Basement Update 2

Hi there! Welcome back!

Here we are looking at the first wall of studs finished. These were the hardest to put up due to various reasons. We had to build it one at a time against the wall and screw the top in place carefully to avoid the pipes that run up to the kitchen sink. Jeffery went to the ER before we started this so I did all the cuts since he was working mostly one handed.

Once we were finished with the wall against the concrete bricks we were able to build our next wall on the floor and raise it up.

Here Jeffery is drilling a hole for some wiring to pass through. 

Wall all stood up. Jeffery is trying to fit it under the floor joist.

Here he is shooting nails into the concrete to secure the new wall into place.

Stood up secured in place and the remaining studs put in one at a time.

Here we are deciding what to do with this wall. They say hind sight is 20/20. We should have just pulled this one out too because the 2x4s were not level, but we decided to just level some of them and add just a couple new studs. Removing the whole wall wouldn't have been that much extra work. 

Jeffery decided that recessed lighting would be the best option in this room to keep it from looking too short. I think this was a great idea and I probably would have never thought of that.

Two should be sufficient.

Before putting up the next wall Jeffery ran new electrical cable to the furnace.

Building the next wall.

Standing it up and making it level. With this wall Jeffery moved the door over slightly and made it a large opening.

Framing in the closet. Notice our stud made out of end cuts. It's just there to give another stud a place to secure to. 

The rest of the closet framing in progress.

All done and admiring his work.

He framed the closet without any help from me so I put the electrical wiring for the computer room light into a plastic box and changed out the little nubby switch with one of these more modern ones.

Next we placed the electrical boxes where outlets and switches were going.

Zevran thinks he's a Master Electrician. He followed Jeffery around while he hammered the boxes to the studs and ran wiring, making sure everything was up to code.

Pouring over his literature. Making sure he remembered all the codes.

I marked all the studs for drilling and Jeffery made holes and ran wire. I went behind him and stripped the wires so he wouldn't have to do that later. 

Next we headed over to Ace Hardware to grab the electrical wire he needed for the lights to have two switches. (Ace is basically across the street, so it didn't take long.)

After the lights were wired it was time for drywall. Since I'm short and not very strong Jeffery recruited his friend David to help him drywall after work. We only put two sheets up so we didn't bother with a drywall lift. (Don't worry I cooked David dinner for his hardwork.) The first one went up pretty easy but their tired arms struggled with the second one.

A little extra cutting was involved for the light fixture to fit. They stole one of my lipsticks to paint on the rim of the fixture and pressed the drywall against it to get a rough idea of where to cut.

First piece of drywall up!

The second piece up.

I kept notes on various measurements and the boys cut and attached the drywall. (And took pictures!)

The electrical at the top was a spot Jeffery had to cut out of the wall and then piece back together.

For the window they attached the drywall and then cut it out.

This is the backside of the sewing room (in the projector room)

They called it a night and then David came back over the next day since they had Veteran's Day off.

They started by finishing underneath the window and then adding a strip of drywall to the ceiling.

More drywall. Lots of drywall.

They used the pieces they cut out for the door in the closet.

We finished the wall between the sewing room and the furnace room and then headed off to eat dinner and called it a day.

It's starting to look like a room again and we're pretty excited to see how far we've come on it. I can't wait to update you all again. Next time you see the room we'll be ready to paint!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Em