Minor Remodeling in the Basement

Forty years ago, not long after we moved into this house, we decided we needed more storage space so Tom built this wall in the basement.

Tom decided built in couches would be nice since we often had friends and relatives who stayed overnight. The adults slept in bedrooms in the main part of the house and the children slept in the basement. We set up cots, too, so there were sleeping spots for four or five or six children. They could party downstairs while the adults partied upstairs. The children played with a variety of blocks and cars and trucks and dolls and board games or played dress up with the collection of old dresses, jackets, coats, hats, wigs, and Halloween costumes.

When Tom originally wired sockets on the wall, he put the sockets close to the floor. Over time he decided it would be better to have the sockets on the ceiling so there would be no danger of anyone getting electrocuted if the basement flooded. It does flood occasionally, though not most years.

On Monday, June 4, the  wiring was done.   Since Tom can no longer get to the basement, he asked a friend to do it.   And because Eric is young and agile, he volunteered him to help. Here is Eric pulling up the wires from the floor to the ceiling...the part of him that I could see.  Eric is six feet tall.  The black curve on the shelf below Eric is the wire that is in the process of being pulled up.  The plywood and 2 X 4 wall to the left of the photo is the back of one built in couch.






I got a better picture of him before he started pulling the wire up on the other end of the wall.






And here is Mark, on the other side putting up the sockets attached to the wires Eric pulled up for him.






When Eric came upstairs, he told Tom, "Grandpa, I'm glad you build strong shelves."