The cave.

[wrigh003]

So after figuring out that I have to save up at least $15000 to even approach being ready to build a detached garage, I convinced my wife to let me go ahead with the original plan and finish the 1/2 basement that's under our house into a workshop/ storage area and finish the other part into some living space (win/ win).

Wednesday:
First thing was to address lighting (ina temporary way, at least) so I could see what I was doing. Piggybacked off of an existing fixture to hang two T8 shoplights, and now I can see. It's amazing what some lumens will do. Didn't take a picture because, well, electrical isn't exactly ****, plus I was too busy trying to make sure I didn't catch something on fire.

Thursday:
Here's where I started yesterday after shifting around all our stuff (we have NO storage, that's going to be key, but I have held off knowing that I'd just have to move anything later to get this place finished out). Note moisture seepage and nice 1970s aluminum window. This picture is taken with me standing back by the (equally awesome 1970s) garage door, sorry for the **** view. Better pictures as I have more fun stuff to report.

Here's where I got to before quitting time last night. 3 gallons of "Low Odor" (yeah right) Latex Drylok and several hours of slinging it up on the walls and voila- it's that much brighter already.

Today:
First part of my day was eaten up by going to lunch with the wife and meeting her boss and his family (small company), so I haven't got anyhting done except to make some calls about finding a floor sander to get the floor ready for epoxy. Any pointers on that would be appreciated. In a minute, I am headed out to measure, buy some treated studs to put down as the footers for the framing, find some wedge concrete anchors to hold them down and see what other trouble I can get into. Maybe look at windows, since those are being replaced, too...

Will post updates as they happen, I am hoping to get this knocked out pretty fast, though. I have about a hundred other projects to do around here, and I can't let them slide just because I really want this one done...

No rest for the wicked.

 

[SuperKid]

Looks great! That coat of paint sure brightens the place up. Keep us updated!

 

[428]

Looking good.

The EDCO sander seems to be the one of choice. Rental rates vary, but here it was $250 a day with the diamond cutters, sanding stones are much cheaper if all you need is a rough up.

You planning on finishing the ceiling?

 

[wrigh003]

So far, only the Home Depot out near where I work (40 miles away) has anything comparable to the Edco machine that people talk up so much on here, something called a Blastrac 10" sander/grinder (www.blastrac.com)

.

The tool rental guy knew even less than I did, which is always comforting. I think the rental was like $120 a day, which isn't too bad, but it ***** that I'll have to do my daily commute next Saturday to pick it up if nothing else looks promising more locally, and I'm still not totally sure if that's what I need or not.

The ceiling will definitely be finished somehow, but the reason I have left that for later is that I need to see what electrical will look like for this little three-room remodel and get that done first- our panel is small and needs to move (just to the other side of a wall) to make room for a bathroom renovation on the other end of the house, and I think I may have enough little projects (outlet here, outlet there, move panel, add a couple circuits, etc...) to justify hiring an electrician. My 13-month-old son's room is directly above there, so noise suppression/damping is key (meaning that suspended cieling is out), plus since his floor's not insulated and neither is that basement, it gets a little chilly in his room over the winter. Gotta get that fixed...

 

[Winmon]

but here it was $250 a day with the diamond cutters

Glad to here that is about what everyone else paid! I thought I was getting screwed!

 

[JohnHenrys48]

Nice job, it really brightened up.

I noticed you mentioned water seepage...I can see that on the walls, but how about the floor ? If there's water seeping up through the slab the epoxy will "lift" off. Rustoleum and the others recommend doing a test by taping a 2x2 foot piece of plastic down and let sit for 24 (or 48, I forgot) hours. If water vapor is present under the plastic then the epoxy will not work. I'm not trying to rain on your parade (lol) but I would hate to see you go through the trouble and have the epoxy flake off...

Good luck, Looks great so far.

Jim

 

[wrigh003]

We'll have to see what happens on the slab- I picked up a roll of plastic with my first load of framing lumber today just to see if the epoxy will work. Keeping my fingers crossed that there's no water coming up through the floor- I won't jinx it by even saying that I suspect i'm OK, but there sure was a lot of dust down there.

Edit:
Re: Rain on the parade- no big deal at all! I just happened to have seen about the plastic trick in my reading, but it's advice that bears repeating. Maybe somebody else will be spared a couple hundred dollar screwup as a result of the repetition. I'll be the first to admit that this is my first go around at one of these myself (I've helped on lots of projects over the years, but I'm still learning, for sure), so if seasoned veterans see that I'm doing something wrong, don't think I'll be offended if you speak up and set me straight.

I noticed you mentioned water seepage...I can see that on the walls, but how about the floor ?

 

[wrigh003]

Today's update:
I framed the walls, insulated, ran wiring, and put down the floor.

HA! Just kidding. I have my treated 2x4 footers and the wedge anchors to hold them to the slab, but I'm a little concerned that these may not be as dry as they might should be. I noted at the store that they were fairly heavy, but didn't think much about it until i got home and started to think about what a pain it would be if one of those things got a wild hair and decided to warp/twist/buckle/shrink after I frame out a wall on top of it... Anybody know of a good way to tell whether these boards are too wet/green to use? I know they should be heavier than an untreated stud, since they are full of preservative and all, but by how much?

But, while wife and boy went to visit a friend of hers today, I decided that I was tired of working on the floor (and not sure whether to proceed with the footers), so I built myself a bench. I had a 2' by 4' sheet of MDF left over from something eons ago, and it was looking a little bit rough from getting wet a while back and then sitting in the semi-damp basement for months, so I decided to use it up. Two hours, 5 2x4's and a handful of deck screws later, voila:

All in alll, a fun little capper to a productive week.

 

[stimpy]

anything new to report ?? how did the floor test go ??

 

[wrigh003]

haha- Thanks for bumping my thread. The floor test went fine- no moisture came up that I could find, so I think we are go for epoxy. Have been working on some other things around the house and the garage/basement has not been one of those things, but I'm getting around to it. My son's bedroom is directly overhead, so working down there is impossible unless he's not home or not asleep- and since he hits the hay about an hour or so after I get home at night during the week, progress is way slow, and confined to weekends, unless he's down for a nap, and then... So it's slow. That's a big part of the reason I was trying to find out what the costs would be on a detached shop- location on this one is not ideal, but it's what I have, so I'll work with it for a while. It's a learning project, too, helping me learn more about framing, plumbing, wiring, etc...

Recent developments:
I went to HD yesterday and checked their tool rental department since it's convenient to work. Turns out they have both the Blastrac machine mentioned above as well as the Edco machine that people have been talking up. The advantage of the Blastrac seems to be that it comes with a vacuum for dust removal, which is a pretty serious advantage, but it costs quite a bit more. If I go with the Edco (likely), do I want the blades or the stones? Apparently the blades are the more aggressive cutter, but what have people used in the past with good results? The tool rental folks at this particular HD are friendly as can be and very helpful, but they don't really seem to grasp what I'm trying to do, or at least not that I can see. I am trying to find out from the wife if she's interested in a neutral-color epoxy floor throughout the entire basement space, and if so, I will probably pick up one of those machines on a friday night and send her to her mom's to take the baby swimming on a Saturday so I can get some work done. Course, that means I have to get all our **** out of the basement and put somewhere else...

Oh, one thing I forgot to ask- wife wants to know if the epoxy is the end for that floor- would/could there ever be any other flooring that could go over it? I know if I prep right it's not coming up...

 

[camarojoe]

Thats a good question, and one I have thought about myself... Personally, i don't see any reason why you couldn't put some other type of flooring/tile/carpet/etc. over the epoxy later on if you decided you wanted something different... just put whatever adhesive is required for the flooring of your choice right over the epoxy as you would if it was bare concrete...I would think it would work just fine. Has anyone ever done this?

 

[RAYJAY]

our whole basment was painted when we bought the house (battleship gray )

ao when we tiled the down stairs i just went right over the painted concrete

that was 9-10 years ago and never a problem with it , also laid vct in laundery area and no problem with that either


Jeff