Patty in Wisc

I remodeled my basement into a nice 1 bdrm apt & finished today. And, I'm lucky to have a nice tenant moving in now as I type. I will post before & after pics soon...what a diff!!! I'm in debt about $27,000 (which isn't bad) & it cost a lot of blood, sweat & tears - literally! It's entrance is below my front door & has only one 4 inch step going down. The original front room had plaster & lathe walls & hardwood floor which started rotting around the edges so I ripped it all out. The rest was reg. basement - brick walls. Busted out the old concrete floors, put drain tile all around going to back into crock & sump pump. Had a plumber do the main plumbing (I dug the trenches for all the pvc drains). Thank God for my Michael - who is a mason, who hauled the crap & old concrete out & who poured the new floor. I insulated the ceiling (sound), did all E. wiring, cable wires, phone lines, copper plumbing, heat ducts etc. I built & tiled a custom shower & put toilet & sink in (yeah! by myself!). I bought laminate flooring on sale & put that in throughout (except bathroom) & 2 weeks ago, finished hanging 4 doors & did all the trim & baseboards. Don't think I'll EVER take on a big job like this again...it got to be too much at times. Can't wait to show y'all some pics. I'm very proud of it.
My new tenant is 25 yr old Matt who grew up in the same house that Michael grew up in, in a small town 30 miles north of here. Michael built his new house right next door to his old house so Matt's parents & Mike are neighbors!
Now when I spend time at Mike's house, Matt can watch over things here. He likes being a 'city slicker' LOL.
These last 2-3 months I really pushed myself - 6 days a week & often 12 hour days. I'm soooo happy I could cry. I would LOVE to have a looong soak in a hot tub. Here's a toast to the end of a grueling 2 1/2 years

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

LilRaverBoi

Sounds awesome, Patty! I'm sure all your hard work really paid off! I'd love to see pics when you get a chance.

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RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Richard

Congrats! My 9 year project is still unfinished!

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Patty in Wisc

I actually started 15 - 20 yrs ago with 3 new windows down there & knocking walls out 12 yrs ago.
It's sometimes never ending -being a homeowner.
I kept the very back room the same as it's my laundry room & I keep tools there. The use of my washer & dryer is included in rent - as long as he doesn't take advantage & let others use it. He was told not to let anyone back there.
Legally, there has to be egress...a back exit, which is a door to laundry room which has a door exiting out the back. I figure a tenant might sneak the use of them when I'm gone so I'll let him use it.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Bob

Hey Patty..... Congratulations. It must be a relief to finally get it over with. Hopefully over time it will pay for itself and then some, not to mention easing your burdens of time and stress.
Cheers

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Eric

Totally Congratulations !! Got severely exhausted just readin about it, can't imagine actually doin it!! Ya Def deserve a South Seas vacation after all that (I'd never settle for just a hot tub) ! Can't wait to see the pics!

bencelest

Congrats Patty. What an accomplishment.
Me, too started a project when one of my neighbors squeeled on me doing some work in my yard (for being too noisy)a couple of months ago and the inspector saw the unfinished project I was doing. So after 12 years of nonprogress I was forced to get a permit as the inspector warned me that because if I don't get a permit I would get fined big and they'd put nasty signs outside for what I was doing.
I did not know that getting permit would be that easy (the last time I tried 12 years ago they required so many things that I had to comply with and I was not ready to do it) They eased the requirements this time and I paid a little over $500 for the permit VS $3,000+ as some people say. As for the permit the clerk from the planning dept said that I could do away with installing a heater if I changed the wording in my application to say Sunroom instead of living room.
So I am now in the process of installing the foundation. A guy is doing all the work reasonably.

Here's the sunroom I am trying to enclose


and here's the foundation we are trying to complete



but please don't cast judgment on electrical wiring. It is not done yet. No grounds, the wirings were just removed from the electrical box so we could drill the hole for the 12" anchors and I am doing the electrical wirings.

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Patty in Wisc

Yeah Benny, it's a lot of work there. I showed you pics of my sunroom that I built in late 04. It is considered a "enclosed porch" because there is no heat or AC in there, although it looks like a big room addition (16X18ft) so they weren't so tough on me with the permit.
I'm a little worried about my neighbor 'squeeling' on me now that he knows someone is living down there. Will I be considered as a duplex now? I'm calling it a "mother-in-law quarters" LOL & will say they have access to upstairs, although I will put in a new mailbox for Matt today & his address will be 1852A next to his door LOL.
Only permit was what the plumber drew --he did the major underground plumb & waste & moved the water meter...it was underground about 2 ft under a trap door.
I know lots of ppl who build apts. in their basements -esp new houses. They use them for guests or family or just to rent, & they didn't get permits for a 'duplex' LOL.
Mike has a full basement with a bath so I think I'm going to have to do this all over again & help him w/ his new apt. YIKES!! It'll be easier as his house is new.
I wonder how much the value of my house is now? Hmmmmm

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Worm_Farmer

I would not put an A or B on the address and just share one mail box, or put the tenant's mail in a box by their door. I think if you add another mail box or your saying that there is more then one house at this address, there might be a problem. You would have to file something with the post office to let them know there is another box at this address.

A lot of the mail is getting shorted by machine these days, so if the machine can't recognize the address it might mark the mail as Address Unknown - Return to sender. You never know it might just get sent to be hand sorted and still get delivered anyway. That is the only thing I would worry about.

If the city ever comes out there to ask about having a 2nd person living there I would just laugh and say yes, they live in my basement and they are a friend of the family. Am I not allowed to use my house as I see fit for my self and my family? There is nothing illegal about that, But it would be hard to say that if you added a 2nd address.

My friend was living in ME, he was renting an apartment that was just an old lager house dived into 4 sections with their own bathroom. When we talked to the owner of the property he said that the land was zoned for commercial and that renting made more then any other business because the house was in a bad spot. My point is, unless your renting out to multiple people and you as the property owner don't live on the property your self, then I don't really think you have anything to worry about.

Patty in Wisc

Good point Mike. I know that his mail won't be returned & that I don't really have to file this w/ the P.O. I asked my mailman what his address should be - A or B, & he said keep mine as 1852 & the lower as 1852A & if there was a rear apt, it would be B.
I will say (if a problem w/ inspector) that Matt is a family member & we share the upstairs & that the address is just to keep our mail separate. That's my story & I'm sticking to it LOL.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Abnshrek

Congrat's on taking so long to go in debt so little :^) And full use shortly

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LilRaverBoi

LOL....is your friend a tapeworm or something? Sorry....too perfect of an opportunity for me to capitalize on.

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Patty in Wisc

That's funny!! LOL

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

bencelest

ha-ha-

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island cassie

Patty - congrats with finishing such a major project! But you know that the guys really want pictures of you in a bikini mixing cement! lol!