As I mentioned in my last dungeon post, we needed to get an egress window for our basement to be code. After talking with many many contractors (who were all really really expensive), Terry decided to hire a concrete cutter to cut the window hole and then to install the window himself with his dad's help. This was the most cost effective. We did really well on the cost I think. Even the window we were able to get pretty cheap.
I was so incredibly excited to see this truck outside our house on Saturday morning, despite the mini-spring blizzard we had received the night before (since the window is under our deck and the wind didn't blow and drift, we were good to go).
It was colder than I thought it would be when I went out to snap some secretive paparazzi photos of the man doing his job. Glad he didn't see me. I was just so excited and actually, just curious to see how he was doing the cutting. He had this special circular saw on rails that he attached to the concrete to get a precisely square cut. I was really glad Terry didn't do this himself.
After that he used a chainsaw to cut out the corners. He said the steel rebar in our foundation was good quality and gave him some trouble. Also, their saws all used water so it was a bit of a muddy mess for the poor guy. And he was a mess. And dude, it was cold out there.
Inside his wife was using a wet vac to suck up all the water and junk.
And then they pushed the concrete backward into the hole! LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!
The last thing he did was jackhammer the concrete pieces into manageable chunks for us to leave there or remove. Not sure which he's going to do.
And as for the window well, we'd like to do this awesome tiered thingy. That way it's pretty (AWESOME!), lets in more light, a natural ladder in case of escape, and keeps the overhead clearance where it needs to be for code. But that won't be for a while.
And as a side note, Terry's dad bought this gas stove that we are thinking of using to heat the dungeon. We are an all electric house so it gets expensive and we like the idea of using gas. But it's a little complicated to install. We'd have to hire the concrete cutter again and then a gas guy. So yeah, that's in the back of our minds. Oh, and you can just see the little blue electric box to the right that Terry and his dad got up. They are also starting on the wiring!
It was quite cold with the window not in yet, so the kids, having nothing else to do, watched Grampa and daddy work.
And so did comatose Samuel after his nap. Ha ha, look at his little face!
Here's a shot from the other side of the room so you can see where the window is located in the dungeon.
The framing of the window gave them some trouble. The hole was a bit too big. Their framing boards were a little too big. So they had to trim those down and then cut a bunch more boards to close up around the window. But after several hours, they got it done and it looks great! It's SO wonderful having real light down there!
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