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If you have an area like this in your house, chances are you thought about this type of
project.
Taking an unfinished basement and making useful and attractive living space out of it.
Hi, I'm Dean Johnson.
And I'm Joanne Liebler.
That's just what we're going to show you how to do in this tape.
This video cassette is an expanded version of six Home Time television programs.
And we think you'll find it very useful.
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The National Home Time PBS series is made possible by The Stanley Works.
Since 1843, Stanley's been committed to building quality tools and other products to help you
do things right.
And our Home Time tapes go into great detail in every basic procedure we'll be covering
in the basement.
In this tape, we only have time to give you a quick summary of those individual construction
remodeling techniques.
So we recommend that you consult the other tapes to brush up on the basics.
You may have a basement where part of it has already been finished off.
The procedures we show you in this project will apply in this case too.
And if you do a basement project, please be especially safety conscious.
Do as we do.
Wear the proper clothing.
Use the appropriate safety equipment, get the proper inspections, and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines in using the tools, materials, and equipment.
The starting condition of a basement will vary from project to project.
Several factors resulted in ours looking the way that it is now, but it's pretty typical.
Some planning was done when the house was built, so part of the job was done already.
For instance, the drain pipes in the bathroom were installed before the concrete floor was
poured.
And heating ducts were run under the slab to almost every room.
It's possible to run those ducts and pipes now, but that involves busting up the concrete
floor.
So a little planning in the initial building helps us out a lot now.
Also, many unfinished basements will have bare block or concrete walls.
However, in this cold part of the country, local building codes may require insulation
on the basement walls.
And some of the interior walls are already in.
That's because they're necessary to contain some of the roughed in plumbing or their needed
structure.
Now, so far, the basement has been built with a certain plan in mind, but there's no reason
we can't change that plan a little now.
Whenever you finalize that plan, it's a good idea to get a design professional involved.
This usually means an architect.
A good design is money well spent.
It's going to make your whole project go a lot easier.
And if you've got structural questions like, can we shorten a wall or put in a doorway,
you should get a structural engineer to look at the project.
Don't take chances.
This basement, once it's finished, will be about half the living space in the house.
So we have some pretty extensive plans for it.
The basement will contain three bedrooms.
One of the bedrooms will have a private bathroom with a shower.
The other two bedrooms will share a bath with two lavatories.
The washer and dryer are already in and in use.
We'll build a laundry room around them.
There will also be a small mechanical room and a storage area behind it.
The rest of the basement will be taken up by a family room and an office area, open
to each other.
The family room has a fireplace and sliding doors out to the yard.
The family room and all the bedrooms have windows.
This is called a walkout basement or a daylight basement.
Some basic tips on getting ready for this project.
First, get everything out of the basement.
Put it in the garage, put it in the attic, or throw it away.
Any boxes or bikes or junk are just going to slow you down and create potentially dangerous
situations.
So that means the washer and dryer will have to be put out of commission for the time being.
They should be out of the way over there.
While preparing for this job, make sure you also have enough electrical power and some
good ventilation.
That's going to be a factor with all the sawdust and chemical fumes.
Most lumber trimming doors will be available at a good lumber yard.
However, you should order ceramic tile, cabinets, and plumbing fixtures early because these
can have a fairly long lead time.
One of the most important preparation steps is getting a building permit.
Throughout this project, you'll hear us refer to standard code requirements, but each city
has its own specific code requirements that you have to comply with.
So besides being legally required, permits and inspections are the best way to make sure
you're doing your job properly.
And work done without a building permit may invalidate your homeowner's insurance, so
involve the local building inspectors.
Our experience has been if you proceed responsibly, local building officials are willing to help
out with answers and advice.
Our first construction step will be to adapt the framing.
And for us, that means building non-load bearing partitions.
The load bearing walls in the basement are in.
You can tell this is a load bearing wall because the joists for the floor above it run perpendicular
to it.
Don't forget that basement load bearing walls have special foundations.
The concrete floor is only about four inches thick, but under the load bearing wall is
a special structure.
Ours rests on a row of six inch wide concrete partition blocks, which in turn rest on a
poured concrete footing.
In bearing walls, any openings are reinforced with headers above them.
This doorway has a double two by eight header above it, transferring the entire load down
to the footing.
Now in our basement, the framing is a little peculiar.
An example of this is different floor joists run in different directions throughout the
basement.
So we've got load bearing walls running in both directions.
In many basements, the first framing job is to furrow out from the block or concrete walls.
This is done so you can install insulation along the walls and also so that there's something
to attach the drywall to.
One way to do this is with two by twos.
This is possible in climates where you don't need much insulation in the wall.
But with two by two furring, it's harder to run your plumbing and electrical inside the
walls simply because the walls aren't that thick.
We need two by four furring strips to leave enough room for the insulation required by
local building codes.
Now this was originally done when the house was built, but we removed the furring strips
and the insulation from this section of wall to show you what's involved when you're doing
it yourself.
One thing we want to do carefully is measure for the height of the wall.
We want the distance from the floor to the bottom of the joist.
We measure this at a couple of places along the wall.
The concrete floor may not be perfectly level, and we need to get an idea how different the
stud lengths might be.
So the height of this wall needs to be 97 and 5 eighths, and the height on that end
is 97 and 3 eighths.
So if that's a smaller difference, we're able to cut the studs at the shorter length and
make up any differences with shims.
Now to determine the length of the studs, we need to subtract an inch and a half for
the bottom plate, an inch and a half for the top plate, for a total of three inches.
So taking the 97 and 3 eighths, the shortest length, minus three inches, gives us 94 and
3 eighths, the length of our studs.
The bottom plate or sole plate of any walls in the basement should be made of pressure
treated lumber.
That's because the concrete floor could absorb water and then transfer that ground water
onto the sole plate.
If it's treated, it won't rot.
The easiest way to make a wall is to lay it out on the floor and nail it together.
Two 16 penny nails go through each plate and into the end of each stud.
The studs are on 16 inch centers.
This is standard for all stud walls, and most insulation will fit perfectly into the resulting
stud cavity.
For non-load bearing basement walls, only one plate is needed along the top.
Once the wall is together, we raise it into place.
Get from over here.
The easiest method for attaching walls to concrete floors is with this tool, a powder
actuated nailer.
It'll drive the nails through the wood and into the floor using small gunpowder charges.
The nails are two and a half inches long to go through the inch and a half plate and one
inch into the floor.
This is a potentially dangerous tool.
Make sure you get complete instructions from your rental shop on its safe operation.
An eye and ear protection is a must.
To make up for any irregularities in the height of the wall, we place shims between the top
plate and the ceiling joists above.
Once the shim is securely set in place, I score it and snap it off.
This gives us a clean corner.
Before we nail the wall in place on top, we check it for plumb.
I secure the wall by driving the nail up through the top plate, through the shim, and into
the bottom of the joist.
We picked a pretty simple wall to demonstrate burring out, but just about every other wall
we build in this basement will be unusual.
That's just the way it is with basements.
You'll always find yourself working around obstacles or improvising to accommodate something
that was done in the original construction.
And that's certainly true with the five walls we'll be framing in for this bathroom.
Well, like this wall that's going to run into this existing wall, we'll have to custom fit
it to this ledge.
We've got the ledge because the wall behind the burring and insulation is 12 inch block
up to this point with six inch lumber above it.
Plus, we need to fit the wall around this vent pipe for the bathtub.
To build our walls, the first thing we do is snap chalk lines on the concrete floor
where the walls will be.
Then we lay the first wall out on the floor and assemble it.
This wall has a doorway in it, so we have to include a header over it.
But this wall, like every wall we'll build here, is non-load bearing.
That means that the header can simply be a two by four with cripple studs on top of it.
A basic rule of framing is to make sure that there's some way to nail your walls together
and that you create a corner where drywall can be attached.
Now, the new wall that we just built will butt into this existing wall right here.
Now, as you can see, the existing studs create a surface for the drywall, but there's nothing
to nail the wall into.
So before we put the new wall up, I'll install three pieces of two by four blocking.
One at the top, one in the middle, and one down here at the bottom.
Installing these requires some ingenuity.
In this situation, I have to toenail the blocking in from one side.
On the other side, I end nail through the single stud.
Now we can put up our first new wall.
It'll require some jockeying to get it into place and probably some firm persuasion.
We shoot it into the slab on our marks.
Before we secure the wall anymore, we check it for plumb.
Once it's plumb, we secure it to the nailing blocks in the existing wall.
Then we nail up into the joists.
The second wall here in the bathroom will require quite a few nailers, like up along
the top here.
The top of the wall runs along this joist, but there's no nailing surface at all for
the drywall coming across the ceiling.
We start with short two-by-fours between the joists, set back three-quarters of an inch
from the bottom of the joists.
I use a scrap piece of one-by-four to space the two-by-fours properly.
Then we nail a two-by-four on edge along the backside of the joist.
We have to break this two-by-four up into two pieces to get around the vent pipe.
Finally, we nail a one-by-four up under the two-by-fours.
The bottom of the one-by-four will be flush with the bottom of the joists.
The also space is about an inch away from the joists.
This will create the widest nailing surface for the drywall.
Besides the nailer at the top, we have to put in nailers in the sidewall.
And this won't be the last time we have to temporarily remove the vapor barrier.
Okay.
Bring her in around.
That's it.
Okay, that's good.
All right.
Got it.
At home time, we're always moving from job site to job site, hauling around a lot of
tools and materials.
So we need a truck that can handle the workload, like the Chevy S-Series Extended Cab Pickup.
This truck is ideal whether we're hauling materials from this construction site or driving
down the highway.
Its new step-design rear bumper and lower step-up height make loading and unloading
easier than ever.
This two-tier loading feature lets us expand our cargo space.
We can store tools on the bottom and materials on the top.
And with these convenient cargo tie-downs, we can make sure everything stays secure.
No matter what kind of load we carry, this double-walled construction protects the truck
inside and outside and keeps it looking new.
This Extended Cab gives us even more space for extra tools or for bringing along a couple
of helpers on the tough jobs.
This Chevy full-size pickup 4x4 is another one of our favorites for do-it-yourself jobs.
This truck comes standard with a 4.3-liter V6 engine to give us enough torque and towing
capacity to clear a couple of trees from this new home site.
Okay, back up a couple of more feet.
Also standard are its rear-wheel anti-lock brakes that give you controlled, smooth stopping.
That's the kind of security you should demand from any braking system.
Chevy's got it.
Even with all the work we put this truck through, it still looks like new.
The double-walled cargo box keeps anywhere on the inside from showing through on the
outside.
And all of Chevy's fleet-side pickup trucks give us the option of two-tier loading.
So we have the option of using the box as is or creating a second loading level.
Okay, that's good.
Whether we're carrying passengers, hauling cargo, or pulling a trailer, this all-wheel
drive Chevy Astro Passenger Van is the perfect vehicle.
With its combination of all-wheel drive and four-wheel anti-lock brakes, this van gives
us the control we need, even in the worst weather.
In fact, the Chevy Astro Van has the largest towing capacity of any van in its class, and
its versatility makes sense for every do-it-yourselfer.
The spacious cargo area is ideal for hauling these shrubs or any other material.
And with these available Dutch doors, loading is even more convenient.
No matter what size of your project, you'll get the job done with a Chevy truck.
They've been a big part of every home time project, and it's easy for us to see why the
most dependable, longest-lasting trucks are Chevy trucks.
For our basement remodeling situation, the hardest part of the mechanical system's installation
is already done.
We've got a hot water heater, a furnace, even a subpanel for the extra wiring.
Our job will be to add any additional connections needed for the basement.
The heating in this basement is forced air, and it's already been installed.
It's called transite heating.
The hot air travels to this duct through large PVC pipes that run underneath the concrete
floor.
The heat travels up through the duct, heats the room, and then goes back to the furnace
through cold air returns.
There will be a cold air return located in this wall.
Now, this wall wasn't in when the heating was first installed, so it'll be our job to
locate it and install it.
By taking out a section of the top plate, we'll be able to use this stud cavity as the
cold air return.
Two pieces of sheet metal get fit around the gap in the top plate to help seal it up around
the edges.
This frame will form an opening in the drywall where the cold air can enter the stud cavity.
Because this stud cavity will have other openings in the bottom for plumbing, I use a short
two-by-four block to seal up the cavity below the opening.
When sheetrock is installed on the ceilings and walls, the stud cavity will become an enclosed
duct that'll feed air into the existing sheet metal through an opening that was created
by the heating contractor when the house was first built.
With our heating system, adding on is fairly straightforward.
The original heating contractor laid it all out.
But if this preliminary work hasn't been done, we recommend that you hire a heating contractor
to do this part of the job.
There are complicated factors that affect duct size and register placement.
The same is true for other kinds of heating, like a hot water system.
If the pressures haven't been calculated and the pipes haven't been run, you should
really hire a contractor to do this additional work in the basement.
Well, with the heating done, we can now start on the plumbing.
Now, this can be a do-it-yourself job, but it's still a good idea to check with your
local billing department to see if you need a licensed plumber.
So you probably want me to turn the water off then, huh?
Not yet.
A lot of people think that.
But because I'm only working with the drain waste vent system, not the copper water pipes,
we can leave it on.
First I need to deal with the toilet.
This PVC pipe needs to be cut down to the same level of the concrete floor.
But before I do this, I want to chip off any high spots on the floor.
This allows me to cut the PVC pipe down to size with a reciprocating saw.
Now I'm ready to install the closet flange.
The procedure for making a PVC joint is always the same.
First I apply a cleaning chemical.
This prepares the plastic.
Then I apply the PVC cement.
This actually melts the pipe a little, so that when I put the two pieces together, the
joint is solid and watertight.
We've made a change in our design plans.
We were going to put a vanity here, but now we want to put in a pedestal sink.
But the elbow that was here wouldn't work with a pedestal sink.
So we're going to replace it with this assembly, which will bring the drain pipe out square
from the wall.
This starts with a coupler to allow us to attach the two cut ends of the PVC pipe.
The elbow assembly goes on next.
A coupler goes on top of this.
Then by lifting up the top pipe, we're able to slip it down into the coupler.
To install the drain for the shower that's going to go here, I have to work in this box
that was built into the floor.
To prepare for the drain under the shower, first I have to remove the two by four forms
that the concrete crew used to create the box.
There's a stubbed out drain buried in the ground here somewhere, so it takes a little
excavation to find it.
Once we've found the stubbed out drain pipe, we need to guess how much to cut back so that
the drain pipe will be 12 and a half inches out from each wall.
Then we dry fit the trap assembly onto the drain pipe.
Next we put in the riser.
Once it's plumb, I position it so it's exactly 12 and a half inches out from one wall.
This tells me I have to cut the drain pipe a little shorter so that the riser is the
proper distance from the other wall.
Now the first elbow gets glued into place.
Then I attach the trap and riser.
With the PVC cement setting up, I only have a few seconds to make sure everything's plumb
and in the proper position.
And here's a tip.
To keep sewer gases from backing up into the basement, I just pour some water into the
drain.
This will settle into the trap.
All right, with the drain system done, we can start on the supply system.
This will mean cutting into the existing supply lines that run to the wet bar in the den upstairs.
So now we're ready to turn the water off, right?
Well, not quite.
We can leave the water on as long as possible by starting to install the supply lines at
the fixture and then working our way back to the connection point.
The supply for the toilet goes about six inches over and six inches up from the closet flange
in the floor.
So first I install a nailing block to mount it onto.
The pipe that feeds the toilet runs along the bottom of the wall, so holes need to be
drilled for it.
This is a one inch drill bit, which will give us enough room for the half inch copper pipe.
Now whenever you connect pieces of copper pipe, you have to go through a very specific
process.
Both parts of the joint have to be cleaned to remove burrs and oxidation from the copper.
For this elbow, that means brushing out the inside.
For pipe ends, it means cleaning them with pieces of emery cloth.
Then a substance called flux gets brushed onto the pipes.
Flux will help the solder bond better to the copper.
Our first assembly consists of an elbow to turn the lines out from the wall and a short
length of pipe with a cap on it.
All this fits on the end of the pipe that we ran inside the wall.
To sweat the joints together, I heat up the area with a propane torch.
I need to get the pipe and the cap pretty hot.
Then I touch the solder to the joint.
The heat and the flux draw the solder into the joint.
Finally, I wipe the excess solder off with a damp rag.
I repeat this process on each joint.
The other end of this pipe gets an elbow to turn the corner and run into the second wall.
All right.
In this space, we'll join this pipe to the pipe that will run up to the shower.
Also in this stud cavity, we need to install some blocking to support the shower faucet
assembly.
In this case, we're going to install the blocking so that it's flush with the front of the studs.
This wall will contain most of the plumbing for the room, so it's often called a wet wall.
The hot and cold supply lines will run down from the ceiling in one stud cavity.
First, they'll feed the shower faucet assembly.
And a single line runs up from this to feed the shower head.
Pipes also come down from the faucet and run through the wall to feed the sink.
The copper line that Dean roughed in will tie into the cold supply for the sink.
As we fit all these pipes together, we've cleaned and fluxed each joint.
And now we can sweat all these connections at once.
This faucet assembly required some pretty complicated teeing and elbows to supply water
all around.
For the shower head, we end the run with a threaded, eared L. The shower head will eventually
screw into this.
Once the copper in the wall is sweated together, we can make up the lines that run into the
ceiling and over to the point where we'll tie into the existing plumbing.
All right.
We've run all of our lines up to this point.
Now we can tie into the feeder lines.
And because it's a fairly compact area, I'll use a smaller pipe cutter to make the cut.
Say Dean, you better wait a minute there.
But first we'll turn off the water.
To turn off the water, I just close the valve that's located right underneath the water
meter.
Then we drain the pipes.
And this is done by opening the faucet that's lowest in the system.
And for us, that's right here.
Water runs right through this hose and into this floor drain.
But to completely drain the system, you should also open up the faucet that's highest up
in the system.
Go ahead, Dean.
I'm ready for you.
This eliminates any reverse pressure in the lines and allows them to fill with air.
Okay, Dean, you're all set.
Okay, good.
So, as I was saying, we've finally reached the point where we can cut into the existing
water lines and hook up the lines for the new bathroom.
As you can see, the plumbing contractor left a T in each line for just this purpose.
So now all we have to do is cut off the caps and make the connections.
Once the plumbing ruffin is done, you want to secure the pipes in their holes to keep
them from rattling around.
Small bits of fiberglass insulation work just fine for this.
Stuff it into the holes in the studs where the pipes run through and tamp it between
the copper lines and drain pipes.
Fire regulations also may require that any gaps in the top plates around the plumbing
are sealed up.
Fiberglass can do the trick here too.
To finish up, we'll install 2x10 blocking, which will be needed to hang the pedestal
sink on.
And finally, we can fill the dirt back into the shower drain area.
There we go, easy.
Well, we've done the rough plumbing for one bathroom, the smaller one, and that just involved
pipes and fittings.
But when you have a bath with a tub in it, it's important to have that tub delivered
before the ruffin begins.
That's so it can be installed at this point.
You have that open there?
Yeah.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, you may have to take out a couple of studs just to get it in place.
Okay, that's good.
Second, we'll need to run our wall covering over this flange, so it makes sense to have
the tub in now.
And third, you want to install the tub while the walls are still open so you can get to
the backside and install the drain system.
Again, we're working in a recess in the flooring.
In fact, we had to widen it a little with a sledgehammer.
The first piece to go in is an assembly for the main drain and the overflow drain.
A trap assembly connects to the existing drain pipe.
And a short PVC extension runs between the drain assembly and the trap.
For the supply system, it's really a matter of personal preference.
But we usually locate the spout at 20 inches, the control at 30 inches, and the shower head
at 80 inches above the floor.
Otherwise, everything else in this bathroom is pretty much the same as we saw in the smaller
bathroom.
Now, plumbing is a fairly complicated subject.
We've only shown you a few of the steps involved.
So if you're not experienced with plumbing work, you might want to check out our basic
plumbing videotape to get more comfortable with some of the procedures.
The last part of the rough-ins for the mechanical systems is the electrical work.
Again, a lot of this was prepared for us when the house was first built.
You can see that this electrical subpanel has room for several new circuits.
Any circuits we wire for the basement will get connected here.
You don't absolutely have to have a subpanel in your basement.
It'll be easier to run cables from here, but you can run cables to the main panel, wherever
that may be.
Our basement, like most others, is wired for only a couple of lights and outlets.
So we'll be adding quite a few more circuits and also drawing a lot more power.
This house has 200-amp service, which will be plenty.
But in older homes or in homes where a finished basement wasn't part of the original plan,
there may not be enough power back at the main panel.
If you have any questions or doubts about the capacity or condition of the existing
electrical service, contact a professional licensed electrician.
There are a lot of code requirements for wiring new construction.
And if you think about them, they all make sense.
Well, for instance, when you walk in a room, there should be a light switch right near
the door.
So I'll install a switch box here.
Boxes usually just get nailed in place on the side of a stud.
You see how I've spaced the box so the front sticks out past the edge of the stud.
This is so that when we put half-inch drywall on the walls, the box will be flush with the
surface of the drywall.
Now, the switch has to control something, right?
Sometimes it can be wired to turn an outlet off and on.
And then you plug the lamp into the outlet.
But most of the time, it's best to control the overhead light by the switch.
All right, this is the box for the overhead light.
Now, we have to think ahead a little bit because sometimes we use 5-1-inch sheetrock on the
ceiling.
If that's the case, we'd want to hold the box down about another eighth of an inch.
This way, the box will be flush with the drywall once it's installed.
Of course, the two boxes need to be connected, so we'll need to drill some holes through
the studs.
A right-angle drill is best when you're making holes for electrical cables.
The holes run through the studs at about knee-height and as close to the center of each stud as
possible.
The cable will have to run up, too.
So I drill a hole in the top plates here.
Okay, we're ready for some cable.
This type of cable can be used in just about any basement remodeling project.
It's called Romex, the brand name after the company that invented it.
It has two or three conductors and a ground wire that's encased in plastic sheathing.
This type of cable is good for do-it-yourself projects because you can just run it through
the holes in the studs.
When you have to run it along the side of a joist or stud, it needs to get stapled to
the wood at least every four feet.
The ends of the cables get pulled into the boxes.
Usually this means using a screwdriver to break out a small plastic tab called a knockout.
Then the cable just gets pulled through the knockout into the box.
The cable I'm running will feed power to the switch as well as to outlets in the walls
around the room.
Which means of course more boxes, more drilling, and more cable.
As we saw when we were framing, the fact that the basement is already insulated can be a
nuisance.
To install the boxes and drill and run the cables, we have to peel back the polyethylene
vapor barrier and pull out some of the insulation.
These boxes are for receptacles, which are required every 12 feet along the walls.
Where we're going to have a fixture recessed into the ceiling, we need to install and wire
the fixture now.
That's the case with this ceiling fan here in the bathroom, as well as with the light
over the tub.
Once all the cables have been run through the boxes, we can start making some of the
connections.
We'll begin by cutting the cables to length and stripping off the plastic sheathing.
The next thing I'll do is connect the bare copper ground wires together.
The end of this bunch gets a wire nut.
I can also connect the hot leads to each other so that power is fed out to the outlets in
this room and to the light.
Then everything gets carefully folded back into the box to get it out of the way for
when we attach the drywall.
When I'm done with the connections in each box, the only loose wires should be the wires
that are going to go to the fixture.
In this case, it's the two wires for the switch.
We'll leave all these runs of Romex hanging loose here at the subpanel.
In a do-it-yourself remodeling situation, we recommend holding off on making the final
connections until all the switches, lights, and outlets are installed.
Once all the mechanical systems are in, make sure you get the proper inspections.
When we got our framing inspection, the inspector asked us to put in a little more fire stopping.
So, in addition to getting our rough-in inspection on our heating, plumbing, and electrical,
the inspector signed off on our framing corrections too.
So our next step is to put in the insulation.
And what's required for insulation varies greatly in different parts of the country.
In our part of the country, code requirements even vary from city to city.
In this town, before you can occupy any part of the house, all exterior walls, including
unfinished walls in the basement, have to be insulated to certain minimums.
You probably notice that most of our insulation down here is already done.
There's fiberglass insulation in the walls and a polyethylene vapor barrier on top of
that.
However, in most basements, you'll be working on bare concrete walls.
So you'll need to fur them out with 2x2s or 2x4s like we've done here for a demonstration.
Several types of insulation are available for this application.
One possibility is polystyrene foam.
This is most commonly used on the outside of the foundation.
So it'd have to be installed as the house is being built.
When insulating inside, the most common way is to use bats of fiberglass insulation.
When working with insulation, cover up as much of your body as possible.
Insulation can irritate your skin, your eyes, and your throat.
The type we're using is designed for 2x4 stud walls.
It's 3 and 1 half inches thick and 14 and 1 half inches wide.
It's also the correct length for most walls.
Here's what our building inspector had to say about fire stops.
If you have soffits like these, you want to keep a fire from traveling up the stud cavity
and getting into the soffit area.
Now typically, we could build wood blocking in this area or we could sheetrock the backside
of this wall up here in the soffit area.
But the fiberglass insulation can also serve the same purpose.
Just make sure that you run it all the way up to the top of the stud cavity and that
the fiberglass insulation entirely fills the stud cavity at the point where it passes the
bottom of the soffit.
Another nice feature of fiberglass is that it's easy to work it around the electrical
cables in the walls.
In case you're wondering what this plastic is that we've been working around, it's a
vapor barrier.
It goes on over the insulation and it prevents warm air from condensing inside the stud cavity.
So it's most common to install a vapor barrier after you insulate.
We began installing it when we built the soffit.
This way we have one continuous piece of plastic running from the top of the wall down.
But we still need to attach it to the rest of the wall.
This is 6-mil polyethylene.
We can just use a hammer tacker to attach it to the studs.
There wasn't much insulation work left for us to do in our basement.
Even so, now is a good time to check the original insulation and vapor barrier and make sure
they're in place in other parts of the basement.
Check the rim joists around the top of the wall.
This is an area that easily gets overlooked and it's an important spot to insulate.
And make sure that you fix up any spots where you've removed insulation to install framing
nailers or do any kind of electrical or plumbing work.
This will be the last chance to get it all back together before the walls are sealed
up by sheetrock.
As you're checking for insulation, be sure to double check for drywall nailers.
You don't want any edge of drywall to go unsupported for over 15 inches.
As you can see, we've installed nailers next to the new wall partitions we've installed
running parallel to the floor joists above.
There's one more job we need to tend to before we can start hanging the drywall.
When we roughed in the mechanical systems for the basement, we ran a lot of pipes and
cables through the studs.
If these are too close to the edge of the stud, they might get punctured by a nail or
screw that's used to attach the drywall.
So wherever there's a pipe or a wire less than one inch from the edge of the stud, we
cover it with a metal plate like this.
The plates are a sixteenth of an inch thick and are available at most home center and
hardware stores.
Carefully check the whole basement, walls, and ceilings for places where the plates are
needed.
This is the final preparation for the walls before drywalling.
Well, we're ready to begin the sheet rocking.
This may involve borrowing or renting some tools and buying some materials.
But don't go to the store expecting to bring home your entire drywall order.
Have the drywall itself delivered to your location and have it carried into different
rooms where you'll need it.
Most drywall installation starts on the ceiling.
Where possible, we run the pieces perpendicular to the direction of the joists.
We've made these jacks to help us keep the pieces in place, but it's hard work nonetheless.
These are four by twelve foot sheets.
Well, smaller sheets are available, but using larger pieces minimizes the number of joints.
Drywall nails hold the pieces in place, and we use a drywall hammer.
They create a slight dimple in the surface of the drywall, and this makes it easier to
cover the nail head with joint compound later on.
There are several ways to cut drywall.
For a straight cut, you score the drywall with the utility knife.
Snap it open, and then cut through the paper on the back.
Smaller holes for light fixtures can be cut with a circular hole cutter.
Okay, with the ceiling done, we can move on to the walls.
Now, again, in our case, we'll be applying the drywall perpendicular to the framing,
although there are circumstances where it's best to do a parallel.
Now, for the first sheet, we'll slide that up the wall, tight to the ceiling.
With a little planning, you can start nails for the top edge.
This will make securing it into place a little less awkward.
For the bottom of the wall, we use these small levers to lift up the piece and get a pretty
snug joint in the middle of the wall.
Hey, Dean, what did we decide to do about this ledge?
I don't remember.
An oak shelf, I think, right?
That's right.
Yeah.
Ledges like this are typical in walkout basements.
This is where the 12-inch block turns into 6-inch framing.
We could drywall this area, but it's not nearly as durable if you start using it as a shelf.
That's why we'll put a 3-quarter-inch oak board.
We use nails around the edges of the drywall when we first hung it.
Now we have to add more fasteners, and to do that, we use a drywall screw gun and screws.
How many fasteners you use depends on several things, whether you're using screws or nails,
whether you run the sheets parallel to the framing or perpendicular, how far apart your
framing members are, and how thick your drywall is.
Normally, we start hanging the walls once the ceiling's in, but many times in basements,
you'll have soffits to deal with.
So we'll want to get these done before we tackle the walls.
We'll start by rocking the bottoms, and then we'll take on the vertical parts.
Here.
All right.
Let's see what we've got here.
Got it there, Jill?
Okay, Jill, let's shift it down here.
You end up there.
There we go.
Okay.
That's pretty solid.
This is a lifeblood of drywall taping.
It's called joint compound or taping compound.
Yeah, but everyone calls it mud, and because of the type of drywall we're using in here,
the first layer will be called the joint coat.
But before we do any taping, we'll install the metal corner bead.
This reinforces the corner, the area where drywall typically will get damaged eventually.
With the corner bead on, we can start with the mud.
Now this drywall has a rounded edge.
This allows us to put a little extra mud in the joint.
This is a quick drying joint compound, and this extra bit of mud will make the joint
stronger.
On butt joints, where the ends of different sheets meet, we want to notch the joint out
with a knife so that we've got some space for the joint coat.
The mud we've applied so far is called the joint coat, and it's only necessary if you
use round-edged wall board.
Once the joint coat's dried, we'll apply what's called the tape coat, and to do this, we use
ready-mixed joints on top.
This consists of a thin layer of mud in the joint.
Then a layer of joint tape gets embedded in this.
Finally, we run a knife over it all to flatten it out.
The inside corners get a tape coat too.
Take a piece of tape and fold it in the middle to create a crease.
Many tapes have a ridge in the center designed for this specifically.
The tape gets embedded into the corner by running the knife down each wall.
Next, we mud in around the corner beads, and this is the time when we cover up the heads
of the nails and screws with a layer of mud.
Our initial coat was a Kwikset compound, which dried in only a couple hours.
So we were able to put on our tape coat right away.
Now that the tape coat's done, we'll let it set overnight, and then we'll put on our next
coat.
Tapping our drywall joints is a four-step process.
We've done the joint coat and the tape coat.
The next two coats are meant to smooth out the joints, and the first of these coats is
called the fill coat, or the second coat, although for us it's really the third coat.
The theory now is to make the joints as smooth as possible, so each coat will be a little
wider than the one before it, and we'll start by using a six-inch knife for the fill coat.
We cover all the joints in this coat.
We also cover the nail and screw heads and the corner beads.
Now before we apply the last coat, which is also called the third coat or the finish coat,
we've scraped off any ridges or tool marks with a taping knife, and we have a smooth
surface.
Then I use a ten or twelve-inch taping knife to spread out the mud.
This means I can feather the edges out about two inches farther than we did on the previous
coat.
Some tapers like to thin out the mud for this last coat.
This makes it a little easier to get an extremely smooth surface.
And we hit all of our favorite spots on this coat, joints, corner beads, inside corners,
and nail heads.
When your drywall taping is done, there will be a lot of cleanup to do, and it's particularly
important to scrape the excess mud off the floor.
Having the walls already primed means there's less chance of getting paint on the woodwork,
like the doors, and we'll start installing those now.
When you buy doors for new construction, chances are they'll already be pre-hung on their jams,
and the casing or trim will already be attached to the side.
Now you can plumb up the hinge side and nail it in place.
You nail through the casing, through the drywall, and into the studs around the door.
Then you square up the rest of the jam.
We know that the door itself is square, so we move the frame until the clearance is the
same all the way around the door.
We're using an air-powered finishing nailer.
This sets the nails a little below the surface of the trim.
The nails we've installed so far don't support the jam, strictly the casing.
We still need to secure the jams to the rough framing, and we'll start by putting shims
in the gaps behind the jam.
Once the shims are in place, we nail through them, securing the jam to the studs.
When the frame is shimmed and nailed, we break off the shims.
The trim will eventually cover these broken ends.
Extra trim comes with the doors, and it's identical to the trim that's attached to the
frame on the other side, except it has to be cut to length.
So I cut this piece to length and put a 45-degree miter up at one end.
This trim gets set back a quarter of an inch from the edge of the jam, so I line it up
and nail it in place.
If you've done your measuring and cutting properly, the joint between the pieces should
be perfect.
When you have different types of doors, you have different installation techniques.
For instance, we're using bi-fold doors on our closets, and two types of jams can be
used for this.
A full jam would be like what we installed for our swinging door, but we're going to
be using a half jam here.
The front of the opening has an unfinished drywall corner, but the back has been wrapped
with drywall and a corner bead.
This inch and 3-eighths wide stop goes at the front of the jam, flush with the finished
wall.
Here we use shims to hold the stops tight to each other and to the frame before we nail
anything.
We want to make sure that the stops are flush with the wall, so I use a combination square
as I nail.
Then the casing goes around the front of the opening.
Like the swinging doors, these pieces are mitered on the corners.
We're going to hold up on the rest of the installation of this bi-fold door.
That's because we still need to put baseboards in, and it's a lot easier to put them inside
the closet if the doors aren't up.
A pocket door is a whole other set of problems.
Now remember, the frame's already in.
It's actually part of the wall, and like the bi-fold door, we won't install the door itself
for a while.
What we want to do now is install a trim around the opening.
Just like our other doors, we put casing around both sides.
However, this casing is going to go flush with the jam.
There won't be a quarter-inch reveal.
The casing is flush with the jam because the stop will come right up next to it.
I won't install the door itself until we know a little bit more about the height of the
ceramic tile.
And to install the door, I'll have to remove the stops, so I'll let the nails sticking
out just a little bit.
When we ordered the trim for the doors, we ordered enough for the windows as well.
And the installation for the window trim is about the same as it is for the doors.
The corners are mitered, and we nail the trim into the window frame and also through the
drywall and the rough framing.
The final element of the trim is the baseboard.
Our baseboard is the same style millwork as the door and window casing.
But how and when we mount the baseboard depends on the type of floor we're putting it on top
of.
Here in the family room, we'll have hardwood flooring, so the baseboards will go on after
the floor is down.
But we want to delay putting the floor down as long as possible so it won't get all scratched
up during the rest of construction.
Now the bedroom gets carpet, so we can install the baseboard now.
But we want to keep that 3-1⁄8 of an inch off the floor.
This will look best once the carpet and carpet pattern is installed.
And to maintain that 3-1⁄8 inch distance, I set small blocks across the floor and rest
the baseboard on these as I nail it in.
These nails need to go into the studs, so I mark the stud locations on the floor.
When two pieces are joined, we make a 45-degree minor cut, and we splice the pieces over a
stud.
The ends of both pieces can be nailed down.
All right, we have a tricky cut coming up here.
We have to cope this next piece so it fits tightly to our first piece.
This means cutting a 45-degree minor on one end of the piece.
Then I take a coping saw and use the edge of the minor cut as a guide to back cut the
shape of the baseboard so the two pieces meet perfectly in the corner.
Next I have to put baseboards in around the inside of the closet.
It seems like this should be a pretty quick little job, but actually it will take just
as long as a whole room, except the pieces are just a little shorter.
When you're doing a ceramic tile job, you need to think hard about the underlayment.
One of the best underlayments for tile floors is a mud bed.
It's just basically a layer of concrete.
The nice thing about installing ceramic tile in the basement is you already have your mud
bed in.
It's just a matter of installing the ceramic tile on top of the concrete slab.
But with tile, you start on the walls, and on these walls, there's still something missing.
Right, and here it is.
For walls, you can set ceramic tile on drywall or on a special material like this, concrete
backerboard.
The concrete board gets nailed in place with galvanized roofing nails.
This backerboard is concrete with the skin of fiberglass on each side.
It isn't damaged by moisture, and there's hardly any flex to it.
This rigidness is important for tile installation.
The strips of roofing felt on the studs add a sixteenth of an inch to the board, so it's
about the same thickness as the adjoining drywall.
And installing this is kind of like putting up drywall.
You cut it like drywall, scoring it and snapping it apart.
Okay?
Just like drywall, you need to cut it out for obstacles like plumbing lines.
And you have to tape up the joints like you do with drywall.
For sealing up the joints, we use a special fiberglass tape and a mortar compound called
thinset.
Some people will tell you that figuring out the layout for the tiles is the hardest part
of the job.
Actually, I think our layout worked out fairly well, but it's going to be a lot easier explaining
what we've done once all the tile's in place.
One last thing we had to do before we could set tiles was to waterproof this ledge.
We gave it a little bit of a slope away from the wall so water won't collect on it.
We used a waterproofing membrane.
This gets troweled over the top of the backer board, and then it cures overnight.
When you set your tile, you always begin on the walls.
For this area around the tub, we spread out thinset mortar with a notch trowel.
The notch is assured that just the right amount of mortar goes onto the wall.
We're using a white thinset here to match our white grout.
Look how the mortar's been spread out over the area, we're ready to set the tiles.
These tiles have small tabs on the side, so the tiles will always be spaced the proper
distance apart.
To set the first tile, you press it into the mortar with a little twisting motion.
The next tiles are placed right next to the first tiles.
The spacers keep the alignment correct.
We work down this row of tile until we get to the bottom.
Here we have to measure and cut for the last tile.
A little extra mortar gets applied to the back of this tile before we set it.
You have to move pretty quickly through the rest of this area.
You only have a little bit of time once you spread out the mortar.
As you've seen, we have to cut some of our tiles to size, and to get straight cuts, the
best tool to use is a tile cutter.
This small roller scores a line in the surface of the tile.
Then, by pressing down on the tile, I can snap it apart along the line.
A lot of times with tile, you have to make shape cuts.
With the tile around this faucet, I'll make the cut with tile nippers.
I use these to nip off small pieces of tile until I get the shape I need.
When we get above a certain height, we can switch over to a different adhesive.
This comes ready mixed in the container and is preferable for areas with less moisture.
For the floor, we go back to setting with thin-set mortar.
The sheets of one-by-one tiles can be shaped to make the work go fast.
Here we beat the tiles down into the mortar with a padded grout float.
This sets them a little more firmly, which is important on a floor.
The floor pattern is made up of one-by-one almond tiles and two-by-two peach tiles.
With all the tile in, we can explain a little better why layout is so important.
It's not an exact science, but the trick is to put your full uncut tiles along the
most visible edges.
Like here, at this corner, we have two full tiles on both sides.
And the cut tiles are back here in the bathtub where they don't really show.
And the same is true of the floor.
We try to make our most visible areas look best and hit all the irregularities underneath
the cabinets.
Both of our bathrooms are now ready for the final step in tile work, grouting.
We'll be applying a light gray grout to the tile, and we'll use a padded float to do it.
You spread grout out across the surface with diagonal strokes.
You want to completely fill the spaces between the tiles.
Then you cut it off of the surface of the tiles by holding the float almost square to
the tiles and scraping the grout away.
And again, you work in diagonal strokes.
When the grout has had a few minutes to set up, I use a sponge to wipe off the surface
and shape the grout in the joints.
This part of the job requires a special touch.
The timing and technique of using the sponge affects the strength of the grout joints.
It also determines how much haze there will be to wipe off when the grout dries.
This hardened grout haze can usually be rubbed off with a clean, dry cloth.
Here you go.
We don't start our flooring right against the wall.
We leave ourselves a workspace.
The first row of floorboards will go right against this chalk line.
This is a special adhesive for this brand of flooring and a special notch trowel.
For the time being, I only spread out glue for the first piece, which will go up against
the hearth.
Because of the irregular brick edge, we had to scribe our first piece, and this gets set
now.
Now we can work in larger sections.
We spread out glue for as much wood flooring as we can lay in about three hours.
Our wood flooring comes in three different widths, three, five, and seven inches.
We'll intermix the different widths to give it that old-fashioned look, and we'll start
with our widest width, seven inches.
The boards in this first row go so that the tongues on one edge line up exactly with the
starting chalk line.
The five-inch wide pieces for the second row get laid right next to the first row.
The tongue and groove construction locks the pieces together.
When we run into the wall on the far side, we have to cut the pieces to length, and because
of the angled wall, these are miter cuts.
Once you've established your work pattern, there are only a few details to worry about.
You'll need to use a scrap of flooring and a hammer to snug the pieces together, and
you have to experiment with different lengths so that the joints don't line up from one
row to the next.
We've run this 100-pound roller across the first section to set the wood into the adhesive.
Now we can start gluing the second section.
Here, Dean, I'm done.
You can take that.
Oh.
Thanks.
You've seen us install wood flooring and ceramic tile flooring.
Vinyl flooring is also a real popular material used in basements.
We're going to be using that here in the laundry room.
The type that we're installing is called perimeter bond vinyl flooring, which means that it's
secured around its edges.
There's also full bond and vinyl tiles, and the installation techniques are different
for each.
So whichever of the three you decide to install, you should really check our home time videotape
on vinyl flooring for more complete instructions.
This binder comes in a sheet that's just over six feet wide.
That means that one piece will almost cover the entire room.
All that's left over is the area under the washer and dryer.
For our situation, we're going to go ahead and secure the first piece on three sides.
The condition of the concrete floor can affect how you glue down the vinyl.
Moisture and the chemical curing agents can affect the glue.
We don't have these problems, so we can go ahead and use this adhesive.
We peel back the flooring and spread the adhesive out on the concrete.
This little applicator combs out the proper amount.
We need to strip about three inches wide all along the wall.
We fold the floor back down along the wall and use this roller to set it firmly on the
adhesive.
If there's a small gap between the flooring and the wall, that's okay.
There will be baseboard to cover this.
We secure the other two sides the same way.
When we attached the first side, we didn't glue the last foot or so in from the corners.
You can see now that that means we can peel back the next side and apply glue along this
edge.
Now we're ready for our second piece.
We've already trimmed one edge so that it matches with our first piece.
Now we have to align the pattern, and then we'll trim it to fit the space.
We slide the piece until the lines match up.
Then we make a small mark across both pieces.
Now we pull out the new piece and measure the area of bare floor, taking our dimensions
off the mark on the first piece.
Then we transfer the measurements to the new piece.
A sharp utility knife cuts through the vinyl pretty well.
Then we go ahead and glue the seam and around all four sides of the new piece and around
the utility drain.
Finally, we put the toe kicks back at the bottom of the cabinets and baseboard around
the rest of the walls.
When we installed the mechanical systems, we roughed in those parts that go inside the
wall.
Now we're ready to do what's called a trim out, where we install the fixtures.
For the heating system, it's really pretty straightforward.
It's just a matter of putting on a few register covers.
For the plumbing fixtures, the trim out isn't quite as simple.
For instance, the sinks have to be assembled before they can be installed.
This varies between brands, but on this particular unit, the handle and the faucet are installed
as one unit.
There are also short, soft copper pipes coming out of the bottom of the valves.
Before I set the sink in the opening, I prepare the stubbed out ends of the supply and drain
pipes.
With the water turned off, I cut off the ends of the supply lines.
Then I install two shutoff valves.
Finally, a threaded PVC collar gets glued onto the end of the drain pipe.
I used plumber's putty to help seal the faucet and drains to the basin.
You also use this to set the sink onto the tile countertop.
You roll the putty out into a snake and place it all around the edge of the opening in the
counter.
Then you place the sink into the opening of the countertop.
Pressing the sink down seals up around the edge, and the putty fills in any gaps between
the sink and the irregular surface of the tile.
Then you just peel away the excess putty around the sink.
The connections between the plumbing fixtures and the pipes stubbed out from the walls require
a couple different types of pipes and connectors.
We'll start by installing the copper supply tubes.
We have to cut these tubes to the proper length, so I temporarily connect the top of the tube
to the faucet.
Now, this is soft copper pipe, so it can bend a little to meet the shutoff valve.
Once I've got it bent, I mark it for length.
Then I take it out and cut it.
Before I put it back, I slip a threaded collar and a small sleeve over the end.
This makes up what's called a compression fitting.
When I reattach the supply tube, I screw the collar down over the shutoff valve.
The small sleeve squeezes into the soft copper tube and makes a watertight connection.
And finally, I tighten down all the connections with a wrench and repeat the procedure for
both supply tubes for both sinks.
Now we're ready to make the connections for the drain waste vent system.
Running between the drain on the sink and the pipes coming out of the wall is this trap
assembly.
The trap assembly has compression fittings on both ends.
The compression fittings allow us to position all the pieces before we tighten everything
in place.
With plastic compression fittings, you just get them hand tight.
Wrenches aren't necessary.
Okay, Joe, they're both hooked up.
Is the water on?
All right.
The installation of the toilet is a little easier in some ways.
The trap is already built into the base and there's only one supply line to hook up, cold
water.
We put a wax ring and plumber's putty on the bottom of the unit and set it in place.
Setting these nuts on the base holds the toilet down.
The cold water connection is just like the sink supply connections with one copper feed
tube.
So you just about all set there?
Yeah, pretty much.
How's the shower coming there?
Yeah, pretty good.
The handles and the escutcheons just screwed on.
Now I just have to unscrew this short piece of galvanized pipe and then screw in the shower
head.
Okay, our last trim out is for the electrical.
I'll take the outlets.
How's that?
All right.
Now if you've done your work properly, you shouldn't have too many options at this point.
Like here at the switch box, there should only be two loose wires left in the box.
And these are the two wires we attached to the terminals of the switch.
Once the ends are stripped back, I put a hook in the end of each.
This hook goes around the terminal screw in a clockwise direction.
As the screw gets tightened, this pulls the wire in, making the connection even tighter.
Wall outlet connections are probably the most common type of connections you can make.
Usually power comes in on one set of lines and then travels out to other outlets on another
set of lines.
But you still need to get power to the outlet.
And for that, there are short leads called pigtails that connect to the hot, neutral,
and ground terminals.
And on many outlets, you can make use of quick connect terminals where you can insert the
lead into a small hole.
This holds the wire and makes the connection without using a screw terminal.
For lights, the procedure will vary between brands and models.
For this light, we'll be installing a fixture strap that attaches to the sealing box.
The system ground wire attaches to a screw on the fixture strap.
Then I make the connections for the hot and neutral conductors.
A threaded rod with a nut on it secures the fixture in the fiberglass insulation above
it to the box.
Then the trim and glass are secured to finish the job.
Once all the connections were made for every circuit, it was time to wire the new circuits
into the service panel.
This meant installing new circuit breakers, running cables into the panel, and then connecting
the cables to the breakers.
We don't recommend that you do it yourself or tackle this kind of work.
It can be very dangerous for you and for your house.
So we had a professional electrician make these last connections for us.
All right.
Now the last job we have to do down here is install the hardware.
Now this is a different type of carpentry than we've done before, and it requires a
fairly delicate touch.
If we make any mistakes here, we can't cover them up with paint or putty.
I've brought out a set of chisels to mortise out the edge of the door.
The door itself comes with holes drilled out for the lock set.
Once the door is prepared, I insert the bolt assembly into the edge of the door.
And the lock set itself goes in the larger hole.
This screws down from both sides.
With these pre-hung doors, the strike plate has already been mounted into the side of
the jam, so there's not much more to the job.
We hope this videotape will help you give you an idea of what's involved in a basement
project like this.
Just remember, we had to skip some of the details of some of the steps.
We wanted you to see what type of work is involved.
Decide if you want to take on a project like this, and then decide which parts of the project
you feel most comfortable doing yourself.
All basement projects are different.
They all have different problems.
So you'll have to rely a little bit on your common sense to help get you through some
of these.
And we hope if you have any specific questions, you'll refer to other Home Time tapes.
I'm Joanne Liebler.
And I'm Dean Johnson.
Thanks for watching.
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The National Home Time PBS Series is made possible by The Stanley Works.
Since 1843, Stanley's been committed to building quality tools and other products to help you
do things right.