Basement Finishing

Start date - March 8, Finished April May 15

The Ping Pong table - the windows are done too!

The windows have a film on them - it's vacuum attached (meaning you put water on the window, lay the film on top of it and squeegee out the air bubbles and water - can be easily replaced any time) we picked a bamboo design May 23 basement 5.jpg

Ping Pong table from the other side

looking from stairs Top - arch and entry Bottom - floor and window

Furnace & Water Heater

Utility closet overflow pan under water heater to the drain in floor
Bathroom

Toilet - access panels for main water shut-off Shower Inside shower with safety bar
and water pressure controller

Vanity Mirror, lights & Medicine Cabinet

Laundry

Laundry room - washer & dryer - racks - wide-side storage rack - narrow-side
Storage

Large area under the stairs Narrow area
Bar

Monika cleaned it and decorated it for her face-book page

Studio

Studio entrance Main Painting wall Secondary painting wall
Ping Pong

Will install the net and window coverings and post another picture later

Fixes

water hammer arresters for washing machine                       and dishwasher                                 Electric sub-panel for AFI protection
                                                                                                                                                           Originally he had used the main panel for all
                                                                                                                                                              the new wiring also, but had to change it.

Entry way Ping Pong area Bar area

Door handles - storage under the steps Transition strip - laundry room hole fixed - needs texture work

               Window sill (need to paint the whole thing white)       Back-splash installed and faucet, garbage disposal, Dishwasher
             connected (need to check them to make sure they all work)
Note: The wall under the counters will have a glass tile back-splash - being designed by Monika (not sure what she wants)

Toilet & Shower installed, light installed (middle one left out - need to fill the cracks in the tiles); vanity, top & sink installed

Granite counter top and sink installed sliding doors - furnace area doors for storage under the stairs

Need to install shower, shower walls & door, toilet, vanity, vanity top, sink, mirror & light in the bathroom

Studio tiles (darker) Storage area under stairs Storage area under stairs (2)

Ping-Pong area Felt-Paper under the wood floor Hickory tiles (close up)

All the tiles and grout are done and the floor is about 1/3rd done. They will sand and finish (urethane) it when its all laid out. And then install trims and doors and bathroom fixtures, bar area cabinets and counter top and it will be all done (2 weeks or a little less).

Bathroom - shower side wall Sink side wall

Tile floor bottom-board (water resistant) Entry way Bathroom tiles on one wall (access for water
shut-off and pressure controller)
Basement April 9 04.jpg

New outlet for fridge added (compare with before) Bathroom walls (Dura rock - cement board)

Bathroom and laundry room The ceiling inside the laundry area The two storage areas (under the stairs)

          Bar area                                         Ping-Pong area                              entry and utility (furnace and water heater)
                                                                                                                                                           the door will be removed and an arched
                                                                                                                                                           entry made later on. (here for finished entry)

Ping-Pong area - Studio on the left Inside the studio Studio and utility room

2 by 4s nailed to mount the TV over the storage area & the bar area 2 by 4 for the towel holder & for the tp holder

Bathroom framing lights, wiring, framing exhaust fan rough bath

Length-wise it's fine. Width-wise it's adequate


	Start date - March 8, Finished April May 15 June 5 Furniture & stuff May 23 A few pictures May 15 Finished! May 12 First coat of Poly-Urethane May 11 Mirror & a little more May 10 Door handles, transition (9.5 weeks) May 1 Counter top, bath work (8 weeks) April 23 Cabinets & Trim (7 weeks) April 17 Floors done (6 weeks) April 14 Tiles done wood floor 1/3rd April 10 Bathroom & Laundry room - tiles done April 9 Paint - Tile work (5 weeks) April 2 Texture & Entry done (4 weeks) March 30 Drywall March 27 TV, Towel holder, TP holder extra March 22 Framing March 15 Rough Electrical, plumbing, heating Feb 15 Ping-Pong Table
	A few pictures The Ping Pong table - the windows are done too! The windows have a film on them - it's vacuum attached (meaning you put water on the window, lay the film on top of it and squeegee out the air bubbles and water - can be easily replaced any time) we picked a bamboo design Ping Pong table from the other side
	May 15 Finished It's finished, finally! The inspector found couple of problems with Electrical and Plumbing (Electrical - need AFI protection on lights, power and fire alarms; Plumbing - need water hammer arresters for washing machine and dishwasher). So, perhaps another day's work and then another inspection. Entry looking from stairs Top - arch and entry Bottom - floor and window Furnace & Water Heater Utility closet overflow pan under water heater to the drain in floor Bathroom Toilet - access panels for main water shut-off Shower Inside shower with safety bar and water pressure controller Vanity Mirror, lights & Medicine Cabinet Laundry Laundry room - washer & dryer - racks - wide-side storage rack - narrow-side Storage Large area under the stairs Narrow area Bar Monika cleaned it and decorated it for her face-book page Studio Studio entrance Main Painting wall Secondary painting wall Ping Pong Will install the net and window coverings and post another picture later Fixes water hammer arresters for washing machine and dishwasher Electric sub-panel for AFI protection Originally he had used the main panel for all the new wiring also, but had to change it.
	May 12 First coat of Poly-urethane done One more coat and it's all done except for fixing the crawl space access in the studio, turning the dishwasher on and a few touch ups. Entry way Ping Pong area Bar area
	May 11 Mirror & a little more For a change they worked around 8 hours today and installed the bathroom mirror along with a couple other things and hooked up everything (dishwasher, garbage disposal etc.) They are planning to touch-up and finish everything and put the first coat of poly-urethane today, followed by another coat tomorrow - and that should be the end of everything except - one side panel of the cabinets (missed in ordering; now waiting for it to arrive) and bar-area back splash - glass & mirror tiles - being designed by Monika) Pan under the water heater Mirror Handle on tile to access crawl space (laundry to control water spillage in case of heater failure room) for plumbing work etc.
	May 10 Lazy lazy lazy They are now working very slowly - usually, just one person shows up for 3 or 4 hours and does one or two things. I still owe them almost $5,000 and very little work is left to do - so, I don't understand what the heck is wrong with these people. One day, I took the lone worker - Fabian, to the store (Lowes) and bought door handles and transition strips; another day we bought the bathroom mirror at Target (not installed yet). In the last ten days a few things have been done - like installing door handles and transitions (good that I bought them); today they installed the window sills and the granite splash-back. The biggest piece of work done, last week, was - sanding the floor to get rid of the black marks in the wood floor. The biggest piece of work left to do is to put the poly-urethane coating on the floor (two coats); rest is minor work like hooking up the dishwasher, filling holes and retouching paint and stuff like that. Access to Sprinkler door opener (furnace room) door opener (close-up) Door handles - storage under the steps Transition strip - laundry room hole fixed - needs texture work Window sill (need to paint the whole thing white) Back-splash installed and faucet, garbage disposal, Dishwasher connected (need to check them to make sure they all work) Note: The wall under the counters will have a glass tile back-splash - being designed by Monika (not sure what she wants)
	May 1 Counter top, bath area (8 weeks) They installed the counter top & sink in the bar area, most of the fixtures in the bath area, the doors on the utility area and not much else. Left to do - connect the dishwasher, install faucet and garbage disposal in the bar area, connect the toilet & install faucet in the bathroom; sand and finish wood floor; install door handles, fill/finish transition areas; install window sills; and do other touch ups (cracks and holes). Hoping they finish next week. Toilet & Shower installed, light installed (middle one left out - need to fill the cracks in the tiles); vanity, top & sink installed Granite counter top and sink installed sliding doors - furnace area doors for storage under the stairs
	April 23 Cabinets & Trim (7 weeks) OK! Tony got lazy or sidetracked this week and didn't do much this week. But today (Friday) it's been raining all day and tomorrow it's supposed to snow - so they can't work outside (if they have another job); they worked a lot today here and I hope tomorrow too. Still to do -sand and finish the floors; install fixtures in the bath; counter top (+ sink & garbage disposal) and faucet in the bar area. Hopefully no more than one more week! Cabinets & wine rack with glass holder - old dishwasher (not connected) trim around the walls, doors and rooms Laundry room door (old entry door re-used) Medicine cabinet Need to install shower, shower walls & door, toilet, vanity, vanity top, sink, mirror & light in the bathroom
	April 17 floor done (6 weeks) from the bar area to the ping-pong area from the bar area to the bathroom Entry All that is left to do - sand and finish the floors; hang doors and nail trims; install fixtures in the bath; cabinets, counter top and dishwasher in the bar area. One more week to go!
	April 14 Tiles done wood floor 1/3 done Studio tiles (darker) Storage area under stairs Storage area under stairs (2) Ping-Pong area Felt-Paper under the wood floor Hickory tiles (close up) All the tiles and grout are done and the floor is about 1/3rd done. They will sand and finish (urethane) it when its all laid out. And then install trims and doors and bathroom fixtures, bar area cabinets and counter top and it will be all done (2 weeks or a little less).
	April 10 Bathroom & Laundry room - tiles done Bathroom - shower side wall Sink side wall Laundry room (the end tiles are on the crawl-space access panel) laundry room -angled corner
	April 9 Paint done, Tile work started Tile floor bottom-board (water resistant) Entry way Bathroom tiles on one wall (access for water shut-off and pressure controller) The sink area shower & sink area
	April 2 Texture & Entry done The door and wall is removed and an arched entry made; entry and utility area (compare with before) New outlet for fridge added (compare with before) Bathroom walls (Dura rock - cement board)
	March 30 drywall done Bathroom and laundry room The ceiling inside the laundry area The two storage areas (under the stairs) Storage areas under the stairs bar area (missing outlet for fridge) Bar area Ping-Pong area entry and utility (furnace and water heater) the door will be removed and an arched entry made later on. (here for finished entry) Ping-Pong area - Studio on the left Inside the studio Studio and utility room
	March 27 some extras Having talked to Ajay for a while on the basement project, he had mentioned a ton of things; among those that I got done were some 2 by 4 pieces of wood installed where the toilet paper holder and the towel holders go in the bathroom as well as where the TV may go in the bar/entertainment area. 2 by 4s nailed to mount the TV over the storage area & the bar area 2 by 4 for the towel holder & for the tp holder
	March 22 Framing On March 22nd, the framing was all done. The first inspections and approvals were done over the next few days; the framing was approved on March 29th and the dry walls started. A few pictures showing the framing: Bathroom framing lights, wiring, framing exhaust fan rough bath Heating and lights There is also a video on March 22nd showing all the framing etc. to locate pipes etc. later on, though its pretty hard to figure out how one does that - will see if and when its really needed. The video is here - Its large 320 MB so only click on the link if you have broadband video Basement March22. I found super quiet exhaust fans on the internet (0.4 sones) and had them install one in the basement bathroom, the other two I was going to try and do myself on the main floor. When I looked in the attic, I gave up on doing it myself. The same guy will install them later in the main floor bathrooms too.
	March 15 & 16 Rough Electrical, Plumbing & Heating I took a video before anything was done on February 28th. The video is large 190 MB - so click here only if you have broadband video 1 February 28. The work started on March 8th and I took some pictures after a week on March 15th. Basically rough electrical, rough plumbing and rough heating work was done by then. A few pictures show all of the rough work: Laundry room heating pipes Open area - lights Lights near the entry way Heating pipe for Bathroom Existing Return air lights in the Ping-Pong area lights bar area some electric outlets bar area I also took a video on March 14th showing the rough work - The video is also large 93.7 MB - so click here only if you have broadband video 2 March 14.
	Pictures from March 16 Heating vent - Laundry lights, heating vents plumbing light under stairs light under stairs electric and heating
	February 15 Ping-Pong Table At First we thought that we have to move the furnace and Water heater to make room for the Ping-Pong table. The suggested space is 6 feet on each side. A standard Ping-Pong table is 9 feet by 5 feet, so one would need 21 feet (9+6+6) by 17 feet. We have almost 24 feet for the length of the table but were not sure about the width and how much space we really need for it. We have about 3.5 feet on each side unless we move the furnace, then we would have 19 feet or 7 feet on each side (width). We got some estimates on finishing the basement which included moving the furnace and heater; they ranged from $10,500 to $21,000. In the meantime, I bought a full size Kettler Ping-Pong table and we assembled it in the basement and placed it in the area and it seems to work fine with just 3.5 feet on each side - width-wise. Length-wise you do need at least 6 feet on each end (we have 7.5 feet and it's good to have that little bit extra). Length-wise it's fine. Width-wise it's adequate

	Copyright © 2005 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.