there's A Hole in my basement, dear liza, dear liza

[l34f]

Angie has discovered a door-sized hole in the basement. The previous remodellers moved where the door to the basement came in, to accomodate the partial finishing that was done. Did they close the gap in the basement where the old door was with concrete and a vapor seal? No, of course not. It was literally boarded over (plywood for the top half, and water-resistant drywall for the bottom half (which was three quarters buried. The first house one is responsible for is always a good lesson. I have learned many lessons from this house.

1. Don't trust the appraiser or home inspectors to actually do either.
   
2. Look at everything for yourself.
   
3. Be prepared to fix everything yourself, or spend another quarter of the house value paying someone else to do so.
4. Basements are swimming pools without water in them (if you're lucky).
5. It's really convenient to be married to a construction worker.
   

This hole in the basement wall explains why the basement is always cold. We can see the insulation from inside the unfinished part of the basement, and the outside of The Hole. We can also see, through this magical portal, the shower wall of the downstairs basement. There's no insulation between The Hole and this fiberglass. We expect, also, some dryrotting of the base timbers resting on the foundation, because there are no painted shingles protecting the wood under the deck flashing.

So, Angie's desire to better insulate the basement, and discover why the water pipe froze this winter, has led to an important discovery, which will save us some trouble down the road. Of course, it means having to do work that the previous owners should have done when they did the remodel of the basement.

We've also discovered that the electrical service isn't up to code. It's still legal, but it's way outdated. The previous owners put in a new breaker panel, so it has the appearance of being an updated service, but they didn't actually pay to have the service changed out. Once again, having an electrician for a spouse proves convenient.