Poppa's Latest Project

Things have been pretty quiet around here... but as you can imagine, that doesn't mean Poppa hasn't been keeping busy doing interesting things.  We have a space under our front steps which makes a wonderful cold room since it is underground.  The space is only about 8-1/2' by 3-1/2' but it can hold a lot of stuff!  We noticed recently that there was mould growing in one corner - encouraged, I think, by the recent warmer than usual winters.  With intermittent cold snaps - there was more condensation than usual on the cold walls and ceiling of that space.  Of course, it spurred Poppa into action.  While I was at work one day - he cleared the space right out.  This entailed moving a lot of stuff that was on a lot of shelves - and then removing the shelves!  By the time I got my camera out and ready it looked like this.....

He had it all scrubbed with a special solution to eliminate the mould and the spores.  Then washed down with regular solutions.  You can see up in the top corner where he scrubbed the paint right off the blocks.  This whole process lasted several days - and took a week to complete!  Following this came the installation of mould-resistant and water-proof insulation on the walls and ceiling....

..... followed by a thin plywood wall covering....

... in this picture you can see the plywood on the ceiling, while Poppa is putting strapping on the walls for the pressure fitting of insulation in the walls.  The whole thing was quite a job!  Following the insulation and plywood was painting.....

.... the ceiling is white to reflect the light in that small, windowless space.  The walls are a pale beige colour to blend with the rest of the finished basement area.  Then the crowning glory....

.... ceramic tiles were installed on the floor.....

..... then grouted, sponged off and later scrubbed to a nice finish.  There was a waiting period required for the grout to cure....and the space was declared a success.  Of course....

... Squeegie claimed some of the credit for his excellent supervisory skills . he kept an eye on the procedures from beginning to end.  Once Poppa had re-installed the shelves my portion of the job started....

..... all that stuff that came out, had to go back in.  It took me two days....

.... to wash everything and sort through it to eliminate some of it that we hadn't looked at in the last twenty years -  but eventually I got it done.....

.... to my satisfaction.  It is quite nice for a cold room....  thank you Poppa!