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.
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| Here's a panoramic for "before." |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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…
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