From zero to Million Dollar Basement (DIY)

[big_owl]

Little Owl and I are pretty big DIYers.  We decided over a year ago to finish out basement DIY style. Starting point was a concrete basement with a sub-slab plumbing stub-up rough-in that builder had provided.  The rest was just your standard concrete, bug-infested unfinished basement.  Neither of us had ever attempted anything on this scale and we are not professional contractors though I am an Electrical Engineer.  It was mostly just learn-as-you-go and a lot of research on the web for various parts of the project. 

We each have about 800 hours into the project now (Little Owl keeps meticulous work records) and it's just about done. 

So back to the beginning....

It all starts with our first of several deliveries from Home Depot.  Getting everything for the subfloor and rough-in from the driveway to the basement was brutal.

[big_owl]

After a ton of research, we decided on a combo of closed cell foam insulation and standard open face insulation.  First task of the project was to glue up all the foam board.  This proved to be a major PITA because the construction adhesive takes time to dry and the foam boards were always warped or the walls not perfectly flat...so we had to improvise and wedge them up with 2x4s until the glue dried.

[big_owl]

Next came the floating subfloor.  We decided on using a product called DriCore because of its floating nature and ease of installation.  It's a bit expensive but goes down extremely fast.  Went from zero to complete subfloor in about 3 days.

[big_owl]

Onward....exterior framing.  Little Owl was responsible for spacing on the studs and did an exemplary job.  For the whole duration of the project we probably only had to add ten studs in places while putting up wall covering due to being off the 16" centers.  The rest were dead on. 

[CowboyAndIndian]

That is interesting. You put the stud wall on top of the floating floor? Will the movement of the floor cause any problems?

Lots of work, must have taken up all your weekends and vacations.

[big_owl]

Next came interior walls and soffits.  And of course the cubby for the eventual wine fridge....

Soffits were a pain but not as hard as I feared.  Our eventual basement design was going to be as follows:

1. finished bathroom
2. gym room
3. theater room
4. wood stove area
5. wet bar general open area
6. partially finished storage room

[big_owl]

That is interesting. You put the stud wall on top of the floating floor? Will the movement of the floor cause any problems?

Lots of work, must have taken up all your weekends and vacations.

Yes it works fine.  Wood screws to screw the base of the wall into the floating subfloor and then every 8ft or so you drive a 4" tapcon through the wall baseboard and subfloor into the concrete slab.  No movement and have had zero issues in the past year.

[Fishindude]

Curious why you needed /a wood sub-floor over what appears to be a perfectly good concrete slab?
Wouldn't think that would be necessary unless you plan on a hardwood floor and need something to nail to.

[big_owl]

Time for electrical and open faced insulation.  Didn't take many pics of me doing the electrical since it was rather boring work.  I ran everything #12AWG "just in case".  In retrospect that was a REAL PITA because of how difficult it is to terminate the circuits.  My hands were torn up. 

Oh and somewhere in there you can see we procured a wood stove!!!  How exciting!  That was one of two things we farmed out - I paidsomeone to core-drill the chimney through the foundation and then install the exterior chimney.  Our house is three stories up where the chimney exists and I wasn't up for trying to do that on my own.

 

[little_owl]

Curious why you needed /a wood sub-floor over what appears to be a perfectly good concrete slab?
Wouldn't think that would be necessary unless you plan on a hardwood floor and need something to nail to.

A few reasons - we were planning a wood floor in one area (engineered hardwood) as you'll see in a few posts, insulation (the subfloor adds 6 degrees or more in winter when we compare it to exposed concrete), water protection / air flow (concrete is in the basement, so there is going to be some water present).

Here's the product we used & a bit more about it:
http://www.dricore.com/en/contrac.aspx

[big_owl]

Next it was time to put up the wall board. But there's a mystery.....why on earth would we use 1/2" cement board on the walls!?  Remember this is a million dollar basement(MDB), not some candy-assed project...more to come.  Oh and we also had our exterior window and walk-out sliding door replaced from the crappy builder stuff that was in there with a quality wood design without those fake panes that obscure the view outside.  This added several thousand dollars to the project but in the end was WELL worth it.

Oh and 1/2" cement board makes the biggest mess when cutting.  I tried just about every method from the special scoring knife to a reciprocating saw.  I ended up using the reciprocating saw with a carbide blade that would go dull in about 5 boards and need to be replaced.  DON'T FORGET YOUR DUST MASK!!!

[little_owl]

Lots of work, must have taken up all your weekends and vacations.

We started in June 2014, and are at a total of 743 hours on the job site.  (That is NOT people-hours, as usually there are 2 of us on the job site at the same time, though not always - I'd occasionally work without big owl, and he'd occasionally do the same.)  It has been a labor of love & badassity ;)

[Fishindude]

10-4
Will definitely make the floors a little warmer and you need something to nail wood floor to.

Regarding "water", I would think that OSB type material would be more problematic than without it.
Seems if that stuff gets wet it will hold water like s sponge, where plain old concrete would dry out?

[little_owl]

10-4
Will definitely make the floors a little warmer and you need something to nail wood floor to.

Regarding "water", I would think that OSB type material would be more problematic than without it.
Seems if that stuff gets wet it will hold water like s sponge, where plain old concrete would dry out?

You would probably not be surprised that we use a laser thermometer to measure the floor temps and get quite giddy about how much warmer the DriCore-covered areas are.  The product we used has a little plastic "grid" on the bottom of the wood that creates a gap between the concrete floor & allows it to "breathe" for lack of a better term.  This little "air gap" serves as a moisture barrier and also creates more insulation.  It's pretty cool stuff - had no idea it existed until we started this project.  And, it is easily ordered from (and returned to) Home Depot.  Which is helpful when you order 44 extra pieces because you are extra cautious ;)

[big_owl]

Then came the actual drywall.  We lugged 75+ sheets of 12ft drywall from driveway to basement by hand, just the two of us. I ended up buying a drywall lift off amazon for like $120 new.  After we were done with it we sold it for $80, an awesome deal overall.  There was no way the two of us could have done the celings without it, it was a lifesaver. 

All drywall was glued and screwed...no nails.

[big_owl]

The problem with afloating subfloor is tile....you can't just tile on the floor because it's floating, and will crack the tile and grout.  We had in our MDB plans a heated bathroom tile floor and a tile area around the wood stove.  What to do?  Well it turns out you can install tile on DriCore.  You just have to throw in (7) tapcons through each panel securing it to the slab.  Sounds easy, right?  No. I finally gave in a abandoned my Dewalt hammerdrill and rented an actual rotary hammer from a local rental place.  Then the holes went in like warm butter.  I did go through about one SDS drill bit for every 30 holes drilled.  Eventually they would just sheer off.  I used my pneumatic impact driver to drive the tapcons.  They were a pain as well.  Some brands are better than others...that's for sure.

Once the bathroom subfloor was secured, 1/2" cement board went on top to prep for the tile.  This part was pretty easy.  I also had to do some chiseling out of the shower drain rough-in to get everything to fit. 

[big_owl]

In order to do the shower, little owl found some cool place online where you can actually order a custom foam shower pan that you can then tile on....it's all one piece so guaranteed no leaks!  It was very easy to install....as long as we got the location of the shower drain hole correct...which we did of course.

[big_owl]

So the only other thing we farmed out was to have somebody tape and sand the drywall.  Best decision ever, it was like $2200 and they were done in a couple days with no mess and perfect results.  It would have taken us weeks, our whole house would have been covered in dust...and it probably would have looked like crap.

[little_owl]

So the only other thing we farmed out was to have somebody tape and sand the drywall.  Best decision ever, it was like $2200 and they were done in a couple days with no mess and perfect results.  It would have taken us weeks, our whole house would have been covered in dust...and it probably would have looked like crap.

We got a few hundred dollar discount for paying the contractor in cash, too :)  I gave him an extra $100 tip, though since his work was so good.

[big_owl]

As indicated, the ultimate plan for the wood stove area was a tile floor.  You can see a zillion tapcons driven in the subfloor as little owl cleans up in prep for the cement board to be laid down.  Couldn't resist testing the stove out either...

[big_owl]

Now the fun stuff begins - finishing!  Painting the theater room a dark blue and the gym a light blue. 

[big_owl]

Cabinets were ordered online.  They came in flat packs and had to be built.  It was pretty easy and the quality is very good for the price paid.  In fact I think they look extremely nice, regardless of the price.

Note the small beverage fridge and drawer dishwasher.  Because when you have a MDB you can't be bothered going upstairs to wash the dishes or get a cold mountain dew....

Edit - little owl also had a bright idea of using kitchen cabinets in our theater room to house the future receiver, bluray player and media collection.  Genius idea that saved all sorts of money.

[big_owl]

Time to tile the stove area. I went a little overkill I think and also put down Ditra over the cement board....but I did NOT want to risk cracking of tile over that subfloor so didn't take any chances.  The tile was ordered online and is a natural stone slate.  Final pic shows it sealed and grouted.  Looks pretty nice I'd say.   A year later and still not a single crack anywhere...so I did something right.

[big_owl]

We didn't drywall the entire ceiling.  We wanted to leave certain areas open in case we had to access utilities up there in the future, so we had to use a tile ceiling.  Little owl found an internet product which ended up being one of the biggest surprises of the project.  It's basically just a tiled ceiling setup but the tiles we chose are a bronzed copper look that replicates a coffered ceiling.  Getting all the measurements for the crossbars was akin to multivariate calculus (to accommodate the recessed LED lights), but once the grid dimensions were figure out then it went up real fast.  We used it in several spots and it really helps to give it the Million Dollar Basement look and feel. 

[Ratracespectator]

Amazing work. Looks great. Would you be able to share source of online cabinets please.

[little_owl]

Amazing work. Looks great. Would you be able to share source of online cabinets please.

Thanks!  There are two companies we looked at for the cabinets (both are linked below).  Our cabinets are the Brownstone.  We ended up ordering from Stock Cabinet Express, because they had better pricing available.  Once you find the cabinet you like (you can order panel samples), with some googling you will find several sources to buy from, most likely.  Stock Cabinet Express helped us quite a bit with the layout and odd accessory pieces to ensure we had everything we needed.

http://www.kitchencabinetkings.com/
http://www.stockcabinetexpress.com/

[big_owl]

Let's revisit all the cement board we put up on the walls a while back.  This is the genius of the MDB.  I wanted something unique that gave the basement a rich, pub-like feel.  What would do the trick?  Bricks of course! 

We found a place online that reclaims bricks from old buildings as they are demolished and then cuts them down to a 1/2" thickness like big tile.  The bricks go up on the cement board extremely easy - just like tile but maybe even easier because the spacing isn't as critical.  We're gong for an antique look so some irregularities are preferred.

Little owl laid the patter of bricks out ahead of time on the floor and I was responsible for sticking them to the wall.  Stove area complete sans the actual morter-grout between the bricks...

[little_owl]

Let's revisit all the cement board we put up on the walls a while back.  This is the genius of the MDB.  I wanted something unique that gave the basement a rich, pub-like feel.  What would do the trick?  Bricks of course! 

Important to note that bricks were little owl's idea after a dinner in Chicago, in a delicious Italian restaurant with exposed brick walls. :)

[big_owl]

Exterior basement wall also received the brick treatment.

The overall inspiration here was that of an exterior street lined with brick buildings.  The two lights on either side of the window are actually exterior lights that work to make the wall look like it's actually an outdoor wall.

[big_owl]

Now it was time for a fancy hand-scraped engineered wood floor.  It's amazing how many awesome products they have out there for engineered wood floors now.  This was a one weekend job - used underlayment and a foam silencer before stapling the floor panels down.  It went down extremely fast.  The panels come in varying widths and lengths to give it a less-uniform look.

[CowboyAndIndian]

Wow, looking good.

Definitely a MDB!

LittleOwl, serious kickass design choices. LittleOwl/BigOwl, great construction.

[pompera_firpa]

That "coffered ceiling" tile thing is GENIUS.

eta: BRICK TILE ALSO GENIUS.

[big_owl]

Theater room received a nice carpet (for obvious reasons) and the gym got an industrial low-pile gray carpet...also for obvious reasons.  You'll note the projecter installed and ready in the theater room.

Oh and we used some leftover slate tile from the stove area to build a counter top in the theater room for the receiver to sit on.

[andy85]

Awesome work! It is amazing how something can look fun as hell, terrifying, gratifying, and a huge pain in the ass all at the same time.

[big_owl]

Theater room basically complete sans wood baseboard trim.  So the audio system definitely wasn't mustachian but it sounds epic.  Denon receiver with Definitive Technology surround and tower speakers.  Projector is a 1080P Epson which fits my needs quite well.  Little owl found this box online that we modified to hide the sump pump and backup battery-powered pump.  We don't want any flooding!!!

[big_owl]

Now since this was a MDB, all trim and doors had to be SOLID wood, we chose red oak as it was relatively cheap, showed good grain and took the stain/finish that we wanted very nicely. 

I believe this was probably the worst part of the project.  It took FOREVER to stain and clearcoat the dozens of pieces of trim and four doors plus two bifolding closet doors.  We ordered all the doors, trim and other wood online and had it delivered.

[big_owl]

But that solid oak looks about ten times better than the white MDF stuff that the builders install.  It also takes about ten times longer to install....can't just caulk and paint over any imperfect seams.  They actually have to fit together nicely.

[big_owl]

Putting up more trim pieces. Wood exterior sliding door and window was stained to match trim as well.  Somewhere in there we also put grout on the bricks you can see.  Add a leather sofa and voila, Million Dollar Basement!

What about that wet bar?

[big_owl]

The bar area received the brick treatment as well...of course!

We also bought a custom walnut bar top from a local company that was a pleasure to work with.  Plumbing was a straightforward affair, nothing particularly exciting or difficult about that.  We also installed a "floating" shelf on the brick wall that has one of those LED strips embedded in a dado that was cut on the plank. 

Note the wine fridge is fully stocked by this time (160 bottles) and there is plenty of Mountain Dew in the beverage cooler.

[big_owl]

Ahhhhhh, the stairs.  We decided we wanted to use the same engineered flooring for the stairs.  The biggest mess for this involved me using the reciprocating saw to cut off all the old bullnose pieces to make way for the new ones.  Aside from that it was just a lot of sanding to prep the stringers to be stained and then pre-fitting all the stair pieces ahead of time.  I ended up gluing the tread pieces on (and nailing) but for the risers I skipped the glue and just nailed them (wasn't worried about any movement since the risers don't see any stress).  So far the treads feel rock solid with no creaking or movement. The glue was messy but a good idea.

I think I went back and forth from the stairs to my table saw about a thousand times because I REFUSED to cheap out and use quarter round to hide any imperfections in the tread or riser lengths.  All the wood had to be perfectly cut so that each piece was even and there were no gaps between the planks and the stringers.  In the end it worked out but it was a lot of "measure-and-cut...and fit and re-cut...."

[big_owl]

A few "finished product" pics of the general bar area and stairs.  It does literally look like it belongs in a million dollar house.  Sink is a copper sink which I love.  So far we don't have any regrets about this area.

[big_owl]

Finished product of the theater. 

[little_owl]

Wow, looking good.

Definitely a MDB!

LittleOwl, serious kickass design choices. LittleOwl/BigOwl, great construction.

Thank you so much!  One of the best parts of the fact that we DIY'd the project was that our vision could evolve as we went.  We had a pretty solid plan going in, but it was neat to be able to incorporate little ideas / finds along the way.  Much harder to do that with a contractor, who needs to have a full pan before their team steps on site to execute.

[little_owl]

That "coffered ceiling" tile thing is GENIUS.

eta: BRICK TILE ALSO GENIUS.

Also love the coffered ceiling tile - it is a really great product.

I also have to give a shout-out to the folks that supplied the brick.  We used a company called "BrickIt" and their "New York Used" brick worked perfectly for this project.
http://brickit.com/products/brick-product-details/new-york-used
They were a real pleasure to work with, and the product itself is fantastic - like owning a piece of NY history on your walls!

[big_owl]

So there are still some things to be done before the project can be considered complete:

1. Bathroom needs tiling and a toilet.  This will be completed over the winter.  Tiling is easy and we've already done everything else so it's just a matter of allocating the funds and actually doing the work. 

2. Need some more furniture.  I want a super comfortable rocking chair by the wood stove, and the gym doesn't have any weights in it yet.  That's just money though...none of that involves any more physical labor.

All in all it's been quite an odyssey with a lot of back breaking work.  Nonetheless, the results have been far better than even I expected....and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, little owl might say.

Also, the wood stove does an exceptional job of heating the basement.  I originally bought it for ambiance, not expecting it to do much other than heat the basement.  But if we leave the basement door open it also does a pretty good job in keeping the rest of the house warm.  I was pleasantly surprised.

[Sarnia Saver]

That is absolutely amazing.  Me and my wife were just here looking at your photos and are inspired by a lot of your awesome design choices.  Appears as though I got redirected to Better Homes and Gardens website!

We have also been renovating our basement and used the dricore floor installed a new bathroom and have been doing as much of the work ourselves as possible, however our design choices were much simpler than yours as this is our 'starter' home so much of the decisions have been based on function over style.  We are just now taping and mudding the the drywall, it is quite the process I can appreciate all the hard work and planning time you have put into that work of art, Bravo Owls.

[little_owl]

That is absolutely amazing.  Me and my wife were just here looking at your photos and are inspired by a lot of your awesome design choices.  Appears as though I got redirected to Better Homes and Gardens website!

Thank you so much!  That is so kind of you to say.  We have been in the house for ~10 years, dreaming of a finished basement, so we've had a long time to brainstorm on what we liked / didn't like, etc.  We're so happy with the (nearly) finished product - just two years ago, it was a dank, bug-infested, cold space!  Now, we joke that we are going to move in to the basement.

[little_owl]

Nonetheless, the results have been far better than even I expected....and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, little owl might say.

Bit of a perfectionist!?  That's like saying Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a bit of a success and BB-8 is a little bit cute!  :/

[Cromacster]

Damn!  Nice work.  I too have an unfinished, bug filled, cold basement.  This is huge inspiration as to what it could look like some day.

[Fishindude]

Looks great !
Enjoy it.