- July 8, 1996
- We assembled the desk this evening, and moved the computer down. Now we
get to arrange things so we're both happy. If Julie's lucky, I'll let her
use one of the desk drawers...
- July 7, 1996
- Dare I say we're done? Well, not quite, but only a few details remain.
The carpet is installed (a *great* job, if I do say so myself), and all the
baseboard trim is in.
Remaining work:
- Paint and install the access covers.
- Cut, stain and install the trim around the window.
- Mount the access door over the breaker box.
- Get a heat register that fits the damn duct.
- July 6, 1996
- Tons of work today. First, we trimmed the carpet to fit the area (and
dickered about carpeting the storage area, since we had enough left over). We
decided to do that, so we glued the carpet in the storage area and the north
half of the main room. Then we ran out of glue. Oh, joy.
- July 5, 1996
- The desk was ordered today, and should arrive on Monday (7/8). If all goes
well, we'll move the computer downstairs and reclaim our dining room table.
Julie will be thrilled.
- July 3, 1996
- Picked up the carpet and cleaned the misc stuff out of the office.
We need to get some carpet glue.
- June 24, 1996
- We ordered the carpet tonight, and it should be delivered right around
the 4th of July. If the timing is right, we'll lay it over the weekend and
have the desk up by Monday. We can't believe we're this close.
Then, of course, there's the rest of the basement.
- June 23, 1996
- The ceiling is finished! It almost looks done now. We were out looking at
carpet samples and we picked a desk that we like. And to top it off, we
bought a phone for the office and I wired up the two phone jacks.
Oh, I almost forgot - we also got the wood to make covers for the two access
holes in the walls. One is for gas, one for the kitchen drain pipe.
- June 22, 1996
- We worked on the celing today; we're just two tiles away from finishing.
I have to move two light fixtures before I can put the last tiles up.
- June 19, 1996
- My, my - time flies when you're doing nothing.
We've returned to the basement and installed the wall moldings and wire
hangers for the ceiling. We're also waffling on whether or not to install
a new window, since the old one doesn't seal very tightly.
- April 25, 1996
- We are done with the painting! Now, we need to finish around the window
and get the ceiling up. Then trim and carpeting, and we're done.
- April 24, 1996
- The main room has been painted! The storage area under the stairs got
its first coat of paint, but we're having to double-coat. This is supposed
to be a one-coat paint, but it's not.
- April 20, 1996
- Julie painted the main room while I removed the various window pieces
for painting. I painted half the screen frame, then cleverly broke the
glass to the interior window. Oh, well; it was very dirty anyway.
- April 15, 1996
- The primer coat is finished. Painting will commence soon. We decided to
get some thin (1/4") plywood paneling and use that to cover the cement
around the window. If we seal it well, it should be resistant to any water
that could leak through an open window.
- April 14, 1996
- Julie put up the little strip of drywall over the door and taped it.
- April 13, 1996
- Julie applied a coat of primer to the walls of the main room, leaving
the storage area for me (I was at the doctor's - bronchitis). While looking
around we realized that we have not finished the area around the window.
We also saw that we had completely forgotten to put a strip of wallboard
above the door. Gotta finish that before we can put the ceiling up.
- April 9, 1996
- Enough is enough. We hired a guy to finish the taping/mudding. He spent
about four hours working and the job looks waaaay better than we could have
ever done. No more taping for us. Now, on to the painting!
- March 17, 1996
- More sanding. This is getting old. We need to third-coat about half the
joints, so we're at least going to save a bit of time there. Mostly it seems
to be the corners that are going to need the third coat.
- February 25, 1996
- More sanding and mudding. The closed walls have all been sanded, and it
looks like all the joints but one will need another coat of mud. Most of
the main room joints have been sanded, with at least half needing another
coat.
Can you say, "yuk?"
- February 18, 1996
- We sanded some more of the joints today, and applied some more mud.
It seems like some of the joints may only need two coats of mud, which would
be great; this step of the project is easily the most tedious.
There was one seam that we identified as a big problem. Under the stairs, we
have a section of drywall that is vertical from the floor until it meets the
staircase. Then it follows the back of the staircase at a 45-degree angle.
We had used a bent corner-bead with pre-applied tape to close this joint.
It did not work well. We decided to rip it out and use the same mesh tape we
use for the flat joints. Julie put this on and applied the first coat of mud.
- February 11, 1996
- Wow, has it been that long? Well, in-between we've had a nice vacation
in Hawaii, spent way too much time and money on car repairs and been
distracted by other minor things. Back to the basement.
We've only done two mud coats, but Julie was concerned about adding a third
on top of the somewhat uneven job we've done so far. So we agreed to sand
before applying a third coat. The vacuum sanding tool we bought worked well;
very little dust in the air. It just gets sucked right into the shop vac.
We took turns with it, carefully sanding one joint until we were happy with
the job. Upon closer examination, we saw some air bubble spaces that we'd
exposed. Hmmm. We realize we need to be especially careful with the third
coat, so we don't get yet more bubbles in the mud.
We were also brutally reminded how slow and tedious sanding is.
- December 31, 1995
- We're on a roll. Today, we applied about 1/3 of the second coat of mud.
Tomorrow is New Year's Day, but I expect we'll do a bit more.
- December 30, 1995
- The first coat of mud is finished!
Before working, we vistited my sister in the hospital. She had a steel rod
placed in her leg after breaking it in two places. Ugh.
After that, we decided we had to finish the first coat or die trying. Even
when we found ourselves short of corner beads, we did not falter. We made
a quick trip to Menards and returned to finish the job.
We also borrowed a space heater from Julie's folks to help the mud dry
faster. We're determined to get to work on the second coat before I go
back to work on the 2nd. Let's see if we can do it
- December 29, 1995
- Wow, what a layoff! Now that Christmas is over, we finally found time
to get back downstairs and work. We taped three corners in a modest return
to the project.
- November 18, 1995
- Well, I just got back into town after a week in Washington, DC. Julie
and her dad did some more taping in my absence, so we've almost finished
the first tape coat.
The reason this is taking so long can be summarized in one word: fall.
As in, 'leaves a falling off our trees.' We've been raking since late
October, with nary a break for the basement. Once the snow starts,
we'll have no more excuses. Stay tuned.
- October 24, 1995
- Finally finished putting up the sheetrock. Those little odd pieces are
the troublesome ones. Julie taped most of the mid-wall joints. We need to
try and buckle down and finish the taping quickly; I want to start
using this office!
- October 15, 1995
- A little bit of everything tonight. I hung the door and finished
sheetrocking the drop ceiling while Julie taped a few seams in the closet.
We're going to be busy later in the week, so we need to get as much done
these next few days as we can.
- October 11, 1995
- Whew, that was a long break! We've been working on other aspects of home
repair these past weeks, including waterproofing under the front steps.
We also discovered that our garage is home to at least one mouse. Julie was
less than pleased. Pass the Decon.
We've still a few smallish pieces of sheetrock to hang: a 4x4 sheet under the
stairs, a 7x1 piece next to the door and a 9x1 piece on the front of the
drop ceiling. October is a hectic month for us, with three birthdays and the
inevitable raking. We usually get about 40 bags (39 gallons each) of leaves
to rake up. Ugh!
- September 26, 1995
- Due to a hectic weekend and impending garage sale, we've done nothing in
the basement since the 21st. Once the garage sale is over (the 30th is the
last day), we'll be back at it. Stay tuned.
- September 21, 1995
- We finished rocking the storage area, which leaves just the two walls
under the staircase.
Julie wants to hire someone to tape the walls. I think it'll be too
expensive, but she's going to make some calls anyway.
- September 20, 1995
- We rocked two of the three walls in the storage room, and I attached
a heat register to an existing furnace duct that passes through the room.
Only two smaller walls remain to be rocked. Seems like some mud work will
be in order for the weekend.
- September 17, 1995
- I am tired. Julie is tired. We spent the weekend hanging drywall. The
four main walls of the room are done, but we need to rock the area under
the stairs and the storage room. I'm sure we'll do more on Monday, but
I am not looking forward to it.
- September 12, 1995
- We passed our framing and insulation inspection, so I drove out to
the lumber yard this evening and picked up a load of sheetrock and some
related tools. The fun starts soon...
- September 11, 1995
- The insulation is finished and the framing/insulation inspection is
scheduled for the afternoon of 9/12. A sheetrock party is planned for the
weekend.
- September 7, 1995
- Julie put up most of the rest of the insulation while Eric was out having
a beer and playing darts with a friend. Only a few odd-size pieces need to
be emplaced. We got forty feet of Category 5 twisted-pair cable for the
in-house network, and we need to run that before finishing the insulation.
- September 6, 1995
- We passed the rough-in electrical inspection, so we were able to wire-in
the lights and one of the power circuits. Eric cleverly snippped the neutral
wire while stripping the sheathing off one of the Romex runs in the service
panel. Ugh. Had to rerun a few feet of cable, but no other problems.
To celebrate passing the inspection, we spent the evening putting up insulation.We got about half the room done. Do we know how to live it up, or what?
- September 4, 1995
- We're ready for the rough-in electical inspection. We're using four 125-watt
light fixtures in the room, plus a 75-watt 'moving eye' light in the closet.
I actually ran two circuits for outlets; one for my computer equipment and one
for other things, like Julie's sewing machine.
The inspection is Wednesday morning (9/6). The next step is to insulate and we're ready
with six rolls of R-11 insulation. Once the inspection is done, I can also hook the circuits up and put away the extension cords. That will be nice.
