Progress in the Basement – Blogland, We have a Floor!

It’s Update Time! Update Time! That’s right you patient and understanding, lovely and good looking readers – I’ve finally got my ish together enough to show you the next phase in our basement studio renovation. (Did you see the last update? We pulled down the walls and made big plans. You can read all about it here.) Today, we’re going to talk a bit about how to install a plywood floor in the basement.

Here’s a reminder of what this space once looked like:

WHEN WE MOVED IN:

BEFORE PHASE ONE:

AFTER PHASE ONE:

DURING PHASE TWO:

Studio Renovation

I don’t really know why it took me so long to get going on this post. I guess I wasn’t really sure where this phase should end and the next begin. Then, a few other projects cropped up and I found myself not really knowing when it made sense to post this update. But here we are, and here we go.

Safe to say this phase is all about Floors and Cabinets! The room is still very much unfinished, but the bones are starting to form and even in its current state, it’s already proven quite functional.

It took Dan and I about two and a half days (working approximately 8-10 hours per day) to lay these new floors. I am working on a full blown ‘how we did it’, technical tutorial post – but here are the basics and answers to the questions we have been getting most often from friends and family who have already seen it:

Yes, this is technically a subfloor. We do not have plans to put any other type of flooring on top of this. Why? Because we determined that would mean elevating ALL of the doorways and cutting into brick and it just would not be worth it for this space.

Yes. It is, in fact, 3/4″ pine plywood that we ripped into 8″ planks. Not going to lie. It sound like an inexpensive option, but it’s not really that much cheaper than regular flooring. We still dropped about $500 on this floor.

Yes, we did install it over a concrete foundation (and a vapor barrier.) And in so doing, we broke about 4 drill bits and a DRIVER bit. I didn’t even realize that was possible.

No, we haven’t decided how to finish it yet! Paint? Stain? Paint and stain? Whitewash? Just some clear Poly? It will probably be a decision we make once everything else in the room is pulled together.

Yes, this was the most labor-intensive DIY we have EVER tackled. The back aches, the broken finger nails, the tears, the sweat, the saw dust. It was primal.

Yes, it is SO much warmer than the old concrete. I walk down here in bare feet now!

Yes, it is much more pleasant to do laundry in this space. Dropping a wet sock from the washer as I’m transferring clothes to the dryer doesn’t make me feel like I need to re-wash it anymore.

Yes, I am IN LOVE with the new 8-feet of floor to ceiling storage cabinets we installed. I mean, who wouldn’t be?

So, what’s left for this space and what will we tackle for phase four?

• Finish the drywall and baseboards
• Install open shelving in the studio half of the room
• Increase the storage EVEN MORE with the addition of an off-season coat closet
• Organize, organize, organize
• Replace the lighting
• Refinish the tool locker unit
• Paint the cabinets

Feels like a much shorter list now! To be honest, we spent so many back breaking hours on this project that we might need a bit of a breather before going at it again. We are going to turn our focus to a few other rooms in the house and regain the stamina and courage before going whole hog on phase four.

Stay tuned. I am most definitely working on that tutorial post (with buckets of input and help from Dan) and it will be up soon-ish.

UPDATE! Here’s the full tutorial – how-we-did it post!

Here are some other buildy posts for you!