# Big Project - Basement



## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

I haven't been active for a while because I've been finishing my basement. There's not much woodworking in that unless you count framing, and drilling holes in floor joists for wire.

I started last February, right after I bought a 14" Rikon bandsaw. My wife said she didn't want me sending sawdust everywhere out of my little plastic walled shop, so she suggested I "put up some walls or something". So I now have a small basement shop, the kids have a new family room, and my wife has a dog grooming room.

I did all the framing (by hand), the HVAC, the electrical, the plumbing, hung the drywall, and painted. Somebody else mudded. I start installing our wood floors this weekend.

Here's a few framing pictures:

Looking in from the bottom of the stairs.








My new workshop!








Starting drywall in my workshop, had to go around lots of plumbing and HVAC.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

I needed a 55" wide soffit to cover all the steel beams and HVAC, so I did a nice tray ceiling as well. The square holes are for speakers, and the circles are access for the ductwork dampers.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Here's what it looks like now.

Family room. The white hole will be filled in with a bookshelf, lit from above.








Family room. The big square in the wall is an in wall subwoofer. All the speakers are in wall.








The hole on the right is where I am going to build a recessed entertainment center. The room behind that has the furnace, water heater, breaker box, and central vacuum.
Note the three matching archways. 








Painting those archways as they run into the big soffit was very "fun"








My wife's dog grooming room with newly installed vinyl floor. I did that too.








Now I have to get some pictures of my workshop and post those!


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## ToddKY (Nov 21, 2010)

Looks really good! I think you should come and do mine!!!


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

Nice colors toooooooo.

Dale in Indy


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## Travico (Dec 25, 2012)

Well, when you get finished, come on OVER!! Looks Nice!!


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## unclefester (Aug 23, 2013)

Outstanding


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

Very creative problem solving and great visual impact! Is that a subfloor product over concrete?


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Thanks! I forgot to mention, the reason the archways are there is because there was a support post that I covered with that little 2 foot wide wall.

The subfloor is OSB over Platon. Platon is available at Menards. It ends up being about 1/4 the price of Dri-Cor.


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

Absolutely professional grade! If you are not in that part of the "remodeling" business - you should think about doing it - at least part time. Be safe.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Thanks! I am not in the trades at all. I am a tax accountant. I just like to make things!


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## JamesE27 (Mar 25, 2014)

Nice job!


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Update in case anyone is interested!

I got the wood floors mostly done. That white thing is a really long piece of baseboard.








That's my little workshop back through that doorway!








3/4" x 3 1/4" prefinished solid canadian birch.








Lots of lights in the basement!


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

And here is my workshop. It's 10 x 16, so I'll have to do some good organizing. 

I'll have to move everything out so I can continue installing the wood floor. If you look carefully, behind the orange bucket, in a box labeled Rikon, is the bandsaw that started this whole thing! Ha!








There's a nice little closet area back to the left there where I can put in some shelves for small tools.


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## 9poundhammer (May 6, 2013)

Nice job. Love the arches and the ceiling


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but my basement is done! The inspectors signed off, and complimented my work. I wanted to post a few more pictures.

Much of this is my first time doing such things, so I'm pretty happy how it all turned out.

I put a thin skin of stained and poly'ed plywood over the risers so i wouldn't have to worry about kick marks. 

My wife said to leave the pine tongue and groove on the stairway, so that meant some very fussy baseboard work.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Clearly my girls have been using this area for a while.

The first picture was my wife's idea. I was planning on a full bookcase with sides, but this turned out nicely. 

I made the cabinets and the reverse L countertop. Since I wanted no seam, I ordered a sheet of laminate and saved $270 by doing it myself. Laminate countertops are shockingly easy.

This was my first time doing cabinet doors, and first time for raised panels too.

I made a super special custom pull out garbage can setup.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Here's the built in entertainment center.

I made inset doors and drawers, but I left them proud by the depth of the edge profile. I thought it would be a nice touch.

The doors were a bit tricky. I made the URLs trim pieces on the router table by doubling a profile for the muntins and a single pass for the inside edges of the doors


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

The kids really like the lit up crown.

I kinda went overboard on lighting, but they're all LED so at least it isn't a lot of energy. And the main lights are on dimmers.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

And here's my nice little 10x16 shop. Time to get started on shop cabinets!


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## was2ndlast (Apr 11, 2014)

Nice work on the 3pc corners.


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## Masterjer (Nov 6, 2012)

Very nice! What a huge project and countless hours of planning and sweat. Well done and thanks for sharing. You have every right to be very proud of your work.


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

That really turned out nice. I'm working on my basement now and your work will be a source of inspiration. Thank you!


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## Bryank930 (Nov 30, 2015)

That looks amazing. Can you change the color of the LED lighting in the crown?


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Thanks!

No, I can't change the light color. The cost for 48 feet of color changing wasn't worth it to me.


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