Walls of the Cave

No, I'm not referring to one of my favorite Phish songs, but the actual walls are up in the man cave.

It was a week where I got a lot done pretty fast.  First, I finished all the frames and was happy that they were sturdy.  They even look straight!



Wall frame


The nice thing about being able to start from scratch was that I was able to feed speaker wires, coax, and CAT5 down the frames where they'll come out in nice, clean boxes.  I also added an extra power outlet so the TV can plug right into the wall.  DataComm makes a recessed power connector for about $60.  I was able to make mine for just $3.



Wires


Next, it was time to insulate.  Originally, I had planned on putting in R-13 or R-19 batt insulation because it would fit nicely in between the studs, and it was cheap.  But after a call to my brother in law Mike (who owns an insulation company), he convinced me to upgrade to spray foam.  It costs about four to five times as much as fiberglass, but it provides a higher R-value and really seals up all the drafts that can come through the joists down to the basement.  More importantly, the foam creates a permanent moisture barrier between the wall and the interior of the house.  That's all I needed to hear.  It was an extra safeguard against a future flood.  I hired him, and he came to spray it last week.



Mike did the whole thing in about 30 minutes.



A close up of the closed-cell spray foam.

Now that the insulation was up, it was time to drywall.  Drywall sucks, but in this case, it wasn't that hard to get the panels up on the wall by myself.  I left them about an inch off the ground as a safeguard against any future flooding.

The Walls of the Cave

Slots for cords and such

Finally, I decided to put a few rolls of R-13 batt insulation up in the ceiling.  While this doesn't save you money in your home, it does help with both sound and heat retention in the basement.  Like I said before, my biggest complaint about the basement was how cold it was.  The foam insulation should do wonders, and a little extra up in the ceiling will at least hold a little bit of heat in the basement before it travels upstairs.  Second, it's hard to turn a movie to a normal level without the bass vibrating the entire upstairs.  Voices and conversations travel right through the drop ceiling as well.  By adding a little bit of fiberglass, the sound will stay in the basement where it belongs. 

Ceiling insulation

 Next up:

1. Prime the walls
2. Reattach drop ceiling
3. Paint ceiling
4. Paint walls
5. Flooring

Starting from scratch

I've made some progress in the last couple of days.  Since I had the basement down to skin n' bones, I figured a good strategy would be to give it an extra layer of protection against future flooding.  I bleached all the walls (c-ya black mold!) and laid down a couple of coats of waterproofer.  I used both Behr Masonry Waterproofer and Drylock.  I've seen some Internet posts that say you can't rely on these products to keep water out completely, but the added protection can't hurt.  I saturated the cracks where the water had seeped up the previous year and covered all the concrete patching I did.

Drylock'd

Today I also built my first framed wall.  Pretty simple to do, but a few tips came in handy.  First, my dad clued me in to the fact that the bottom 2x4 needs to be pressure treated lumber per code.  Makes sense, and if I ever get a flood again, that bottom wood should be just fine and not need to be replaced.  Second, I have to thank YouTube for all the handy videos that taught me simple things like which way your crown goes on the 2x4's, to how to insert and drive in a concrete anchor.

North wall frame

Only one blood blister from an errant hammer strike and a bloody scalp from a dangling piece of drop-ceiling.  Not too bad for my first frame.