Framing the Argument

Okay, not so much the argument as the basement. I've been mucking around in my spare time framing a wall here and there with the kids. I do all the cutting in the garage. I can't bring myself to move the saw into the basement because of the sawdust generated -- I figure with such a small basement to frame, the time spent walking with wood is negligible. I measure out a wall, draw it out indicating the heights of each stud and top/bottom plates, and then go to the garage. After cutting all the wood, I carry it downstairs, assemble the wall using my framing nailer and air compressor, and stand it up into place. This isn't really more time than it would take if I had carried the wood downstairs at the beginning.

Looking straight into the storage room.

To begin, I extended the wall from the bathroom out to the stairs. This frames out the storage room. 

The bathroom (on the left) and the storage room (straight ahead). 

The view from the stairs straight down into the bathroom.

This week I have time off work for February Break, so I am going to try to finish framing the walls and bulkheads. I am also going to try to put together an order for the majority of the supplies for the rest of the project. I have a commercial account at Lowe's, and orders over $2500 are discounted up to 20%. So far, we have picked out our bathtub/shower, flooring (LVT - more on that later),  and suspended ceiling. That should hit the $2500 threshold easily.

Yesterday, I took the kids downstairs and we hung a few electrical boxes. Norah, now 5, marked the 46" height for the light switches (she knows to mark the X above the line) and the 12" height for the plugs. Nolan (who will be 3 in a few months) picked out the screws I needed, hit studs and the plumbing rough-in with a hammer, and shone the flashlight. Wherever he wanted. He did, however, today proudly tell our friends who came over, that "We build a wall!" and took them downstairs to show off. His tour was cut short when he was distracted by a soccer ball. I am excited to see what they think of the progress this week!