Been a while,,,

I haven't posted in a long, long time but there has been a lot of progress lately. All the trim work is done and 99% of the painting is complete. I'll try to post more sometime, so here's a peek at the home theater room as it looks today:





This link will take you to a photoset on my Flickr page showing photos taken from pre-move in condition to just last month.

Working on the workshop

Last month I took a week off work to make some serious progress on my workshop. This was the last section of basement to be finished and needed framing for the walls, electrical wiring, drywall, floor covering, and paint. With help from my wife I managed to get this room pretty much done in one week. I neglected to take any pictures after the framing but here's the first progress shot showing the workshop after drywall installation:



The above picture is actually three pictures stitched together using Canon's Photostitch software. There's one spot right of center that didn't quite line up right. The floor was painted with a gray epoxy coating purchased at Home Depot. It looks really good with the paint chips thrown in and gives it more of an industrial appearance. The electrical panel on the right is a subpanel from Eaton (Cutler-Hammer). Being an employee there gets me great discounts on that stuff from their online employee store. I will install a 2-pole feeder breaker in the main service panel and run some 6AWG wire down to feed the subpanel.
Next, all the old kitchen cabinets that have been taking up a big portion of my garage for the past year were moved down and arranged on one wall. Our old kitchen was "U" shaped and I didn't realize just how much cabinet space I had until I put them all up in one row. Now I have way more storage space than I need. The base cabinets were topped off with PRONOMEN wood countertop from Ikea. It will be stained and sealed later. Much nicer looking than the old laminate that was taken from the kitchen.



We also got some GORM shelving units at Ikea (you can tell we really love Ikea!). Like the countertop, these are inexpensive but they do the job well.



Now I could start moving in all the stuff that is taking up space in the rest of the basement. This will allow me to finish off all the walls and have room to work. The pic below shows more stuff being moved in, but since then it has gotten much more full.



Sometime in the near future I'll put up the ceiling, which will be Armstrong 24" square acoustical tile. I also plan to put in some sort of venting system to clear out the air when I am cutting wood.
Getting this workshop near completion has made me really anxious to finish the rest of the basement. I'll keep working on it over the weekends and maybe, just maybe we'll be done by the end of the year.

Drywall goes up

It's been a while since my last post so I will continue to bring us up to date. The drywall started going up a long, long time ago and a few years later it's pretty much done. Here's the first pic looking at where the entertainment center will sit:



Next, we move over to the adjacent room and look back over towards the home theater room:



Looking over to the side wall of the pool table room you can see the drywal going up on the arched features:



And this shot is looking down the stairs from the first floor. You can see there the existing (painted white) drywall ends and the new drywall begins:



Now we fast forward in time a little bit and the drywall is near completion:



I wanted a curved ceiling effect in the home theater, which meant a lower ceiling "box" would have to be framed in to make the curve possible. Here's a pic of the framing going up on the ceiling:



Here's another view looking straight down where the TV will be. I had to break out the wide angle lens for many of these shots:



As the drywall goes up on the home theather ceiling you can start to see the effect I was looking for. Rope lighting will be hidden in coves on either side to project some soft lighting on the curved ceiling:



Since then I have completed the workshop area and begun putting the final touches on all the drywall. More on that next time.

The floorplan

Before I get too far I thought I should post a floor plan so you know what we are planning. Here's a basic plan showing the layout:

And here's another floor plan showing dimensions:

Framing in the details

After the insulation was completed it was time to add some little details, some out of necessity and some just for a unique touch. For the area around the big-screen TV, I wanted a "built-in" look where the TV and stereo equipment was flush with the wall. To accomplish this I framed in some short wall sections to create a square opening for everything. Below you can see a small wall section added on the right, and a wall extension added on the left. In the middle there's an opening to get access behind the TV. Not shown is the section that connects the two wall extensions along the top.

Along the wall of the other room we decided to put in some large arched features to make the wall more interesting. Here's a picture of the framing going up, with the arch sections cut from plywood sheets.

At the end of this room a dividing wall was built to separate it from the workshop area in the back. Here you can see the double door being set up for a check of the fit.

Another little feature was to carry over the arch theme to the home theater. We did this by putting two openings between the rooms with an arched top. Here's a view of one of the openings:

Here's a view of the other opening:

Time for drywall!

Work begins

Now let's fast forward nearly two years to Christmas 2004. This is when work finally began on the basement finishing project. First order of business was to get rid of a lot of junk sitting around. I had boxes of stuff with two moving stickers on it - meaning it hadn't been touched since my original relocation to Georgia in 1999 (I was relocated again to the north of Atlanta in 2002). That was the time to squash my packrat instincts and throw stuff away. Next task was to take care of the mold & mildew problem, which was discovered after moving things around. After cleaning everything, including the concrete, I purchased a large dehumidifier and have not had a bit of mold or mildew since. I am sure the insulation and vapor barriers also helped too.
Now that I had gotten rid of all but the most necessary junk, I stacked everything up in the middle so I could work on the walls. First, all the exterior stud walls got pink fiberglass insulation rated R-21. I bought unfaced insulation and then covered with 6-mil plastic as a vapor barrier. The exterior wall concrete surfaces were covered with 1/2" FOAMULAR foam insulation. Here's a shot of the insulation work:

Here's another shot looking down the longer portion of the basement. Notice all the stuff piled up in the middle. Also notice how table saws make great TABLES! Lots of insulation was removed from the ceiling to run wiring.

Next, it was time to build framing on all the exterior concrete walls. This was necessary to allow room for wiring and more insulation. Everything here was typical 2x4 construction with pressure-treated lumber along the bottom. Here's a shot of the home theater exterior wall:

Here's looking down the other side of the "game room" area. I decided to lay the studs flat to make this narrow room as wide as possible.

Then the stud walls were filled with R-13 insulation as you can see here:

After that I moved on to some more framing details and other little touches to add a nicer look to the basement. More on that next time.

In the beginning....

It was five years ago and we were taking a good look at the house we were almost ready to buy. That's when we started dreaming of a finished basement. Well, five years later it's still not finished but it's a heck of a lot closer! I figured it's about time to start documenting the progress. We'll go all the way back and step through what has been done so far. Thankfully we still have all the pictures. The pic below is looking down the longest section - over 44 feet long. The other side is only half that long, but slightly wider. As you can see, the back is prepared for a bathroom, although we don't plan on putting one in. This section in the very back will become my workshop area.

This is looking back from the very end of the long section (standing in what will become my workshop....someday). You'll notice the side wall making a stair-step down as the backyard slopes down. This area closer to the window will be a "game-room" with a pool table.

This view looks over to the shorter section of the basement where it will become a home theater.

Another view over to the home theater area. The TV and entertainment center will be placed almost under the stairs, surrounded by a new wall for a built-in look.

Here's a closer view of the area under the stairs. An opening will be framed in the wall where you see the wires hanging down. This will be an access point to get behind the TV and stereo gear.

This is one of the outer walls of the home theater area. Notice the water line coming in, which will be a minor obstacle for framing, but no big deal.