Basement renovation tips

I will be the first to admit that I've made a few mistakes over the course of this basement reno. Actually, that's not true. The War Department would be the first to admit that I've made a few mistakes over the course of this basement reno and she would also be in something of a hurry to point out that, in truth, I've made more than a few.

That being said, I try hard to not make the same mistake more than... a couple of times, really, and to learn from those mistakes so as not to repeat them... more than a couple of times. At any rate, I thought that it might be worthy to share some basement renovation tips with my readership in the hope that I might educate, as well as entertain.

Oh, who am I kidding? Nobody reads this thing to learn anything, they just want to laugh at my pain.

This then, is the first edition of a new feature here on the OurBasementReno blog...

Don's Renovation Tips
(Also known as "Don't Do What Donny Don't Does".)

The tip for this inaugural edition has to do with one of my favorite jobs, framing, and a job that's quickly climbing the ladder towards least favorite, insulating.

See, the thing about insulating is that it's a lot more finicky than you'd think. You can't just stuff insulation willy-nilly into the voids, you have to cut it to fit within the space in addition to cutting it fit around any electrical boxes or other oddities. And of course you have to do this while wearing gloves, a dust mask, and usually a sweatshirt or other covering garment to keep the insulation from getting between your skin and clothes. Which means it's both itchy AND hot. This spells fun, kids!

So the best approach to insulation is to cut it as little as possible. Of course, the only way to make sure that you're not cutting it too much is to plan ahead while framing. Ideally, you want to make sure that as many of your voids are 16" on center as possible, and you want to position your cross-braces so that they leave just the right amount of room (on one side or the other) for a 46" long bat of insulation. Pretty simple, right?

Guess who didn't do either of those things?

This guy!



(I got the Carhartts for Christmas from Amy. I think she figures if I look more like Mike Holmes, I might ACT more like Mike Holmes. I figure it can't hurt... And yes, great suffering jesus, that's a terrible picture of me.)

Any way, the long and the short of it is that we spent a lot more time fiddling about with the insulation than we needed to simply because I was more concerned with my braces being at an aesthetically-pleasing level that at a height that made sense for installing insulation.

But we're done!





For now. We can't insulate some of the walls just yet because we won't be drywalling one side or the other for a while and there's something about not allowing exposed insulation in the building code. I dunno, something about fire hazards or something. Whatever.

Oh, and while we're talking about drywall, get a load of what's in the basement right now:



Joy! That's four sheets of moisture-resistant AquaBoard and 12 sheets of good old fashioned drywall! There is a light, I say, a light at the end of yon tunnel.

Tomorrow morning, I get to call the inspector and book our next inspection! Further joy!