Amateur Hour
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Construction officially began on the Smitty household basement today. 
Months of cheap talk, foot-dragging and general cluelessness on interior design culminated in the start of construction.
It started exactly as it should have for a total amatuer...by unnecessarily cutting a board, hacking pieces of drywall off of the existing walls unnecessarily, and then realizing that the piece I cut unnecessarily...was too short. Good start.
The problem, I surmised, was that I had not had any beer yet. I retreived 2 Michigan Brewing Company Majestic Nut Brown Ales and 1 Sam Adams Brown Ale. You'll notice in the linke reviews that MBC's Brown beats Sammy A's. Awesome.
Beers in hand, the project suddenly became crystal clear. Despite the fact that the builder pre-piped and pre-drained for a bathroom, they put it in the worst spot they could think of. It necessitated building several little walls to the put up and around all the exposed HVAC, water and gas line piping. Monumental pain in the ass...but alomost fiished.
This evening, I was assisted by my Friendly Neighbor (very handy, very adept, I am very indebted), Mr. Smitty (my dad) and Brother Smitty. Brother Smitty went to school for furniture design, so this project was less than child's play. Mr. Smitty built his entire basement alone, so this was old hat. Friendly Neighbor used to do house framing for a living. And me? Clearly the least skilled of the four of us (but that isn't saying much...I am Bob Fucking Villa compared to some of our friends).
At any rate, the bathroom and small utility room have been studded-in. 
Remaining is a closet and doorway for the what will be a playroom for the kids, behind the bar and family room we will have down there.
Next, we have a real electrician and a real plummer come in to move a few lights and add a few lights and plugs, and add all the plumming we need. Two things I absolutely won't mess with because of the chance I will kill myself or drown my family in a deluge is electrical and plumming.
From there, it's ceiling, drywall, paint and floor. Sounds simple...
18 comments:
You are a brave man Smitty. This is all beyond me!
I too had a construction project this weekend, though mine was just a bit smaller... I built my mash tun! I'll throw some pictures up later!
I just finished framing in my basement last weekend and threw up about 5 sheets of drywall this weekend.
I neglected to take photos of the framing before drywall. I need to go back and take a few.
I am framing in a large room for a laundry area/storage room, adding a office/workout room and a play area. The most important addition: A 12x18 "man room" where all of my tools can go.
Next weekend: I begin running the electrical.
We are living the same life Smitty. We really should team up, at least when it comes to hauling drywall to the basement. That shit is a ball-buster when you move it by yourself.
That shit is a ball-buster when you move it by yourself
So is hauling 48 8-foot 2x4s from your van to your basement. My forearms are still tired.
Sopor: Pictures of the mash tun, now. Blog it. It goes on this blog immediately. That's an order.
SIR YES SIR!
(it'll have to wait until I go home for lunch, the pics are still on my camera...)
I'm reminded of a Mitch Hedberg skit:
I went to the Home Depot, which was unnecessary. I need to go to the Apartment Depot, which is just a big warehouse with a whole lot of people standing around saying, "We don't have to fix shit."
"So is hauling 48 8-foot 2x4s from your van to your basement. My forearms are still tired."
Yup. Been there too. I am at about 60 2 x 4s. I will move those all day compared to moving the G.D. drywall. I hate doing drywall! I am way too old for that shit.
Ah B Mac, we are not "fixing shit", we are building shit.
This is far more manly and satisfying. You sir are ordered to buy a house.
"Two things I absolutely won't mess with because of the chance I will kill myself or drown my family in a deluge is electrical and plumming."
Smitty-
You could do electrical. Black wire to Black wire, and White to White. If it's just a few plugs and lights, it's not that much more difficult than that.
Yea Smitty, Electrical's not that hard!
One minor detail... Just remember to turn the power off first!
Lookin' good Smitty. The closest Rickey comes to home improvement is the occasional painting or yelling at that pompous prick Bob Villa.
What, no brewery?!?!
"...yelling at that pompous prick Bob Villa.
That guy is such an ass. Rumor is he was royally sued for crappy work on some house he built. I cannot handle watching that guy on TV. He constantly interupts and thinks he knows all. (Kinda like the guys who work at Home Depot.) The newest guy on This Old House is the best. He doesn't know that much and doesn't pretend to. Then there's Norm Abrams and Tom Silva...those guys are real carpenters. Of course Norm has a half million dollar wood shop, which never hurts.
One more tip for Smitty - Air Nailers!
Having done a fair bit of electrical handiwork in college, I feel like I should add to Sopor's comments on shutting off the power:
If you're doing any wiring, you will probably want to turn off the power. But if you're working with a 220-V line, you will DEFINITELY want to turn off the power. Trust me; if you haven't felt it, that's a shock that stays with you for a while...
As for buying a house, I strongly considered it last year. And if I wasn't leaning over the abyss of law school debt, I would do it.
Ooh, air nailer. I like that idea. I can almost see the headlines now:
"Area Man Shot with Nail in the Junk by Two-year-old Son; Two-year-old reportedly grounded, father reportedly walking VERY slowly"
b mac:
Step awaaaaaaay from the abyss.
Plumbing and electrical don't scare me, but drywall sucks. I'll never do THAT myself again.
Hang it maybe, but tape and mud? No f'n way.
My trial by fire was a bathroom renovation that started as simply replacing the wax ring under the toilet...
Of course the floor was rotted out, and the next thing you know I was gutting the room, and doing everything over except the tub.
Looks great now, but it took about nine months...
Does that mean you went 9 months without bathing, or 9 months without going to the bathroom in your own house?
Yes, Mrs. F....drywall is the worst ever.
Dammit. That was me, using Mrs F's laptop.
We have two full baths (a rarity in houses of this 1919 vintage). So we were without the downstairs bathroom for about half of that time. After a while it was functional, just not cosmetically finished.
Of course Mrs F was pregnant and wanted to kill me. She needed to pee every five minutes and had to go upstairs...
Electrical is intimidating, but it is actually relatively simple—IF you are wiring from scratch. I actually kind of love it, it's fun. What sucks is re-wiring. Our house has old knob-and-tube wiring in many places and I try to upgrade as I go around the house. That sucks because the two wires are indistiguishable from each other and NOT paired up (see the pic at the link). And, obviously, in most cases they are inside the wall.
Night.Mare.
Doing that bathroom was easy, I could access everything from the basement, and had the walls opened up.
That shit is a ball-buster when you move it by yourself.
you think THAT'S a ball-buster? Try hauling out the old plaster and lath. Holy shit! After I took down a wall, I simply tossed the chunks of plaster into a 39-gallon trash can. Once I went to move it, only filled a foot deep, it must have weighed 10,000 pounds...
Thankfully my only drywall experience was in that bathroom, and no single wall (due to an excessive number of turns and corners) required me to handle a whole sheet.
Of course all those corners were their own problems...It's the endless sanding and associated mess I can't handle.
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