And so it starts... I've begun calling around for estimates on finishing the basement today.
I have most of the electrical stuff already done (just needs to be hooked up to the box), and the walls are already framed. But now I'm going to kick it into high gear. I've called the electrical, HVAC and drywall guys to get some estimates on how much it'll run me, but my hope is to have the entire basement finished by Christmas. We'll see how well I'm able to stick by my time table. :-)
Since I was calling for those estimates, I also got a few for doing the gutters around the main parts of the house. At the very least, it'll give me an idea of what to do if I want to do it myself. But more than likely, I'll just let someone else deal with the 25+ foot work, since I freakin hate heights.
Time to jet -- a friend from high school who I only see once every few years is coming over. Hell, we may even play Magic. ;-)
Hey, question for ya, do you have central A/C? And if so, do you recall how much you paid for your A/C & furnace?
The ones in my house are due for replacement. The house is a around 24yrs old, as are the gas furnace and air-exchange heat pump. Dunno whose bright idea it was to use an air-exchange heat pump in Winnipeg's climate, but the only good it serves is as a VERY effective air conditioner :P Doesn't save me a dime in the winter.
I do have central AC, and my total was about $6000. But that includes parts, labor and all the duct work as well. So I'd imagine it would be less expensive for you.
Excellent! :) Now as long as I don't get hosed on the price, I know how much to budget :) I had to replace my water heater this summer (it sprang a leak). When the gas company came to inspect the work a week or two after it was installed, the technician mentioned that it would be a good idea to replace my furnace *soon* as he said from the age, we got our money's worth out of it and it "doesn't owe me a thing" at its age :P
Out of curiosity, do you have any specific plans for what you're going to use the basement for? Like an extra bedroom, or a rec room, etc?
Funny you should ask -- I just finished video taping my latest walk through on the house and was planning on putting it up tomorrow. ;-)
Excellent! :)
@Scott - can you do a geoexchange system in your area ? sometimes those are very cost effective as a heat pump and A/C. I may do this when I get a new well installed as the earth is a very consistent 53 degrees.
In the winter it's warmer and in the summer its much cooler.
As for a water heater we put in one of the instant flash heaters. Very nice. I can have as long a hot shower as I want and NEVER run out of hot water. That's what I thought on my old system where I used to have 2 x 50 gallon tanks.
Now it is literally forever (as long as there is natural gas)
And for regular usage they are much more economical
And they are small so I have almost no mechanical room in a huge house (3800 sq feet with a 45 sq ft mechanical room - just big enough for the furnace)
@Norman: While they can be done, from what I've been told, with my house already having been built and with the particular dimensions of the lots (avg suburban lot in Winnipeg), it would cost me a small fortune to try to get it dug in and they I'd have to re-landscape my entire yard.... But yeah, I had looked into that. (an environmental education centre in southwest Winnipeg) is heated and cooled by a geothermal heat pump.
My house isn't quite as bit as yours :P I've only got 1680 sq ft. With the old water heater we would get 1 hot shower out of it. Turns out the dip tube was broken (part of a recall the previous owners forgot to mention). As for the new tank, it's the same size and I get 2 very nice warm showers out of it (and I take my time :P). It's just the two of us in the house so it works out well. The new tank is also supposed to have some kind of new technology that mixes up the water in the tank more to keep it all the same temp.
Ah crap... I screw up the link in my comment... and whacked the rest of it... Hopefully Aaron notices and can fix it... :P
There was no href in the link, so I wasn't able to fix it properly. So I removed the a tags.
Weird... Well, if anyone cares... it was a link to Fort Whyte Environmental Education Centre -> http://www.fortwhyte.org/