Are You Handy? 2
- Thread starter SPOCKED
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Nice lawn, bro. 
Nice walls, SPOCKED.
Suddenly, I feel like listening to Green Day....
Nice walls, SPOCKED.
Suddenly, I feel like listening to Green Day....
The last 3 weekends I've done a ton of overtime at my job and while that's really helped things financially, I've gotten very little done around the house for a long while. I did however get the house painting done on the deck side finally wrapping that up. I also decided I wanted the bedroom doors to match the kitchen door so I broke out the cranberry whip and slapped on three coats. As of today, I only have the fixed door painted - the other half will have to wait awhile. By the way, if you look closely where the deck meets the exterior wall, you'll see I decided to extend the trim to sort of frame the area. By doing so, I've covered over the area where there used to be an ugly seam with exposed aluminum. I also caulked behind the trim since there were always ants marching in and out. Plus it just looks so much cleaner.
Meanwhile, after a year of inactivity in the basement we returned to it today. We bought 36 dri-core 2 by 2's to start the floor. This stuff is really neat - built-in plastic mounts get the wood off the basement floor and they're tongue and groove. They cut easily on the table saw. After a few hours I managed to get most of the area done and should have it wrapped up in the morning (but it's hot and humid today making everything a little harder.) Here is the progress this afternoon:
^ our basement floor is really unlevel, but the dri-core comes with plastic shims which help.
^ it's a floating floor so as you can see I'm just using some 1/4" drywall to provide the gap against the walls. The support pole will get boxed in wood afterwards and we're going to tile the window wells.
There is a learning curve, but this stuff is pretty straight forward. There's still a long way to go for this room... still have to drywall all the closets, put up a ceiling, hang doors, install new lights and carpeting. The back third (where the table saw is) will have a raised floor for a water line to feed the bar -- well, that's the dream anyway
Meanwhile, after a year of inactivity in the basement we returned to it today. We bought 36 dri-core 2 by 2's to start the floor. This stuff is really neat - built-in plastic mounts get the wood off the basement floor and they're tongue and groove. They cut easily on the table saw. After a few hours I managed to get most of the area done and should have it wrapped up in the morning (but it's hot and humid today making everything a little harder.) Here is the progress this afternoon:
^ our basement floor is really unlevel, but the dri-core comes with plastic shims which help.
^ it's a floating floor so as you can see I'm just using some 1/4" drywall to provide the gap against the walls. The support pole will get boxed in wood afterwards and we're going to tile the window wells.
There is a learning curve, but this stuff is pretty straight forward. There's still a long way to go for this room... still have to drywall all the closets, put up a ceiling, hang doors, install new lights and carpeting. The back third (where the table saw is) will have a raised floor for a water line to feed the bar -- well, that's the dream anyway
I am still just so impressed with the things you guys can do. Not only must you have serious balls to fiddle with absolutely everything yourselves, but infinite patience too to just keep chipping away at it till it's all done. The transformation is incredible.
Impressed as always SPOCKED. It almost makes me miss my last home, which had an unfinished basement. I was all set to finish it off with a bar, bathroom, laundry room and a nice big family room opening up via a slider onto a patio overlooking the valley. The plans were completed in August and the invitations to the work party were mailed in September. Then in October I accepted a job here in Oregon, so the whole project was canceled. 
I still have the plans and some invitations. I wish I could have seen it happen.
I still have the plans and some invitations. I wish I could have seen it happen.
When do you hope to be finished, SPOCKED? I'm impressed with your endurance skills 
Nice work. That green paint turned out really great.
You know, in the apartment I lived in before we bought the house I never had to do a thing. Which is nice, but ultimately boring. I always had a desire to paint this or change that... but it would have been against the rules. Now I get to do those things. They are hard, time consuming, drain your checking account, and sometimes cause bickeringImpressed as always SPOCKED. It almost makes me miss my last home, which had an unfinished basement. I was all set to finish it off with a bar, bathroom, laundry room and a nice big family room opening up via a slider onto a patio overlooking the valley. The plans were completed in August and the invitations to the work party were mailed in September. Then in October I accepted a job here in Oregon, so the whole project was canceled.
... but the reward is huge. Now, I can appreciate how that must have felt, Mal.Fiddle
How many times have I stood on day one of the newest project and thought... ok, wtf have I gotten myself into?? And then start begging the lords of Kobal for guidance The nuts and bolts of the basement work should be done in a few weeks. I have house painting I want to get back to and with the basement in the way, I've got to try and squeeze that in hopefully before autumn.When do you hope to be finished, SPOCKED? I'm impressed with your endurance skills
My basement floor is not only unlevel (in that it tends to slope downward lengthwise) but it has "potholes" and some rises here and there. As I go along with the floor, I'm careful to shim those areas accordingly (and btw I'm really glad I bought 3 boxes of shims ahead of time). Remember, the dri-core is only covering a small area (around 150 sq. ft.) so dealing with the slope isn't so difficult. Gertch, this is easy work for anyone who has done flooring before.
You know, in the apartment I lived in before we bought the house I never had to do a thing. Which is nice, but ultimately boring. I always had a desire to paint this or change that... but it would have been against the rules. Now I get to do those things. They are hard, time consuming, drain your checking account, and sometimes cause bickering
We're in a rental, which comes almost fully refurbished and one is allowed to change some stuff, but I'm apprehensive to do too much when I don't own the place myself. Looking forward to buying something in a few years, though, and make something that's completely ours would feel like such a big reward. So I'm quite envious of your projects.
Finished the subfloor today. I just have one very small piece to install, but I have to buy a whole 2 foot square to do it 
Oh well. We went to Lowes today for 4 sheets of drywall, a nice track light, and some extra backer board for tiling the window wells. Also bought ten boxes of 6x6 slate tile for the wall behind the bar (I've long had the backer board up for that) which I stupidly forgot to photograph.
So I started drywalling again this afternoon. Tedious work, but this is the last of it for the basement so I'll be making the big push to finish it this week. Here is the tiling scheme for the window wells, by the way...
We also bought a new basement window to replace an older wooden one that is beginning to rot. Today wasn't as hot as yesterday, but by the end of the day I'm still pretty beat.
Oh well. We went to Lowes today for 4 sheets of drywall, a nice track light, and some extra backer board for tiling the window wells. Also bought ten boxes of 6x6 slate tile for the wall behind the bar (I've long had the backer board up for that) which I stupidly forgot to photograph. So I started drywalling again this afternoon. Tedious work, but this is the last of it for the basement so I'll be making the big push to finish it this week. Here is the tiling scheme for the window wells, by the way...
We also bought a new basement window to replace an older wooden one that is beginning to rot. Today wasn't as hot as yesterday, but by the end of the day I'm still pretty beat.
Finished the subfloor today. I just have one very small piece to install, but I have to buy a whole 2 foot square to do it
So I started drywalling again this afternoon. Tedious work, but this is the last of it for the basement so I'll be making the big push to finish it this week. Here is the tiling scheme for the window wells, by the way...
We also bought a new basement window to replace an older wooden one that is beginning to rot. Today wasn't as hot as yesterday, but by the end of the day I'm still pretty beat.
That is a very nice design, Spocked. I like the colors...You did a fantastic job.
I had a house built when I moved here so that eliminated a lot of the fun I might of had, although I did have them leave the two-car garage pristine so I could finish that off the way I wanted to.You know, in the apartment I lived in before we bought the house I never had to do a thing. Which is nice, but ultimately boring. I always had a desire to paint this or change that... but it would have been against the rules. Now I get to do those things. They are hard, time consuming, drain your checking account, and sometimes cause bickering
But the first house had a basement of 1250 square feet of nothing but cinder block walls, plumbing, the walk-out slider and a concrete floor. Now that, my friend, was a canvas worth creating a work of art out of.
I'm a frustrated architect, what can I say?
I had a house built when I moved here so that eliminated a lot of the fun I might of had, although I did have them leave the two-car garage pristine so I could finish that off the way I wanted to.You know, in the apartment I lived in before we bought the house I never had to do a thing. Which is nice, but ultimately boring. I always had a desire to paint this or change that... but it would have been against the rules. Now I get to do those things. They are hard, time consuming, drain your checking account, and sometimes cause bickering
But the first house had a basement of 1250 square feet of nothing but cinder block walls, plumbing, the walk-out slider and a concrete floor. Now that, my friend, was a canvas worth creating a work of art out of.
I'm a frustrated architect, what can I say?
You're more than welcome to come fix up the basement in my house if you want
Nice.
I'm sitting here at my desk at work... Monday morning... and all I want is to be working in my basement right now. All I want is to be drywalling. Even though every muscle in my body is sore after a weekend of labor, it's still the only thing I want to do. It's just so rewarding watching it all come together. And it's sooo close -- a month from now it's going to be something to see
Yeah, it sucksCan't wait to get back to DRYWALLING?
You're sick, man. Sick
But that leads to taping, and mudding, sanding, then priming and then painting and the next thing you know you're surrounded by AWESOME!! 
< edit > I've managed to drywall the "mudroom" area - the little alcove you see below (the small step up area with the exposed blue switch). That concrete floor will be tiled, and inside that small space will be a nice coat rack.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/SPOCKED/CLOSET2.jpg
The space where the dry-vac sits was going to be a sort of media closet, but now I'm thinking it might make a nice place for a mini-fridge or a wine cooler. Or it might become a built in bookcase. We made sure to string an outlet in there for whatever it becomes
a closer view of the mudroom..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/SPOCKED/CLOSET.jpg
The switch on the outer wall starts the fan motor which will pull warm, pellet stove heat from the living room into this new basement room.
August 3rd update...
To get moving on tiling of the window wells, one of the older, wooden basement windows needed to get replaced since it was aging. On Sunday we did the replacement. Nothing about this was smooth since the previous owner just slapped concrete all around it and on the outside to form a sill. Anyway, here are the interior and exterior pics...
^ I had to pull out some of the window well to do this (fortunately, no drywall had to come down)
^ I've certainly never replaced a window before and I have to say it came out pretty nice. I mitered the sill at a 15 degree angle and shot the frame in with my brad nailer. Foam insulation fills in all the gaps nicely. Later I'll clean it up and do some extended framing and painting.
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