We've put together some composite before and after pictures to share. The first one shows the front room just inside the front door. This area in the past has been used as a study and a master bedroom. We decided it would be a great location for our new formal staircase and new basement stairs. After the stairs were in we noticed it would be perfect as a foyer so we will be re-locating the front door to this room. We will be able to shut it off with the original double pocket doors we found in the basement.

The second picture shows the north side of the basement as it was when we bought the house and as it is now that we have built the new basement stairs. The small area at the far end will be a storage room at the bottom of the stairs where we will have an extra referigerator and storage for bulk items.

The area on this side of the stairs will be a seperate room for the furnace, plumbing and hot water heater. It will also have a reversable blower that will circulate the air between the ceiling of the second floor and the basement. We'll be able to draw the heat that rises to the second floor in the winter down into the basement and then in the summer, push the cool air from the basement up to the second floor.

This next picture is of the floor structure under the old second floor bathroom. The joists were so chopped up for the plumbing that we were surprised the floor did not collapse.

Since this area has been changed to our guest room upstairs we reinforced the floor by sistering 2x8's onto the stacked 2x4 and 2x6 floor joists they used to build the house. These floors had sagged over the years so I jacked them up in the center before attaching the new 2x8. The floors upstairs are now relativley level for 110 years old and solid to walk on.

We'll put up some more before and after shots soon.