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.