YEA!!!

[chossmonkey]

Rebecca and I finally get to move out of this tiny crappy apartment!

We close on our new house Dec.12.

And because my wife rocks, she is not "letting" me build a climbing wall, she is expecting me to.

And not in the closet either. If it weren't for the nice big basement it would be taking up the living room.

[martha]

Congrats! Buying a house is so exciting!

We have a climbing wall in our basement too. There wasn't much choice after the baby came along as our trips to the climbing wall in town were not as easy to get when she was a newborn.

Rebecca is just expecting you to build the wall so that you 'let' her pick out the holds.

You'll have to post pics!!

[granite_grrl]

This whole house thing seemed to happen so fast! And now we have to do things like buy a fridge.

I don't know the first thing about fridges except that they keep your food cold.

I'm super excited about the climbing wall. The gym in town sucks ass, so it'll be nice to have a place to climb on those winter nights. We have everything cut alread to slap up our old wall, but I would also like have a second portion of wall at a bit less of an angle.

And hold shopping is going to be so much fun!

[*Chris*]

Nice job!

I just bought my first place a few months ago. Oddly enough... I've got no will at all for a wall in my basement. Once NB winter sets in (-20 and snowless) I might change my tune though. Congrats... any buy all the gear you'll ever want now... cause soon enough... you'll be poor!

[The Teth]

Buying a house went fast for you eh? Donna and I decided on a Sunday to buy a house and by Tuesday night we were putting in an offer. I bought the house off another climber. I could not afford to build a climbing wall after buying the house unfortunately. Now I am so out of shape I have started aid climbing (a bad sign). What is the ceiling height of your basement?

Measure the space for the fridge so you buy one that fits. When buying appliances, don’t buy the absolute cheapest model. If it costs $100 less, but you have to replace it after two years, then you end up spending more. Best to look for the price point where you get quality, but aren’t paying for all the bells and whistles. Or find a deal where you can get good quality on the cheap. Fridges with the freezer on the top or bottom are more efficient than the ones with the freezer on the side.

[granite_grrl]

Okay Teth, you win. You bought your house way faster than we bought ours for.

As for apliances I'm wondering about buying a second hand fridge for now. We bought the place planning to fix it up and then sell it in a year or two....including redoing the kitchen. It would be better if we had matching appliances.

But there's still so many things we have to do....we get the house the Dec. 12th, head to NS on the 14th and when we get back Nathan is going to Thunderbay till Jan 2nd or so. And then there's me who can't actually move any thing 'cause of a busted leg. So trying to get out of this apartment and into the new place will be interesting.

[chossmonkey]

I'm super excited to finally be having a home wall again. I'm terribly out of shape right now. We have all the parts and holds already so we don't need to worry about buying much. We'll probably slap a second section up that is quite a bit less steep, but that shouldn't cost too much since we have the exposed framing to work with now, I figure a couple hundred dollars. The holds are usually the expensive part.

I'm not sure the exact hight of the basement. Its less than 8' but at least 7 1/2'. Our old place in NY had 7 1/2 in the whole place. We had the wall set up in a spare bedroom (actually the bigger of the two ). It was steep to get in a decent sized wall in a small space. Here is our old wall.



We should be able to set it back up pretty quick. Maybe eventually we'll do something different with it, but for now I just want to be able to get back in shape.

[martha]

As for apliances I'm wondering about buying a second hand fridge for now. We bought the place planning to fix it up and then sell it in a year or two....including redoing the kitchen. It would be better if we had matching appliances.

I would really not reccomend this. the new fridges are soooo energy efficient that the money you save on buying a second hand one you will end up paying out in power bills.

We get most of our appliances from sears. The KENMORE products (sears brand) have the best warranty, service and awesome prices. You will find matching stove/dishwasher/fridge in that line up even 5 years from now.

We just bought a really nice fridge and stove for an apartment that we own and rent out for about 700$ each. They have a 12 months no payment no interest too which is really helpful when buying a house.

Watch their sales flyers closely and ask the salesperson if they can look ahead at any upcoming flyers. They usually have them a month in advance.

Good luck! and let us know if you have any questions! Fred and I have bought two houses in the last couple of years. One we live in and one we rent out the two apartments in it. We have done tons of renos, buying of big items etc etc.

[granite_grrl]

Okay, so I'm taking a look at the Sears Outlet. I think we can get a fridge for $600 - $800 that'll do us well.

Where else are good places to look?

[martha]

The future shop has been known to have some good deals too.

Be sure to get a recognized brand as they usually have better warrentys and service. That is key in the life of an appliance. Good ones should 'live' for 15 years or more.

Cheeres.

[chossmonkey]

Phase one of our climbing room is almost done, I just need to finish screwing the plywood onto the frame. Rebecca wanted a less steep wall that she could climb on while her leg still isn't 100% so we built a 25 degree 16'x8' traverse wall. Hopefully we'll post some pics soon of the wall and Rebecca getting back into shape.

[granite_grrl]

Aye, things are going well here. The house is becoming a little less chaotic, but there are still a lot of things to do. We bought a really dated place, so a lot of things are going to have to be redone.

But the climbing wall is going to be awesome!

[Fred]

photos please...

[chossmonkey]

I took some photos of it but we need to download them.

Rebecca finally got to climb a little bit for the first time since her accident.

[granite_grrl]

I took some photos of it but we need to download them.

Rebecca finally got to climb a little bit for the first time since her accident.

Its amazing how sore I am today, I think the best I did was a couple of moves. Crazy what 5 months off will do to you.

But it was good .

[granite_grrl]

Here is the wall currently:



We still have a whole other wall that we could put up if we knew what we were going to do with the basement, so for now we have just put up this simple wall (good for me right now too, its not so steap that I'll fall off as long as I use big holds).

[chossmonkey]

Its only been up for two days and we are already making plans on taking part of it down and remodeling it. We'll probably take down the far end and put up a steep section against the back wall and fill in between the two sections. Then move the far end section we'll take down closer to where we took the pic from so there will be a jog in the wall where the corner is in the foundation. It will probably stay like this for a few more weeks though. If we are going to stick with our plan when we bought the house I'm going to need to spend more time remodeling the house than remodeling the climbing wall. And we need more T-nuts!!

[chossmonkey]

So we just found out on Sunday that our back yard turns into a swamp when we get a lot of rain. Its funny how a house just seems to block the water. It makes me laugh and laugh. Especially when it starts coming into our basment!

The presure from the water outside the wall is pushing in on the foundation, cracking and tipping the wall in. The wall is an inch and a half out of plumb in some spots!

We are now trying to decide if we want to put on an addition when we have to dig a big hole in the backyard and do a bunch of concrete work. It would be nice to add on a whole new master bathroom and dressing area.

On the plus side I finally found a use for some of the carbon steel bolts I don't really want to use for climbing applications anymore. They worked quite well for fastening some shoring to the floor for our bulging leaky wall.


We have also pretty much figured out what we want to do with phase 2 and 3 of our climbing wall. It should be a pretty nice wall even with the limited hight.

[granite_grrl]

Gah! Before we can do anything with the climbign wall we've got to organize our basement. This task has now become much more difficult with the leaky wall in one half.

I keep telling myself that this is a learning experiance. flowers happens, and now we have a better idea what to look for and what to do. My mother is impossible. I told her about the foundation yesterday and how we didn't see it because it was covered with a cheap wall. Her sugestion was to recover the same wall when we choose to resell and not do anything to fix it. I'm not sure, but that sounds like something that you have to disclose when sell to be legal.

We bought the house from the kids of the woman who lived there, so we can't think or assume that they actually knew anything about the wall.

Bah, this house is going to be an adventure, that's for sure!

[Mountain_Marc]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

[granite_grrl]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

That's a good idea!

I think I'm going to do another harness hang test tonight or tomorrow. I doubt that my leg will have stopped hurting in the past couple of weeks, but I can hope!

[chossmonkey]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

I would but the ONLY climber around here I know who isn't a poser still can't wear a harness. I was trying to get a few people or at least someone to drive up to Bancroft with but NOBODY! Its too far to buy all that gas myself.

We still don't have any climbable ice around here yet. Maybe this weekend.

[Mountain_Marc]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

I would but the ONLY climber around here I know who isn't a poser still can't wear a harness. I was trying to get a few people or at least someone to drive up to Bancroft with but NOBODY! Its too far to buy all that gas myself.

We still don't have any climbable ice around here yet. Maybe this weekend.

Well, meet me in the Dacks, we'll climb ice!

[chossmonkey]

Well, meet me in the Dacks, we'll climb ice!

I'd like to, but the whole money/gas deal. I am also trying to avoid going back to the States until my immigration is all done with.

[brent_e]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

I would but the ONLY climber around here I know who isn't a poser still can't wear a harness. I was trying to get a few people or at least someone to drive up to Bancroft with but NOBODY! Its too far to buy all that gas myself.

We still don't have any climbable ice around here yet. Maybe this weekend.

poser, eh?




nice

[chossmonkey]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

I would but the ONLY climber around here I know who isn't a poser still can't wear a harness. I was trying to get a few people or at least someone to drive up to Bancroft with but NOBODY! Its too far to buy all that gas myself.

We still don't have any climbable ice around here yet. Maybe this weekend.

poser, eh?




nice

Looks like I'm going to have to start being careful what I say around here now.



I did find someone to go to Bancroft with today. It was a long day but good.

[brent_e]

I think it's time you forget about the house for a weekend and go ice climbing.

I would but the ONLY climber around here I know who isn't a poser still can't wear a harness. I was trying to get a few people or at least someone to drive up to Bancroft with but NOBODY! Its too far to buy all that gas myself.

We still don't have any climbable ice around here yet. Maybe this weekend.

poser, eh?




nice

Looks like I'm going to have to start being careful what I say around here now.



I did find someone to go to Bancroft with today. It was a long day but good.

uh huh, you are.

not that i spend a lot of time post stalking you.

[chossmonkey]

Phase two of our new wall is done. I took the wall in the pic above and split it in two, moved the far end into the foreground around the corner and conected the two sections with a nice transition section. Its all still the same angle, but now there is a jog in it. More importantly now there is room at the other end to build phase three. It will pretty much be the wall from our place back in the Bufferzone with a transition into the existing wall.

Maybe Rebecca will post up a new pic.

[granite_grrl]

Your wish is my command



Hmmm, I think maybe I should start a brag about your home wall thread! Home walls are nice.

[chossmonkey]

Phase three of the home wall construction is nearing completion. It should be done today. Hopefully we'll get some pictures of it and we can put it into Rebecca's woodie thread tonight.