My Winter Construction Project

In order to make room for our expanding family (due to arrive in July), I spent much of my free time this winter building a new office and family/play room in our unfinished basement. Although this is the second time I've undertaken a project such as this, it's always a learning experience and full of elements that I really enjoy as well as those that I couldn't wait to be done with. In almost all cases, I stand by the motto that I refuse to pay someone to do something that I'm perfectly (or somewhat) qualified to do myself...sanding drywall may become my sole exception to that rule in the future. Anyways, I'm extremely glad to be all done with the project and think it turned out fantastic. I wish it would be possible to incorporate a wood burner in this space, but unfortunately that's not in the cards.

Thanks, guys. I don't have any before pictures handy, but it was just your basic basement - block walls (since it's a walk-out, part of it is wood framed which had drywall), concrete floor, exposed joists, pipes, ducts, etc.

vinny11950 said:

Really nice work, Brant.

Did you have to do any waterproofing/moisture control first?

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Thanks, Vinny. No, I didn't do any additional waterproofing measures. We had the house built in 2010 and I can recall one point since then that a very slight dampness showed up in the bottom course of block, in one corner. The basement has exterior drain tile and some type of tar waterproofer was applied to the outside of the block.

That said, I used pressure treated for the bottom plate (in contact with cement floor) and a vinyl tile flooring that could be used in a swimming pool, if you wanted.