The Saga of the Basement Waterproofing

In September 2022, I had gotten up early on a rainy morning and went and volunteered at my club.  I came home, took a shower and went downstairs and sat at my studio desk.  My feet got soaked.

I called a basement company.  A pretty big one.  They said they’d been to our house before.  I wasn’t surprised.  The guy came out, did an inspection, gave us a quote for waterproofing and structural repairs.  Over $60,000.

I told him I’d been told the structural repairs had been done and since they had a record of us, could he look into whether or not they did the structural repairs.  He said he would, but wanted us to sign for the repairs.  He said if we didn’t need structural repairs, then obviously we wouldn’t need $60,000, it’d be more like $18,000.  I said I’d rather just know and do what needs to be done and not borrow $60,000 whether I could give $42,000 back right away or not.  After repeated requests, he never gave us the paperwork.

Around December, another sales guy reached out.  I explained the situation and an hour later I had the paperwork from where they did the work back in 2012.  He came out, did another inspection.  We agreed to the work.  I had about four weeks to destroy my basement.

The good news was (1) we were taking care of our house and (2) I’d get to build my studio the way I wanted it, at least for the most part.  I’m not worried about the “sound of the room”.  It’s 2023, Logic can give me Carnegie Hall if I want it.  I want a dead room.  I don’t want to hear my dogs, my kid, or my wife watching TV way too loud upstairs.  Insulation.  Double drywall with green glue.  Floating floors.  Extra electrical outlets.  Recessed lighting.   And, I’m going to build my own diffusers when I’m done because the room is a big rectangular box.

Well, hockey injuries, other car and house repairs, trips to Nashville, etc. and it rains like hell here in Colorado.  The basement leaks.  I have to threaten to sue to get them to come back out and fix it.  But they did, I guess anyhow… they just finished yesterday.

I happen to be nursing a, most likely, small tear in my shoulder from playing hockey.  I can barely put on a shirt or deodorant right now.  However, I should be, slowly, putting my workspace back together soon.  I’d love to have it done by Christmas - even with two trips (Lubbock & Clovis / Muscle Shoals & Nashville) ahead, at least two of my own records coming out, Clark’s full-length and a return to being a hockey dad.

I’ve been videoing the whole thing, so I’ll be putting the “before” video up soon and I’ll post short ones on the Four Lane Road YouTube channel as I go.