Basement 2.0

[Road Guy]

So I went and visited the good people at the permit office yesterday afternoon..

Holy Christ this is just dumb, they will only issue me a full permit for the complete basement and to get the permit they make me pay sales tax on all the items that will go into the project?

I know for a fact they issue developers “grading only” permits so they can do some of the work while they finish out there building plans.. I wanted to just get a permit for rough in (framing, electrical, hvac, and plumbing)

So if I assume it’s going to cost me $10 grand I have to pay them upfront the 5% sales tax ($500 bucks) and they were like, it’s really not a problem you just show the permit to the people at home depot / lowes, etc and they won’t charge you the sales tax?

I was going to take a few weekends before winter and frame the basement out  but the more and more I look at this its just a total PIA. Plus I have to build “floating” walls??

 

[Road Guy]

well round and round.. I ended up paying some guys to do the framing and sheetrock, It sucks to shell out so much money but they framed in the entire thing in a week!

nothing sexy about these pictures, just sharing the story as we go..



Anyone else have to build floating walls? You can kind of see there are two lower sets of 2X4's on the bottom with a PK nail to allow them to shift a little?  Doesnt seem like that would really work to me, if the soil shifts more than a little the walls are still going to crack, unless it all shifts the same amount?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Me and two buddies from college framed my entire basement in one day (~14 hours).  I had an AutoCAD drawing showing every stud with measurements, had a local lumber company do a take-off from my drawing, and had most of the studs drilled for wiring before we started.  It cost me a case of beer and lots of pizza, but was worth every penny.

 

[P-E]

RG don't do it unless you're sure you'll never get water down there. I've seen/heard of too many finished basement disasters.   Many just from bad plumbing. 

Must have been drinking when I wrote this...wait..I am now.  

The plumbing issues were a lack of sewer check valve and they got sewer/storm water flooding.  In my town even with a sump pump it's risky since the water table is high. I'd like to have a man space in the basement if I could do it without losing too much if I got water. 

 

[Road Guy]

It's a lot more work than a days effort, fire blocking, ceilings, closets bathrooms, etc... I don't think mine could have been done in a day. Plus those floating floors look like a total PIA!

If I had done this myself on the weekends it would have taken me at least a month + probably

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Floating floors really aren't that hard to build. I did a couple in my basement to frame in a storage area (keep the pets out of it). The sheetrock shouldn't be attached to the floor board at all and should be about an inch off the floor, so the floor can flex up and down without ever touching the "wall". This gap in the sheetrock is covered by the floor molding, creating a lap joint. The hard part about building a floating wall is that they are hanging from the ceiling, and can be quite difficult to hang if your wall runs parallel to the joists (but in between).

 

 

[Road Guy]

what makes them a pain If your doing a lot is you cant frame them in the traditional manner where you measure, build on the ground and then lift it up and nail it in as one 8' section, you have to stick frame it and toe nail it all together. Not building a swiss watch but definitely way more time consuming..

This was most of my weekend - two 10 hour days of this bullshit... I think it should be illegal to paint your house a dark color unless you have the title / own it free and clear / etc / Also painting a room with 20' ceilings really sucks! even with shaky scaffolding.. (grown kid in photo for scale)

I thought I wouldn't want the "safety gates" at the top but HFS there was no way I would have been up there trying to lean over and paint without them....

 

[MA_PE]

wow that definitely sux.  I hope that's a layer fo Kilz you're putting on and not finish color.  Might take 3 coats to cover that brown.

Glad to see that kid with a roller in his hands!

 

[Road Guy]

sheetrock is hung, should be painting next weekend. (if anyone is in town?)

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Tape/texture is probably the worst part of the whole process. I'd offer to help, but the commute is a bit too far...

 

[snickerd3]

Tru dat!!!!!

 

[Road Guy]

I am mostly writing checks.. no taping or that god awful west of the Mississippi  River texture work  for me..

I asked for prices for a smooth finish and it was like "oh we got a high roller here- you can't afford that"... 

but once the taping and mud is done then I am the painter/electrical and plumbing finisher / etc...

i spent so much of my free time doing my last project i am

aftually glad to get this one finished quicker...

 

[Road Guy]

So looking at flooring options,  & I haven’t gone to the flooring store yet, but have they come out with a laminate style faux hardwood floors that will work in a basement?  I want to say I was at COSTCO last year and they were selling a rubberized laminate style floor that was water proof?  We don’t have much moisture in CO but I still don’t think I can put the regular laminate stuff?

Any type of residential labor here is just crazy expensive so my thought was that If I can save a few thousand putting in click in floors I will be better off than carpet.  & I could go ahead and buy it all and just work on it when I have time / feel like it.

 

[Road Guy]

the mudding crew was basically using us a fill in work so they were only here nights and weekends, really sort of sucked, but as of yesterday the "hiring out" part is done and I just have to paint, trim electrical and do a bathroom, lol... and worry about the floors...you cant really tell but the previous owners painted the floor fairly nice and we put plastic down while we were mudding so to save Money I am just going to clean them up and use them with some rugs for a while

hard to tell due to the weird size of the basement but this first pic is where TV / Movie / Netflix and chill area will be:



this is just an open area where the guest BRB will be (to the right ) and also the bathroom will be to the right. room full of junk is just storage & I had to cram what we had in the basement there while it was U/C

 

[kevo_55]

Why not just use that epoxy flooring stuff & throw down some rugs?

 

[snickerd3]

the tolerance for that laminate planking on concrete is really small.  We looked at doing that in ours before put in the floating floor and we would have had to buy GALLONS of the self leveling concrete to get the floor in any shape to work with the planks.  super glad we put in the floating floor, the ground isn't as cold in the winter.  

 

[Road Guy]

Floating would work - what type did you use?  I don't plan on doing any leveling concrete - except maybe in the bathroom for the tile instead of wonder board...

We are ok with temporarily using the existing painted floors with rugs but the goal is when we sell this house to get close to a $600 # so we need something that will look high end..

i can't find anyone that does the stained concrete like we did back east - I've thought about doing that myself since it can't be that hard?

 

[snickerd3]

we put rolls of this stuff down then the big sheets of plywood then the carpet on top it.  It lifts the flooring off the ground but would still allow air flow beneath.  The also make 2'x2' squares with this material and plywood already together and you just install like the click together flooring.  for us it was cheaper to buy the roll/plywood than the grids

 

 

[Road Guy]

If I do carpet I'll just put it directly on th concrete floor with a good padding - I don't want to have to bring 900 SF of plywood down there..that in itself is just too much work!

 

[knight1fox3]

If I do carpet I'll just put it directly on th concrete floor with a good padding

That's how our finished basement is. :thumbs: