Let’s start with the simple stuff, the baseboard molding. Along the perimeter of the original family room there is baseboard heating.   This molding stands 7 5/8″ tall. We figured that the use of standard floor case  work which measures only 2 2/3″ to 2 1/2 ” tall would look very silly where it met up with the baseboard heaters. Another issue was that the baseboard heaters are a 1 1/2″ deep.  The conventional store bought molding is only 3/8 ” thick, again this would really look small and out of proportion with the baseboard heaters.

My solution was to make my own molding that better matches the  baseboard heaters.  My molding consists of a 3/4″ thick 7 ” wide piece of MDF plywood.  Atop of this molding I added a store bought piece of 3/4″ cove molding.  My choice of MDF over other materials was made for several reasons.  First MDF is extremely stable, add to this that its smooth surface accepts paint easily.  Another reason is that MDF is somewhat impervious to water.  It is the same material that is used for many road signs which must endure the harsh weather that nature applies.

There are, however, a couple of negative factors when using a product like MDF.  Chiefly it is HEAVY.  This is one product that it is wise to use two people to move. Forget the macho stuff, save your back and get help moving these sheets.  Second is that any and all milling operations that involve MDF, also involves massive amounts of very fine sawdust, the type that coats everything including you and your lungs.  I would not cut this product inside of a home, a shop with a good dust collector is a much better option.  A good dust mask is also not a bad idea.

MDF is available at most DIY centers, and comes in the standard 4′x 8′ sheets. MDF is workable with standard woodworking tools, so no special or new tools were needed to cut the MDF into 7″ strips. But because of its heft, I decided not to try ripping it with my site tablesaw.  I was concerned that its weight would over burden the saw, and I was concerned about the safety of using this light saw to cut the heavy material.

So I took several sheets of MDF back to my shop, and used my full size tablesaw to rip the MDF.  Beyond the heft of my Delta Unisaw, there was another reason why I elected to use this saw, it is equipped with Ezee-Feed in feed and out feed tables. The Ezee-feed system is ideal for a task like this.  A further benefit of using my shop, is that the table saw is also connected to a good dust collector.  But even with that running, I came away from the ripping operation covered in a fine layer of brown sawdust.

Back the work site, the 7″ strips were cut to their proper lengths using my miter saw. Then it was a simple matter of attaching it to the walls, using a combination of construction adhesive and finish nails.  I used my pneumatic finish nail gun for this purpose. A couple of reasons, the first is rather obvious, the simplicity of use.  The second that the use of conventional nails would have required that I hand set each and every nail, before filling the nail hole prior to painting.

The 3/4″ cove molding that sets atop of the MDF was purchased pre primed. While this costs a little more than the none primed stuff, the time savings is well worth the extra costs.

One of the design issues for anyone who is redoing a basement is what to do with the support columns that help support the center beams of the house.  Most, including the ones in my daughter’s home were simple red steel posts that are attached to the floor on one end and the center beam on the other end.  Most are simply painted, and to be honest, very necessary while at the same time being very ugly. In an attempt to hide the ones in our daughter’s home the previous owner applied a very unique treatment.

Pictured at the left are the columns as we found them. It appears that the previous owner applied either tiles or a tile patterned sheet goods to the columns, totally covering them from top to bottom.  A very nice job, I couldn’t find a seam anywhere along the covering. But as I said, Ugly.  So we needed to come up with a better covering.

Back when we were applying the sheet rock to the walls, we also applied sheetrock to cover the center beam as also seen in the picture to the left. A top of the this steel center beam the builder had installed a 2×6, which he used to attach the floor joists to.  We used this same 2 x6 as the upper support for the sheetrock. Construction adhesive and sheet rock screws were used to attach the sheet rock.  If you’re interested, on the bottom of the steel beam, we relied solely on construction adhesive to attach the bottom pieces of sheetrock.  I used small woodworking clamps spread between to two vertical pieces of sheet rock to help hold the vertical piece in place while the adhesive set.

The covered beams looked great, however, they now made the ugly support columns appear to be really undersized. We realized that we needed to make the columns appear more massive.  Replacing them was not even considered. Our fix was to built a box completely around the support column. The box would be built so that they made the columns appear “beefier”, more in proportion with the width of the covered center beam.

The question now was how to secure a square box to a round column.  I started by attaching two pieces of the same MDF that we had used for the floor molding, to the front and back of the columns.  For sake of discussion, I am calling the front and back of the columns as the faces that go all the way to the ceiling.  The sides therefore, would be the faces that run only from the floor to the bottom of the beam. The tops of the front and back faces are attached to that same 2×6 atop of the steel center beam with 3″ long sheetrock screws.  Where these faces meet the covered steel beams, I also applied construction adhesive. I installed one screw in the center of these faces, simply to hold the face in place.  Then after verifying that the sides were plumb, the second and third screws were installed. Along the bottom of these faces, I then glued spacers between the inside of the face and the edge of the columns.  These were sized so that the face of these pieces were plumb vertically. These spacers were also glued to the floor.

Between the front and back faces, I then added side panels. These were glued and screwed to the front and back panels. This produced the boxes that now encased the columns. The next step was to add the trim to the columns.  The picture at the right shows the beginning of the trim work.  A simple two step flat molding was added where the box now met the bottom edge of the center support beam.  It consists of pieces of 3/4″ MDF cut 2″ wide.  the bottom of the two pieces was installed with the flat 2″ wide face against the face of the box. The top piece was installed horizontally atop the first piece..  The corners of all of these pieces were mitered, and connected with more glue.  To help keep the corners tight while the glue set, I used Spring clamps on each corner. Beneath the upper piece I then added the same 3/4 round that I used atop the floor molding.

This 3/4 round was not added until after I had installed the next step. At each corner I cut and 2 more pieces of the MDF.  These were cut with a 45° miter along one edge.  They were cut so that they ran all the way from the top trim piece installed above, and the floor. After each corner was assembled, glued and nailed into place, blocking was installed between the corner pieces.  The picture at the left may help you visualize what I’m trying to say. In this picture we have already started to paint the columns.  The area above the horizontal trim piece will be painted the same green as the sheetrock.  This will make the MDF above the bottom edge of the center beam, disappear visually. thus making it appear as if this large square beam is holding up the center beam.

At the bottom of each box, I added another layer of trim.  This one sits proud of the box itself.  It is more of the MDF, and cut to be the same 7″ tall, just as the trim along the walls was cut.  Along the top of this added trim, I also added more of the same 3/4 round that sits on top of the wall molding. The addition of this layer, just makes the columns look wider at it base than at its top.

Like I did in the last posting, I wanted to give you some idea of how far this project has come.  The two pictures below show the family room as it originally looked and where we are at today.  We still have a ways to go, the windows still will be replaced, a new floor and ceiling installed, and new railing will be added for the stairs.  But for now take a look at the before and after pictures.  I hope you like the changes. I know that we certainly do.

Before Remodeling began

And Now!

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During the work on the bathroom Lee tried his best to show me the finer art of sheetrock taping.  According to Lee, I still need more lessons.  Or as he put it, many more lessons than he has time left on this earth to provide.  Understanding my role, I dutifully went about hanging the sheetrock for the family room and the new room.

I should note here that I had already installed some of the sheetrock in the corner that houses the computer station. Since I was fastening the computer station to the wall, it only made sense that the sheetrock work was done in this area before the rest of the room.

Installing the sheetrock is a straight forward process. We chose to install the sheetrock horizontally, that is the long end of the sheets (the 8′ side) runs horizontally.  There are only a few rules that need to be followed when installing sheetrock; note I didn’t say anything about taping here.  The first is that the vertical ends of the sheetrock MUST be secured.  Ideally, each end of the sheetrock will end in the center of a vertical framing member. As we went around the room installing the sheetrock, we found in a couple of instances that the vertical framing was not plumb.

Rather than attempting to cut the ends of this sheetrock to match these, un-plumb framing members, I elected to simply sister another 2 x3 to the already existing 2×3.  By adding the second joist, we now had sufficient area to secure the ends of the two adjoining sheets of sheetrock.

The second rule of sheetrock installation is that none of your vertical joints align.  Much like when one installs flooring, you must stagger the joints.

The third and final rule is to take your time making the cuts. A small gap, less than 1/4″ can be filled when the taping is done.  Big gaps cannot be filled. Therefore, always dry fit any and all of your sheetrock pieces before you secure it to the wall or ceiling.  Speaking of securing the sheetrock, there is a forth rule.

Use a combination of sheetrock screws and construction adhesive to secure the sheetrock to the studs. If you elect not to use construction adhesive, be prepared for nail pops, or maybe I should say screw pops.

Oh yeah, I just remembered another rule, sorry about that.  Be sure that the screws are driven into the sheetrock far enough.  The screws must be seated just below the surface of the sheetrock. A good rule of thumb is to use a putty knife to check the depth of the screws.  When you run the putty knife over the screw head, it must not get caught on the screw head.

I used my Makita impact driver to secure the screws.  There is a specifically designed screw head for screw guns or impact drivers. It seats the head to the correct depth each time.  However, even with this tool, I had still had a few screws that needed added attention when Lee applied the tape and sheetrock compound.

So after a couple of days work, and a lot of sheetrock dust the sheet rock was installed on the rest of the basement and the new room.  At this point, I stepped back and let Lee do his magic with a sheetrock trowel and compound.  The frustrating point about Lee’s taping is that he has figured out how to do the taping so that he doesn’t have to sand between coats.  Believe me I am still trying to master this technique.

When the taping and mudding were done, the room was turned over to my daughter for painting.  I know that she is not a particularly skilled painter, so I was very happy when she had a special friend do the painting of the two rooms.  The results are spectacular.  I do know that a coat of drywall primer was used over the entire project, followed by two coats of quality paint.

At the same time that the walls were being painted, the baseboard heaters were cleaned and repainted too.  I wasn’t part of this operation, but I understand that they were cleaned with a solution of water and TSP, allowed to dry completely and then  painted with gloss metal paint.

So far I have been doing a lot of talking about the changes we have made in the basement, but have done little to prove the changes.  So I have included two pictures for your consideration.  The first shows the basement stairs as we first found it, and the second is that same area after our collective efforts to upgrade it.

This is the “Before picture”  as they say in all of those TV commercials.

Please take note of the dark paneling and the closed stair case.

And this is the “After” picture of the same area. At this point it is still a work in progress.   But I think the changes are quite dramatic.

You will please note that in the  ‘after’ picture we have added some trim work and replaced the door that goes into the closet. More on those subjects later.  You will also note in the ‘after’ picture, one of two support posts in the family room.   While structurally very important, they do little to improve the look of the room.  The rework of those posts and the trim work will be covered in the next post, so please come back and join us.

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My next task was to add the electrical wiring for the room. As you will recall, I have had issues with the way that the basement electrical wiring had been done.  I won’t go back over that whole thing again, but if you have forgotten how we got here, please click here to be returned back to that portion of this project.  The game plan for the electrical rework of the basement included me adding a new electrical circuit that will power up this room and the west wall of the basement.  That work included adding a new circuit breaker to the circuit breaker box, and then installing new 12 gauge wiring from the breaker panel to the room, and then adding new outlets and lighting.  Again this work is something I have already covered previously, so I won’t bore you by rehashing it again.

After the wiring was done, we had moved on to installing fiberglass insulation along the exterior walls of this room and the exterior walls of the rest of the basement. Since the walls had been framed out by the original owner, and the framing was already set at the standard 16” on center spacing, we were able to use standard R13 fiberglass insulation.  The installation of the insulation, say that three times real fast, went fairly smoothly.

R 13 insulation is designed to fit snuggly between two adjacent vertical studs.  All that is required to install the insulation is to ensure that you cut it to the correct lengths for your walls. The ceiling in our basement isn’t full height, so we couldn’t use the precut 92 5/8” lengths of insulation, so we had to cut each and every piece of insulation. But that really wasn’t a big deal. To cut insulation, use a standard utility knife to cut through the insulation.  Place a scrap piece of lumber beneath the insulation, to protect the tip of your utility knife.  Another trick is to place a second piece of wood on top of the insulation, compressing the insulation.  This makes the cutting a lot easier.

When you place the insulation into the stud bays, make sure that you don’t compress the insulation, leave it fluffed up.  Use a staple gun to secure the insulation to the studs.  You don’t need to go crazy with the number of staples, just use enough to keep the insulation in the stud bays. When you have an outlet or electrical switch box, simply cut the insulation to go around the electrical box, I have found that an old pair of scissors works well for this task.

Insulation comes with and without paper backing.  The paper acts as a vapor bearer and needs to be installed on the hot or inside of the wall.  If you were to install it with the paper on the outside side of the wall, the insulation will have trouble venting and may develop mold. Which as we all know is not a good thing.  We used the paperback insulation for our project.  Beyond the vapor barrier advantage, the paper backed insulation has another advantage. Along both edges of the paper backing there are extra widths of paper that fold out, these wings are used to hold the insulation in place. The staples we used to hold the insulation in place go through these extra widths of paper.

So know that the room has been framed, wired and insulated, it’s time for the sheetrock.  How about checking back later when we get to that part of the project.

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Building of the room was somewhat straight forward.  Well as straight forward as any project in our daughter’s home can be. The first issue was how to deal with the massive steel support beam that runs along the ceiling of the room.  It is on the center line of the room and hangs down from the ceiling 8″.  The center line position was good, as it provided a logical place for one of the walls of the new room.  And this is where the work on the room began. 

The beam measures 5 1/2″ wide along, which conveniently is the same dimension as a standard 2x 6 stud.  So while the other studs in the basement are either 2×3′s, the original construction, and 2 x4′s, the other wall for this room, the wall under the beam will be constructed using 2×6′s.  

My first step was to secure a 2×6 to the underside of the beam.  I used a combination of construction adhesive and clamps to hold the 2×6 in place. Then taking a lesson I learned from watching Mike Holmes, of Holmes on Homes fame, I attached the first vertical stud under one end of the beam.  This vertical stud was cut so that it fit snuggly between the upper sill board and the bottom sill board.  This vertical stud was plumbed and secured the existing cinder block wall. The next step was to install the stud at the other end of the wall.  This stud was secured to the top and bottom sill plate. Going back to the first stud, at the other end of the wall, I secured it to the same bottom sill plate.

Now since the first stud, against the cinder block wall, is plumb and aligned with the horizontal upper sill plate, we know that the bottom sill plate is in its correct position, at least at this end of the wall.  So when I go back and plumb the second stud,  at the other end of the wall, it naturally will position the bottom sill plate in its correct position.  The reason that I take these steps, is that it is often very difficult to locate the placement of the bottom sill plate correctly.  My old method, was to use a plumb bob, to find this bottom sill location. By suspending the plumb bob from one edge of the upper sill, one could locate the bottom sill position.  I say could, as simple as the plumb bob is to use, my results have been mixed.  For you see, to determine the correct placement, one has to wait until the plumb bob is 100000% still, that is, it has quit swinging back and forth. Maybe I didn’t wait long enough, or maybe there was a breeze in the room that drove the plumb bob off center, or maybe I marked the position wrong.  In any event, my results with the plumb bob has been less than desired.  Mike Holmes’ method works much better and the accuracy is better; Thank You Mike.

Another trick I learned from watching Mike’s show is that the crown of each stud needs to be in the same direction. Almost every stud used in construction will have a crown along its length. This crown may not be much dimensionally, but none the less it must be taken into account.  Have you ever looked down the length of a wall and saw it wandering in and out, instead of being a straight line.  The in and out wandering is caused by not having the crowns in the wood going in the same direction. It only takes a minute to identify the crown side of the stud and mark it.  This extra minute will truly affect the overall look of your project.  

Once this first wall was built, I moved on to building the second wall for the new room.  The only difference now is that we are using 2×4′s  instead of the 2×6 studs, and this wall will go all the way to the existing ceiling.

Again, I started with the top sill plate. After cutting the stud to length, I attached it to the corner where it meets the first wall.  I secured it to the ceiling with only one screw at this time. Yes I said screws.  On Mike Holmes show he repeatedly talks about using screws instead of nails in construction. The cost of screws compared to nails is higher, and installing them takes a little longer, but and it’s a big but, if you want to move or need to move a board secured with screws, one simply unscrews the board and moves it.  If I used nails from my framing nail gun, the task for moving the stud becomes a lot more difficult.   I have had to resort to cutting the nails with a sawzall in the past simply to move an errantly placed stud.

Back to this single screw holding the stud in place. It is vitally  important that the walls are at a 90 ° angle to each other. To ensure that this was the case, I went back to a simple geometric formula known as the 3,4 5 right triangle. The rule states that if you measure 3 feet out from the corner on one axis, and then measure 4 feet out on the other axis from this same corner, you will have a perfect 90° angle when the measurement between the 3 and 4 foot marks equals 5 feet. You can improve the accuracy of this by multiplying the 3,4 and 5 foot lengths evenly, say to a 6,8,10 triangle. I used the 3,4,5 method to determine the placement of the second upper sill.  Once I knew where it belonged, I repeated the process for the first wall.

On this wall we plan to install a door, so my framing included framing for the door.  I knew that we wanted a 30″ wide door, so I left a 32″ opening for the door.  The rough opening is always larger than the actual size for a door or window.  This added space allows for the installation of shims as needed to plumb the door or window.

However when I built this wall, I did NOT cut the bottom sill plate for the door opening.  Instead I installed a full length bottom sill plate. When I installed this bottom sill plate, as well as the one for the first wall, I secured the sill plate to the floor using construction adhesive and nails from my Hilti gun. By using a full length board at this time, I was able to get a sturdier wall.  One that will not move every time the door is opened and closed.  In a day or two, after the construction adhesive is totally secured, I will come back and cut out the sill plate for the door. A sawzall works great for this task.

Ok, so the walls have been built and the mess has been cleaned up and the question arose, “What’s the next step Dad?”.  It seems that my daughter is anxious for this project to be done.  What’s next is the electrical wiring for the new room needs to be installed. Followed by adding insulation to the outer walls, followed by sheet rock and the door. But that’s next week end. See you then.

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The picture at the right shows our design.  At this point it is still a work in progress. But hopefully you will be able to get some kind of an idea on where we are trying to go with this. The sheetrock still needs to be mudded and taped.  Hopefully, we can get started on that this week end. The two windows above the computer station also need to be re worked.  I had hoped to get that done before it got too cold, but my schedule and Mother Nature’s didn’t coincide. So those may have to wait until the spring.

This computer station actually consists of three pieces.  The end piece you see highlighted in the picture to the left is actually a two sided box.  It measures 24″ by 24″ and is 25″ tall. While it’s hard to see in this picture by there are three shelves on each side of the cabinet.  Down the vertical center of the cabinet is a divider that goes from the top to the bottom of the cabinet.  The idea was that a 24″ deep shelf just invited one to pile stuff in there, stuff that would never been seen again.  But a smaller shelf that is only 11 1/2″ deep, tends to make one a little disciplined, at least that’s the prevailing theory.

I built the cabinet back in my shop, it’s made from more of the 3/4″ plywood that the gaming cabinet was made of. Once again I relied on screws and glue to construct the cabinet.  I wasn’t concerned about them showing for two reasons. One side of the cabinet faces the wall , and will never been seen.  The other side is under the cabinet, and likewise won’t be seen unless one decides to crawl under the desk.

While back in my shop, I took advantage of my larger table saw and the Ezee-Feed infeed and out feed tables, to cut the plywood for the two top sections of the desk. These are again made from the cabinet grade plywood I used for the cabinets.  The piece that runs against the wall measures 2′ wide and 8′ long.  The piece that is perpendicular to that one measures 3′ wide by 6′ long.

Installation of the computer station was pretty much straight forward. I started with a 8′ long 2×4.  It is mounted along the back wall, and is at a height of 25″.  It was glued and screwed to the wall with 4″ sheetrock screws. Making sure that it was perfectly level as I went along.  On the inside corner of the cabinet there is a short 2×4 that measures only 22 3/8″ long.  This supports the end of the top. 

One of the stipulations to installing the computer center, was that all of the cabinet must sit proud of the existing heat registers that are mounted along the floor thought out the room.  While they don’t get hot enough to pose a fire hazard, I like to err on the side of caution. 

We also wanted the open edge of the perpendicular end of the computer center to have an overhang, so that both sides of this end could be used simultaneously. With that in mind, placing the cabinet took a little ingenuity.

 The cabinet was installed so that it was 5′ from the corner, and 3 1/4″ away from the long wall.   ( see the attached sketch for clarification, click on image for larger version) The 3 1/4″ offset was accomplished by adding a second 36″ long 2×4 to the existing 8′ long 2×4.  The 3 1/4″ is wide enough to keep the cabinet away from the heat registers.   This 3 1/4″ offset served another purpose. 

Remember when I said that I cut the tops in my shop, and one was cut so that it was 2′ wide by 8′ long. and the other piece was cut for 36″ wide by 6′ long. The 2′ by 8′ piece will sit atop the 2×4′s and the cabinet.  Where it passes over the end of the cabinet, it forms the left end of the overhang.   The 3′ by 6′ piece is then attached to the edge of the first piece of plywood.  The far right end will be supported by a short 2×4 wall.  The issue however was how to support the joints where the two pieces of plywood meet.

The answer to that is the offset created by moving the 2′ square cabinet away from the back wall.  The right hand edge of the cabinet, as viewed from the pictures, sits under this joint.  Since the sides of the plywood are only 3/4″ thick, I added a 2″ wide piece of plywood along the top edge of the cabinet,  This added piece is mounted flat, and even with the top edge of the cabinet. So instead of having a single 3/4″ piece of plywood to make a connection with, I now have a 2 3/4″ wide piece. 

The short 2×4 wall that supports the right end of the perpendicular side was made to fit.  I did not pre cut any of the wood for this. To be honest, after all I have been through with this house, I didn’t want to assume that the floor was level, it wasn’t. After finding the correct height for the support wall,  2×4′s were cut and screwed together to form the wall.  The wall was glued in place with construction adhesive.  I tried to use Tap Cons to further hold the wall in place, but as anyone who has ever tried to drill into concrete that has cured for over 50 years will tell you, it wasn’t any easy task.  In fact I gave up on that idea and instead used a Hilti gun to shoot nails into the concrete.  Works just as well, but a lot noisier.

Finally it was time to add the plywood tops.  Again construction adhesive and screws were used to secure the tops to the 2×4 supports, cabinet and support wall.  My tool of choice for this task was my Makita Impact Driver.  Considering the number of screws that have been already driven into the sheetrock and this computer center, I am really glad have it as an option.

The final stage of the computer center, at this stage of the project was to add a plywood skirt board between the right end of the cabinet and the support wall.  Eventually there will be trim pieces on the skirt board, that will match the trim work in the rest of the room. The final design for the trim is still on the drawing board.  But for now, this portion of the basement upgrade is on hold.  We need to add the “Quiet Room” and then do a lot of taping and mudding of the sheetrock.  The tops of the computer center will also get a laminate top.  Color and design is also still up in the air.  But that also awaits the sheetrock work, and perhaps painting of the walls.

 For more information on or to purchase any of the products discussed in this post, please click on the highlighted links and images in the post.

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