Karen's house project @133 Ohio

	Look at all that head room!

Stairway to heaven is no flight of fancy

Thursday, July 10, 2003

While we're still waiting for concrete, we're enjoying the solid, utilitarian stairs that now connect the old first floor to the old basement. Featuring three stringers and plenty of head room, the stairs nearly meet code with 34 inches in width, a 7-plus-inch rise and a 9-inch run.

We had to throw ourselves on the mercy of Harry in the city variance office, since we didn't allow for enough wiggle room in the variance that he had OK'd verbally. He agreed Wednesday to the 9-inch run on the phone, perhaps encouraged by Kevin's ability to exceed the projected 31-inch width.

The concrete company is now calling Kevin. He assured them they should wait until the ground is dry enough to do a quality job. The Thursday State Journal reports 0.01 inches of precipitation between 5 p.m. Wednesday and 5 p.m. Thursday. In the 24 hours before that, 0.13 inches of rain fell. They were supposed to come on Wednesday. Perhaps the 0.15 inches of rain that fell before 5 p.m. Tuesday stymied them.

Tilly has started exploring the basement while under supervision.

"The hope is that when the project is done, she'll accept having her litter box in the basement," the owner says. "It's always been in the upstairs bathroom because the access to the basement was outside the house.

"Generally, she was terrified of the basement and wouldn't stay down there by herself, probably because right before I got her, she was kept locked in a basement for a couple of weeks while the family sheltering her sought her a home. That basement had a big window that opened onto their back lawn, and it probably drove her crazy to see paradise through the glass and not be able to get there.

"That or the German shepherd made her frantic."

Too much mud! On the left is the floor of the new basement. The round item in the upper right corner is the sump pit. The white hose at top is the drain tile. On the right is the muddy back yard. Anyone want to throw pots? There's lots of clay available.