Basement Build Log - Part 6

The bar half wall is in. This took me about 4 hours today. Yes, it took me 4 hours to put up one 42" tall, 62" long wall. I took my time, staggered braces between the studs, screwed the footer into the concrete with eight 2-3/4" inch concrete anchors, and then strengthened the structure with a 1/2" piece of plywood on the front. (Actual pictures below.) All said and done, the wall has about 1/4" of play in it, which is much better than I was hoping for. (Plus I have leftover 1/2" plywood to make the header to cripple a few studs under the stairs later.)

I also mounted the bath fan and ran 95% of the ductwork for it. Everything's run except for the last few feet to actually get it outside. I'll do that some time later. Lowe's didn't have a satisfactory exterior vent... at least not in stock. And seeing as how I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep today I didn't feel like working outside anyway.

Also had 3 separate electricians scheduled to come out to give me estimates on just running the supply cable from the main panel to the new subpanel. One guy already called back with his "worst-case scenario" estimate. Another guy said he would call tonight or tomorrow. The 3rd
guy didn't show, I called and he had the "Monday of all Mondays" and was running way behind, so he'll be coming out tomorrow. About par for the course with contractors.

BTW, good rule of thumb for dealing with contractors: if they give you a "worst-case scenario" quote and then tell you that it "could well be $100 less"... plan on paying the worst-case scenario price because that's what you're going to get charged.

The guy that hasn't called back yet was very honest and forthcoming with information. He was very helpful. If he comes back at a reasonable price, I'll probably be hiring him for the job.



The New Electric Layout

Just a few minor changes here. I decided to put the ciling outlet (for the projector) onto the same circuit as the media cabinet. It'll save me cable, prevent me running cable in the wall I just insulated and it just makes more sense that way anyway.




The New Switch Layout

Just a couple minor changes here as well. I added a switch over the sink. Just in case code ever changes and I am allowed to put a garbage disposal on the sink. I also moved the 2nd switch for the office to be on the other side of the wall from the 1st one (just outside the office).... instead of on the other side of the closet wall (just inside the office).



The Media Cabinet Shelves

And here's what I was working on for about 3 hours from 2am to 5am this morning while I couldn't sleep... just the plans, I haven't even purchased the materials for it yet. The picture above is a side panel of the cabinet interior.

- I'm going to move the top of the media cabinet up about a foot and make the cabinet 5' tall. Both sides will have 3 outlets in them; 1 top, 1 middle, 1 bottom. Those are indicated in blue.
- The blocks at the top represent stud locations on the right side (looking in) and the blocks at the bottom represent the stud locations on the left side. The left most stud on the bottom isn't actually in yet, as I'm out of lumber atm.
- The dark gray vertical bars (without dots) on the outermost studs shows where the cabinet wall will be screwed into the studs.
- The light gray vertical bars, with dots, represent the horizontal location of the vertical line of holes for the shelf pins.
- The dark brown vertical strip on the far left is just a reminder that the back panel of the cabinet will sit behind the sides.
- The dark brown vertical strip just to the right of the other one is a stopper strip. It'll be about 1/2" or maybe 1" wide and will serve as a guide for where the back of the shelves should be.
- The dark brown horizontal strip near the top represents a shelf. The back of the shelf ends at the stopper and leaves about 2" of spaces behind the shelves to run cables. The front leaves about 1" of space to give me room to figure out some sort of door system later if I want to.
- Still need to work out where the other outlets will be: network, cable, etc.

Tomorrow

I need to mount the can lights and run some more cable to get ready for Mike coming up Saturday to hook things up. Also need to get the supplies for Saturday (outlets, switches, etc).


I Knew I'd Forget 'Em
And I did... and now: I can't seem to find the USB cable to get the pics off my camera. Will have to wait for another day on the actual pics.