Last week, it rained. It rained a lot. Between September 23rd & 24th, we received about 7 inches! In the areas where our new foundation was dug, the basement flooded. The good news…our contractor Don was on top of things. His guys removed the drenched pad and put fans on the carpet. They also attached a 50 foot tarp to keep out additional rain. The bad news…our basement carpet got bumped up several notches in the “hope to replace soon” list. Side note: this list is expanding at an alarming rate.

After 6 days of drying out, we finally saw activity today. Quite a bit of activity. A big Millard Lumber truck, loaded with our framing materials, made a delivery around 1pm. They beat the concrete guys by 2 hours. No biggie. They just made a stack and rolled out.

As promised, the concrete dudes were here at 3:30pm and kicked into high gear. Fast and efficient.

Stay tuned! The framing blog should be fun.

I was talking timeline & schedule of this project with our architect Paul Nelson yesterday. Our dream is to be sleeping in our new bedroom by Christmas. Paul cautioned me to not be that optimistic and to plan on the build to take a full 6 months. He equated it to a funnel: Lots of big things happening at the start. Then, the devil is in the details.

After the concrete had a couple of days to cure, the block walls began to take shape.

Within two days, the walls were done. Next, we were visited by spacemen. There was no probing. They simply sprayed black goo on the walls & vanished into thin air.

At this point, we wait until the concrete floor can be poured. The concrete contractor isn’t available for another week. This is the sort of thing that makes our “Christmas Wish” seem pretty far fetched. In the meantime, I’ll be practicing my parkour. 

Last week was a whirlwind. Tom Manley Floors did an amazing job. So far, the contractors have been incredibly fast & efficient. The install took one day. Sanding/staining/poly took 2 days. Moving our bedroom down to the basement, in order to have the floors refinished to match, was the worst of it. That, and the dust. #dustiserrywhere

We stayed over at the in-laws’ place for 2 nights, while the poly dried. It is so great to have family here in town that not only allowed us to stay over, but let our sweet/confused Schnauzers, Max & Daphne, hang out all week long.

Instead of staining the floors, we went with a water based clear coat on the oak. Natural. Beautiful. This also cut down on the staining time. The floors were complete by Thursday evening.

In the meantime, the city approved our plans. Let the digging begin!

Up next: quarter round will go back in on the baseboards, I’ll get going on touch up paint (new floors make our walls look dingy), and foundation will be poured.

Welcome to the home renovation segment of the hinrichsexperience blog! In October of 2000, my wife Caroline and I moved to a picturesque street in the District 66 area of Omaha, NE. We love our home…a 1949 cottage. It has suffered, however, from a bit of functional obsolescence. That’s Realtor speak for goofy-ass layout.

The biggest burr in our saddle has been the main floor bathroom situation. The home is a 1.5 story with the master bedroom on the main. It currently has only 1 bathroom on the main floor…which is our master bath…which has no access directly from our room…which needs to be used periodically by guests…which can’t fit my wife and me in there at once. Not good. Ask Caroline about the lighting sometime.

Phase I: Master Suite Addition

After saving and planning for 4.5 years, we’ve finally pulled the trigger on Phase I. The objective: turn Caroline’s existing office into master bedroom closet, as well as build on an additional spacious bathroom (featuring double vanity, throne room & dreamy shower) and new master bedroom.

We dreaded the first order of business. We had to cut down a large, beautiful, old red oak tree. It was standing in the way of progress.

It was important to us that it would not just end up in the woodchipper & become mulch. Our friend Dan Sundermeier with American Arborist took down the tree in large chunks & had his father Mark bring their portable mill to our backyard. They were able to cut thirteen 4′ X 12′  slabs of premium wood, each 2″-3″ thick. Knowing that this wood will become something beautiful (tables, chairs, artwork, etc) gives us some solace. Side note: keep your eyes peeled for next year’s landscaping blog. You will be replaced 10 fold, Mr. Red Oak!

8/27/15

The Real Phase I: New Flooring

So, while we wait for the City of Omaha to green light the permit to break ground, we decided to rid ourselves of the heinous tile that covers most of our main floor. Lord have mercy on the poorly sighted individual that installed that blue/gray tile that’s covered our foyer, living room, hallway and dining room. That shit was awful.

The new oak floors will be installed over the course of this week. Right now, we are left with open, dusty rooms and other rooms crammed with living/dining room furniture. No complaining. The juice will be worth the squeeze!