More Updates: Recent Project

I was thinking today that I'm overdue with an update on my project in the Junction Triangle, so I thought I would do one today. The last update saw a lot of visible change and this one won't as much as a lot of "behind the scenes" work is being done, the kind you hear people talking about on HGTV and wondering where all their money was spent as it's "not visible". Well, here it is and let me take you through it to have a better understanding.


The house had knob and tube wiring and that's a big no no for home insurance companies and with buyers, so the whole house had to be rewired. Here you are looking at the new electrical wires running through the house, this is one of those jobs I was mentioning above. Once the new dry wall goes up you can no longer see the amount of time, work and money it takes to rewire the whole house! All you're left with is new receptacles and light switches, which doesn't seem like a lot of work or money, but believe me on this one.
  
Before...                                                                  Now...

All the walls are officially down and all heating vents that were in the way have been moved. Seems so much bigger with the walls gone, can't wait to decorate (I know, I'm getting ahead of myself here).

Before...Back entrance/stairs to the basement

Now...back entrance/stairs to the basement

In this back area of the house, I had a big decision to make, leave the entrance to the basement here (works well if you intended to use as basement apartment) or close it off and relocate the entrance to the basement to make it more conducive to a single family residence. Well, I figured first off, that the type of buyer that will be buying this home in this area, will be a couple or young family who will not want a tenant in the basement so this space will be pretty useless and ugly. So I decided to have new cedar stairs put it, leading from the kitchen to this area and close off the entrance to the basement and lay a floor, as pictured above (only sub floor pictured). This back area will not only be the entrance from the backyard but will also act as a mud room/storage area, where the new owners can store their jackets, shoes, etc. Once I'm done with this room, you will be shocked with the remarkable difference.
***Key note here about basement apartments...before closing off a separate entrance to a basement apartment, think about the area you live in and what kind of buyers will most likely buy your house in the future. For example, in the Corso Italia neighbourhood, people LOVE their basement apartments and therefore I would never close it off***

I know you're asking, how am I going to get to my basement? Well here is the answer:

Underneath the main stairs...where it should be. Highly recommend that if the entrance to your basement doesn't continue underneath your main staircase then you should relocate it, if you can, especially for a single family residence.

That's all I got for now, the basement has been gutted too, but I wasn't going to take my chances on that ladder to snap pictures....oh well, next time!