Basement Renovation: Framing

We are back to working on the basement this weekend. It was a weekend full of progress you can actually SEE! Framing was on the agenda.

We had wood delivered (as you can see on a SNOWY day!). 302 studs 2x4x92(5/8), 25 treated 2x4x12s, and 25 regular 2x4x12s were nicely stacked and delivered to our garage. We had the PLEASURE of carrying ALL of this wood down a flight of stairs to the basement and stacking it again nice and neatly.... 

Chad and my dad started bright and early on Saturday morning and worked a full 8 hour day framing. They got so much accomplished! This was the first time Chad or I had done any framing. We picked it up quickly. Chad was much better at it than me. I learned I don't know how to read a tape measure and I'm better at making lunch and handing people things! =) 

The stairs were difficult to frame because we took out two steps and made a landing (out of 2x10 and floor boarding.) We also knocked out the dry wall and opened up the stairs. It makes the basement much more open, especially because that hallway will be a little tight at times.

Here is the new landing! Caution: If you are really tall, don't hit your head! It's a mere 6'4'' clearing! We probably should have measured that first! Whoops...

We decided to angle the wall (above) cutting down our storage space under the stairs but this opens up the hall way and makes the space look larger!

Then we were back at it Sunday for another 8 hours to finish it. 

There are a few tweaks here and there still but for the most part we are all framed in. We aren't able to frame in the windows until our new block windows are installed (hopefully in the next week.) And we weren't able to do the side wall until the pipes, gas line and a/c line are moved (which is the plan this weekend).

It is becoming much easier to visualize all the rooms now that they have walls (kind-of). This is especially true for the spare room/playroom. We decided to add a closet in this room after much coaxing from my dad. He said when we have kids we will want somewhere to hide all their stuff. (He's probably right.) The only concern we had was this making the room too small. But really the room is a lot bigger than we thought, and that is much easier to see now with walls!

We had to build a "drop" in the ceiling for all of our duct-work and lines (which you can see above and below)

The bathroom was another tricky room to frame. This was because of all the pipes we had to frame around.There will be some built in shelving in one of the walls in the bathroom because there was a lot of dead space lost because of some of the pipes. We thought this would give us some design and storage space. 

This Weeks Costs

302 studs 2x4x92(5/8) - $810

25 treated 2x4x12 - $130

25 regular 2x4x12 - $120

Delivery fee- $80

2x10x8 - $9

2x10x12 - $13

Floor boarding - $23

Concrete Screws - $17

Free Things that were we already had

Nail gun

Nails

Table saw

Hand saw

Level

Square

Drill & bits

Hammer

Tape Measure 

Sledge hammer

Labor

This weeks total - $1,202

Project total - $1,356

Side note - We have a lot of studs leftover so we will probably be returning some of them, but we are waiting to make sure we don't need it!

My amateur advice this week Things I learned this week -  Measure twice, cut once! Seriously! You might even want to measure three times! Make sure that your boards aren't twisted or warped. Use warped boards for when you have to cut smaller pieces. If you use warped boards the wall won't be square. Crown the boards to the wall; this means make sure all the boards are bending the same way, that way you only have one bow in the wall. As opposed to having the wall bowing in and out all over the place. 

This weeks plans: 1) Move the a/c line into the drop. 2) Move the water lines into the drop. 3) Move the gas line into the drop. 4) Glass block windows measured and installed (this will probably be more like next week) 5) Frame the remaining 2 walls and the windows. 6) Decide where we want lights and outlets (and what kind of lights). 

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences.