Basement renos done

After working day in and day out over the holidays, we have now completely finished paint and we have finished the drywall in the basement. We had water in our basement a couple of times over the years whenever it rained a ton. Turns out it was due to the grade of our yard running towards the house. When we put our sprinklers in this spring we were able to change the grade and it stopped the leakage. Unfortunately this meant replacing some of the drywall downstairs. We got a quote for $700 and decided that we should try and do it ourselves and learn about drywall and save a few bucks. How hard could it be really?….turns out it was pretty fun but super dusty and tricky to get it perfect. Kudos to professional drywallers – it’s super tough to get it all smooth and not bubbly.

When we tore down the wall (I wanted to use a sledgehammer but Jeff suggested doing it the proper (boring) way using a utility knife), we luckily discovered that only the bottom of each drywall sheet was damaged by water and that the frame and insulation were dry and clean. Phewf. Framing and insulating would have been a bit more challenging. I’ll note that all of our know-how was coming from a very helpful chap named Jim from Home Depot and a Home Depot do it yourself book. We bought all the supplies they suggested and $6 worth of scrap drywall. I may have mis-measured a section and messed up some sheets and ran out of drywall. Jill and Mark happened to have the perfect sized replacement piece and saved us – thanks guys!

Jeff was a pro-star. He was super fast and was the foreman on the project and answered all my questions even though it was the blind leading the blind. I was VERY slow and meticulous. If I got paid by the job I might be in the poor house.

I was so proud of us. It looks awesome. Funny that we finished and had a look around at the rest of the basement and was able to notice major flaws in somebody else’s work that we never noticed before. All in all I think we made the right choice. It took us a few days to do and cost $150 in tools.

Jeff put the icing on the cake by laying anti-fatigue flooring to warm up the basement and make it look more cozy. I just wish we did this years ago.

Here are some pics:

Screwed up the dry wall and taped;)

Supervision was in full force as usual

Finished product

Check out the smooth wall