Bogieblog

Getting Some Sort of Order

I've wanted to take the built-in shelves behind the basement door, that holds all the painting stuff. There are several reasons, but first thing is that that is the only remaining portion of the foundation wall (inside) that is not insulated in some manner.

In order to take out the shelves, I needed something to do with everything on the shelves, so Thursday I went to HD and got some wire shelves. These are heavy duty and can hold massive weight, which I need because of all the paint that it would hold. Additionally I got some more rigid foam to glue to the foundation.

They went together easily, although, naturally, I did it the hard way as I decided after the fact to put the sides and back in such a configuration that stuff couldn't just slide off. But the fronts I wanted to easily slide stuff on and off. Plus, the spacing the first time was off, so I had to adjust the height of the top 3 shelves. Ah well, I finally got them right.

Next, I emptied the old shelves onto the new shelves. Bonus, the new shelves being larger than the old shelves (48w x 24D versus 40w x 18D), I fit a bunch of other stuff on there too.

Then to demolishing the old shelves

And of course, that is where wasI stymied this afternoon. There is a hairline crack along some of the block. Nothing that is structurally damaging, but it does let in extra cold air and could potentially let in moisture (although it is high up so that is doubtful). Plus, if I leave it and it widens, then it could become a structural issue. And, being as how all the stores have the nerve to be closed today, I couldn't get the materials needed to make the repair.

So, on my dump run tomorrow, I will get repair materials. I assume they will need at least 24 hours to dry (maybe even 48. Then I want to paint with Masonry water blocking paint, and that will be another 48 hours (2 coats, 24 hrs apart). So I guess I won't get the foam insultaion up until next Friday or Saturday.

At some point, probably next spring, I will need to tear out that portion of old sheetrock by the door and replace it. Then I can attempt to put some sort of plan in action for getting the layout of the basement to make more sense.

It goes forward, slowly, but forward.

Another CL Find

Before tearing into the workshop cabinets, I needed to find something to store power tools in, that that would alsw provide access to said tools - else I could have just used a bunch of boxes. Finally found a great deal on CL to this beauty.

It holds all the power tools I use on a regular basis; drill, sawzall, circular saw, plus all their accessories. Paid a little less than 1/2 price of new and it is so nearly new, that it makes no difference. Have my eye on another cabinet on CL, but my offer hasn't been accepted yet (I'll admit, I lowballed it, but offered only a little less than what was being asked). If the offer isn't accepted, then there will be more on the site after Christmas I'll wager. And, I'm not desperate for storage yet, so can wait it out.

Opening Up

Although this doesn't give the full picture of how it was originally, here is the view as it was from the washer

Here is how it looks now

Yep, used to be a wall there with the old built in workbench, base cabinet and storage cabinet. Thursday and Friday nights, after work, I buckled down and tore it all out. Took some time as I had to fit everything in the SUV to take to the dump, so I was not just hacking and slashing. Plus I recycle as much of the metal nails/scres etc as I can get out. Saves the town money by throwing it in the metal dumpster instead of the demo dumpster - and saves me money since I am charged by weight to throw stuff in the demo dumpster. Oh yeah, and any "clean" wood, I can throw in the brush pile for free too.

From the garage door - I couldn't see the stairs from the door before.

It really hit me when I walked down the stairs this morning and could see the door to the garage! If you look at the concrete, you can see the discolored areas where everything used to be. The wall ran to a doorway beside the stairs and workbench/cabinetry were on the outside of the wall.

That shelf unit was inside the storage cabinet and it was a challenge to get it out in one piece. It obviously used to set on the floor as there is a lot of water damage from the lowest shelf down (and residual damage between the two lower shelves). When I started the demo, I had no idea that shelving unit was in there.

The unit rested on 12" wide boards, so it was, in total, 81" tall with two sets of doors, another small unit built on the left side of it (can be seen in 1st pic) and then a base cabinet built into it behind (seen in 1st pic), with counter attached and projecting several feet to the wall beside the door- arrgghh, I wish I had better pictures of before. The top of the cabinet was attached to the beam that can be seen in the picture, but next to the door from the stairs.

Anyway, I'm hoping to recondition the shelves as the wood is amazing, being of 12"-16" wide planks. The back is two rough cut planks; 16" and 14.5". The sides and shelves are 12" sanded planks. It is a real shame about the rot and damage to the bottom, but if I cut off between the two bottom shelves, perhaps I can sand the rest down and give it new life. It is still very sturdy and well made, so I have to try anyway.

Brightness Ensues

I haven't been real motivated the last couple of weeks, so have chosen to loll around the house and read or sleep. Last Sunday afternoon I finally started mudding/taping the basement wall. Thru the week I continued with sanding, mudding, sanding some more and the 3rd coat of mud went up of Friday night.

Yesterday I did the final dry sanding, followed by a wet sand then last night I got the first coat of paint on. The first coats of paint are a water inhibitor since the basement is damp during the summer. It still has another coat to go yet.

I never thought I would ever say this about any room in this house, especially part of the basement after dark, but it is too bright. Before anyone says it doesn't look bright, these pictures were taken at 8 PM, with only the lights from that room, and no flash while the mudding picture was taken with a flash.

Two factors come into play to creat the super brightness; the 4 LED recessed lights that I had installed in October and the "bright white" paint. I have used this paint on the bathroom walls that are up, but the lighting is poor, so it does a great job of spreading the available light. The part of the wall toward the door is in a darker portion of the basement (not pictured), and it is just fine. But I am hoping at some point to add more lighting on that side

So now I'm unsure if I should have the next can of paint tinted to a less bright white (this paint cannot be tinted very much), whether I should add additional layers of paint with a conventional tinted latex paint, or whether to stay with the bright white hoping the work bench, shelves and tool cabinets (that will eventually go in there, and most likely will be black or dark gray) help tone things down.But, at the same time, I still have 1.5 walls left to put up (after I tear down and rebuild one of the walls), so there will be additional brightness from those. And if I decide to enclose the ceiling too (unlikely, but possible), it could be overwhelming.

To add to my indecision, I've been thinking of adding a wainscoting-type covering in the lower half of the walls to reduce the chance of damage from banging things against the wall - which will invariably happen since it is a work shop.

I guess I have plenty of time to change things, so will probably leave the paint as is (after second coat). Then later, when it is more complete, make a decision on whether it needs to be toned down or not.