Tuesday, June 30, 2015

100 Year Old Basement

Hi Dear Folk,

I don't know where June flew away to, but one project we have been working on is our basement.  How much can you update an almost one hundred year old basement without spending beaucoup money.

Last April 2014 we had a separate gas hot water heater put in and in October time we had a new furnace put in our other one was very old and very large and had packed up.  It was oil so we also had an oil tank, which sat under the window.  Since I was totally peeved off with having to negotiate contracts for oil delivery every year and since these did not seem to be very user friendly we decided that this would be a good time to change to natural gas, less volatile in the fluctuations in price.  Monthly billing and I think we have saved ourselves at least $1,000 per year if not more, just because the price of natural gas is cheaper and the new furnace is much more efficient.

Did I tell you the story of how the oil company, even though they knew our furnace had stopped working and we had asked them for a quote on a new oil furnace, guess what, still came and delivered a whole tank of oil, when our tank was almost empty we had run it down towards the end of the winter and knew we had to make a decision.

So big run around and fight with the oil company to not pay for that tank of oil which was way over $700.00, for them also to come and suck it out of the tank.  In the end they made us pay breach of contract $350.00 what a gyp.  My husband is too nice, personally I would not have paid it if he had not agreed to pay it and had given his word.  How can we help it if our furnace stops working.  Done with oil.

The good news being no nasty big oil tank sitting in the basement and I have a wonderful little area under the window now, so here we are.


By the way I found this delightful little lamp in the thrift, now need to find a suitable lampshade, for it.  I will sit it down here in the basement on my desk.

So we've been busy painting the walls and floor white.  This is the very wall where the oil tank sat.



Mr. B. did a ton of cleaning and scrubbing in this area with all that oil and men coming in and out, cutting up the old oil tank and disassembling the furnace, but it's nice and clean now.  Here is our new furnace and hot water heater.  The old furnace entirely covered those blocks on the floor and came up to the height of that large pipe going into the floor, it was a monster, but served it's purpose for well over fifty to sixty years, I'm sure this one won't last as long.  Compared with Europe I think boilers/furnaces are much less compact over here in the USA.


Nice clean white walls, nice clean white floor.  I love the view from this window of all the foliage it sits under my rhododendron so when I look out I see all green. The window well is surrounded in bricks and all little creeping wild flowers grow out of the brick.  I have thought of sitting some pretty pots there with ferns in, a little darker and damp in that area, they should do well.

I'm going to make this a little sewing area where I can keep my old sewing machines out and easy to get to if I want to use them.  Also have hopes of taking a long table I have and keeping that up for a cutting table, because if you have to keep maneuvering things every time you want to use the sewing machine you just don't.

You cannot really keep fabrics in the basement it is just too damp.  Although we have decided to run the dehumidifier in the summer to keep the humidity down, even though it is a little expensive to run we think it's worth it.  In the winter it is not a problem with the furnace on.


So now we come to the side of the basement that was flooded out last winter and although Mr. B. cleaned it up, it obviously still needs more sorting and a freshen up paint wise, that is what we yet have to do.  You can see the flotsam and jetsam of a basement, all that people keep in their basements, quite interesting really.


This old filing cabinet is ex army but is great because it comes in sections, that disassemble making it much easier to move around.  Many years ago I had started painting it blue but never finished the front which is still in khaki green.

So will update you when all is finished.

The garden has been somewhat neglected this past week or more, plus it has rained a lot and all things are growing profusely good and bad.

At last we did get one quote on cutting our rotting tree down.

Well that's all for now, so much more to write but no time.

Take care, wishing you all well.

Christy

1 comment:

  1. I am envious of your basement. We tend not to have them here although they are getting popular again. Yes my gas boiler is tiny compared to yours and it heats the house and the water. I love your thrift lamp. It is so unusual. Your basement project seems to be going really well.

    ReplyDelete

01 09 10