Paint

Sunday Tracy and I were really sore from the 10 hours of priming and painting and we weren't looking forward to painting again. PS I hate painting. I am pretty good at painting but I hate it.

Sunday we had to put up our last coat of paint. I also got the outlets in and ripped up the carpet.

It's looking pretty good.

It also took another 4 hours to rip up the carper from the stairs. They used a million staples and it will take me another 4 hours to get the rest of them out.

Baseboards and Primer

I haven't been updating the blog lately because I've been working so hard. Thursday I cleaned up the mess from the sanding. It was a real pain because the dust was everywhere and wiping down the walls was brutally messy.

Friday I put up all the door casing, all the baseboards and the post cover. I'm not a big fan of doing trim work but I'm in the home stretch. I worked on it from 6pm to 3am in order to get ready to primer Saturday morning. It took so long because not only did I install the trim I also had to fill the holes and caulked the trim.

Saturday morning Tracy and I started putting primer on the walls. It took about 6 hours. Don't ask me why it took so long. It's not like we were worried about getting any on the ceiling or floor. I think the primer was just a pain to use and the drywall sucked it up.

In the following pictures you can see the room after the primer went up.

And a close-up of the post cover. Another good investment.

Sanding done

They came in with 4 guys and got it done in 30 minutes and it looks good. I took pictures but it looks exactly like to previous set... just smoother.

Tonight I cleaned up and briefly went to Rona to pick up: primer, paint, baseboards, door trim, rollers, caulk and a post cover. I was surprised how expensive it was considering I bought the cheapest of everything except paint. I would have made my own post cover but it's kind of like a pre-hung door... relatively speaking the extra money it costs will outweighs the time spent putting one together myself.

I wanted to get primer on the walls today but I spent a little time cleaning up. I'm still feeling under the weather so I figured I wouldn't push too much. I might take a vacation day or two to get it done if I can't get the suspended ceiling and lights in over the weekend. I sent out my Superbowl invites yesterday so now there is extra incentive to get it done.

FYI Tracy has been keeping close eye on the budget and has debriefed me on my expenses. According to my initial estimates I think I'm under budget. Should be pretty close.

Tape and Mud

The tape and mud guys that I contracted showed up today to start working on my basement. In three hours they were able to put three coats and leave my basement ready for sanding tomorrow. The first two coats were the quick drying compound and the last coat was the regular stuff. They only use the quick dry compound on the first two coats because it's really hard to sand.

The regular stuff will dry overnight and tomorrow morning they'll be here to sand. It would have taken me a week to do the same work these guys did in a day. Best investment ever.

I've been sick since Saturday so it's nice that I'm getting a break while they're working. Hopefully I'll be feeling better once they're done so I can jump back into action and get this project done by Superbowl.

Drywall done

I actually finished Sunday but I've been a little lazy and didn't take the time to upload any pics. It took me a few days and 4 extra sheets of drywall but I'm done.

My one big challenge was getting the sheets of drywall down to the stairs. Unfortunately my stairs are too narrow and I had to break the sheets in half to get them down.

In my opinion drywall is pretty easy and it's definitely exciting because it signals I'm nearing the end. My job would have been ever easier if I had done it before because I made some small mistakes that caused me a little pain. I should have taken more time to make sure my soffit was plum. The fact that it isn't plum will probably show a little because it's in the line of sight. Another consideration is that I should have made sure that there were stud every 16" and not less... it just makes it easier to put in the 4' X 8' sheets of drywall.

I have someone coming in to do the taping, mudding and sanding. I'm hoping they'll start on Friday and finish on Monday... at least that's what the guy said. It should be a little easier because I'm doing a drop ceiling. FYI many contractors wouldn't even consider the job because it's too small... from what I understand all the contractors are busy trying to get the big jobs at this time of year.

Here are the walls waiting for mud:










I'll be taking the time off this weekend to pick out carpet and get the rest of my supplies:

• primer
• paint
• ceiling tiles and hardware
• post cover
• trim
• vent covers

I just might be done by Superbowl. Wish me luck.

Drywall... one wall done

Got my first wall up. I'm hoping it gets easier as I go. I need to pick up the pace on this whole project if I want to get it done in time. I'm cheating a little because I'm starting to think about furniture.

Closer look at venting

I thought I would show you some of my HVAC handy work. First the cold air return. The code states that the duct size needs to be at least as big as the warm air duct. All my vents are going to be 5" ducts.

I didn't really think the electrical outlet placement through because I would have put it over one spot so I wouldn't have to angle over the vent... but I got it done.

Cold Air Intake from the backside


Cold Air Intake front side. I'll cut out the vent spot once the drywall is all done. Let's keep the dust from going everywhere in the house.


Finally I tapped into an existing warm air vent to provide heating for the room.

It probably won't be enough to keep the room really warm but I'm hoping to get an electric fireplace to supplement to heating when I need it.