Tuesday, January 28, 2014

DIY Basement Framing in Progess, moving WC rough ins.

Basement is almost framed!!! So exciting, it's like building all over again, and this time YOU are the PM, so you know stuff is done level and RIGHT every time, it's a good feeling AND you get to put your "stuff" wherever you want!  I am so glad we went with this option to build unfinished basement.

Now carrying 85 pieces or drywall to the basement will be a real joy!!!

The rough ins, were well................rough!!  They ended up being a bout a foot off for the "plans" so we had to dig them up ourselves and move them in order to fit a bathroom.  The toilet would have been about 4 inches from the wall!  And the toilet would have been in the shower.  Folks some things are not worth the fight so we have a concrete saw and sledge hammer and took on the job.

PLEASE MEASURE YOUR ROUGH INS AND MAKE SURE THE ARE CORRECT :)

My basement will now consist of:
Movie Room
8-9 foot BAR with TV and with sitting area. We will build the bar ourselves.
2 storage closets (Hubby hates them :(  ) Hey I'm cutting into his BAR space.
Full 3 piece bath
Laundry area just for ME.

You want to talk about reconfigurating you basement. Gesh!  Moving washer and dryer and gas line and vents and piping and laundry tub and running new duct work! But we did it all ourselves, my Hubby is Mr. Manskillz.

After this comes ELECTRICAL......oh boy, then the slow down begins!

Moving shower drain and toilet.

Looks like fun ya'll huh?

Nothing like fixing a new home.

Basement bath is framed!

Hallway leading to my laundry room and WC.





IN OTHER 10 MONTH REVIEW NEWS.

So SOME floor creaks are addressed other is NOT.  The one pop/creak in the foyer just won't go away, they have tackled it from the upstairs and pulled up subfloor only to make it worse and needed another day to fix the "fix".

This NEW fix comes next week where they tear into my living wall to see what going on in the ceiling that way. Oh boy :(

We still need a new transition piece for the front door, it has been many attempts to stop the air from blowing in through the door, now we are at ordering and new transition piece, the one that goes under the door when you close it.

 Above -Odd cracking in the ceilings, house is just settling :) No biggie, will get fixed.
Below - Here is how one workers "fixed" my window sills. BTW all the window sills look like this now.
Speaks Volumes. Good Job!






So another company that I love, called H&M will be out to fix all the bad workmanship, I love this company, so professional and cleans up their messes!  Also some more settling has occurred. You just have to wonder what if they didnt used these types of companies who do drywall for a living all the time instead of re-doing over so much of other workers work.  I just don't know.

Oh SHOUT out to KIWI, a PM who went above and beyond for me the other day with my gas leak, I am over a year in my home and still that man dropped everything to help me :)



this pics are posted after my initial post for people inquiring about placement of rough ins.





above - in this pic hubby measured 26 3 /12 from morning room back wall, which was off by 1 foot according to the plumbing diagrams. He measure the toilet rough in.


*****11-16-14 check out our finished project I posted today.

17 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm so impressed with your basement. To answer you question, I do not have a finished basement. So, I will be all eyes watching you build out yours. We got a rough in too, and from my novice eye, I thought the placement of things looked a little odd. You said that we should measure, what are the measurements I should look to have? So, with your basement plans, are you segmenting or placing walls ups for different rooms? I planned to have one big room, a full bath, and I wanted a small laundry room too. I'm not sure how I could get that done, as one contractor said that the laundry space is unliveable. I also wanted a nice deep storage closet/pantry since the pantry in the kitchen is HORRIBLE! I bought a bunch of those OXO storage containers hoping to bring room and organization to that closet of a pantry. Anyway, good luck with building...I can't wait to see what you do and have fun at Kirkland's for decorating!

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  2. I agree - I also thought our rough-ins seemed to be in odd locations. Could you confirm how we're to measure (we also did the 3-pc bathroom). I'd rather find out now that things are wrong thant years down the line if/when we decide to add a basement bathroom. Thanks!

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    1. Brandon, I added some blueprints to the end of my post for you. They may or may not be helpful. You have to find your blueprint for your plumbing of your home. It should be with your packages, or ask. I asked for everything before our build started. ASK for all your electrical and plumbing blueprints, I had also asked for the blueprints on a finished basement in the beginning of our process before we broke ground. good luck Brandon and keep an eye on things :) But somehow you never catch EVERYTHING.

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  3. OMG I can't believe you had to move all of that stuff yourselves! Awesome that you are able to DIY it though... I'm sure that would have cost a pretty penny to have a contractor do it. I will be watching your progress closely! I'm hoping to start finishing our basement next year so I'm sure I will learn a lot from you and your skilled hubby!

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  4. this is great i can't wait to see you bar! we have a finished basement sans the two rooms on either side of the rec room. the plan eventually will be do have an excercise room, a storage room and a bathroom. i reallllllyyyyy want to DIY but i am so not confident in our skills :(

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  5. Looks like you got things your way. We are considering the Savoy model in Delaware and have been searching the internet for information like this as there does not seem to be any one-stop shopping list showing details and pricing of all available options unless ready to sit down and place an order. Of course the Ryan Homes people will only tell of the good things but I wonder if folks like you have any 'be careful' or 'be on the look-out for' suggestions to share.

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    1. I have to agree that the blogs are a great tool for finding out about all sorts of "options" that you'll never see on an options list. Some of the things we added as "non-standard" were: laundry tub in the garage (a MUST!), we only finished a part of the basement (our home has a rear-attached garage which included a bump-out upstairs, but for the spare downstairs it added +$6k for the little section - we ended up paying $450 for the door to "unfinished storage" and they mistakenly finished most of it anyway!), and an over-sized garden tub in the master bedroom (we didn't want the "jetted tub")

      Another thing we learned after the fact is that there is actually a "standard non-standard electrical" list which has all sorts of options about adding 3-way switches, switched outlets, a walk-through with the electrician, etc. MAKE SURE you pay attention to the electrical plans. We ended up getting more than we were supposed to with some switches (which worked in our favor) but there were other situations where we missed out on putting certain lights on a different switch in a way that makes more sense.

      Feel free to look through our blog at: www.buildingwithryanhomes-parkplace.blogspot.com and as I'm sure you'll find, many of the homeowners who have elected to do a blog are very passionate about their experiences and more than willing to share insight!

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    2. Bradon, we sure are passionate arent we? LOL! I am always surprised at the slow down in the POST blogs, because I think there is so much to be learned ever AFTER the build.......you know...the woulda shoulda coulda!

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    3. I know I'm definitely guilty of slowing down now that we've moved in. We haven't really had many projects (or certainly not anything worth sharing) but I have a to-do (more like "wish") list of things I'd like to have.

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  6. Mike and Lette, nice to hear from you. You are doing the right research, you can learn so much on this blog, and it doesnt have to be a Savoy, but most other houses have the same options list. My opinion, go big on the home, get every bump out you can. Savoy offers, a bump out in the garage and living room. Also I have Elevation E, which pay attention to your elevations they increase the square footage of your home. And your elevation extends down into your basement remember, so thats more room there also. Our elevation allows for a bigger foyer and larger basement, so look closely at the elevations! Get the morning room, dont even think twice about it! why not get the all the structural upgrades.
    And dont be afraid to ASK for special requests!! All they can do is say no.
    Pay attention to wiring and switch placement, get your ceiling rough ins!
    Get the master suite, its my fav part of the house.
    Oh and the bay window in the study, what a difference it makes in the size of the room, its my biggest regret. Lette, I could go on and on, so if there is something specific, please ask :)

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  7. wow, what a mess with the rough ins and kudos to you for fixing them! I agree sometimes it's easier to just do it yourself.

    I can't wait to see the transformation of your basement!! I love watching these things unfold :)

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  8. Wow so glad I stumbled upon your blog! We are about to build a Palermo (also with an unfinished basement) and just started a new blog to document the process. So we are first time builders and first time bloggers. Yours is one of the blogs that I will have to follow (and catch up on previous posts). Have fun on your project and can't wait to see the finished basement.

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    1. AllStar glad I could help! I have enjoyed our building process and continue to do so :). I blog anything i think can be helpful.May I have your link to your blog so I can follow your journey as well?

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  9. WOW You guys rocks! Doing things DIY style is the best if you are capable! We got a quote for the basement framing (in addition to regular basement, we are adding a floor to ceiling storage closet that will hide the ugly' water meter.) It was $1350 including materials. it's a great price and we will probably use those guys but if we could do it ourselves, we totally would.

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    1. Thanushka, you could TOTALLY do it :) A closet you cant hurt anything, its not structural! Build a frame, rough in for the door, drywall, tape it mud it, sand it paint it..........sounds easy enough huh? (wink)

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  10. I built my savoy in 2007 and am getting ready to finish my basement. I would love to chat with you to get ideas, learn what you thought about that didn't work and share with you my ideas and get your thoughts. Let me know if we can exchange email addresses so I can send you concept ideas etc. I would love your thoughts and guidance. Brian

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  11. Basement Finishing Videos teaches you how to finish basement.If you are looking for basement finishing cost then basement finishing videos would help you.
    How to frame a basement to how to finish a basement , such questions would be solved

    ReplyDelete