Above is the scene that awaited me when we arrived home.  Any time my mind has wandered over the past several months to the thought of returning to Canada, a vision of my ruined basement came to mind, and I pushed the thought out with force, along with the ideas of returning home.

It’s too nice here — when often it wasn’t — it’ll wait until I get back — it certainly did — or I just don’t want to go home — home… what is home?

So now that I’m home…  The entire first week was spent laying on the couch being swallowed by mid-afternoon naps.  These are arguably one of the greatest pleasures in life.  I had no idea just how tired I was until I was no longer responsible for our every move, and Cass could go about her days without me.  Ahhhh!

Huh?  Going where?  Oh, ok, ciao.  Zzzzzzzzz…….

Boredom found me after a week, and I started in on it.

I’d surveyed the damage in the basement the moment I got in the door, it didn’t appear all that bad, there was no lingering odors, and it seemed that all that remained was the work needed to bring it back to where it was.

“But while I’m at it….”  Those are the famous last words of every home renovator.  Without that phrase, Home Depot, Rona, Revy, and every other home renovation store would be out of business, but alas, I too am afflicted with it, and so thought “I can finally get rid of that stupid landing at the bottom of the stairs”.

Anyone who has been here knows about the landing, which drops off in the middle of nowhere just as you’ve walked enough steps to feel confident you are “down all the way”.   Elliot!!!!  (<–former home owner)  Some people should never be allowed to touch tools.

After some initial clean-up — remnants, double sided tape, pulling off baseboards, etc… , re-arranging furniture into different areas, and moving roughly half of it out to my nice clean garage…

I got to peeling the carpet up off of the landing to see just what was the reason for it after all these years.

I knew there was a floor drain under there…

This looks a little odd, lots of access holes there. Here, of course, we need a visit from Captain Hyperbole!  Go ahead, click on the image….

I didn’t expect this right at the bottom of the stairs.  That there is the drain & clean-out for the kitchen sink.  Nice!!

I stare at it in amazement of just how many people had to say “F**k it” along the way for it to still exist after all these years.  From initial construction and pouring concrete around it, to house purchase, to life while saving up for the basement renovation…  This house was built in ’68!!!  How many people stubbed their toes on that before it was covered up with a landing?  Gawd!!

You jackhammer the floor out and redo it properly right away, and and avoid all the following lunacy.

That PVC pipe is the drain from the laundry room going directly into the floor drain, which could have been hooked up properly years ago, and I can tell by looking at things, that the landing was the first thing built during the basement renovations years ago, as interior walls are built on top of it.  Removing it will leave a gap.

This is what happens when you get people who shouldn’t be allowed near tools, add beer, and money.  You get a “stupid tree”, defined as one bad idea built upon another, spawning branches of “make do” and “Mickey Mouse” along the way.

Someone eventually ends up in my position, scratching their head, wondering just how far back they have to go to fix all of it, or whether to say “F**k it” one more time, and accept the annoyance as “just the way it’s going to be”.

I’ve owned this house for 16 years now, and I’ve come across these types of “features” more times than I have fingers and toes.  The outlets in the house were all upside down, for example.  There were 8″ spikes in the living room floor trying to get rid of a squeak (solved with a single wedge), for another.   It’s like a forward tax was built into this house with his every move, and I wonder if there will ever come a day when I can say to myself there will be no more of these little surprises left to discover.

By then I think I’ll have moved.  LOL