Has anyone finished a basement

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I'm going to spruce up the cellar a bit. Has anyone done this before?

I know I need a city building and electrical permit, so any advice on handling all that is appreciated.

I'm building an office and a living room. No bathroom or plumbing. I'm thinking laminate floors for durability - probably need some kind of sub floor. The basement is already insulated and studded so I'll add a couple interior walls and doors, and that's about it.

I should also ask if there are any electricians or trades in the CP crowd. I want to do most of this myself to save cash, but I'll need to pay some people at some point.

[Eagle Eye]

Do everything yourself including the electrical yourself. The only thing that I would recomend paying someone to do is the tapping/mudding. It is a messy job, and it really should cost that much to pay someone to do it.

[Frank the Tank]

I just finished my basement about a month ago. Took me a while, but it has added a huge amount of living space to my relatively small house. I did everything myself, including electrical.

Some recomendations:

Sub Floor: Home Depot sells a product called DriCore. They are 2' x 2' tongue and groove panels with a honeycomb backing on them. They rock. Works out to about the same cost as a traditional sub floor, and you have the added bonus of the honeycomb moisture barrier/insulator.

Make sure everything is on 16" centres (I'm sure you already knew this) because working around it is a bitch later.

Insulate the ceiling to eliminate noise from upstairs. Also, instead of drywalling the ceiling, I put up 12" x 12" tongue and groove ceiling tiles. Just make sure your first half dozen are nice and square and its easy, cheap and looks good.

By good lumber for your studs. Nothing sucks more than a stud bowing out after you've drywalled.

PM me if you have any other questions.

[Sylvanfan]

All you need for laminate is to place a layer of poly on the sub floor, and than you can use a foam underlay on top of that. Make sure you leave a bit of a gap at the walls so that the floor is allowed to float. Don't worry about the gap becase the baseboard will cover this up after it goes in place. Other than that I'd just reccomend making sure you paint the walls before you get the flooring done (in case it's not obvious). Just don't put tile directly on a concrete floor like my boss did because if the slab heaves on you, than it will crack the tiles.

[Cheese]

I suggest hiring electricians, drywallers and finishers and do it right. Nothing worse than getting dirt under your fingernails. Itll give your wife something to look at besides you all the time as well.

[Mr. Ski]

I'm working on mine as we speak. The permit process was pretty easy. Just have a good sketch of what is existing, and what you're adding. That seemed to help when I was down at City Hall.

So far I've finished all the stud walls and put the electrical in myself. That part was pretty straight forward. Installed a bunch of wall plugs, recessed lighting, some track lighting, a bathroom heat lamp, exhaust fan, GFCI circuts, etc, etc.

I definitely recommend getting a copy of the Alberta Electrical Code book. They have them at Home Depot for about $12. Saved me from making a bunch of rookie mistakes. Has a bunch of rules too on how many plugs you need to have and such as well. Also, if you're doing your own wiring, get yourself a good set of wire strippers. Best $25 I've spent on tools in a long time.

Just now jackhammered opened up the concrete slab for a jetted-tub, sink, and toilet. Framing in the support for the tub tonight. Adding the copper and black plastic plumbing this weekend if everything goes well.

Still on the list:

* Finish adding in-wall wiring for my future home theater system (really inexpensive and easy to do, and there wont be any cables showing when I'm done)
* Insulate walls and put up vapor barrier.
* Insulate ceiling.
* Put up drywall.
* Mud / tape.
* Paint.
* Flooring (not 100% sure what we're going to do here yet... hmmmm...)

Let me know if you have any questions I can answer. I'm no expert, but things have been going well so far.

[Calgary Flames]

Just call the Canadian Tire family... the can do it all!

[Frank the Tank]

Originally posted by Calgary Flames@Jun 23 2005, 03:08 PM
Just call the Canadian Tire family... the can do it all!

Plus they have ALL the gadgets. You ever add up the cost of the stuff that family has? Its like $300,000!!

[Radically Red]

yah but they paid for it all in Canadian tire money.. :P

[Frank the Tank]

Originally posted by Radically Red@Jun 23 2005, 03:59 PM
yah but they paid for it all in Canadian tire money.. :P

Oooooh thats bad. Made me laugh though!

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Do the work yourself, but get an electrician or someone who is in the trades to look it over and make sure you are doing everything right and everything to code.

[Eagle Eye]

Originally posted by Mean Mr. Mustard@Jun 23 2005, 02:17 PM
Do the work yourself, but get an electrician or someone who is in the trades to look it over and make sure you are doing everything right and everything to code.

Thats what the inspector does

[Bingo]

I'm nearing completion on mine as well ...

I did:

framing
wiring
plumbing
dry walling

In the process of:

Finishing work (bar, entertainment center, shelving, baseboards)

Hired out:

mud/tape, carpet laying

A lot of work but was fun, and man am I proud of it now.

A good tip I got that I loved for framing inner walls. Glue down one 2x4 as a blue print and then drop a fully framed wall on top of it. Makes it easier to get in place, and gives you a base of two 2x4s for fastening baseboards later on.

[Eagle Eye]

Another recomendation:

If you are planning to put up heavy pictures, curtain rods or shelving, put 2x4 blocking behind the drywall for extra support. I did this when they were framing my new house.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

How did you guys all get these skills? Working in the industry, tinkering on your own, trade schools, MacGyver?

When I lived at home, my dad was never the Tim Taylor (tool man, not Captain Disrespect) type and as such I never became that "handy". I'd like to learn how though, and like fooling around on projects with my limited skills.

[V]

I never touched a skil saw before I owned my first house. But once you own a house you gotta learn how to fix stuff or the whole place goes downhill. You're basically forced to either learn the skills or pay through the nose to get someone else to do it.

Since I bought my first house I've built a deck, installed ceramic tile, hardwood floor, carpet, painted, installed wiring (I'm an electrical engineer, I should know that one), installed a dishwasher, built my own kitchen cabinets, and many other things that had to get done if I wanted to live in a place that was worth living in.

I guess it helps that I have some pretty handy friends that can teach me a thing or two. Also, someone bought me the Home Depot DIY book, and that's helped quite a bit.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse@Jun 23 2005, 11:03 PM
How did you guys all get these skills? Working in the industry, tinkering on your own, trade schools, MacGyver?

When I lived at home, my dad was never the Tim Taylor (tool man, not Captain Disrespect) type and as such I never became that "handy". I'd like to learn how though, and like fooling around on projects with my limited skills.

I learned most of it from my father. He's a cheap bas**rd and won't pay anyone to do anything. Case in point. He is 64 years old and he is currently putting new siding on their house. They have the money to hire it out, but he realized that the quotes he got that were all around $8,000 were more than 75% labour/profit. He went out and bought the siding he needed from Home Depot for $1800.

Also, IHH, books are a godsend. Those big hardcover Do-it-Yourself books they sell at Home Depot are awesome. Black and Decker make a really good do-it-yourself book as well. Explains a lot about the fundamentals of construction.

Also, we built a cottage ourselves near Invermere, so I learned a lot there, and I worked on a framing crew one summer.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Great advice, thanks all.

I've never done any of this before (except mudding and taping, oddly enough). But I hadn't built a deck before either and that worked out well enough. Fortunately I have a couple friends in the trades, which is helpful for advice and importantly tools. And I have CP

Did anyone use metal studs? The builder used them on the outside walls in my basement already so I figured I'd use them on the inside walls too. Now I'm wondering how I'd attach baseboards to them.

Frank or anyone else: what did you use to insulate the ceiling? Seems like a good idea.

One last question: where'd you shop? Home Depot, Rona, Construction supply stores? Does it matter?

[Mr. Ski]

Originally posted by Bend it like Bourgeois@Jun 24 2005, 02:05 PM
Did anyone use metal studs? The builder used them on the outside walls in my basement already so I figured I'd use them on the inside walls too. Now I'm wondering how I'd attach baseboards to them.

Frank or anyone else: what did you use to insulate the ceiling? Seems like a good idea.

One last question: where'd you shop? Home Depot, Rona, Construction supply stores? Does it matter?

I used metal studs for part of the project. I had to skirt around the back of my furnace and water heaters and was too close to use wood. By code, you have to leave 1 meter clear with any combustable material. Couple of points on them:

* They were exactly the same price as wood when I bought them; both $3.49 a stud.
* I liked working with them because they're always straight, and a lot lighter to install yourself. They go together really quick with a good cordless drill and a pack of self-tapping wafer screws.
* The drawback is that you have to use armoured cable (aka BX cable) to do any wiring within them. It's more expensive than Loomix (regular 14/2 wire) and a bit harder to work with. You have to strip the cable off the portion of the wire that's in the electrical box and protect against the cut end of the shield with these little red plastic insulators they sell in the electrical section.
* Baseboards should install pretty much the same as they would with wood. They don't have to be structural, just tacked and held to the wall. You can use a brad nailer or small recessed screws. Either should work. I use a nail gun.

For the ceiling I'm using an Insulation product called Safe and Sound. It's a sound deadener and fire block in one. It looks a lot like the regular pink insulation and costs about the same. It comes cut to fit regular floor joists at 16" on center and I'm holding it up there with some bailing twine stapled accross the joists until I get the vapour barrier and drywall up.


As far as shopping I've bought almost everything at Home Depot. Great store for everything I've needed, and they have a credit deal where in if you spend $450 you get six months no interest to pay the bill off. Free money as long as you pay it off on time. Further they've had a few promotions where you get a full year to pay. Set up your bank to make 12 reasonably sized monthly payments and forget about it.

I've spent probably $12,000 there the past two years, so the extra time to pay is great.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally posted by Bend it like Bourgeois@Jun 24 2005, 09:05 AM
Great advice, thanks all.

I've never done any of this before (except mudding and taping, oddly enough). But I hadn't built a deck before either and that worked out well enough. Fortunately I have a couple friends in the trades, which is helpful for advice and importantly tools. And I have CP

Did anyone use metal studs? The builder used them on the outside walls in my basement already so I figured I'd use them on the inside walls too. Now I'm wondering how I'd attach baseboards to them.

Frank or anyone else: what did you use to insulate the ceiling? Seems like a good idea.

One last question: where'd you shop? Home Depot, Rona, Construction supply stores? Does it matter?

Just like Mr. Ski, I used Safe 'n' Sound for the ceiling. Works great. Almost no noise from the upper floor gets through. I seem to remember it being a bit more pricey than regular insulation though? Maybe I'm wrong.

I buy almost everything at Home Depot, but I shop around because HD will price match plus give you an extra 10% off the competitors price. Can't be beat.