another basement remodel

This is our 5th owned home and Kraig began his 4th basement project. Our first home we only lived in for 10 months and didn't get past very basic improvements in the basement so I'm not counting that one. This time Tim and Michael have a vested interest in the results as they first chose this home over the other 30 or so we looked at because of the huge basement for them to have a rec room!

The boys are old enough they'll help Kraig all along the way. Here they are with their new hammers! Our basement is already partially finished. There are a few interior walls sheetrocked to section off a bedroom, family room area and another room that is currently just for storage. The basement ceilings in all but the laundry room and bedroom are done already - plus a bathroom is COMPLETELY finished - yeah! There's no carpet so we will add that everywhere when it's ready.

The boys' excitement is for the rec room which is 13x47. That area is the first step. The project began with some destruction to move a couple of the walls.

Tim practiced kicking his soccer ball into the wall to break up the sheetrock before the hammers took over. That wall (and the opposite side of the room) will have plywood under the sheetrock so the boys can continue to play soccer there!

the tough Michael...
the masked boys....
When the project is finished there will be a new storage room at the end of the rec room so unfortunately it will only be 13x41 then! There will also be a storage area under the stairs by the bathroom, which is the area the boys are in the picture above. The bedroom will be in the same place (with an added egress window and remaining 2 walls done), and the current family room area and room we currently use for storage will become one large (24x12 less the steps coming down) family room. That will be a huge project because the two areas are currently divided by a cement wall! The beam was already in place and hopefully the structural engineer will say we only need one post for support without the cement wall.

Kraig is spending his day off and weekends on this until it's finished. His parents are arriving tomorrow for a week to help out so Kraig is taking a week vacation to hopefully get AT LEAST the rec room and storage areas done. Meanwhile I'm hoping to be patient amongst the mess these projects make! Sheetrock and cement dust go EVERYWHERE!