Knotty Knights - Basement Build

After 2 long years of reading, planning, drawing, re-drawing, building, re-building, and school - it's time to start a thread. Many thanks to all the wonderful builds discovered along the way.

Why the wait you ask? The feared Loganizer

Plus the fact that I have been lazy when it comes to pictures. Now that I am getting a little done and looking back, I wish I had more pics to rely upon for some of my decisions and some of my stud locations.

Here is my original cut at a layout on 1/31/2008.


The design intents include --
Storage, storage, storage
Laundry room (and I mean nice laundry room, since the wife enjoys laundry )
Workshop that will eventually become a workout/hobby room
Office (my personal man cave)
Open family / theater / fun room

Here is my latest cut at a layout on 1/31/2010.


Take notice of the removal of storage space from the workshop. I quickly learned how small 12x15 is for a workshop. That sounds big for a lot of rooms, but definitely not big enough for a full shop - especially with a section missing. So, I moved the storage to the end of my office.

A few before pics...

What will become the theater / family room - just passed the water heater


Doesn't look like much here and the wife isn't too convinced that she is going to get a laundry room out of the deal. The plastic hanging up was meant to be a dust shield. Didn't work too well


You can see I'm little short on tools. I started with absolutely no tools. Just picked up a Ryobi miter saw and a Dewalt saw for Xmas. My brother didn't want to see me hammering nails, so he picked me up an air compressor and framing gun. Come to find out, even if he never lifted another finger, he did more than his share of work by carrying that in and showing me how to use it


It's not going to be the biggest hideout, but I have high hopes that it will make a great place to do my research and even a home office one day.


and finally - the future home of the theater. The sheet is a little undersized. I hope to fit a 88" x 50" (16:9) screen with masking for the various formats.




Here's a sample wall from the workshop showing the construction technique I finally decided upon. 2x4 construction, 3/4" foam bard against the concrete, filled with unfaced R13. Every nook and cranny sealed with Great Stuff.






I made very little progress during 2008 as I finished my Masters degree. I took a few shots before picking up construction right after I finished school.

Here's a look at how I left the laundry room for a year. Not sure how the date on the camera got messed up, but this pic is really from 2008 - I'm not quite as slow as some would like to think.



Each end of the office as I pick things up over Xmas. I opted for a pocket door for the late planned storage area.

Skip forward through countless weekends, many design changes, learning to cut out trim, and by the end of summer you have an office...

Oh, and let's not forget getting married in May 2009.

Here's the poor mans 360 degree video of the room just before moving in.

I originally had pocket door designs in 3 places, but after doing this one pulled the other two out of the design.
I really like how the ceiling came out. Before I put the ceiling up, I swapped out all the ductwork that went over the room with the insulated, flex-hose. I cut the runs extra long then weaved the run back and forth between the joists (poor man's damper). Then, I used 2" rock wool, R19, and USG Ceilings Luna ClimaPlus panels. Before I put the ceiling in, you could actually hear me whisper in the room upstairs (through the vent). Now, I can play my channel system as loud as I enjoy and my wife never complains a bit.

This was the first wall painted. I thought it was too dark, so the other walls were lightened up. I'm still amazed how much wire such a little room can take. After completing this room, I am sure I under estimated the amount of wire for the theater room.

I need to grab another picture of this little hole filled in. The left wall is floor to ceiling discs and books. I call it my "media room", not to be confused with the AV closet

I'm not too happy with the 6 panel doors from Menards. Very difficult to align, one of them is warped.
The floor construction is DriCore (essentially Platon with OSB cut 2x2), 30# tar paper, T&G laminate.

The paneling along the top hides the drain from the kitchen. The little vertical strips pop right off to gain access to the clean out. Also wired for a flat panel if I decide... only thing is, I forgot that I wanted the power and cable up high on the wall. Lesson learned !

I finished all the wood with a coat of bullseye dewaxed shellac followed with a wipe on / wipe off of Minwax cherry stain.

The whole reason for the build. My 2 channel + setup. I'm actually running 2 rears and a sub for casual computing and I don't want to run the tubes. Overall, the room is wired for 7.1 from the corner behind the desk where the computer is.



I'm really happy with how this room came out but as always, there are things I would do differently next time. That's why I won't have quite so much knotty pine in the theater room. On the other hand, I think the trim pieces themselves are too thin and without all the paneling would look seriously under-sized.

Next up is the Laundry room. It's not quite done yet, but I will start putting up pics and follow the rest the build process.

I thought I would throw out a list of the main tools required for DIY. I can't begin to mention all the hand tools, but in the big scheme of things, these are the tools the cost the money.

Ryobi 10" miter saw / stand - May not be the best on the market, but cuts 2x4's for framing just fine ! Wanna get fancy, spend a little more.
Ryobi battery power tool kit - Couldn't ask for a better starter kit. Great bang for the buck. Get the radio to drain batteries before re-charging and they will last.
Dewalt 7 1/4" circular saw - Only thing I want more than this is a right handed version. It's still on my wish list, but I can use the Ryobi battery one in a pinch.
Rigid 10" portable table saw - I don't know good from bad tools, but this one has been ripping quite a few boards and held up fine. Original blade was excellent.
Porter-Cable framing air gun - Priceless tool ! 0 jams to date !
Porter-Cable portable air tank
Duracraft dust collector - Works a lot better than plastic walls
Porter-Cable 895 Router
RT100XL Router Table
Dewalt Random orbital sander
Rigid 4 gallon shop vac
MK470 tile cutter - Was a little worried it wouldn't be big enough. Cuts 12" no problem, 16's for straight cuts only
Roto-Zip - Great tool for cutting outlets in sheet rock! The dust created is well worth the price considering the time saved.
Milwaukee 18 gauge nailer - Wonderful wonderful tool. It's lighter than most my hammers so nailing trim and paneling is a breeze. Great for tack nailing things along the way too.

I did use Sketchup. To tell you the truth, when I first downloaded it, I hated it. I thought it was totally backward and unintuitive - but then again, I'm a software engineer not a designer Putting all that aside, I decided to take some of their tutorials (RTFM ). I have to admit that their tutorials are great and once you get used to it, the tool has a lot of power - especially considering you can't get 3D with libraries anywhere else for free.

Not quite a theater room yet, but hopefully the improvement in the design and construction so far is noticeable. I feel a lot better about this room than the office.

A couple samples of the trash and storage area. I was going to go with a pull-out laundry, but my walls weren't square enough and the tilt ended up being a really, really easy to build.


It only took me 3 months to find the hardware I liked and could afford I had no idea going into this how much hinges and handles can cost if you want something other than Big Box.


One thing for sure, the overall design ended up with a lot of storage. I use under the washer dryer to store all my paint supplies on one side and household supplies on the other side.


We decided not to put any doors on the closet, so I need to add a window blind over the shelves to keep that part of the storage covered. The galvanized pipe for the closet rods ended up being a lot more work than expected. Only other thing to do is to change out the bi-fold that I got real cheap for a pine one to match.


Overall lessons learned --

Plan the hardware, lighting, and fixtures before building anything. All drawers and cabinetry designs can be built to support what is bought. It's a lot harder to build the cabinets then find a hinge to work with it.

Leave the colors, decorating, and overall theme/tone to the better half. Just follow directions and the room comes out better.

Next up - A/V closet

Based on the fact I got any feedback at all, I'm thinking I must be making a little progress and the room is better than the first one


I posted up her underwear in one of the "before" pics, so I took the opportunity while she wasn't home to snap these pics


Thanks ! I think I got about the right amount in this room. The office was a little over-done.

Good catch on the store name. I'm in N. Illinois, and yeah, not everyone knows they are a midwest version of HD. I'm not always thrilled with their selection, but we have Lowes, HD, and Menards all next door to each other so I do a lot of price shopping


lol - Good lesson to keep in mind - I will have to remember not to post the pictures I take while I'm nude.

Thanks for the feedback. I am a little slower than the average build around here. I've had to spend a lot of time learning about each step of the process along the way.

Might want to hook a camera to that little one and create a photo journal for you. That pic has a nice line of sight on the floor that we usually miss taking the pic from up higher


I love the hickory, especially in the wide board. Been looking at that for our living room in place of the maroon carpet and possibly for kitchen cabinets. I just dont think it will go with the pine, so I will probably stick with pine, or possibly cedar in the theater.

Thanks for the link fusion. Looks like some pretty nice flooring options He's only 6 hours away, so maybe I can talk the wife into a weekend trip that way.

So how big are you doorways - 10'

hanesian - no problem with the hijack. I figure if I got a little more done, maybe, just maybe the hijacks wouldn't happen. But that wouldn't be any fun either

armaraas - Did you say "complete"? I heard of done before, but never complete. Does that mean you are done working on it, or it is actually all done

As far as doors go, I'm going to try something different for the door into the workshop (from the laundry room) and the door into the laundry room. I picked up a hollow core blank and I'm going to mill the wood down to 3/8" thick and face it with a "dutch door" look, something like the trash bin and upper storage. I'm just tired of trying to work with warped doors - but the good ones make a project like this way too expensive... so, there goes another month of Sunday's

Love the floor. That would actually match my speakers really well. I will keep my options open, that floor is sweet !



OK, time to break down a few comments...

Shoot, if that's all it takes to be complete, I've been complete for a really long time


If you look at my earliest shots, you will see exactly what I started with - well, actually, what I had to build up to my office. At that point, I negotiated with the wife - hire out the laundry room or buy the necessary tools


Thanks for the compliment, but trust me, 3 years ago I never had any more tools than you have. In fact, I had never run a table saw or a router, never had a shop class, and was afraid to take the guard off the miter saw to make over-sized cuts.

What was my trick to learn what I learned so far? First, keep it cheap and simple - I shopped in the "sale" pine all twisted up for $2.00 for 10' sections (In fact, the laundry room cabinets are made from the same pile of $2.00 wood). Even keeping it "cheap", I've scrapped more wood than you could imagine. It's not easy, but once you decide that every cut is practice you quite getting frustrated and even mad - and eventually make a few good cuts

Second, even a beginner like me noticed a HUGE difference going from the bottom "primary" tools (B&D, Ryobi) to a quality brand (porter-cable, dewalt, ridgid). It took a while to save up for some tools, but what a difference once I got it. I only had a miter saw and the table saw to do my office - then added the router table / router for the laundry room.

Oh, and all my tools where bought at rock bottom prices, including using a 20% discount from ebay at HD when buying the lumber, insulation, rock, mud, and everything else I could fit in a trailer load. Walked out with a "free" table saw. Well, atleast it didn't come from the negotiated budget




Read my lesson learned on the laundry room !!!


Follow the lesson above and you might be surprised how well other necessities are negotiated.

lol... If you count all the little stuff, even the office and laundry room aren't complete. Post up a link to your build thread so I can check it out !

The things us short people don't think about ! I guess my 7' ceiling in the basement would be a little short, especially along the center beam which has a 9" drop !