Basement framing part 2

Went to Lowes and picked up some bluwood studs...about  55 studs all together.  Now I'm ready to start framing the other half of the basement.

Framed the built-in book shelf, the electrical room and started the media closet.

Media Closet

Electrical Room

Built-in Bookshelf

I just have enough to frame the back wall of the work-out area and the area around the window.  Now I have to install a light for the electrical room with a switch.

Having installed a water softener system my wife has been reading that we shouldn't be cooking with or drinking soften water.  We then require a seperate "hard" water line for the fridge, filtered kitchen water, and the front and backyard lines.  So now I have to purchase some PEX line and make a connection to the main before it enter the water softener.

I think I'll make that my next project.

Sub-panel installation

planning the electrical work for the basement, I realized that I did not have enough space for all the circuits I was planning on.  I have a 200 amp service so I decided to install a sub-panel for for the basement.

I never attempted this before but I never attempted putting a drain either.

I bought a 100 amp sub-panel at home depot plus a 60 amp double pole breaker.

The panel is rated up to 100 amps but for a basement reno 100 amps is not needed.  I went with 60 amps - should get be plenty for my needs.  \The installation of the panel was straight forward.  Three screws mounted next to the main panel.

It holds a total of 8 extra full curcuits.  The difference between the main panel and the sub panel are that the sub panel does not have a"main breaker", the double pole 60 amp breaker at the main panel it what is required.  The neutral bus and the ground bus are not connected as in the main panel and cannot be!  If the subpanel had the neutral and ground connected, it must be disconnected and isolated (using platic isolation pegs)

I had to remove the 20 amp surge protector I had installed in the main panel in order to install my double pole 60 amp.  I had to go back to Home Depot and purchase a 6-3 cable (2 hot, 1 neutral and ground) which can be used as a feeder cable for 60 amps but no more.  So if I wanted to run 80 or 100 amps in the future (probably not) I would have to purchase a larger gauge cable.

The hook up was fairly straight forward.

The top 1" tab was removed and the 6 gauge cable was fed through with a metal connector in place (Home Depot did not cell the plastic 1" connectors)

 The cable was fed through and the white plastic sheath was removed and the wires exposed.

 The two "hot" wires (the red and black) were stripped about 3/4 of an inch and attached to the two legs of the panel as seen above.  The white neutral wire was attached to the isolated neutral bus seen to the right of the two legs.  The neutral attached to both neutral buses (one on the left and one on the right).  The neutral bus is bonded to the panel.  The other end of the 6 gauge wire was fed through a the 1" tab located on the right of the panel about half way down and again the sheathing removed and the wire but to length and stripped.

 The only hard part here was that the panel is almost full and navigating the 6 gauge wire (very thick) through the mess of existing wires and onto the breaker, neutral and grounding buses was a pain.

 I then installed my 20 amp double pole surge protector breaker in my new sub panel.

I flipped the breaker on and just like that I had more space for my basement circuits.  So when working on my electrical, I can turn my sub panel off without turning off the power to the whole house.

I will complete installing my 1" foam insulation to the rest of the basement before starting on finishing the framing.  Until next time....

Building doorway to playroom

Today was a hectic day.  I paid another visit to the city dump!  paid $10 for a van full of garbage and got to throw away my concrete for free (had to dump it myself).

Had to help the wife with the kids so I only got about 3.5 hours to work on the basement.

Went to home deport and purchased some things ... like a 20amp surge protector, some sconce lights, and some trims for my pot lights.

I wired up the remaining of my hallway pot light.  Easy to do with the 5" HALO pot light I bought at home depot.

The trim I bought today snaps right on.

The hallway lights are wire to the basement light located in the landing. So now I have lights at the bottom of the stairs, and in the hallway!.  Now since that's out of the way, I wanted to finish the two remaining walls of the playroom.  I decided to start with the doorway.  Made all my cut...

Hammered them into place with 3.5" spiral framing nails.

Have done some thing but have not posted anything yet. But now for more important things...like my trip to Disney with the family.  Currently in Buffalo leaving for Orlando tomorrow morning. Travelling with three kids is pretty exhausting!

Decided on a bar in basement

I know it goes against the misses wishes, but I decided to put a bar in the basement.  It's going to be right next to the kids playroom.

The bar will have a sink and running water.  Only problem, no drain.  That means that now I have to break the concrete floor, look for sewer line and tap into it.

Took a trip to Home Depot and rented myself a electric demolition hammer.  Never used one before, in fact I've never done anything like this before!  But I watch lots of DIY programs on TV so it can't be that hard.

That little hammer did away with lots of concrete.  The basement floor is only 4" thick and it took me about an hour and half of hammering.  Once I removed most of the gravel and concrete I was surprised to see that the builder had already put a Y connector and capped it!!!  So I didn't have to cut into the main line!

I just have to cut that cap off and I'm in business!!  Took a better look at the Y and did not see any glue??  I tried wiggling it and the end cap came right off - no glue was used.  Thinking maybe that this was going to be a rough in for a washroom but they decided not to put it in.  So they just capped it without any glue and poured concrete over it?! Oh well, at least I found it and I'm going to use it.

Went to Home Depot again and spoke with the plumbing guy, showed him the picture and he just picked everything for me.  I just had to pay for the stuff.  So after figuring out exactly where I wanted the drain to go, I went to work dry fitting everything.  Pain in the rear.  Sometimes it was too long, then too short but after a long while, I got it just right.

Had to use PVC glue then ABS glue and where the PVC meets the ABS, another special glue for that.  The exact placement of the drain was done the night before.  I calculated the exact placement of the 1.5" drain on the floor.  Then I used two marker done with a laser level (the cleap $19 one).  If you look at the picture above, you can see the lever marker exactly in the middle of the drain.

Now all I had to do is cover it with gravel and pour concrete!  Easier said then done.  But it got done.

Concrete was not fun!!! Now I have to keep it covered in plastic and moistened it for the next three days.

Now that this is done, I can now start in finishing the playroom.  Next time I will have a break down of what I have done so far and what I need to get done.

Clean up

Starting to clean the basement.   Lots of junk, good time to take a trip to the dump

home network

Installation of 1 Modem, 1 Router and 2 swithces.