The RTROSE (take my sweet time) HT Construction Thread - Page 9

Ok,

I got all of my "must get done" stuff done in preparation for the foam guys to come do their thing. I was really feeling "rushed" to get some stuff done prior to their arrival and going at more than the usual RTROSE pace of doing things. I also wanted to totally clean out the basement so the foam guys did not have to work around all of my junk. I don't think the basement has ever been this empty other than the day we took possession of the house almost six years ago.

The start of the build. Theater area.



Now



Start of the build. Kids media hangout area.



Now



Stairway before. You can also see HT v .5 in the photo.



Stairway now.



My solution for the future projector mount.



More updates to come and a report on the "foam guys".

Regards,

RTROSE

Well since you asked, here ya go.

Here is a link to the website of the company I used.


Their rig.




Two different foams. This is the rigid foam which also serves as a vapor barrier sprayed only on the basement walls.



This is the semi rigid or "soft" foam sprayed on the "band" area and in between the ceiling/floor joists.



I need to take photos of the "foamed" basement yet and I'll post my initial impressions but since I had a request it was the least I could do.

Sorry Drew I know you hounded me for weeks for updated pics and I did not produce but this time I actually had pictures when requested. Not trying to play favorites.

Regards,

RTROSE

HA!

I guess I should have done this from the start. Nothing like a hard deadline to motivate you.

My drywall guy called and wanted to know how I was progressing and stated he could be here next week if I was ready for him.

DOH! I agreed because if I don't commit now who knows when his schedule will open up again. Another time crunch! Working much faster than RTROSE speed. Lots to due before he gets here.

Regards,

RTROSE

All,

I spent the entire weekend working in the basement. I purchased "regular" insulation to fill in where I did not have the foam applied. 13 rolls total 7 R13's and 6 R19's and they will be going up in the storage area, equipment area, and a couple of other places around the basement. I have most of the the insulation up already as I started on Friday after they finished with the foam application. Menards had the doors I needed for the basement on sale so I picked four of them up. Heck fire after replacing all of my interior doors last year I'm now a "self proclaimed" door installation specialist.

I have also decided to go with a subfloor just to cover (no pun intended) all aspects of comfort and have chosen to go with the Certainteed product called Platon which is available at my local Menards. I figured on six rolls of the Platon and approximately 35 sheets of 5/8ths 4 x 8 OSB for the project so I went ahead and purchased the material to get started with that as well. I will also post my impressions here with the Platon product.

All in all a very productive weekend and I'm happy with the progress, although there is a lot to do before next Saturday when my drywaller shows up. More info and pics to come, yeah I know promises, promises.

Regards,

RTROSE

Hey, Howdy, Ho,

I have been a very busy camper here in the past few days. Here are a couple more photos of the foam application.


Overview of the area looking from the kitchenette to the pub table area.



Photo showing a sample of what the wall and ceiling joists look like after foam application.



Overview of the theater area from the theater entrance looking towards the screen wall.



I wanted to comment about my experience with Custom Comfort Spray Foam. When I called initially to schedule a quote I spoke with Jason (who I found out is the owner of the company) he showed up and took great interest in what I wanted to do. He even has a theater in his home so he understands the needs of a home theater. I had only planned on doing the basement walls and the ceiling of the theater with foam. I had him quote everything separately so I could choose what I wanted covered in foam sort of ala cart. Jason left and then I agonized over what to do and after much contemplating on what I wanted to do I just finally bit the bullet and told Jason to just foam everything in the basement that was standing still.

Jason showed up with his right hand man Matt. Both of them took great care in prepping the room(s), and protecting all my items in storage. They even used a tarp to block the door/stairway from the basement to the kitchen and laid tarps down over the flooring in the main level so as not to track anything on our floors. The actual spraying took about three/four hours total with the rest of the time about eight hours in setup/prep/cleanup duties. Very professional and also very personable as well. These two guys were the type of guys you would want hanging out with you at a BBQ. A very positive experience.

Regards,

RTROSE

Ok, there is more.

I wanted to post a few pics of the flooring.

Here are the players.



Laying out the first strip.



So forth and so on.



Finished product.



There are a few tricks working with the flooring but nothing too complicated just time consuming. The biggest fly in the ointment is the out of square layout of the rooms, but not what I built. The main wall down the center varies in distance from the outside concrete walls. MY walls are closer to square than the "professional builders" so that makes me smile. I would warn anyone doing this type of flooring be sure to get as many of the ripples or humps out of the material as you can. It is impossible to get them all but smoothing the seams and taping as you go helps as well as laying down your OSB sheets temporarily to hold the flooring in place. Due to the out of square condition on the last row I had to cut out a small "v" in the material to get the flooring to lay flat and to lay square at the end of the roll. There is a learning curve but the DIYer should have no major problems installing this type of product. The wife and I have noticed an immediate improvement in the "feel" of the floor and there is no longer that cold feeling underfoot. I have no regrets in deciding to use this type of flooring.

If I had to do it over again I would have put the flooring in first and then built my walls on top of the flooring. It would have just been easier to do it that way.

Cost of the flooring approximately $ 0.37 per sq. ft.
Cost of the OSB approximately $ 0.26 per sq ft.
Total per sq. ft. $ 0.63. I think this is a very affordable flooring option considering the DriCore panels are approximately $ 1.25-1.50 per sq. ft.

I'm very pleased with the results so far.

I also talked with my drywaller this evening and we are still on for Saturday. My drywall gets delivered on Friday morning and my drywaller shows up at 0800 on Saturday.

Still lots to do and the clock is ticking ever more loudly and quickly.

Regards,

RTROSE

All,

Tonight I finished the rest of the flooring and started on the rest of the bullet list I need to get done before Saturday morning. Once the flooring was done I AGAIN cleaned up the basement and hauled out all the stuff I hauled down there to do the flooring. The drywall company is going to be here in the morning and according to my drywall guy they are going to "set" the drywall per his directions. That saves me from hauling/lugging all the sheets and supplies to the basement. I can't tell you how happy I am knowing I don't have to do that. It was a real pain to carry 28 sheets of OSB down to the basement let alone all of that drywall.

Logan,

The rigid foam would have a coupling effect to the studs, however early on I mentioned that thermal/comfort was priority one and sound considerations took a back seat. I have placed/am placing the normal fluffy stuff in the areas where I did not do the spray foam. FWIW there is a major improvement in the "sound" of the basement already. It is hard telling how it would "sound" if I had done it differently.

Still to do before Saturday.

* Change the HVAC return in the kitchenette from horizontal to vertical.
* Finish the "fluffy stuff" insulation.
* Build little mini walls off of the stairway so the stairway has a finished look.
* Clear out the L/V boxes that the foam overran so all my cables will fit.
* Mark the stud locations in the kids area so when it comes time to mount the plasma I can find the studs and braces I mounted.
* What ever else comes up and sends me into a panic because I'm moving much faster than I'm used to.

The drywall company showed up right at 0830 hrs. Friday. I'm not quite sure how many sheets of drywall there were but there was a combo of 8,10, and 12 footers delivered. It took the two delivery guys about 2 to 2.5 hours to schlep all the drywall to the basement. They really had to struggle with the 12 footers. I think they were part contortionist to get those big sheets down there. If it were me I would still be carrying it down there!


Taking over the driveway



One of the several stacks of materials in their "place"



Other goodies



The drywall guys were here at 0800 this morning and got right to work and are making pretty good progress. There have been a couple of "issues" to contend with but so far pretty much a non-event. More details later.

Regards,

RTROSE

I'd agree with my new title as "Just slightly faster than molasses.."

Here are a few more photos of some progress (especially when there are guys doing the work who know what they are doing) of getting the board up.

Kitchenette area looking towards the pubtable area.



Kids area looking from the stairs.



Theater area.



Issues on Saturday were small but still needed attending to. My plumber did not recess the two water supplies deep enough when he roughed in so I had to notch out a deeper pocket to recess the supplies. No big deal really just needed my time.

Some of my boards that went in a looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnng time ago had twisted and warped. I replaced three of them ( the one's my drywaller pointed out) but there were some others that gave him some issues. I had also put in some nailers for him but the location of the nailers were not where they needed to be (my fault) and there was an issue with the actual dimension of poured foundation wall but we over came.

One thing that was my fault was some of the "on center" measurements and the location of some of studs did not work out for an entire board width (my fault, ignorance) but we just added some additional nailers which solved the problem.

In the first photo the entry way between the theater and the kitchenette, we had to add a 2 x 6 to the top of the opening due to the fact the soffit was just slightly higher than the top of the entryway and there was no way to hang the drywall and make it look right. This was not my fault due to the soffit being there as part of the original construction. All in all Saturday was a great day with lots of "visible" progress.

More to come.

Regards,

RTROSE

Well I need to update on Sunday's progress. There were a few issues to deal with on Sunday as well. The foam on one of walls had been ground down but not enough in some areas and was sticking above the studs. That was an easy fix, just time consuming grinding down the high areas. The big issue was the stairs. Again part of the issue was my fault the majority of the issue was that the original builder did not space the walls and stairway correctly. Not knowing the dimensions were wrong I built my extended walls off of the existing walls as a reference. The result was a well built wall too close to the stairs so a drywall board couldn't fit down beside the stairway. The resultant fix pull up the stair treads and cut them back and then replace.



It is hard to tell but the wall on the right is too far away and the wall on the left too close. To save time (and labor costs) I removed the treads for him and he cut them back so he had the proper clearance. My drywall had been a GC in a former life so he is pretty handy with construction issues which has been a great help and he pays closer attention to these issues than I think a guy who only does drywall and has little actual construction background. Maybe it is a false sense of security but that fact makes me feel better.

Some pics of actual drywall progress.

From the screen wall looking back towards the stairs and utility/equipment closet.



From the entry way into the theater looking at what will be the screen wall.



From the front of the kids hangout/media area towards the stairs.



From the snackbar/kitchenette area looking into the theater/screen wall



Sorry about the fuzzy pic, not sure what happened in that one.

I'm really excited to see so much progress in the past few weeks. I now go down into the basement and wonder if it really is all happening. I have been looking at studs, wiring and bare walls for so long it is hard to believe there has been so much forward progress in the basement. I'm really pumped. I know there is still much to do and things will come up along the way but is is nice to finally be at this milestone.

Regards,

RTROSE

Those that HAVE had water in their basement and those that WILL have water in their basement.

I have now become one of those that HAVE had water in the basement. Besides what would a AVS basement theater build be without a water in the basement story? I now feel as though I "fit in" with all of the others here who have had water issues although mine with regards to others is minor.

The story.............

We have lived in our home almost six years and the only water issue I was made aware of was when the previous owners kids unplugged the sumps to plug something in and forgot to plug the sumps back in.

I knew there were drain tiles in the basement window wells and have had ZERO issues until yesterday. We had torrential rainfall yesterday morning. I was in the basement at 0700 and there was not a problem. I get a frantic call from Mrs. RTROSE at about 1000 hrs. that there is a large amount of water in the basement. I quickly determined the majority of the water was in the unfinished area. Thank the good LORD. My main concern was where the water was coming from. After having the foam done I was worried it was coming from an area that was covered by the foam and that would have been really bad. In doing my "investigation" I discovered a distinct line across the window in the well indicating how high the water was inside the well. Approximately 6-7 inches up on the window was where the line was. The water just poured in around the window. The wife and I then began to survey and found the water had gone in under the floor underlayment but not gotten to the OSB. The plastic membrane did what it was supposed to do in keeping the water from getting to the flooring. We did have to remove some of the floor panels to get the the floor to dry it. Here are a few pics of the aftermath and the "offending" window well.

This is in the kids media room after removing the OSB and then peeling back the underlayment. Luckily I have not secured the OSB to the concrete yet.






The offending window well and the problem.







The fix, about 8 bucks for two window wells. Yup you bet I did the same repair to the other window. It was not as bad, but cheap insurance non the less. The problem was the drain was under pea gravel but below the pea gravel there was about three inches of mud/packed dirt over the grate which I was unaware of.

The parts and the finished result.





Lesson learned is just because you have not had any problems doesn't mean that you won't have problems. New on the house check list check the status of the window well drains on a regular basis.

PSA, Check your drains people and learn from my false sense of security. Now hopefully back to my regularly scheduled build thread.

Regards,

RTROSE

No I did not have the window well covers, I have purchased them previously and they became casualties to weed wackers, kids, animals, and wind. I have (since this episode) purchased the heavy duty type and some instant grab adhesive and will be taking care of that this weekend.


Getting a backup sump was purchased early on even before the build. It was expensive but well worth the money. I have the basement watchdog system and it works very well. I have had a double pump failure and with out the backup would have been out of luck. Don't delay the purchase any longer especially as far as you are in your build. One failure and you would be well over the price in repair damage, insurance deductible, vs. the purchase price of the system.


Yeah, I know it is hard to believe that there is actually this much progress going on in my build, but it's true and once the drywall is finished I'm sure that I'll go back to my normal speed. When it comes to all of the finishing work, trim, paint, and all the other stuff it takes to finish the room I won't disappoint with my progress or lack there of.

No, the dog kennel was an added expense and was not thrown in with the drywall purchase but I'll try for that add in next time.

Regards,

RTROSE

Well there is not much to report here on the HT build (this is a blessing) other than my drywall guy mudding and taping, taping and mudding. He is taking his time and from what I can tell is doing a really nice job.

So not much to report, but just trying to keep my build thread from being 7 pages back.

BTW Logan are you scared yet chump? I'm leapfrogging forward buddy boy. Famine, flood, plague, all might slow me down, but I'm not out still busting my hump trying to get it all done, before Christmas none the less.

Regards,


RTROSE