Why I Oughta...

Then sheetrock has begun to be hung.  The guys started on the ceiling and they said they hope to have most of it done by the end of today - including the walls.  Thanks to my mother-in-law who bought me the Mike Holmes basement book , we're using green board - which is a moisture/mold resistant material everywhere except for the bottom of the walls where we're using purpleboard -which is a *more* mold/moisture resistant board all the way through.  (BTW...that green board you can see in the photo laying by the wall is just being stocked in place there against the wall and isn't screwed in place.) Sounds like it is a newer product that came on the market more recently but is a better fit for any place (like a basement) that might be susceptible to any little bit of moisture.  (which...thanks to the basement waterproofing, ours should not get!)

It isn't just Walmart and Lowes getting in on the "home center" Christmas Village building, Home Depot joins the party with their very own orange-tinted Home Depot building. Home Depot's  building is dated (see the 2011) by the front door, has a Santa and is the cheapest of the lot.  It really surprises me that each of the these stores have their own branded buildings - which means that people *must* be buying them, right?

Look what I found when the Babe and I were wondering around our local Walmart.  Some really cheap Christmas village buildings.  They're very affordable (more than $10 less than the Lemax buildings at Menards), but they're poorly painted.  Aside from the church building, I don't think they worth spending the money on.   But...if you were into the whole Walmart thing, I guess you'd *have* to pick this one up, right?  It was the cheapest of the lot, but I couldn't find it stocked on the shelves.  So, either it is a fast-mover or they don't really intend to sell any of them.  I'm guessing the later.  

I spent a good bit of time over the past few days stuffing every orifice down in the basement with insulation.  Based on not running the furnace all day yesterday and me working down there, I think the room is pretty tight and will (hopefully) stay warm on those cold winter days.  

And so is the toilet and sink.  A bit of gasline work left to do after today, but we're getting awfully close to closing the whole thing up!

Down in the basement, the floor is a bit uneven due to the old floor drains, some cracks and just the general age of the entire place.  In order to properly put in the floors, I have to throw down quite a bit of self-leveling concrete.  The stuff comes in a 5 gallon bucket and you just add water and mix to get the consistency right. The problem?  The instructions recommend that you use a 'mixer' - which is this metal thing that attaches to your hand-held drill.  Unfortunately, the mixer that Menards recommended requires a 1/2" chuck and my drill doesn't open up that wide.  So, what's the solution?  This thing above:  the Gator Grip.  It is perfect for this application - as it turns my simple drill into a socket that will hold the mixer stick. It was $11.99 so hopefully I'll find more than just this one application.  The packaging calls out using it on stripped/rusty/broken nuts and bolts, so it might be good to have on hand.

The plumber was waiting on the arrival of our shower base because he wanted to do all of the rough work with pvc and copper in one visit.   Because of the size/shape of our bathroom, the shower is an odd shape and therefore this shower base was a special order unit from Menards.  I picked it up in the store recently and (thankfully!) it fit perfectly.  The carpenters hit the marks perfectly. That means the plumber can get started and bang out all the plumbing asap. But...there's always *something*, right?  Well...when I opened the box for the shower, there isn't a drain.  So, I'm guessing the plumber will have a problem with getting this done.  He's set to be finished by the weekend and the drywall guys are starting on Monday.