The UN-Theater Build - Page 3

Going to throw out one of the big questions I have now in the hopes of getting some expert feedback, even though it will be a while before I am at the stage of working on this area.

The room immediately above my HT is the living room and sometimes - not often but sometimes - I can tell that there are vibrations or movement that comes through to the basement ceiling, and I'm worried about how it will affrect a PJ hung from the ceiling. I mostly notice this when my two teenage daughters are running around upstairs or dancing, as they often do - Irish dancing to be precise, with all the jumping and bouncing that entails.

I know one option is to build a room within a room type of system so the PJ is suspended from something that is isolated from the actual floor joists, but unless I misunderstand the process that seems like a lot of work in this case.

Can anyone weigh in with suggestions or ideas of how to deal with a "bouncy" ceiling?

Thanks. I've visited that thread a couple of times and will again in the future. Of course at this point I haven't spent too much time looking into the PJ yet, espcially since I keep reading that Fatal Mistake #1 is putting up your PJ before you finish the build.

Not that that will really stop me from actually doing that, but it won't be until I at least get some progress in the bag!

October 2008

So with the basement bath in the final stages of completion I was * finally * able to turn to the build process for the rest of the basement! Of course, the first thing that had to be done was to properly christen the project by sprinkling Holy Water on the walls and having a wee toast for luck, just like they used to do in the Auld Country, doanchaknow.

Next step was to spend the following day recovering from the hangover caused by that "wee" toast.

The third step was admitting that I had a problem, and no - I am not talking about the drinking thing. At least not right now.

I'm talking about the whole lack of adequate building skills thing, which led to the realization that I better hire and/or recruit in some help, and since unlike so many others here I don't happen to have a very handy father or father-in-law nearby to call on, I had to go with "Plan F" (having previously run all over Plans A through G): calling on a buddy who is a GC and happens to owe me a favor.

Fortunately for me, my buddy Chris was foolish enough - I mean nice enough - to throw me a life line and save me from myself. Personally, I think it just because he's just a great guy, although I'm not entirely discounting the very distinct possibility that he just couldn't come up with a good enough excuse on the spot to avoid having to say yes. Kind of like what happened to my wife when I asked her to marry me about 25 years ago.

Let's hope this build doesn't last that long, for my sake and my buddy Chris' sake!

Anyway, first we staged the framing lumber and polystyrene insulation boards in the garage, which as you can see in this photo also doubles as our storage area and cutting area mainly because the basement already suffers from having far too much crap in it to begin with. I'd love to have a nice, clean, empty work area like I see in so many build threads, but as I said ours is a basement in constant use so I'm making do with simply consolidating and making organized piles of crap, which we move from place to place to place, like deck chairs on the Titanic, and getting on with it.

Such is life. At least mine. Count your blessings.

November 2008

This month I managed to remove the saw from the garage.

MAN that took longer than I thought!

December 2008

Another month, another huge accomplishment: put the saw and compressor back into the garage. Plugged them both in. All by myself.

Took a well earned beer break.



(Logan has got to be eating his heart out by now.)

October 2008, revisited

OK, the truth is I didn't really waste two entire months doing nothing but moving the saw and compressor in and out of the garage! As if!

No. I wasted two entire months reading threads on this forum and looking at the basement from all sorts of interesting, Builder Bob type angles. And I still couldn't make anything happen without me actually doing something.

This HT build stuff can be so confusing sometimes!

So after contemplating this dilemma deeply and fervently until Chris showed up with another load from HD, I realized there was nothing left for me to do but to start carrying stuff down to the basement, where I had to interupt my daughters' American Girl Doll tea party. I hated to do that, as it looked like one of those dolls was on the verge of teaching me how to plumb a level, or vice versa, or some such thing, which would have been much appreciated.

Once I got the insulation down there I began the slow process of measuring, cutting and putting up the insulation. By the time Chris got back from Big Orange with more lumber and we got the saw and nail gun set up, I had a reasonable start on things so we could start framing.



Then followed the cutting and installing of the poly boards.





I'd show you more but it would start resembling the above garage shots with & without the saw.

BIG,

It took me a day or so to find the time to snap a photo of the finished sump pipe outlet you asked about. Here it is.



The discharge line runs down into the ground and from there, down the hill and diagonally away from the house for probably 10 yards.

Thanks to my buddy Chris, who unlike me possessed both the right tools AND the know-how of what the hell to DO with them, we finished over half the basement in the course of about 10 hours spread out over Saturday and Sunday. Here are some photos.

Chris wielding the gun.



View of the long Wailing Wall, from the laundry room looking back towards the rec room.



Chris goofing off trying to figure out some minor framing detail while I was hard at work taking a photo of him. You just can't get decent help anymore

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.

I've actually been much more involved with the process than I've described so far, especially once we got past the mold & bathroom stuff. I just don't take pictures of myself - much easier and more fun to shoot other people (only in-season of course). Plus I'm such an easy target for my own sarcasm, since I'm always around and mostly screwing up anyway.

The deal with my buddy Chris was to teach me as we went along, with me doing as much as possible and him backing off as soon as possible and acting mainly as a consultant and hands-on expert as and when I get hopelessly stuck, which still happens more often than I'd like. That will slow the build down, but make i more fun and satisfying. Well, to me anyway. Not so much my wife!

But I'm really enjoying learning and accomplishing something that I couldn't do before, since like lots of folks my "day job" doesn't give such immediate, tangible results.

I haven't bought any of the sauna stuff yet, other than the door, and I only bought that because my girls balked at the idea of using a toilet that looked directly to an open doorway. It didn't do any good pointing out to them that there was absolutely nothing beyond that open doorway but the empty corner of the basement. Princesses must have their privacy!! Personally, I think my wife put them up to it.

Anyway, I'm holding off on the rest of the sauna supplies until after I finish the basement and the HT. When I do get there, though, I will not be buying a kit, I'll buy the wood from a good local millwork place and buy the heater and a few accessories online at a place site like this.

http://www.homecraft.bc.ca/sauna_heaters.htm

Is there something in particular part of the sauna you are looking for?

Thanks, my wooly friend! And how 'bout pouring me a shot of that scotch?

Meanwhile, progress was slow but steady in the bathroom on the main floor:

Tub area on the right, shower on the left



Shower rough in. Also shows a good view of how much of the wall dividing the shower and the next door bedroom had to be remove because of mold infestation. Gross.



And how much of the shower floor and framing had to be replaced for the same reason.

Having held out as long as we could in this God-forsaken climate, I finally - in the second week of October - gave in to my daughter's pleadings and turned on the furnace for the first heat of the season.

Nothing happened.

Several subsequent and equally fruitless attempts led my slow brain to the inescapable conclusion: the @#*%* bloody furnace was dead!! And it couldn't have been a day older than 25 years years old, give or take a decade!

I knew it was past due for replacement, but it just kept right on working so why screw around with a good thing?

Now, in the midst of a major project, and the wonderful impact on cash flow that that entails, I suddenly realized that I must have had one hell of a great time in a previous life, 'cuz I sure as hell am paying for it in spades now!! But with the temperature outside starting to hover below the freezing point at night, now was not the time to feel sorry for myself. No siree, now was the time to drink myself into oblivion!

But since I couldn't afford alcohol anymore (or even oxygen at this point) I contemplated saving some money by not replacing the furnace and just burning piles of cash for heat instead, but when I saw how little those piles had become I held my nose and called in a couple furnace guys for bids, and before you could say "I'm toast!" I was scheduled to have a new furnace installed the next day on an emergency call out basis.

Left with no choice but to pretend this wasn't a big setback compared to what we had already been through and survived, I decided to take some photos of the process, perhaps so that at some distant future time when I came out of my coma I could finally come to grips with what had actually happened while I was living in denial.

Here was the old, great-great-grandfather furnace. If you are squeamish don't look, because the poor furnace was already dead in these pictures. Please remove your hats as a sign of respect.





Then the furnace was removed, and the new metal work installed prior to the new furnace going in.





Here's the old furnace carcass, littering up my driveway.



And a shot of the new chimney liner (required by code just so they could kick me while I was down) getting ready to be installed. Please, for God's sake, do NOT point out to me how badly my concrete driveway needs replacing or I will drop biological weapons on your house!!



And finally, below is where the photo of the newly installed, high efficiency furnace should be, but apparently I was too much in shock from loss of gravity in my wallet to take any more pictures. Or maybe I had to give the furnace guys my camera as partial payment. Either way, I somehow missed the money shot. I'll have to try and take one soon and add it as an edit, if I can move all the crap out of the way to see it.

I swear, if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!

EDIT: Finally snapped a photo of the new furnace, to satisfy the teeming hoards who were writing in to the editor complaining about leaving them in the lurch with no finish shot. ;>



Hey, I didn't say it was a beautiful furnace - just a new and efficient furnace. And a working one, which is what I like most about it.

My homing device has locked onto your house in ... well so far I can tell it is in northern Indiana, and in a few moments I will have an exact address, and then I will push the launch button for the bio-bomb and you will never have to worry about your old furnace again.

Muwaha-ha-ha-ha-HA!!!

My experience is that the kits are very convenient, especially since you can often give them your exact dimensions and most of them will pre-cut the boards for you, but you pay a premium for that convenience, and sometimes the quality of the wood is not quite what you can get yourself.

For some people the convenience is worth the extra cost, but for anyone who can build what you've built in your basement you would certainly find it very easy to do cut and install tongue & groove paneling, if that is your desire. All anyone really needs is a good plan to build from. Even the benches are very basic, really, although bench design is important especially for having easy access to clean the sauna.

But the real key is getting good quality softwood, with minimal knots or blemishes, especially for the benches or other areas where your skin comes in contact with the wood. Those knots will heat up much faster than regular soft wood and burn you if you're not careful. The sauna is no place to skimp on wood grade quality.

I would be more inclined to just buy everything other than the wood online. Certainly the heater and the door, but also some of the nice accessories - lights, floor boards, water bucket & something to spoon the water on the heater, and perhaps some low voltage lighting behind guards or under the benches. And this time around I think I'm going to add a couple of outdoor, weather resistance speakers down low (where the heat is less) so I can relax to some gentle music while bathing.

I'd be happy to be a resource in your planning if you'd like. It's one of the few things I know about, that most folks who didn't grow up with it don't seem to understand. But I think it's kind of like HT - once you try it the right way, then it all suddenly makes sense! And what could be better than combining the two?

Let me know if you want any further input as you draw up your plans, BIG. If I can be of any help with ideas to consider I'd be happy to do so.

While we're on the subject of saunas and sauna vendors, here is the manufacturer of the sauna door I bought, partially because they had a local dealer so I could inspect the door before ordering. Also, check out the indirect, low voltage lighting, which as you can imagine is very easy to do. I'm going to go with some version of that, because having a single bright wall light is practical but not conducive to relaxing and unwinding, IMO.

http://www.finnleo.com/Products/Traditional_Sauna.htm

Before all the rumor-mongers start spreading their disinformation, I want to quickly go on record here and make this one thing perfectly clear: That was NOT me that just got arrested for driving his motorized bar stool under the influence:



NEWARK, Ohio -- Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool. Police in Newark, 30 miles east of Columbus, say when they responded to a report of a crash with injuries on March 4, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower.

Twenty-eight-year Kile Wygle was hospitalized for minor injuries. Police say he was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he told an officer at the hospital that he had consumed 15 beers. Wygle told police his motorized bar stool can go up to 38 mph.

Wygle has pleaded not guilty and has requested a jury trial.


No, that was not me, as I don't even remember being 28 years old. But you gotta love this guy. In fact, I think I'm going to try to hire him as a build consultant for my HT. I'm guessing a set of stools like that might not be much more expensive than Berklines, and I bet they are much faster!

Rumor has it that is an extra safety feature for those who lean back too far while chugging their beer. I don't think it's included in the base price - you gotta pay extra for luxuries like that!

Your space sounds like a perfect size for a home sauna. You don't want it too big unless you are going to regularly have more than a few people in there at once, which I rarely do. Mine is slightly smaller at about 5' x 7'. Seven foot ceiling height is just where you want it too. Any higher and your best heat is sitting wasted above your head.

That basic configuration looks great. Because of my room being one foot or so narrower I'm not going to use the L configuration, otherwise I would. I assume most designs incorporate the practical aspect of being able to remove, or at least move, the benches so you can periodically clean it thoroughly. Simple wood slides or hinges work great. Lots of ways to do that, but the key is that there IS a plan for that as part of the bench plan.

I'm not a huge fan of the design of the benches in the photo you show, as I prefer the more traditional bench look, but that is the type of indirect, low voltage lighting I was referring to. It's a very simple and inexpensive way to add a nice design element that is also practical for having a relaxing mood. This particular design also makes effective use of the wood 'valance' that hides the lighting, as it also serves as a backrest of sorts. Just have to make sure the width of the bench reflects the depth of that backrest or it might make sitting back a bit more unconfortable than you'd want it. As I said, there are also variations on this indirect lighting being hidden under benches and such as well. Here are a few quick examples just to give you an idea of possibilities.







Cedar is a popular choice for saunas, although personally I prefer lighter colored woods like White Pine or the much pricier (and hard to find) Nordic White Spruce. All woods tend to darken over time in the sauna envirnment, and for my taste some of the older Cedar saunas look terrific when new but after a few years they start to get a bit dark. The lighter woods obviously also darken, but often end up closer to the original Cedar color. But that's really more of a personal aesthetics issue - either choice functions well.

Definitely soft wood species of some sort, though, as they don't absorb the heat as readily and so stay cooler and so more comfortable. You can use the same wood for benches, and I usually do, only a higher grade to minimize knots and imperferctions, as those suckers can burn you! Purists insist on using Abachi wood for benches and backrests, but that is more expensive and harder to find and I'm not sure exactly how much difference it actually makes.

Hope something in that ramble is of some help to you. Gotta run!

I appreciate the feedback, as this is one of those issues lingering at the back of my mind, or the spot where my mind ought to be. I'm probably over-thinking and over-worrying about it, as it's not like they have dances on a nightly basis.

Never too late for a party, Queen! Even for 5' 3" munchkins!

That makes me feel a bit better about it, although I think I'll have to come up with some way to test and measure the effect while my kids go nuts upstairs. Other than actually hanging a PJ (which I'm led to believe will stop all progress dead in it's tracks!) and seeing the impact on a screen, though, I haven't come up with a way top do that just yet.

Now, what can I get you to drink?