We should have known!!!

Hello friends.  Well, we're back again.  When we last posted we had just begun working on our basement which, as you can recall, had a beautiful "earthy" coloring on the walls...mold!!  We weren't really bothered by the mold though, because it was only on the bottom 2 feet or so of the walls.  We were thinking, worst case scenario, we just have to remove the bottom 4 feet and replace with new drywall...but we should have known!!!

Here's a picture of what we found (or didn't find, should I say) as we removed the drywall...

That's right, no insulation or moisture barrier.  If we were living in Arizona we probably wouldn't have an issue but, in Pittsburgh the simple equation is Basement + Drywall - Moisture Barrier - Insulation = Tom and Chrissy have A LOT of work to do.

So, instead of just replacing the bottom 4 feet of the walls, this happened...

 and this...

This is the start of us gutting the basement.  The only way to be sure we won't have another moisture problem is to rip everything down and put it back together the right way.  We're going to remove all of the studs (which the prior owner inexplicably glued the old drywall to...FUN!!) and even the bar so we can completely rebuild.  We'll then put up a foam water barrier, new studs, add some insulation, and then finally put up the new drywall.  There's already a sump pump so at least we've got that going for us.

Next time your hear from us it will hopefully be time to rebuild.  Until then, here's a little something to hang on your refrigerators at home...

Terrifying!!!