Walls and goop

Ken and Dianne came over on Friday of last week to help with some more work in the basement. They got a lot of the drywall “gooping” done, and filled in a few remaining spots where DriCore was needed. We’ll need one more coat of goop, then we’ll have to paint, put up the door and trim, and put down flooring. Once that is all done, we’ll have the electrician come back to do his finish work, then we can get our finish inspections and move in! You can see some more photos of the wallboard and goop work.

IKEA flooring in the Legacy!

Speaking of flooring, we recently made a trip to [IKEA](http://www.ikea.com/) to buy the flooring to use in the basement. We ended up buying 10 boxes of HEMSE oak-effect laminate flooring, which should cover just over 250 square feet, the size of the downstairs living room, landing, and laundry area. We were able to haul all of it in half of the cargo space in our station wagon. There are a few more photos from that trip.

I’m always amazed at how simple and hassle-free it is to buy stuff at IKEA. I can’t believe we can just walk into the store and drive away with 250 square feet of flooring without having to talk to a single person. I think it’s a testament to great design.

For those who may just be joining us, we’re nearing the end of a project to turn our not-so-finished basement into a finished, livable space. We are doing most of the work ourselves, with help from my father-in-law Ken. Since my last post on the project (wow, over a month), the following has happened:

• We hired an electrician to do the electrical wiring for our basement.
• The electrician did all of the rough wiring. This includes running electrical cable, installing ‘cans’ for the recessed lighting, boxes for light switches, light fixtures, and power outlets. He also had the rough electrical inspection done.
• Our Plumber moved a few pipes that were in the way of putting up ceiling tiles.
• We had the rough building inspection done, and it passed. This was much less painful than I was expecting.

Today, Ken came over to join us for another big work day. I ran and stapled all of the coaxial cable that runs upstairs, as well as the new cable for downstairs. That needed to be done before we started putting up ceiling tiles. While I did that, Ken finished up some strapping for the ceiling panels. Then Ken and Rebecca worked on putting up drywall on the ceiling, aided by a PanelLift that we rented from Home Depot (or “Ho Po” as Catherine has been calling it). I am told that it made things much easier.

After that, K and R started to lift drywalls high up, and put in some of the last bits of DriCore before Ken had to call it a day. You can see all of the photos I took today, as well as revisit photos from day one and day two.

As for what’s left:

• Working in some small random bits of ceiling panel.
• Finishing the wall panels.
• “Gooping” the drywall.
• Having the electrician finish his work and get the finish electrical inspection.
• Putting up the doorway into the new living room.
• Putting up moldings and putting down the top layers of flooring.
• Painting and doing other finishing touches.
• Getting the final building inspection.
• Moving in!

We’re all very much looking forward to that last item!

Today was another long day of work in the basement – 8:30 a.m. through 11:00 p.m.! As before, Ken led the way, taking us through finishing another small wall, putting strapping on the ceiling and putting DriCore subfloor down on the cement floor. We also had four electricians come by to assess the situation and get the information needed to give us quotes on the necessary electrical work. It was interesting to see four people working in the same profession, but with different opinions, personalities, and ideas. Hopefully by early next week we’ll have some price quotes and will be able to hire one of them to start ASAP. After the electrical is done, we have one minor plumbing issue to address, and then we can get our rough inspection. After that, it’s on to doing the finish work and making this basement a fully livable space!

You can see more photos from today.

… and now they’re waiting on the basement floor!

DRIcore is a subflooring system. These should keep our basement floor nice and warm and dry. Here’s to innovation!

Today was the first big day of work on our project to turn the basement into a habitable space. The overall plan is to turn half of the basement into a living room, while the other half will be used for storage and laundry. Ken and Dianne came over, and while Dianne watched Catherine, Ken led the way in starting to make the downstairs take shape. The first order of business was to remove a wall that formed a large closet downstairs, so that we could create a larger living room space. Next, we prepared the joists so that we could attach the new walls. Finally, we framed up the new walls that would separate the living room area. We also purchased a set of doors and temporarily put them in place to see how they’d look. All in all, a big day of work, and we got a lot accomplished!

We’ll probably have one more day to frame one more small wall and take care of a few other outstanding roughing issues. Then there will be some electrical and plumbing work, and then we’ll get our rough inspection from the town. After that inspection, we can put up drywall on the ceiling and walls, finish things off, and then have the finish inspection. Then we can start moving things in! We’ll keep you posted here with news and photos as things progress. For now, you can take a look at the photos from day one!

Our towel shelf in the bathroom has always been a bit of a disaster. I can’t get one towel down without pulling down all the others as well. I can never fold the towels so they look nice and it has bothered me right from the start.

I’ve always loved the towel racks I’ve seen at various hotels. They hold the towels so neatly and there’s never any risk of toppling the pile when you only want one. For years I thought these fantastic racks were found only in hotels. Now I have one of my very own. Who’d’ve thought I’d find one at the Beverly Bootstraps Thrift Shop?

We installed it today and reorganized the bathroom a bit. Frankly, I’m thrilled. 🙂

…to a finished downstairs!

Being completely crippled in the painting department by a curious and mobile toddler during the week I put my nose to the grindstone last weekend and finished the paint job on the staircase. Peter was dutifully employed keeping Catherine’s hands and hair out of the wet paint!

With the walls and the trim painted the knee wall blends into the room much better and the staircase as a whole actually looks like a completed project. I love having projects finished and bundled up so this feels great. Now on to finishing the rooms downstairs!

Here are a couple pictures to give you a feel for the new addition:

 

So our stairs are “official” now. Our builder finished his cleanup work yesterday, and today he was here at our house for the Town of Danvers building inspector. The inspection went fine, so we now have an officially sanctioned staircase to our downstairs! (We’re trying to get used to calling it that instead of the “basement.”)

At this point, we have a few tasks that we’ll complete on our own before the stairs are “really” done. We need to treat the stair treads with polyurethane and paint the new walls and trim. But we can definitely use the stairs. Hooray!

I’d like to recommend our builder, [Ben Lower](http://www.bjlbuilt.com/). He is a skilled carpenter, and does all of the work himself. A true craftsman, he takes great pride in the precision and finish of his work. He’s also very willing to work with his clients to come up with a solution that fits their needs. He works primarily in the Cape Ann area, as well as the greater North Shore. Visit the website for his company, [BJL Built](http://www.bjlbuilt.com/) if you are looking for someone to do any of your home improvement projects.

The stairs were mostly finished up today. There is still some cleanup to do, as well as the inspection by the Town of Danvers. Hopefully by tomorrow the work will be finished! Here are some pics of what the stairs look like now:

Looks pretty nice, I think! A little paint and cleanup, and we’ll be fine and dandy!

On Saturday, our builder finished the knee wall and much of the sheet rock for our stair project. Here’s a view of the knee wall:

On Monday, the builder will be here to install the treads, trim, and anything else that needs to be finished up. After he’s done, we’ll need to paint the wall to match our existing color scheme, but other than that, the stair project will be complete!