Basement: Main Buildout

With the exception of the bulkhead (framing around all the HVAC and plumbing in the ceiling), framing is the quickest and easiest phase of the project. We planned to add 2 extra bedrooms (one of them used as an exercise room), enclose a utility room, build a wine cellar room, and then of course the bathroom, which was already framed.

Normally, with new projects, especially large projects like this one, I get a couple new tools. But the only new tool I purchased for this project was a Ramset Hammershot tool to drive framing nails into the concrete to secure the bottoms of walls. This was Greg's ingenious recommendation after seeing me struggling to drill into the concrete (without a hammer drill) and then screw in fat concrete screws. The Ramset was glorious and so much fun, Ethan inisted on doing most of them (they use a .22 caliber blank to drive the nails).

I don't have any pictures of electrical here but that stuff is fairly basic. We separated circuits between room, outlets, and lighting and ran plenty of each. We had our electrician put in a new 100A tail panel next to the main electrical panel. Lots of individual runs to properly separate everything.

We left the partial existing insulation and framed against it, leaving about a 1/2" to 1" gap between the wall and framing. Then we insulated every exterior-facing wall and Ethan's future bedroom. We figured with loud movie watching right next to his room, the extra insulation would help deaded the noise.

The greatest investment I made was using Rockwool Safe & Sound sound proofing insulation in the ceiling. I've been in plenty of homes without soundproofing in the ceiling and it can be noisy in rooms right above. A movie can be blasting downstairs and upstairs you simply hear some muffled sounds.

The biggest issue is impact noises coming from people walkin on the floor above, especially when the dog goes beserk and running/prancing all around. There are tricks to dampen this but it requires an extra layer of drywall and some sort of aluminum channel attached to the floor joists. That all seemed a bit much. So we settled for just the Rockwool which works really well.

Note to self.... bathrooms take about 4-5 times longer than you estimate. There is so much to a bathroom and things that have to be done in a very specific order that it just takes a lot of extra time.

I didn't do any of the plumbing myself. I didn't have Pex tools but honestly just wanted to be able to call someone if there was a leak. I've done enough plumbing in my life that I'm cool outsourcing that.

I tiled the floor and walls of the bathroom and it turned out great! Just have to get the kids who use it to clean it every now and then.

Drywalling sucks. Well, mudding sucks. But drywalling leads to mudding, so therefore drywalling sucks. I hired this out. A crew came in to drywall, mud, and finish sand everything. It took them 3 days and cost $4,200. This would have taken me months. Well worth the cost.

I barely slept the night before. When the drywallers arrived I was still putting in sound insulation and last minute realized I needed Romex to wire in the whole house smoke detectors. Drywalling is a no going back point for many things. I can't run new wires and I can't do any more plumbing.

When completed, the entire space is magically transformed into an almost useable room.

Whoa boy.... this was my biggest tiling project. Everything went well and was easy until I decided I hated mixing grout. The grout in my bucket was drying up and I was too stubborn to mix more.

Grouting is easy, so I decided to put on some music and drink some beer. I was probably 4 or 5 IPA's in when the bucket started drying out. I'm talking about 7-8% ABV, so my ability to work intelligently was dwindling fast.

I grouted an area about 5 ft wide by 20 ft long. Usually, you're supposed to grout a small area and then wipe it smooth and clean. Guess what happens when you grout a large area and let it start to dry out. It means you have to scrub the shit out of it to get it off. My drunk ass was sweating like a pig, cussing like a sailor, and rethinking my poor life choices up to that moment. It took me 2 hours to scrub that stupid grout clean. Every time I look at that section of the floor I remember. I remember how it taunted me then and still taunts me now.

The funnier part was I still had a section about 5 ft x 5 ft to finish. Since my bucket was dead (too dried out to use) I had to mix more. I mixed it, grouted the section, and cleaned it up in about 20 minutes. Go figure.

I have to say that trimming a room and them painting the trim is so much easier when there is no carpet. I was a big fan of that approach and got the entire basement trimmed out in no time. But this did require putting in the doors first. Door trim comes down to the floor and floor trim butts up against door trim.

Next up was painting and fresh drywall means lots of primer and lots of sore arms and shoulders.

In our house, we drink wine when we paint. I finished off several bottles of cheap, awful red wine left over from the festival. Don't even ask me what varietal or winery it came from. No idea. Probably Cat Piss from Acid in Your Mouth Vineyard or something like that.

Jess, Serena, and Bridget all pitched in to help paint before the carpet came. We muscled our way through it and got it all done. And no, the underagers are not forced to drink wine with us.

A freshly drywalled and painted room looks really nice. But the floor and stairs are still dirty as hell. Jessica's entire goal for finishing the basement was so dusty footprints stopped appearing upstairs on our dark hardwood.

To have soft, plush carpet installed is like that first bite of a filet with gorgonzola butter. It is other worldly and forced me to step back and admire all the hard work that went into getting to this point.

Unfortunately, Archie (the dog), who up to that point was only accustomed to hardwood floors, decided to use Ethan's future room as a latrine a couple times before he was caught in the act. There's nothing like brand new carpet and a dog's piss. So special.

The final touch of the main basement build-out was getting a big wrap around couch. I didn't want various seating levels like we had in the last house. To me, it's just not as inviting and social. Movies (to some extent) and games should be social experiences. When you have to turn behind you to talk to someone, it loses its closeness.

This couch is pretty good. Not the most comfortable (in my opinion) but it serves its purpose well and has allowed many kids a good night of sleep.