Let the Renovation Begin!

Okay, let’s jump into the first project: the basement. Now we have an unfinished basement which wouldn’t normally warrant a top-o-the-list priority, but let’s just say it was less about the basement and a lot more about ridding the house of mice! You see, the house sat empty for about 7 or more months and those little critters pretty much took over! We quickly learned that there were some wide-open thoroughfares in the basement which led to the slight infestation. And I’m talking, you could see daylight thoroughfares! Mice were like “Woohoo, party at The Christmas House!!!”

We first brought in an expert to give us recommendations on how to best seal the house and then trap the unwanted guests. I have to say, I was nervous about how long it would take to get rid of them but it happened very quickly and, knock on wood, we simply have had no issues with mice since. We were also advised to take precautions against Hantavirus because while most mice in the area are common field mice, deer mice can also be present and they’re the ones that can make you sick. Enter hazmat suits!

You can’t really tell by the pictures of the basement but along the tops of all of the cement walls and behind every plastic encased area of insulation, there were billions of mice droppings and mice nests. So as advised, we removed all of the insulation throughout, vacuumed the droppings, and replaced all of the insulation. We closed-up all of the entry points with steel wool and spray foam (did you know that the steel wool prohibits the critters from chewing through the foam?) We also had to set snap traps throughout the basement and the expert placed bait stations all around the exterior of the house and garage. I’ve shared some photos of what the basement looked like when we first found the house. 

We don’t have any plans to fully finish this space although it is used as our main family entrance with a mud area set-up next to the double doors. We have what’s called a walk-out basement for all of our California peeps, so it’s nice to be able to enter/exit at ground level, especially when’s there weather going on outside! We’ve also got plans for a workout area, spruced-up laundry area, craft and sewing area, and tons of storage racking! Both of the houses we rented before buying this one had huge finished basements, and while we got some great use out of some of the space, there was a lot of wasted space so we’re happy for the storage and utility space for now. The improvements to the basement (beyond this initial mouse ridding work) will be one of the last big projects so it will be a little while before you see it again (except for some pics I will post of that pesky flooding issue…darn!) Next up, we’ll talk flooring! See you soon – {Shelley}