Basement Remodel: Part 2

Yesterday you read about how the basement would be divided into two spaces and how the walls were covered with insulation to provide a little extra warmth to the cold space. The next step was to install metal framing that the drywall would be attached to.  Again, I didn’t do any of the work and came home to see what was done during the day so I can’t give you the play-by-play.  What I can tell you is why we chose metal framing vs. wood and why we framed things the way we did. 

Metal vs. Wood

Basements are notoriously damp and prone to water leakage in Michigan.  My cousin, as the expert, told me that it makes more sense to use metal framing since it won’t rot or warp in moist conditions like wood may.  Not to mention that metal framing is perfectly straight and with wood you have to try to find straight pieces for your framing or the walls won’t be perfectly straight.  I chose to listen to his sage advice and went with the metal framing.  Let me say I don’t know the cost difference – he had extra metal framing that he gave me free of charge so I really made out in this deal!  Some people asked about the carpet – we didn’t rip any of it up since he was able to install the framing directly over the carpet and into the cement floor.

Again – a reminder of what we started with:

See the gray furnace and duct work in the bottom right corner?  I forgot to take a good before picture but the furnace jutted out into the space (as seen below) – something I absolutely hated!  Who wants to see the water furnace and heater when they are in a living space?  I decided that I wanted a wall build to hide these from anyone walking into the living space but still provide access to them for maintenance and in case anything happens to them in the future.  Luckily the access panels are on the other side of the furnace so we were able to build a wall as close to the back end of the furnace as the pipes would allow us.

A framework was also installed for the new wall that would divide the storage space from the living space.  Originally I was going to keep the front portion of the chimney visible since the brick is kind of cool but it was just easier to hide the entire thing.

Two walls were also built around the sump pump.  We were going to dry wall behind it as well but there just wasn’t enough space since the sump is so close to the wall.

Next up – hanging the dry wall and taping the seams. Fun stuff, people.

Basement Remodel: Part 1

As I mentioned on Friday, I’ve been wanting to do something…anything…with the basement for over four years now.  The basement as it was was a cold, dark place that I really didn’t use other than for storage and laundry.  It was over 500 sq. feet of unused (wasted!) space so I finally decided to change that.  I’ve had people come in before to give me quotes on dry walling the basement and they were so high that I just laughed and sent them on their way.  I’m all about doing things yourself but I do not have the skill set needed for hanging drywall so I decided to contact my cousin (a construction worker by trade) to see if he wanted to take on a side job.  Luckily for me (not so luckily for him) he had some free time since he’s currently laid off due to the terrible MI economy.  I had him come out and give me an estimate on the bathroom and basement.  The quote for both came in perfectly at my budget so he got started the very next day! 

The first step was cleaning out the space.  I decided that the laundry area and storage area would not be remodeled since it would be too much of a hassle.  All I really wanted to do was take the one huge space and divide it into two spaces – a living space and a storage space – by building a new wall.  The laundry nook would remain as-is since I didn’t want to box it in by building walls ,as it would make the small space feel even smaller.

Basement layout before: (not to scale) 

Basement layout after (new walls are in gray):

I moved all the small items into the soon-to-be storage space (in bottom right in pic above).  The larger items (storage cabinets, bike, couch) were pushed to the middle of the room.  The next step was to go around the basement and make sure any surface cracks were filled with a hydraulic cement to prevent any water from coming into the space in the future.  I don’t have any water issues now but I wanted to take extra precautions against water coming in through my walls like it has to my friends who live in the area.

Day one consisted of covering all of the wall surfaces with thick Owens Corning foam insulation. When I left the house it looked like this:

When I came home it looked like this (sorry for the dark pictures but these were taken after I get home from work):

He even went around the pillars in the basement along each wall.  The insulation will (and already has!) do wonders for keeping the basement warmer.  I turn off the heat to the basement since if I warm this space it more than doubles my heating costs each year.  The insulation provides a nice thick layer to keep the cool air from coming through the cinder blocks.

Step one was a success!  The next step in remodeling my basement involved installing metal framework to hang the dry wall on. Stay tuned for part two!

Next on the Agenda

I’ve been talking about doing something…anything… with my basement for over four years now.  I want it dry walled, I want a half bath installed, I want to make it more inviting.  Well, step one has been completed and step three is almost done! 

I’ll have posts next week that cover each stage of step one but for now here’s some before shots.

 

Notice the cinder block walls.  Notice how dark it looks in the middle of the day. Notice that the ugly furnace encroaches in the space.  Notice the wall I made out of curtains to separate the space (behind that is my storage space). I can’t wait to share the finished space!

The Big Chill

Well, once again my kitchen water pipes froze.  This is the second time in nearly five years.  I decided to investigate why only the kitchen pipes are freezing so I headed down to the basement.  Last year after the first time they froze I covered the pipes under the sink with pipe sticks and I covered every pipe in the basement with the sticks in October.  I assumed the issue was due to the fact that the entire exterior of my house is flush with the foundation except where the kitchen sink/cabinets are.  The exterior wall of that portion of the kitchen juts out an additional foot from the house’s foundation.

Once you’re in the basement, if you look up to the floor joists, there is about 10” of space between the cinder block wall and the house’s subfloor. That space is filled with paper-backed insulation in the entire basement, except where the kitchen pipes are.  Behind the pipes that lead up to the kitchen I found thick foam.

I pulled out the foam to be greeted with old insulation and balled up newspaper (along with many cobwebs):

I cleaned out the space and determined that the crevice was about 21” deep.

When the hole was empty I could immediately feel a draft of air coming from where the crevice and the cinder block foundation walls meet.  J and I decided to cut 1” thick foam board to lay down in the crevice before we applied more insulation as an extra layer of protection. We also decided to re-insulate each crevice that is underneath the kitchen.  In most we found the same insulation and balled-up newspaper.  One crevice, however, the old owner got lazy and just folded a paper in half and placed it in the crevice!  The paper was from February of 1977.

We measured each crevice and cut the foam board and R30 unfaced insulation to fit tightly in the spaces.

We then inserted each piece of foam board and insulation in the crevices.

Once each crevice was filled we measured and cut R13 faced insulation to place in front of the R30 insulation to provide one more layer of protection.

My goal this spring is to then cut pieces of wood to fasten into each crevice to completely hide the insulation but for now this is doing the trick!

Now, if you remember I mentioned feeling a draft.  I couldn’t just ignore that and think that the insulation would be enough so I donned old winter clothing and went outside to inspect the overhang. I found a pretty thick space between the cinder block foundation and the wood of the overhang.  I filled the space with expanding foam and voila – no more draft!

As you could see in the first pic, you can see some of the yellow foam so when spring decides to visit Michigan, I’ll go back out and trim the foam so that you can’t see it unless you are lying underneath the overhang (like I did to spray the foam).

Have you had freezing pipes this winter?  What steps did you take to remedy the situation? I was shocked mine froze since we’ve had such a mild winter so far in SE Detroit.

Completed(!) Bathroom

Yesterday I discussed why I chose the larger floor tile, what was beneath my old tile and gave you a preview of the new floor.  Today I’ll finish with the trim, new toilet and the grouted floor.

My bathroom previously had the same beige tiles that were both in the shower and on the floor around the bottom of two walls.

The third wall had the plastic trim that you can purchase at home improvement stores (often used in showers).

I decided that since I was having the floor tiles removed I might as well remove the trim tiles as well and replace them with white trim that matches the rest of the house.

Before trim:

After trim:

I love how trim really finishes off a room. I decided not to install quarter round in the bathroom like I have in the rest of the house since I wanted the trim to match up with the thickness of the tile around the shower. 

Just for fun, here’s a close up of the slate-ish tile and the hemp colored grout:

I love that the colors match the shower curtain that I bought earlier this year.  (Please ignore the wrinkly shower curtain – I had to quickly wash and hang it for pictures!)

What’s that you see?  A new Kohler toilet! I had a white sink, white vanity, white tub and beige toilet. Now the toilet matches the rest of the room rather than standing out like the ugly stepsister.  It really is the small things that make me happy.  Plus this baby is water efficient, unlike my old model.

As I previously mentioned, we left the original threshold.  It’s not a perfect match with the new tile but it looked better than the white marble threshold I found at Lowes or wood thresholds (not to mention that the wood was too small).  I saved a little cash by keeping the original and that never hurts!  It really is a pretty close match and I love that the bathroom floor is now even with the threshold rather than the hardwood floor.  I used to stub my toe leaving the bathroom all the time and I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Here’s the completed space:

I love the look of the floor without the mat but I live in Michigan and tile floors get COLD in the winter so it stays for now.  I am so in love with my updated bathroom – I seriously stop and gaze at it every time I walk past the door. 

Has anyone else revamped their bathroom lately?  If I was able to DIY I would have saved $300 but honestly the cash was worth it to not have to demo the old floor myself. The budget for the bathroom was $500 and I went over by $10 for the extra sheet of plywood.  Not bad!

Step by Step

Since I bought this house the bathroom floor has gone through a few changes.  First I removed the dark blue shag carpet the old owners had in there to discover beige ceramic tiles underneath.  The tiles were in great shape but the grout had popped out in some areas so I tried removing the grout myself and re-grouting – major fail on my part.  I am not Queen of the Grout.

Finally I hired someone to remove the old grout and re-grout it, taking the floor from this:

to this:

What a makeover, right!  My lovely beige tiled floor was restored….for about nine months.  I noticed the grout popping back up again in the same areas as before.  I’ve lived with it for nearly two years and finally decided to do something about it.  I realized there must be an issue with the floor underneath the tile so I hired my cousin to demo the floor and retile for me since my previous experience with grout wasn’t that successful.

I looked at Home Depot and Lowes to find a tile that would go with the beige shower tiles (I wasn’t removing those tiles since they are in perfect condition – why fix what isn’t broken right?!?) and that weren’t beige.  I found some great ceramic tiles that were made in Italy that looked like slate from Lowes.  I was torn between the 13”x13” tiles or the 6”x6” tiles so I bought a few of each to bring home to see how they would look in the space.  I read that larger tiles make a small space feel larger so I decided to go with the 13”x13” plus they were a third of the cost, ringing in at less than $2 a sq. foot.

Back  to the plan! We figured the floor was shifting due to the tiles being attached to plywood.  To give you a visual, here’s what we thought the floor would be like:

Oh, those were pipe dreams!  During the demo here’s what we found out I had:

Since there wasn’t any plywood we changed our plan of attack.  Plywood was now going to be bought and installed over the subfloor.  Hardibacker would then be installed followed by mortar and finally the tiles would be placed on top of  the mortar.  I can’t give you the play by play of removing the old tile since, well, I didn’t do it.  I left the house with a floor and came home to a bathroom that was missing a floor.

You can see the mud in this picture that looks out onto the threshold and the wood floor of the hallway. We kept my old threshold since it was a pretty marble that was in perfect condition plus it was a very close match to the tiles that I was bringing into the space.

We decided to start the tiles with two rows of full-size tiles centered in the room.  Sure, there were more cuts this way but it looks better.  The mortar and tiles were left to dry overnight and grout was mixed and applied the next day.  When I came home from work my floor transformation was amazing!  The larger tiles make the bathroom floor seem much larger.

Look at how he cut the tile perfectly to mimic the curved shape of the tub.

Stay tuned for the final pictures tomorrow!  I’ll show the new trim and toilet that completed this bathroom makeover!

Sprucing up the Basement: Part 4

I’ve mentioned many times that my closets are tiny.  I have clothing in the master bedroom closet, the guest room closet and the hall closet.  While I go through my clothes a few times a year to weed out things I no longer wear, I still have a lot of clothes.  I wanted something to store out of season clothing and the best place for it was in the basement.  Enter IKEA.

I checked out their wardrobe solutions and the one I decided to go with was the Aneboda. I chose this for a few reasons but mostly because it was inexpensive at $99 and it was the perfect size.  J braved IKEA with me on a Saturday afternoon strictly to grab the wardrobe.  We were in and out of IKEA in 20 minutes but it took me nearly an hour to assemble the thing by myself later that night.  It’s true – assembling IKEA furniture really is a two person job!

Here it is in its assembled glory in the basement:

I lined the frosted windows with blue wrapping paper to hide what’s inside.  I’d previously used this trick in the bathroom to hide what is on the shelves so I knew it would work wonders for this as well.  Plus John and Sherry over at Young House Love did theirs with a green wrapping paper and it looks fabulous!

This isn’t all of my summer clothing but it’s a start! I need more storage boxes to put shorts/capris in (right now they are in the plastic bag you see on the top shelf). I’d also like to get a storage box for tank tops and one for my many pairs of flip flops.  At least with the summer jackets out of the hall closet I can easily get to my winter things again!

Any IKEA trips planned lately?  Have you ever bought their furniture?  (this was my first piece!) How do you store out of season clothing?