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Basement Remodel 07-08
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Basement Remodel 07-08

Progress photos of the major basement finishing project

Photos 1 - 119 of 119

After the Legos were sorted, the garage sale was over and the contents of the South end redistributed, the framing started on August 10, 2007

9/25/07: Wall between the Shop and Rec Room

Doors framed in for Pantry

9/25/07: The Game Room closet for sleeping bags

Finally, the stairs with properly built stringers

Rec Room outer walls

9/26/07 - Doorway to Shop at bottom of stairs

View from the Shop into the Rec Room

Getting pretty deep in here

Tricky work around the electrical panel and window - just enough space for a 22 inch door

9/30/08 - first try at the half wall on the stairs - a close look shows it is not parallel to the slope; I later tore this out and rebuilt it

9/30/07 - the last 2 x 4 - it took 350 in all

10/15/07 - framing out the furnace ducts; note the metal and wood mid supports in the span

10/15/07 - with framing finished the electrical wiring begins

12/16/07 - insulation and vapor barrier prior to Nate's Christmas visit

getting ready for the drywall; how I spent my Christmas vacation

12/16/07 - drywall hanging time

I don't mind hanging drywall, it's the mudding and sanding I abhor

wiring and lights are done and the recessed lights over the eventual bar are in and lit; walls insulated and vapor barrier up; drywall is hung

1/1/08 - ah, finally all hung and ready to tape

Note the outlet boxes for the entertainment center - this is the third and final version

more taping

1/1/08 - taping the seams

Taped, now the fun really begins

Taped, but not mudded

3/16/08 - I didn't have the inclination to take pictures during mudding or sanding; here it is all painted

A lot of sweat went into what you see here

Baseboard heaters and green walls

3/29/08 - the next adventure - suspended ceiling; but first insulation for keeping cool in the summer

Actually putting in this ceiling was a blast; the laser level was outstanding

Adjusting the location and height of the recessed lights was not a blast; but very educational - again 3 tries to get it right

4/6/08 - not too shabby for the first time

This furnace register you see in this picture was the hardest part of the ceiling; track lights on suspended tile were tricky as well

4/6/08 - laminate floor is a snap; but it eats up chop saw blades; all done in one day

without the flash in incandescent light

4/23/08 - the Tiffany lamp in the Game Room; also note in the background the first door is hung; note the triangular door opening for later in the story

the casing work on the stairs, post and beam is done; this is the rebuilt stairway wall, now parallel to the stairs - only 2 tries to get this right

5/11/08 - my first ever hanging doors from scratch - the Pantry double doors; used a router for the first time; last doors to install

I love power tools

the finished product

5/28/08 - fast forward to the cabinet work for the sink; this is all from scratch using roughsawn cedar scraps from the beam work

finally a sink in the basement; this location and design courtesy of Will's wise input early on during the framing phase

5/28/08 - the Hideout door; lesson learned - you can't build a triangular shaped door and expect it to open - note the truncated top point modification

6/21/08 - one of the finishing touches - the Bar takes shape; note that the recessed lights hit the top of the bar perfectly - what luck

back of the bar showing cabinetry and wiring; no counter tops yet, just patterns I made for to the counter top guys - they appreciated it

6/24/08 - not good enough - redoing the electrical panel door; trimming the door again & replacing part of its frame

using the small nail gun

6/24/08 - quarry tile behind the bar in and grouted

attaching the upper counter buttresses

6/28/08 - Bar stained & ready for counter tops

6/28/08 - sidetracked tearing out the kitchen counters; new counters for kitchen AND the Bar due next week

all cut up and unfastened waiting for Seago & Sons to replace'em

6/29/08 - insulating the Pantry

laying on the floor inside the Pantry, not standing

7/6/08 - let the door casing and baseboard finishing begin! How I spent 4th of July weekend

installing laminate floor edges

7/6/08 - varnishing the inside of the bar; Mary Ann did the outside

an installed laminate floor edge at Workshop doorway- it only took two tries

kitchen ready to receive its new counters; Contractor had to remove stove - see story below

7/10/08 - Corian installation in progress

the bar gets its counters, too

the finished kitchen

the finished bar

not too shabby

MA cleans behind the stove; Larry got to fix the ancillary gas leak - damaged connection by Seago that only leaked when the stove was pushed in!

the door casings begin to appear; the Game Room has 6 unique doorways; note the double ogee'd trim between the Pantry doors

the Hideout door trimmed in with odd angles

the Bar closet with skinny top piece

the pinnacle of the casing work - the Electrical Panel access - 2 doors, the window, a bottom sill plate and a weird tight corner; this took two days

7/20/08 - Will pitches in to help stain doors with Mom

note that the pantry has been reloaded after the insulation and painting

7/20/08 - the baseboards go in

the stained pantry doors and the casework completed around them

7/29/08 - the first doorknob goes in; this door has been varnished, sanded, varnished again and is totally done

Will's REALLY green wall; it was all his idea; Mom and he picked the color; it reflects green off of the white ceiling on the opposite side of the room

a glitch with the drywall discovered while putting in baseboard - a bulge that needed to be debulged

8/2/08 - ready for the carpet; we filled, sanded and painted maybe 100 dings, drips, screw heads, scuffs and skippers on all the walls before I could take this picture

a lot of sweat using a tiny model paint brush went into the final baseboard caulking and painting in the Rec Room ; the Game Room sheetrock work was better - no caulk needed

the stairway ready for its carpet; I needed to fill, sand and repaint 4 small cracks in the drywall joints from the April earthquake - yeah really, honest, from the earthquake in Illinois in April

8/3/08 - how to install a door latch without a router bit; by the 6th one I had it down

the white paint on the hat is from painting the inside of the pantry erlier in the project; this is the last doorknob of the 7

just a little bit more....oh, crap! where's the wood filler?

8/11/08 - the carpet gets installed; crew finally came at 7:00 pm and were done by 9:30 pm

carpet laying; had to cut 1-1/4 inches off of the bottoms of the doors to clear the carpet + pad

ready for furniture

the furniture?

8/16/08 - the furniture from upstairs relocated with Jon and Will's help

8/17/08 - the shelves and mirror behind the bar completed

The basement officially christened over the weekend of 8/16-17. Note the big screen TV, the finishing touch

9/2/08 - the bookcase for the game closet in its final stages

the bookcase install in the closet; it will be difficult to get out because of the closet shelf above it - another oopsie

Jon & Will install the surround sound on 9/6

9/6/08 - the last closet shelf goes into the Bar closet

finishing the last shelf; note the gentleman carpenter's nice clothes, only for the very careful

removed rust and painted the steel window frames, same color as the Green Wall

9/10/08 - the 36 inch high barstools finished and assembled

barstools in-place

9/21/08 - the stairwell cabinets in production - 2 at 53 inches high and 1 at 71 inches high, all about 22" wide

10/1/08 - the stairwell cabinets installed; now for the shelf unit that goes in between; viewed from downstairs looking up

Michelangelo does the drywall and repairs the ceiling above the stairwell cabinets

The artiste and his work. Textured finish is the only option for the amateur drywaller.

10/21/08 - Cabinet installation completed, with top moldings; viewed from upstairs doorway

10/22/08 - the finished product, including the shelf unit; viewed from downstairs looking up

11/9/08 - the handrail in progress; I wanted it to be a continuous handrail with a drop at the corner, just for the challenge of the geometry and miter joints

the straight runs clamped in place, ready to fit the corner piece in

a jig I made to clamp the corner rail piece in place at the correct distance from the wall on both sides of the corner and mark it for receiving the straight rails; I made one additional cut on this

painting the rail - note my genius idea of putting paper behind the supports so I could paint it in place; once the stain and three coats of varnish were on I just ripped the paper from behind

11/12/08 - Mary Ann models the finished railing - it's built bomb and grandson proof

the corner drop - 4 miter joints - 19.5 degrees, 2-90's with a plane change, 25.5 degrees - in about a foot of railing; built at the workbench I only had to trim the bottom of the drop about an inch

11/12/08 - the final item - putting in the shelf brackets and making the shelves for the stairwell cabinets

and another cabinet - a TV stand worthy of the Big Screen

the hat rack - finally a solution to the pile of caps in the upstairs closet; to the right are my 6 Boundary Waters trips souvenir paddles

the finishing touches - a ceiling mounted wine glass rack; couldn't find one at good price so I made one

the finishing touches - drawers in the bar

7 bar drawers

the finishing touches - somewhere to plug in the window fan

the finishing touches - the original sink didn't fit with the bar or anything else, so I had Seago & Son make a matching one

Copyright © 2008 Will Grauvogel. All Rights Reserved.

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