Beyond the Paintbrush Divide: December 2014

Earlier this spring, Diana and I decided to tackle the project of finishing our basement. In April, we met with a company called Owner Assisted Renovations, who helps homeowners complete projects by doing some portion of the work. They helped us work up a design and then we agreed that Diana and I would try to do everything except for the utilities. How hard could it be? They would do the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. The plan was for a main family room with a wet bar, a full bathroom, and a office/extra room.

Building plans.

Here is a look at the starting condition of the basement. Your typical unfinished basement that we used to store a lot of stuff... and to ride our bikes.

In May, we had all our permits in place were ready to start. But where? I guess any wall is better than the next, so I picked a wall and started framing. We got quicker as we went with me measuring, Diana cutting studs to length, and then me nailing them in place. Framing along the foundation walls wasn't bad since we had a guide to follow, but then came the bathroom. We learned a lot about framing, and angles, and doors, and shower stalls framing that bathroom in. But we got it done and then the plumbers were in to rough in the bathroom plumbing. Now this whole time I am working out of town all week so basement work was saved for Sundays or my other day's off. All of the framing took us until the end of July to complete.

Framing in the full bathroom

Framing complete

More Framing

After passing the framing inspection, it was on to insulation and flooring. Putting insulation in was relatively easy. For the flooring, we put down a dimpled plastic subfloor just in case we do get any moisture. We haven't had any water since we've lived here, but it's better to be safe. With this flooring, water can flow underneath the main floor through the plastic channels to the floor drain in the utility room.

Above the floor is plywood sheathing since we planned to put carpet down. This was where I really felt the sweat equity... We put that plywood down on a 90 degree day in august and I was cutting sheets out in the driveway and carrying them into the basement all day. Once in place, all of the plywood was anchored to the concrete floor with screws. We finished up the flooring by laying a tile floor in the bathroom. This stage was done within a month by the end of August.

Plastic subfloor with plywood

More flooring and insulation

Tile floor in the bathroom

After flooring, and passing the insulation inspection, we were on to drywall. Diana's favorite! No, not really. We had a stack of 60 sheets of drywall in our garage and we knew it was going to take some time. Once we got the "hang" of it, hanging drywall wasn't that bad. Just measure, cut, glue, and screw. Mudding and taping on the other hand, was a little less fun. This is one skill where it would have been useful to have an expert show us how it is done. We did improve as we went on, but we had a lot of sanding and smoothing to do. All of the drywall, mudding, and taping took two months to complete and we were done by the end of September.

Drywall view 1

Drywall view 2

Drywall in the bathroom

Drywall in the back room

Now we were on to priming and painting. At this stage the basement was starting to look finished and we were getting excited for the end. This was a nice easy stage where we could just turn on the radio and paint. We were done with the paint by early November.

Priming view 1

Priming view 2

Priming back room

Painted view 1

Painted view 2

Painted back room

By early November I was done working out of town and was able to crank out the finishing work. This included installing cabinets, hanging doors, and all of the base trim and trim for windows and doors. We hired out the carpet and counter top and did some furniture shopping. Now, just in time for Christmas visitors, the basement is complete! We learned a lot throughout the process and think it turned out great.