UGH

Not that I expected taking walls apart to go perfectly (I’ve watched too much HGTV to be that naïve), but I wasn’t expecting quite the amount of pure shit I was getting myself into with a drywall project. With about 50% of the walls paneled I hit an unforeseen bump: the foundation.

Well shit. At least no one heard the torrent of expletives I let loose.

Namely that the foundation wasn’t insulated at all along either exterior wall, which in hindsight explains why some of the paneling was in such bad shape. The concrete looked good but no moisture barrier or insulation still meant there was probably a lot of moisture getting into those panels. About 47 years’-worth, if these panels have been here the entire time. Sigh.

Well, I was leaving the exterior walls for last for a reason, and that reason was not wanting to know what horrors were lurking inside.  

So it was off to HD. Now that looks like a serious DIYer's cart. Jeez.

Not the end of the world, but it was a decent add-on in terms of time. Not even cost, that wasn’t bad. But the time spent sealing the wall and sticking insulation on added at least two days’ work to this. The drive home with foam panels on the roof was enough to give me a heart attack in a grand total of 5 blocks. All of the old insulation in the framed section had to go too, my least favorite part of any day on this job. Toss in a couple of passes with bug spray after fending off an ant swarm at one point and the past few days of this project had me seriously considering some day drinking. Woof.

5 blocks and 1 heart-attack. At least everything was in one piece.

I’m holding onto my optimism though, for a few reasons. One, up to this point things had been going remarkably well and I’m surprised at how much better things look with even just bare drywall vs paneling. So we keep going. Two, doing this wall right will probably mean the basement is much more habitable temperature-wise moving forward. “Do it right” has pretty much become the project motto at this point. Three, the kids have started asking when they’re going to be able to play in the basement again and how big the tv we’re going to put up will be, and their enthusiasm is contagious so I just want to keep going. I better stay positive b/c the to-do list for this project is still pretty long; mud & tape, prime, paint, clean, trim, it doesn’t seem to stop. 

Enough talk. I might be crazy but I think with a whole day I can get the rest of this paneling finished. Let’s get to work.

Drywall DEFINITELY counts as DIY

Just b/c I’m constantly surprising myself with how well a few of these projects turn out doesn’t mean I’m opposed to hiring a professional when it comes to bigger jobs. Changing our fence design? Hire a professional. Switch out the basement paneling for drywall? Hire a prof—well, get some estimates and HOLY SHIT HOW MUCH?! Maybe I will try this myself.

Actually, the pricing wasn’t what eventually got me drywall shopping and tearing stuff down myself, it was not liking any of the contractors we actually got to come give us estimates. And those were the ones that showed, we had one not bother to show up and two never got back to me. So Ron Swanson was right, again, and eventually I will learn that lesson.

Our basement is already finished, thankfully, but the walls were done in what turned out to be exterior wood paneling. It’s thicker than the veneer paneling, with wider gaps between the panels so a simple skim coat wasn’t feasible. They close up the walls but that’s about the only positive; they’re ugly, impossible to put stuff up on, the bigger gaps are bug magnets, and overall just had to go. Especially if we’re planning on spending more family time or having guests stay down there. In fact, we have guests planning on a long weekend stay at the end of June, so this project has a deadline too.

Here's a panoramic for "before."

A note on these panels: WHO THE FUCK would put something like that up inside? It wasn’t enough to turn us away from the house, obviously, but it’s so ugly and difficult to do anything with. What were the previous owners thinking? At least we know why the only thing in the basement was a ping pong table.

At some point if you’ve got a renovation DIY in your sights you just have to get started. I researched and did as much planning as I could, but ultimately I had to put my hands on some tools if I was going to try this myself. So with a morning free at home and the wife’s blessing, out came a borrowed crowbar and mallet to get started. I named the mallet “Smashy” but have become quite fond of the crowbar, to the point of saying “hello sweetie” to it every time I use it a la River Song.

Whelp, off and running.

Once I found a seam and got started getting these off the wall making some progress wasn’t too hard. The trim and molding came first, obviously, and a small gap in the corner was all it took to get started. Gradually the first wall opened up, plus a little extra at each corner so I wouldn’t damage whatever new stuff I put up getting more old stuff down.

At this point I really hoped I knew what I was doing.

With the wall ready it was time to get some drywall, and here’s where things got challenging. Drywall’s not overly heavy, but I’m basically doing this myself and they won’t fit in the Journey. Thankfully HD still had some vans around to rent by the hour, and I muscled 10 sheets of mold resistant panels in and got them home. All in under 75 minutes, so renting the van only added $20 to our budget.

This seems like a good time to again mention that I have absolutely no experience with this kind of thing. But I can use a ruler, and a drill, and the internet, which was enough to get me started. Since I was doing this mostly on my own I decided to put the panels up vertically to start, so I didn’t have to use a lift. The ceilings are lower than 8 ft all the way around anyway so a quick cut to a short side and we’re good to go, minus any outlets or vents. There weren’t any real surprises to putting the panels up, other than finding out the insulation in the second wall of the corner was in horrible shape and adding that to my to-do list. Pulling old insulation out and putting new in was by far the worst part of this weekend. No pictures for that, as I was covered in safety gear and just wanted to get that part done as quickly as possible. But it’s covered now, and hopefully it means a better climate in the basement once this is all done.  

Hey, that doesn't look terrible.

Things are by no means perfect: there were plenty of nails that didn’t come out with the trim or panels and not noticing them meant some panels got bumped when they first went up. Not all the screws are dimpled so there’s going to be an evening or two in my near future with a phillips to put them further into the wall. But even with the imperfections at this point it’s satisfying to look at a wall and two corners and see the potential of a redone basement. I already like them way more than the paneling, but that could be my DIY over-affection kicking in.

With all that potential in mind here are my thoughts on how to proceed. One, find out if HD delivers and go with that for getting the rest of the materials, b/c hauling and renting on my own was a pain and we probably need around 25 more panels, I’m not doing that solo. Two, get all the panels up before moving on to mudding and taping instead of doing it a wall at a time. Three, crossing my fingers that the other insulation is in better shape, b/c I started with the smallest portion possible but it was the absolute worst. I do not think it will work out that way. Four, figure out a better way to keep the kids out of the basement since that’s where we’ve been getting ready in the mornings and they like running around down there. Five, buy a bag dumpster and fill it with all this horrible paneling, hopefully without having to come back and trim it down so I can fit crappy insulation in too. Six, prime everything before painting b/c I know it’s not going to be perfect and every last little bit will help. Whew.

That’s a long list (this is a long post), and it doesn’t even include things like paint and trim options. If I make it that far I’ll have done alright though. But with just one wall up I feel like doing this ourselves was the right way to go. Getting a professional might have saved time but I feel like the quotes we’ve gotten for this by far exceeded my threshold for the cost of convenience. Getting through the first phase of this project, even managing the unforeseen horrors of bad insulation, was a confidence booster and I feel ready to take the rest of this on. Now just ask me about it in a month when I’m still mudding and taping and haven’t had a chance to work on anything else…

Final chair update

Okay, last update!

The lounge chairs are finally done. I had a morning off so after a heart-pounding trip to HD (more on that later) I carried/dragged these all out to the fire pit. Other than giving me a reason to remember how old I actually am lifting each of these to carry them out of the garage, around the house, and down the steps wasn’t overly terrible. They are heavier than shit though.

I can't decide if that's a footrest or side table. Time will tell I guess.

The cushions again proved to be the most difficult part of this project, as sam’s kept pushing back a delivery date to the point where we got fed up and tried to cancel the order. “Tried,” b/c even going three steps up the chain of command and eventually speaking to a rep with the vendor we couldn’t get them to stop an order that had been delayed nearly a month. Who knows who we were talking to, it was probably just three people sitting around a call center. But one pissy email to customer service later we actually got a shipping notice. Fucking finally. Bottom line, learn how to sew and don’t order online from sam’s club. 

The view from the other chair, which also has its cushion on.

My doubt about the actual existence of any such cushion lasted up until I came home and saw the large box sitting on our front steps, and even through taking the box inside and opening it. Behold, the glory of turquoise. This has actually become a bit of a theme in our outdoor decor, with the patio umbrella also coming from Sam's, in-person this time, and matching. But at long last we have finished the lounge chairs. And just in time, since what I’m working on now has me ready to put my feet up by a fire and enjoy multiple drinks. Stay tuned.

lounge chair update

I had to stay super late at work one night last week, so to make up for it I was planning on going in a little late after picking up materials for lounge chair #2 and seeing how much I could get together by the time I had to leave. Of course, that meant the baby girl had a fever and was up at 4 AM, in no shape to go to daycare for the day. Grandma and grandpa to the rescue! So the kids were excited to have a home day in the middle of the week, and while I was grateful to have someone close by able to watch them and still go to work, I sadly waved goodbye to one of my rare chances to do some shop work during the week. So sad. Oh well.

So instead of having a second chair made already I just got to kick my weekend off with a little Friday evening shop time. Fun times.  

Working...

One thing I love about having a chance to build stuff like this myself, on top of the meditative aspects of planning and constructing, is that it saves me having to take a furniture shopping trip with the wife. And don’t misread that statement. I love my wife, she is a fantastic person. But we have very different tastes, and every time we’ve gone furniture shopping is the same. Multiple trips where we’re really far apart on everything, to the point where we both get exhausted and just pick something, usually something expensive from somewhere like West Elm. It works, that’s how we got our bedroom set. But I get sick of it way quicker than she does, and don’t have the patience for visiting store after store. Building my own stuff has saved us at least two cycles of this process, for the table and then a sitting set by the pit. Thumbs up.

working, using the first chair for reference...

Anyway…my first plans for a chair were completely different. I had an adirondak chair in my head, with a white frame and darkly stained slats. This was nixed by multiple people who just wanted some cushions to sit on. So looking at some cushion options I planned out what I thought where good chair dimensions and got to work. HUGE MISTAKE. I ended up working off some HD cushions that I liked the shape of but hated the color, thinking I could just order a different color online. Apparently no one sells deep seat outdoor cushions at non-insane prices, and it took longer to find a suitable cushion than it did to build either chair. So next time I’ll find cushions first and build to those. It got so bad I even looked at some DIY cushion ideas, but an important part of enjoying your DIY is knowing your limits and I’m not really up for a sewing project.

A second one came together pretty quick. Easy build.

Eventually we found these, and sure, that’s good enough for me. I’m just glad we found cushions at all, since I ended up trying a dark stain-white slat mix and hated it. But it’ll get covered by the cushions and hopefully look better that way. The dark stain has already gotten some compliments from the wife and the boy though, so we’re in good shape. You know you’ve done well when your four-year old isn’t pointing out any mistakes and says he likes the brown color. I think he’ll like them even more when these become our s’more chairs as summer comes.

Even had enough 2x10 left over for a stool/end table.

Purchase list (same as before, minus the screws)

2 2"x10"x8' treated board, cut to 32" sections and trimmed

3 1"x4"x8' treated, cut to 24" sections for seat & back

1 2"x4"x8' treated, cut to 29" seat support & 22" back support, mitered to 20 degrees

2 sets deep seat cushions which may or may not actually exist...

More outdoor seating

It took a day with the kids at the in-laws’ but I was able to get the basics of a lounge chair together this weekend: three 30” 2x10s stacked on each side, joined by 24” 1x4s attached to support 2x4s with the back at a 20 degree recline. It’s taken longer to find cushions that will fit than to build the damn thing, but I think we finally found something to everyone’s liking today. Now to sand, stain, and build a second one before they go out in the fire pit. I will admit I’m a little tired of sanding after the table and bench, which is why the bench is on the deck even though it’s technically not-quite-finished vs completely done. But the building part is utterly enjoyable.

As easy as it sounds things were slightly trickier than expected, with some modifications to the plan changing how the back came together. I think it was for the best, with 2x4s mitered at an angle and holding 1x4 crossbeams versus kregging a 2x10 piece in at an angle. Now I just have to remember how I did that when I build a second one this week. One more trip to Home Depot should do it. As much as I end up going there I’m not a huge HD fan at the moment. It took forever to find two boards straight enough to use for these, and you can even see the left arm is slightly off. Oh well. It’s close and convenience outweighs a lot of other factors in my approach.

This project has gotten smaller as it went on; between telling the wife my intentions and getting the first done, the plans on how to use these have even changed. Initially I wanted to build a set of chairs and a loveseat for the deck but apparently we’re leaving the deck space open for the kids to play on and the chairs are getting put in the fire pit seating. Which is fine, it leaves me an area to fill up in the future. But I have to say, even without cushions I love how this turned out. Updates to come.

Purchase list (so far)

2 2”x10”x8’ treated board, cut to 32” sections and trimmed to straight
3 1”x4”x8’ treated board, cut to 24” sections for seat and back
1 2”x4”x8’ treated board, cut to 29” seat support and 22” back support, mitered to 20 degrees
2 ½ inch kreg screws
additional wood screws

The boy's sandbox

What do you get for the boy who has everything? Well, maybe not everything. But what do you get for a boy who was super patient with a move and a move and is about to turn four in a new house with a big yard to play in?

Easy. You build a sandbox, but not just any sandbox. A great, big sandbox with a lid that folds into benches that he can spend all day in.

This was actually a long time coming in that a yard with a sandbox was the first hint we dropped to him that moving might not actually be terrible if that was what was waiting for him at the finish line. Considering how much he loves the tiny turtle sandbox at grandma and grandpa’s the idea of a bigger one was enough to get him to keep an open mind about our move. So I went into this project putting a lot of pressure on myself to live up to expectations, and I dare say I succeeded.

This is one of those builds with plans all over the internet. I had plenty of time to plan and think about how things would come together so that by the time I was ready, I had everything purchased and the build itself took less than a day. Sanding took a bit more time b/c I paid special attention to it on this one but it was worth it in the end.

As always, plans change. I had planned on going big with a 5’x5’ square base for this, but I realized building the table that our Journey probably couldn’t fit the 10 foot boards and still close. So I stuck with 8 foot boards to split and make a 4’x4’ square. Also, I had planned on getting 2x8s, then accidentally got 2x10s and didn’t realize the mistake until I got home and realized they looked bigger than the table boards. Oops. But ultimately that just meant a taller box than expected. More room for sand. 

At this point you're off & running.

 Like I mentioned, this came together pretty quickly. I trimmed one 2x10 to 90 inches long then cut it in half for the short sides of the base. Then joined them with kreg holes to the halves of the second 2x10. Using 1x4s for the lid, I halved six 8-foot boards and laid them out to plan how they all got joined together. The 1x4s should be hinged twice so they fold into an “L” shape, with the handles on top attached to 2x4s cut a little long to keep the back up once they’re folded. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. 8 hinges and 4 handles and you’re ready to go.

Everything together. But will it open?

A 4 foot square ended up working great, b/c each half of the lid is six 1x4s. The first two are screwed directly to the base, they’re never going to move. The middle two are connected via two 8-inch sections of 2x4 that act as armrests on the bench, and connected to the first two via a top hinge. The last two are connected via the long-cut 2x4s that the handles get attached to, and to the rest of the lid via a hinge on the inside of the lid. This was actually the trickiest part; I got overly excited and started attaching boards when my original plan was to build the lids on the ground then attach the entire thing to the base. I ended up having to put the whole thing on one side and put the hinge on while trying to line everything up. Not the ideal way but it worked okay.

Yes! This was a simple build but I was still relieved to see it actually work.

At this point it’s at least recognizable as a sandbox, and this was how we wrapped it up for the boy to open on his birthday. Unfortunately it was still in the 20’s in early April so it didn’t get filled until a few weeks later, but it’s been a hit since then. A few last minute details: when I moved it out before we filled it I put two layers of weed barrier on the bottom. Just tacked it on with nails. I have no plans of moving this, and doubt we even could now that it’s filled with 10 40 lbs bags of sand. That was actually fewer bags than I thought we’d need but I was fine not carrying any more sand at that point.

Get used to this view. Actually, make some more seats for grown ups.

Should I add a purchase list to this? Sure, let’s spell it out.

2 2”x10”x8’ treated boards
6 1”x4”x8’ treated boards
1 2”x4”x6’ treated board
8 2” utility hinges (ended up with 6 2” and 2 3” b/c that’s all that was in stock)
4 gate handles
additional wood & kreg screws
natural stain
10 40 lbs bags play sand

Behind the couch console table

With two insane children in the house my weekends are spent giving them opportunities to pounce on me without warning. Literally pounce, usually when I’ve just sat down after getting a nice coffee together. While this is an enjoyable problem to have, the wife quickly realized we would benefit from a behind-the-couch table at the new house. Since this was when I was gearing up for my initial table build, I talked her out of going furniture shopping and said I’d put something together. And so starts the story of the table that never seems to be completely finished.

The wife’s main concern about my building anything isn’t my own health and safety, but the fear that I, through labor and time, will end up emotionally attached to something that she can’t stand to look at on a daily basis. I will admit, she has a point. I’m so fond of the patio table and bench that I probably would have freaked out if she didn’t agree they were worthy of leaving on the deck. This project helped me see things from her perspective and it’s helped my DIYing for the better, at least from a mental standpoint.  

Building a frame to fit the couch while starting the patio table.

As it stands now I think we’re both happy with how this looks in its final state, but as mentioned it took a couple of stops to get there. Looking online, my initial plans were just for a frame of furring strips supporting a lone shelf at the top that spanned the length of the couch. Easy. But once I had it together, the wife suggested a middle shelf. Once that was in, I wanted to close off the sides. Once that was done, I stained everything and took it upstairs. 

The first photo sent to the wife for proof of concept. Close but not quite.

Oops. Then I realized a bottom shelf would help it look more finished, and probably mean it could stay in the living room. So I picked up another board, and figured out how to cut it so it would fit into the frame that was already there. After yet more staining and sealing and sanding, I glued it in. Woof. 

Finally, all shelves on.

Still some gaps in the detail but not too shabby.

Looking at it now, we both agree it’s fine but there are things I would do differently knowing this was the final result if I had a do-over. Mitering the edges so it’s not just a matching board tacked to the side would help things, or cutting the top larger so the side fits under an overhang. Properly fitting a bottom shelf would help too. I think this table is ultimately destined to be the entertainment stand for a basement tv when we put one up, and I’ll take another stab at living room-worthy version in the future. Just like any DIY project, what I learned putting this one together will impact my next one. For now, it’s a practical place to put my coffee on when I’m about to get pounced on.