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How to remodel book recomendation

Doc

Doc

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I am not a carpenter and need all the help I can get. I plan to finish part of our basement, starting in Feb or Mar of 08. I will be framing and drywalling a full bathroom, bedroom and office.
Any recommendations for books that might be helpful for this type of project?

Feel free to mention any other items that would be handy to have for the project. My wife wants a wish list and I'm out of ideas. I might has well put useful stuff on there, but I'm not sure what it is at this point. And worst of all, i need it by tomorrow at 10am.

No pressure, but any help appreciated.
 
Greg,

Lowes or Home depot carry a great selection of "How To" books dealing with remodels.That is where I would start. Do you have any moisture problems in the basement area ? You will need to address this right off if you do .

Sheetrock Tool Kits, Plumbing Torch tool Kits ,18V cordless tools are all great gift ideas too .

Al
 
Good suggestions. Especially the one about hire a contractor. :D

I have the tools mentioned already. Well, I have two 14.4 v drills. No 18v. But I'll get by with what I have.

We had the house built in 97, it was completed in Feb of 98. We have poured walls in the basement, and have never ever seen a damp spot anywhere.

Do you still think I would need to do anything for moisture protection? I had not considered that.
 
Doc;119653Do you still think I would need to do anything for moisture protection? I had not considered that.[/quote said:
Just keep it in mind as you are doing stuff. Don't put hardwood in a basement. If you use laminate flooring (i.e. Pergo) go with good stuff that is rated for basement floors. You're safest with linoleum or carpet though.

The books at Home Depot are good but if you look on the internet most of that information is out there now. Lowes has a lot of "how-to" stuff on their site.

You'll get lots of advice here - you may not want it but we'll give it to you anyways. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
Doc said:
We have poured walls in the basement, and have never ever seen a damp spot anywhere.

Do you still think I would need to do anything for moisture protection? I had not considered that.
Click to expand...
What's on the outside of the walls? Is there a sealer? At minimum, I'd probably hit the walls with a coat of DryLock.

OK, I started writing the following but stopped. Are you looking for a list of tools or materials to consider or ???

Things I can think of:
General tools
Compound miter saw.
Framing square
speed square
paddle bits

For the drywall:
A good drywall hawk.
The best drywall joint knife you can find. 8-10".
A good drywall corner trowel.
Drywall saw.
Drywall sandpaper
fiberglass drywall tape (I wouldn't use the paper anymore).
A cheap orbital 1/2 sheet sander and/or a drywall vacuum sander.
48" drywall square

For the electric:
Lots of electrical boxes, recepticals, faceplates.
At least 1 250' roll of 12/2 wire.
New light fixtures?
2-way lights (if so, the switches and 12/3 wire)
romex staples
 
I'm asking for a list of tools that I will need and might not have.
I have everything you mentioned so far, except for a speed square. Not sure what one of those look like.
I've done a little drywalling before. It's so much fun I very well might contract out that part.

I will be putting in a drop ceiling.

Undecided on what floor material to use. I just know it will not be carpet.
 
Get a brighter color than grey though. I have a gray one that seems to get lost in the toolbox when I am looking for it.

Jim
 

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Doc said:
I'm asking for a list of tools that I will need and might not have.
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Let me ponder what else I needed when I finished my basement.

Doc said:
I've done a little drywalling before. It's so much fun I very well might contract out that part.
Click to expand...
Which part of the drywall don't you like? Ask around, you may be able to just hire out that part.

Doc said:
I will be putting in a drop ceiling.
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That's a relatively easy process. Instead of (or in addition to) the wire hangers provided, a roll of electric fence wire may come in handy.

Doc said:
Undecided on what floor material to use. I just know it will not be carpet.
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Why not? That was my first choice.
 
Thanks for the pic of the speed square Jim. I have a mini square, but not a speed square (I never knew the name for them until now).

I don't care for the taping and sanding of the drywall. Hanging it is not bad. Good suggestion Brian.

Why no carpet? It's a basement with drains. I prefer tile or hardwood (real or fake) with throw rugs, rather than wall to wall carpet.
 
Doc said:
Why no carpet? It's a basement with drains. I prefer tile or hardwood (real or fake) with throw rugs, rather than wall to wall carpet.
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Got it. Don't forget your polystyrene and sub-floor

BTW - To test moisture in your basement, take a piece of plastic or foil wrap from Mrs. Doc's kitchen. Tape it completely around the perimeter to the floor of your basement. Let it sit for a few days. When you remove it, if there's any moisture, you'll need to seal the ceiling and walls.

Although you haven't asked, here's a couple tidbits. It's probably going to take a lot longer to do this than you think. If your basement is completely free of the normal "stuff" that's there (so you don't have to work around it), it seems to take at least 4-6 months for the people that stick with it.

If you're like me (and most everyone else I know), it'll probably take a few years before you're done. OK, it took me 6 years. That said, if/as you can, break the project down into areas or rooms and try to complete a smaller section at a time. Although you may want to do your "play" area first, I'd propose you do whatever storage areas/rooms first. Can't speak for Mrs. Doc, but Mrs. Zoom had a limit on how long the normal basement "stuff" sat in the rest of the house. By getting the storage rooms done first, our marriage was saved since we got to move everything back to the basement. Also, having the "play" area scheduled last, it's your incentive to keep going.
 
bczoom said:
Got it. Don't forget your polystyrene and sub-floor
Click to expand...

How optional are these? I admit, I had not considered this point at all. (ie: part of the reason I asked about a how to construction book).

bczoom said:
BTW - To test moisture in your basement, take a piece of plastic or foil wrap from Mrs. Doc's kitchen. Tape it completely around the perimeter to the floor of your basement. Let it sit for a few days. When you remove it, if there's any moisture, you'll need to seal the ceiling and walls.
Click to expand...

Good tip Brian. I'm thinking you meant I would have to seal the floor and walls.

bczoom said:
Although you haven't asked, here's a couple tidbits. It's probably going to take a lot longer to do this than you think. If your basement is completely free of the normal "stuff" that's there (so you don't have to work around it), it seems to take at least 4-6 months for the people that stick with it.

If you're like me (and most everyone else I know), it'll probably take a few years before you're done. OK, it took me 6 years. That said, if/as you can, break the project down into areas or rooms and try to complete a smaller section at a time. Although you may want to do your "play" area first, I'd propose you do whatever storage areas/rooms first. Can't speak for Mrs. Doc, but Mrs. Zoom had a limit on how long the normal basement "stuff" sat in the rest of the house. By getting the storage rooms done first, our marriage was saved since we got to move everything back to the basement. Also, having the "play" area scheduled last, it's your incentive to keep going.
Click to expand...

More good points Brian. I know all the how to construction shows or remodeling shows the 1st thing they do is empty the area to be worked on. That in itself will be a chore. You know how much stuff accumulates in 10 years. I was thinking a few months from start to finish ...but I'm afraid your estimates are closer to being realistic.
 
I did a google search on "finishing basement" and there's tons of references. Some are books and others are available online. My guess is the content of each is probably the same.

For the most part, it's pretty standard construction. There's a couple extra factors that need to be addressed but there's nothing difficult about doing them.
Things that come to mind:
- Moisture (from outside)
- Humidity/stale air.
- Warmth (cold floor in particular).
- No natural light.
- Radon (don't forget to test and address)
- Don't try to do the entire thing at once (already mentioned)
- If you're doing more than 1 room, make sure each has adequate ventilation (ducts, louvered doors...).
- Insect control (especially spiders). BTW, this is rarely brought up. Boric acid is the best solution I've found. I just use Borax laundry soap. Once your framing is done, but prior to insulation and drywall, lay a bead of the powdered soap about 1/2" tall by an inch or 2 wide (however it pours out of the box) on every flat surface. When a spider or bug walks across it, it'll burn their feet. When the lick their feet to get it off, they ingest the boric acid which kills them.
- Don't forget to insulate (and use the boric acid) on your existing sill plate for your floor joists.
- Make sure you have adequate electric, phone, plumbing... for the remainder of the house completed before you start on the basement. E.g. if you want another outdoor spigot, do it now.
- For your drop ceiling, if you need to drop a wire for the grid but the HVAC plenum is in your way, don't wrap the wire around the plenum directly. When you walk on the upstairs floor, the wire will sub ever so slightly on the plenum and make it squeak. Wrap the plenum area with duct tape before wrapping the wire.
- Don't get cheap drop ceiling panels. You'll want a good acoustical barrier so the footsteps overhead don't drive you nuts.
- If you're framing in or partitioning off where the furnace, HW tank... are, make sure you've left enough space around each to replace the furnace filter or the entire HW tank.
- If there's a water leak (HW tank, dishwasher, overflowing toilet...), consider how to handle it if it gets on or under your new basement floor.
- Take lots of pictures of your existing basement ceiling so you have a record of where your plumbing, electric, phone, ducts... are for future reference. Don't rely on memory.
 
First of all, if Brian hasn't given you reason enough to hire this out (BTW..with the housing situation the way it is, contractors are much more flexible in thier pricing and availability) and If you're really hell bent on doing this yourself, make a couple of lists. One of everything you think you want in this space and where it's gonna go. That will help with the materials list. Draw a little floor plan to show where you wanna put things (cable, phone, power, water, cabinets, appliances, etc) this will help you with the two lists I mentioned. Have you sized your current HVAC situation to see if it can handle the extra space and can you tap into it easily enough. I like CVT as a flooring option. The stuff wears like iron and you can accomodate the drains you have in your floor. The color/pattern options are huge. You can mop it and let the water go into the existing drains and if for some reason you do have a water problem occur in the basement you won't ruin the carpet. you can use throw rugs for warmth and design. Also you can (like tile) put radient floor heating underneath. The key though is putting together that list of what you want in advance. Also, check to see what others are doing in thier basement. It will give you some ideas and help you make sure you haven't forgotten anything. "Building as you go" can be a very costly approach. There is always something you didn't think of till after it's too late.

Oh, don't forget to have plenty of :beer: for when you have to call on friends to help extracate you from your inevitable conundrum....:thumb:
 
PS. In regards to the HVAC, I did have my furnace and heat pump replaced. At about 14 years it was wearing out. It was also undersized to handle the basement once I started heating that area. I went up in size about 1 ton. Luckily, I only had the furnace area framed in. I did remove all the framing for the new furnace to go in (and I used 3" screws instead of nails for the framing so removal & replacement was easy). Make sure you have adequate space around the furnace (and door widths) to replace your furnace as it'll go well before your new basement walls do.

On a related note, if you do end up replacing your furnace/heatpump for a larger unit, if your generator handled the old one, it may not handle the new. My big generator could run the old one but it's not rated for the new. It's a 15kw but that's only enough for a 4-ton heatpump (and I have a 5-ton).
 
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