

We've knocked out 17 of the 20 items on our list, and even slept down here last week while having other work done. Not only did we sleep down here, it was wonderful and cozy. I wouldn't have entertained that idea in the room as it looks up above even knowing how it looks now, LOL.

What do you think about the plan? What would you do to this space?