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The long awaited basement thread
myntik1:
Phase I is almost complete. Long story short - I ran into 2 kids (I guess I'm old now that I refer to college football players as kids) that bounce at the bar I used to work at. I asked if either of them wanted to make few bucks helping me hang some drywall on my ceiling. I figure I'll give 1 of them a few bucks since my options are to have a million seams on my ceiling by doing it myself or start picking up co-pays for my brother and his illness du jour. They claimed they do remodeling each summer. I'm a bit skeptical, but cheap help is cheap help. At the very least they can hold up the sheets so I can screw it in place. The next day we knocked out the ceiling. One of the kids with more skill than the other asks if I want them to box in the water valve, put the corner bead on, tape and mud the whole thing. So it's judgment time, I ask what the damage would be. His reply - since we have to come out 2 more times to tape and mud I think $150 is fair. My reply is "150?". He comes back with - do you think $150 total is too much. My eyes light up like X-MAS and I say it's a done deal. My plan was to do it all myself, but at that price my laziness kicked in. I thought he was saying 150 each. At 3 hundo I would do the taping and mudding myself, but at 150 to help me knock out most of the remaining work in 1 night and to come back to do the dirty work - it's a gift from god that I can't turn down.
Sprucemoose:
Paying $150 is a dream. I am in the process of finishing my basement also. I just got done mudding the drywall. I had never done it before, but if I could have paid someone $150 i would have. It was a tedious process when you are not good at it. As long as you are patient it will turn out alright, but man it was messy and a headache. I am sooooooooooooooo happy to be done.
Good luck with your project. Looks great so far. More pics!
myntik1:
Monday morning update
After reviewing my ever growing shoebox full of receipts I guess I lied to myself. When I started to piece together my Lowe's and HD purchases for the last 3.5 months I was shocked. The list I put together a few spots up was off the top of my head while I was at my desk. I forgot the masks, muriatic acid, extra can of drylok (my 2yr old knocked over a can), the ton of goo off I used to remove the drylok from my floor, the concrete etch, drywall t-square, plumb bob, chalk line, etc. When all is said and done I would have to say that materials/tools probably amounted to 2000 so far. This includes the 150 for the gun rental, fuel and nails.
And then add in another 200 for the 2 college kids to mud and sand (I gave them an extra 50), which should have probably cost me 3-4. And the seriously insane discount my buddy's dad gave me on my electrical. I bought the parts, but he came in and wired 8 outlets, 8 recessed lights, moved some existing lights, and tied everything into my breaker for free. I sent him and his wife a 75 gc to their favorite restaurant, but looking back at it now I may send them another one. Although he's 70 and not as spry as he once was having a master electrician at your house for 5 hours probably should have cost me about 4 hundred.
With any luck we (yes me included) should do the final sanding tonight and then it's cleanup time before I primer and paint the living areas.
At some point this week I will put together a comprehensive list of parts and materials needed. If for some crazy reason someone wants this info drop me a line and I'll send it to you or I can post it if needed.
And before anyone asks doing a basement isn't hard, it's just time consuming. My previous woodworking projects involved building launch ramps and a quarter pipe as a kid, building a leapinlew knockoff juke and 1 mame cabinet. So it's not like I possesed Knievel type woodworking skills.
ChadTower:
--- Quote from: myntik1 on March 17, 2008, 08:14:35 am ---Although he's 70 and not as spry as he once was having a master electrician at your house for 5 hours probably should have cost me about 4 hundred.
--- End quote ---
You may want to up that estimate. I recently had one new circuit run - feet from the breaker box in new framing - and it ran me $400 for 90 minutes of work. The electrician sent two guys to do it at $75/hr each plus materials. They rounded it up to two full hours, too. They did great work but I may have to get bids next time. At that cost the rest of the basement will run me thousands just for the electrical.
EDIT: forgot, that included permits and inspection too.
myntik1:
Ouch. I guess I need to really get after that extra gc, since he saved me a fortune.
A couple of suggestions/comments:
Have a realistic budget. I thought I would spend about 1500 and be done. Now I'm at 175% of my original budget and I still need to get 2 prehung regular 36 inch doors, a new hatchway door, moulding, primer, paint, more insulation, drywall and wall-to-wall capreting. So I'm probably another 1500 away from being done.
I can't stress this enough - find an able-bodied person to help you. If this isn't an option ask someone to take a peek at your progress from time to time. My brother was able to give me a couple of ideas on things to do that I had never thought of.
moisture resistant drywall is on sale right now at HD for 7.50/sheet. This is the stuff you use in bathrooms. I would have gone with this if it wasn't 4-5 more per sheet when I purchased it. It's probably over kill, but if you have any water issues in your basement this might be worth the extra few bucks.
depending on the delivery charge just have the store deliver your drywall. I balked at the $45 delivery charge (I'm 15 minutes away from both stores), but I had to make multiple trips. I should have paid the 45 and had them drop the 30-40 pieces of drywall in my garage and been done with it.
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