Week#24 - Odds and Ends

Good morning everyone,

This will be my second last blog in the Basement Recroom renovation.  I will blog next when we get our furniture.  Last week I spent most mornings varnishing the Bostonian pine door. It took about 5 hours. Yesterday I finished putting up trims, mouldings and baseboards around that door. Below is the Bostonian door with all the trims. I was able to add a moulding to the top of the door.

Door

I also took the buck saw apart, primed it and then painted it. The wood parts will be brown in colour and the metal parts black. You can see the buck saw below.

Buck Saw

I also took my great grandfather's saw apart. Yesterday I used my lathe to build two handles out of oak.  The handles have been covered with Danish oil and will be varnished prior to being put up on the wall. The next pictures shows the saw and the handles.

Dad's Saw

We should be receiving our furniture for our recroom in 4 to 5 weeks. This week I plan on starting to work on our next project. The kitchen renovations.  The next link is the one for our new blog:

http://kitchenrenovations2011.blogspot.com/

This week I will take the workbench in my shop apart. My plan is to move my kitchen cabinets to my shop.

Week#23 - Bostonian Door and Mouldings

We had an awesome party for dad 80^th birthday. Didn't get much work done last Saturday but made up for lost time this week. We decided to wait until I start my parental leave to start moving stuff around. So for now the office stays in the basement.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been busy working on the mouldings and trims. For the most part I am finished with that part of the project. Today I installed our Bostonian pine door. As you can see in the next picture, it looks very nice. I'm going to try to find something to put over top of the door.

Bostonian Door

Next week I will hopefully get the door varnished. I'm also working on the buck saw I bought off of eBay.  I took it apart and started sanding it. I was hoping that the wood would look nicer but from what I can figure out it was left outside and the wood is quite stained from being out in the rain.  I'm thinking I will have to paint it instead of varnishing it. The next pictures show the buck saw.

Buck Saw

This morning I tried painting a piece of pine with Tremclad paint to see if it will stick to wood.  If it works I will paint the buck saw brown, the same brown I used for the wood chute and the metal parts I will paint black. Dad gave me an old saw that belonged to my great grand-father. It measure about 5 feet in length.  I plan on turning two oak handles for it as one is missing and the other looks very plain. These two saws will be put up on the West wall.

Week#22 - Linoleum Floor

Hello everyone,

Last week we got our linoleum floor installed, it is absolutely gorgeous. As you can see by the picture below, it makes the room look very different.

New linoleum

I was also able to install most of my trims, mouldings and baseboards.  We are still waiting for our Bostonian pine door to come in. Unfortunately it's on a special order and it may take a few more weeks before we receive it. 

My brother Rhéal gave me a hand with bringing in the wood cart. We had to remove the railing in order to bring it in because it was too wide. That puppy was heavy. Can't wait to get the buck saw and put it on. The next couple of pictures are of the cart. It look very nice.

Cart

Next week we are having dad's party so probably won't get much done. This project is almost completed. Next week I plan on moving my office upstairs in the shop recroom and clean my shop for dad's party.

Week#21 - Trims and Mouldings

Good morning everyone,

I'm back at work and do not have as much time to work on my project. I spent most of the day yesterday working on my recroom. We decided that we would remove our mahogany door and replace it by a bostonian pine door. Unfortunately the door measures 26" and its a special order which means it will costs more and will take about 6 weeks to arrive. The old door is off now and I'm waiting for the pine door to come in. Below you will find a picture of the hole in the wall without the door.

Door Off

Yesterday I was able to install the trims and mouldings that do not touch the floor.  I'm waiting for the contractor to install the vinyl flooring prior to install those trims and mouldings. This week I plan on varnishing the baseboards and the remaining trims and mouldings.

Below you will find a picture of the floor as it is now. Hopefully next week I will be able to take a picture of our new floor.

Floor

Next weekend I have to clean my shop for dad's party so I probably won't get much work done.

Week#20 - Cart and Chute

Hello everyone,

The girls and I had an absolutely great trip at Wonderland last week.  It was back to work on our recroom this week and I got a lot done. I installed the chute as well as the door that covers it. Below are a couple of pictures of the chute and door.

Chute

I also built a cart that will hold the wood coming in from the chute. I finished varnishing the doors this morning.  The surprising thing about this cart is how heavy it is. I'm not looking forward to bringing it downstairs. Below you will find pictures of the cart.

Cart

So what is left in this project? I need to add the mouldings to the cart, to the walls and put in a new door to the cold storage area.  Tomorrow someone is supposed to come in to look at our floor and suggest a new type of flooring.

Yesterday I purchased an antique buck saw on EBay that I will put on the front of the cart.  I also need add some mouldings to the cart. Tomorrow I'm going back to work for 6 weeks. I then plan on taking a parental leave until Christmas. During that time we hope to renovate our kitchen.  I guess I will have to startup a new blog.

Week#19 - Finished Tiles

Good morning everyone,

The girls and I had an awesome time at Wonderland this week but now it's back to reality with only one week of holidays left and a lot of work to complete before going back to school.

Below you will find a picture of the ceiling with the tiles installed. We painted the mouldings brown in colour which adds an accent to the tiles. We are very pleased with the results.

Completed Ceiling Tiles


Next week I will install a wood chute in the south wall. Below you will  find a drawing of what I hope the final product will look like.

Chute Drawing

Week#18 - Varnishing (completed)

Hello everyone,

Hope that you are enjoying summer as much as we are.  This week I hope to start working on the ceiling.  Last week I was able to complete varnishing the walls. I applied three coats and I was lucky to get Alex's help for a while.

Third Coat

The remaining 3 faux beams are installed and look great.

Faux Beams

I was also able to start working on the drop ceiling mouldings.  We decided to paint them brown in colour so that we would have a contrast between the tiles which are white and the mouldings. Tonight Louise and I are heading to Sudbury to buy the drop ceiling tiles. The next pictures shows the ceiling as it stands at the moment.

Ceiling w/o Tiles

Next week I'm spending a couple of days at Wonderland with Jacynthe and Jasmine so I probably will not have much time to work on this project. Looking forward to updating you next week.

Week#17 - Varnishing

Good morning everyone,
It has been a busy past few days. Last weekend we had our family reunion. I was hoping to bring Adrien to CHEO for a follow-up appointment but we did not make it back because we had some mechanical difficulties with our van. So I now have to head back to Ottawa on Friday for the appointment. Next weekend we have another family reunion.
This week I am planning to focus on varnishing the recroom. I'm planning to give 3 coats of varnish to the walls. The next picture shows the walls after the first coat of varnish.



Vanish - First Coat

The next picture shows the recroom with the second coat of varnish on. I can finally see a bit of a shine. I should be able to finish varnishing early next week.

Varnish - Second Coat

Week#16 - Knotty Pine (completed)

Good morning everyone,

I finally finished putting up the knotty pine in our recroom.  Unfortunately this week I haven't done much work in the recroom because we are getting ready for our Paquette family reunion.  In addition I'm off to CHEO with Adrien today and only coming back tomorrow night. At least I got my shop cleaned up.

I finished building the remaining 3 faux beam pieces. I've put danish oil on them and waiting the required 72 hours before varnishing them. The next picture shows where the beams are going to be mounted.

Missing Beams

Before I leave for Ottawa today I hope to finish putting up the wood filler on the nails. The next picture shows the recroom as it stands at this point.



Finished Walls

Next week I hope to varnish all of the walls and the faux beams. Alex might help me as he enjoys varnishing. Have a great end of week.

Week#15 - Day 3

Good morning everyone,


At first I was going to blog everyday but I decided that it takes too much time for me to write my blog and I want to do other things in the morning such as program in VBA. So I will blog once or twice each week.


Over the past couple of days I finished putting up the knotty pine in the corner of the West and North walls. It took at while because there was a lot of cutting and fiddling around. I also finished putting up pine on the South wall beside the woodstove. I have about one third of the East wall covered with pine.  I hope to finish putting up the pine on this wall by the end of the day today.  I have two more receptacles to cover and those take a bit more time.


I hope to finish putting up pine by the end of the week. Early next week I will build the remaining three faux beams. We plan on using the shop for a couple of family reunions over the next two weekends. If I can get most of the cutting done I won't have to clean it again for the second family reunion. The shop is an absolute mess right now as we haven't cleaned it in over a year. 

Once the shop is cleaned I plan on varnishing which will take 4 or 5 days. I will varnish all the trims prior to putting them up.  Once the varnishing is done I will put up the remaining faux beams and then work on the drop ceiling.


Below you will find a few pictures of the walls that I'm working on at the moment. Hopefully in my next blog I will be done with putting up the knotty pine.

Knotty Pine


Next week I need to bring Adrien to CHEO on Friday and plan to leave for Ottawa the day before to visit a friend of mine so I will not have much time to work on my recroom. We will probably spend one day cleaning up the shop.

Week#15 - Day 1 - Taking Off the Drywall

Good morning everyone,

I haven't blogged in almost 3 months because I haven't done much work on our recroom lately.

I'm finally on vacation and plan to finish this project by the end of my 6 week holiday. I have the following tasks to complete:

1. finish putting up the knotty pine
2. varnish the pine
3. varnish and put up the trim (corners, baseboards etc.)
4. finish building the faux beams
5. put up the drop ceiling
6. change the flooring
7. build a hole to bring in wood
8. building a cart to put wood in

Yesterday I removed the remaining drywall on the east and south wall. As you can see I made quite a mess. Below you will see some pictures of the job.

Drywall Mess

I also added a third receptacle on the East wall. Today I will work on putting up the remaining pine. I figure this will take two days.

Week#14 - Putting Up White Pine

Good morning everyone,

It has been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. We are back together as a family. Louise is home with Julianne and we have been busy. Below you will find some pictures of the recroom as of this morning. I worked about 3 hours yesterday. I might get some more done tomorrow as it's Easter Monday.

Recroom

Once again putting up the pine is pretty straightforward with the exception of the receptacles. I'm taking a week of holidays in about 3 weeks. I hope to have most of the pine up by then so that I can finish the beams and start working on the drop ceiling.

Close up



Week#13 - North Wall

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday I finally finished putting up the knotty pine on the North wall. The whole process was pretty straightforward. The only tricky part was the vacuum outlet which only had about a 1/8" clearance for the plate.  The next picture shows the start of the work.

North Wall

I used 16 pieces of 16' of knotty pine. Most of it was in good shape. I think I will have to buy some more because I only have 23 pieces left and have a lot of work to do still. The next 4 pictures show the recroom as it is at the moment.

Well that is it for this week.  I do not think I will get much done next week as we have a baptism and a birthday party to go to.

Finished North Wall



Week#12 - Electrical

Good morning everyone,

I didn't do much work in the past couple of weeks. I guess I'm tired and I'd rather take it easy because I tend to do a better job when I'm rested. The picture below shows the recroom as it stand this morning. As you can see we took down most of the drywall on the North and West walls.


Recroom so far

We spend the better part of three days connecting the new electrical circuit. I added 7 receptacles, four in the recroom, two in the weight room and one in the furnace room. The one in the furnace room will be used for our central vacuum. The pot lamps in the beams are also functional.  They add a nice atmosphere to our room. The picture below shows the new circuit along with the connections for each receptacle and switch.

Electrical stuff

Everything is now connected and in working order. I ran into some problems when I tried to connect an electronic dimmer to a regular 3 ways switch. I didn't realize that if you use electronic dimmers you cannot hook them up to regular 3 ways switches. This mistake cost me a new switch as I burned the circuit in my electronic switch.

The next step in this project is to continue removing the drywall on the bottom part of the South and East walls and then start putting up the knotty pine on the North wall. Hope everyone has a great week.

Week#11 - A Week Off

Good morning everyone,

This week the blog will be short as we did not work on our recroom yesterday.  We had a snow storm and we decided to spend the afternoon playing outside in the snow.

I'm looking forward to spending the March Break working on the recroom.  I'm debating whether or not to fix our floor. Right now it is sagging about an inch in the middle of the room. I will speak to a friend of mine at work and see what he thinks about this. I'm also thinking about asking a builder in town to come in and give me his impression on how hard it would be to fix this problem. Have a great week everyone.

Week#10 - Installing Receptacles

Good morning everyone,

This week we started to uncover the screws on the drywall of the West wall. Just like the North wall, the West wall will be covered in knotty pine. Alex is taking care of finding the screws and uncovering them. The next picture shows his work so far.

West Wall

I started to work on our new electrical circuit. This new circuit will contain 5 receptacles and the potlights that are located in the beams. The next diagram shows the layout of the circuit. We are adding 4 receptacles to our recroom as well as potlamps that will be controlled by a 3-way switch with a dimmer. The circuit will also contain a receptacle for our new central vacuum in the furnace room.



New Circuit

I installed 4 new receptacles on the North wall, one of which is located in the furnace room and will be used to connect the central vacuum. The next diagram shows three of the new receptacles.

Receptacles

I also added a 2" x 4" in the middle of the North Wall.  This 2" x 4" is used to hold a receptacle and will be the meeting place for the knotty pine wall. I plan on putting the knotty pine on a 45° angle and will meet in the middle of the wall. It will have a similar look to the South wall in our recroom in the shop.

Next week I hope to start working on connecting the potlamps together. I'm not sure if I will have to use BX wire because these types of lamps tend to get quite hot. We can hopefully start to take some of the drywall off.

Week#9 - Installing a Central Vacuum

Good morning,

This week we worked on installing our central vacuum.  We would have finished the job if I did not cut my finger. I ended up going to the hospital and needing four stiches.  I guess that's what happens when you try to go to fast. I was hoping to finish and spend some time in the sauna and now I have to stay out of the sauna for one week. The next picture shows the 'slice'





Finger

  I hope to finish the job tomorrow. I need to glue three more joints, connect the downstaires pipe and the low voltage wire.  The connection upstairs works and the vacuum seems to work fine. My brother Oliver helped me out in planning the location of the pipes which saved me a lot of work.  The upstairs pipe goes through the cold air exchange vent in the furnace.  I had to cut a piece of drywall in the closet in the laundry room to get the pipe from the exchange to the wall upstairs.  The following pictures show the pipe going in the exchange, through it and then up the wall.

Upstairs

The downstairs pipe configuration is a little simpler. It starts at the vacuum, follows the wall and then through the south wall in the furnace room into the recroom. The next pictures show this.

Downstairs

I hope to finish putting up the hose holders tomorrow. Not sure where I'm going to put the one downstairs. The next step in this project is taking down the drywall on the west wall.

Week#8 - Removing Drywall (North Wall)

Good morning everyone,

It's been another busy week but I managed to work on the recroom for about 3 hours yesterday. Alex was not feeling well so he did not help me much. We still managed to take the drywall off of the North wall. The pictures below show the wall without the drywall.

North Wall

We also installed the central vac in the furnace room. I think it's a little crooked so I will have to fix that next week. The next picture shows the central vacuum in our furnace room.



Central Vacuum

 Next week I hope to start putting the piping for my central vacuum. I'm sure it will be a challenge.  I'll get Alex to starting taking down the drywall on the West wall. I hope to have all the electrical and piping before the March Break.  That way I will be able to start working on the pine walls during the break.

Week#7 - A Central Vacuum

Gpood morning everyone,

It has been a busy week and it's our second week without Louise at home. She is still in the hospital but both mom and baby are fine.

Yesterday I went to Sudbury and bought a central vacuum. I also bought my angle drill. We did not have time to work on the recroom because we came back late from Sudbury and I wanted to do some cooking.

We bought a Beam Special Edition at Sudbury Vacuum. The next picture depcits the area where the vacuum will be installed.

Furnace Room

I also want to put in a new receptacle to plug the vacuum in. This receptacle will be part of our new circuit. I will try to put up the vacuum next weekend so that Alex can start using it in the basement. I'm still not sure where I'm going to install the inlet upstairs.

Week#6 - Beams, Beams...More Beams

Good morning everyone,

It been a challenging week with Louise in the hospital and then at her mom's and aunt's for the next 7 to 10 weeks.  The kids have been fantastic and without them I do not think I would of survived.

It is the last Sunday in January already.  Time is flying by and our recroom project is moving along. Yesterday we finished putting up our last 3 beams. Alex continued working on removing the screws out of the drywall and Jacynthe helped out in putting up some beams.  The next picture shows our progress so far.




Beams Completed

 I now need to build 3 more shorter beams so that the beams will reach the north wall. This is shown in the next picture.

End of the Beams

Before I finish off the beams I need to remove the drywall and put up the knotty pine. The completion of the beams will only happen once that part of the project is completed.
We bought a central vacuum last week and I'm now trying to figure out where I'm going to put my outlets.  The basement outlet is no problem because the walls will be opened. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get an outlet upstairs with minimum damage to my walls. I have a couple of ideas.

I'm going to buy an angled drill for the job as I figure with all the renovations I need to do over the next few years, it will come in handy. Right now I'm looking at a Milwaukee which can be found at  Home Depot. I might go with something a little cheaper though.

Week#5 - Putting up The Beams

Good morning everyone,

Wow, is it ever cold out there, -36°C this morning.  Good thing we have a nice fire going in our woodstove, it is nice and toasty in our house.

We finally have started to put our beams up.  I thought it would be much harder but Alex, Jacynthe and I are able to put them up together. I thought I would have to hire someone to help me but I think we are going to be able to do it without any extra help. At the moment we have 3 beams up. This can be seen in the next picture. 


3 Beams

There is a little problem where the beams are joining each other.  They are off about 1/8", so I will have to figure something out to line them up. Not sure how I will do that yet. This can be seen in the next picture.

Problem

I'm hoping to finish putting up the beams next Saturday. I have 3 more to do. The next step in this project is to remove the drywall off the North wall.  This wall will be covered with knotty pine. I was able to figure out how we are going to remove the drywall. I used this video as my guide: Video on Removing Drywall. Alex started removing some screws yesterday and he almost has one sheet completed.

We are also planning to put in a central vacuum since we have access to behind the wall. It will make vacuuming a lot easier for the kids. Well that is all for the news for today, hope everyone has a great week.

Week#4 - Insulation

Good morning everyone,

Last week I decided to clean up my blog.  I removed all posts prior to the start of the recroom project. I figured that I'm only going to blog on the renovations that I'm actually working on.

This week I figured out how I'm going to hang my beams. I'm going to use a piece of 2" x 4" and attach it to the beam and then screw the 2" x 4" to the ceiling joist. This is shown in the next picture.

This week I fixed up the insulation and put some new duct tape on my heating ducts.  I found a toy in one of the ducts and too it apart to take it out. It was a pain to put the ducts back together. The next picture shows how the recroom looks at the moment.




No Drop Ceiling

I hope to get a couple of beams up next weekend and finish off the weekend after that.


Once I get all of my beams up I will start taking some drywall off the walls. This will give me a chance to look at the existing electricity. I'm going to be running a new circuit for the receptacles that I'm addition to the room.

Week#3 - Faux Beams

Good morning everyone,

First week back at work was a busy one. Did not have much time to work on the recroom project.  I've completed varnishing the beams and now in the process to taking down the ceiling tiles. Alex is taking part in this project and hopefully learning some useful skills.  The next picture shows a side view of one of the beams. The side are built out of oak and the bottom one quarter inch oak veneered plywood.



Beam - Side View



The next few pictures were taken in my shop as I was building the beams. I used some Danish Oil on the beams prior to varnishing them.

Beams being built in shop

Right now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to hang the beams to the ceiling.  I want to bring them down as much as I can and will probably use pieces of 2" x 4" to do this. The reason for bringing the beams down is that I want them to show as much as possible.
I started thinking about the electrical part of this project.  Each beam will have a pot light in it. I hope to attach the pot light to a 3-way switch.  I still have to figure out how to wire everything.  When I remove the drywall I should be able to figure things out.

January 2 - 8, 2011

Week#2 - Moving Things Around

Hello everyone,

I want to start off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. I know that for us it's going to be a busy one with the baby and all. Last week  I finally finished moving my office upstairs in our laundry room.  The weight room is now in my old office and the recroom is ready to be renovated.  This week I started to work on the drop ceiling part of the project.

I decided to build some faux beams and put my potlights in them. I got my idea from a drop ceiling website.  This is the picture I'm basing my design on. My beams are going to be a little bit wider (10.25").  This will leave me with 4 rows of ceiling tiles.

Inspiration Picture

The picture below depicts the beams (red lines), the location of the potlights (blue circles) in the beams and the floor joists (blue lines). It was quite a challenge to get the potlights to line up with the spaces between the joists. I still have one problem to solve because the potlight closest to the woodstove is lined up with a heating duct.

Beams and Pot Lights

I have 6 length of beams built and I'm in the process of varnishing them. This past week, I was lucky to have Alex's help. This speeded up the process of building the beams. My son is quite the little worker once I get him out there. Next week I will put up some pictures of the beams. I am returning to work this week so I will not have the same amount of time to dedicate to this project.