Ann and Bryan’s basement is becoming a rec room and home office.
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We first met Rob and Sarah while renovating their bathroom in 2015. They asked us back to renovate their basement.
Rob and Sarah’s basement day 1: File this under shocking things we see. That I-beam is holding up the house. Not the best spot to cut an opening for a door.
Day 5: Framing almost finished. Dricore done. Electrical done (Salter Electrical). Plumbers are coming on Monday (Penta Plumbing) and spray foam insulation crew (O’Reilly Brothers) is coming on Tuesday.
Day 10: Turning that awkward support post into an area for symmetrical built-in shelves.
Oh YUM. Thanks Rob and Sarah!
Day 19: tiled the bathroom shower with 12″ x 24″ Pasha Collection tiles from Home Depot.
Day 20: Drop ceiling the clients purchased from Costco.
Day 22: hidden electrical panel and shoe storage.
Day 23: The basement is finished!
That moment when you know you are really REALLY going to like this client.
Day 1: Demolishing the old basement was a family-friendly event.
Day 1: the demolished basement.
Day 12: Framing, electrical, plumbing rough-in, and spray foam insulation are complete. Just waiting for drywall to be delivered.
Homemade fudge!!! Thanks Michelle and Bert.
Day 16: And then there was a bathroom! Drywall, tub, plumbing and all.
Clients who bake for us are EVERYTHING.
Thanks Michelle and Bert!
Day 20: Sanding drywall all morning and we’re only two thirds done. Can’t feel my shoulders.
Day 23: The walls are painted and it’s starting to look like a finished space. Next we’ll be laying the heated flooring and tile in the new bathroom.
The walls are painted Benjamin Moore “Edgecomb Gray”.
Day 24: Ditra Heat system installed on the bathroom floor. Now we tile.
Day 25: Shower tile under way. 3×12 subway with Ardesia mosaic.
Day 29: Chalet laminate from Alexanian going in.
Day 34: Finishing touches. Bi-fold doors for the under-stair storage and the laundry-craft room.
Day 37: finished bathroom!
Finished basement!
These are possibly my favourite before pictures EVER.
Bathroom before:
Basement before:
Day 9: The self-levelling compound, Dricore floor, framing and drywalling is done. Today is the final day of drywall mudding. Tomorrow we sand the walls. So basically an epic shoulder workout.
Day 10: Sand Dune Pebble mosaic tile on the shower base.
Day 12: Laying laminate floor.
Day 13: Venetian Stone wall tile being installed in the shower.
The basement is done!
Sue and Benoit wanted their renovated basement to include an office and family area, which would include a music area. They are also big fans of barn board and live-edge wood, which we were able to use throughout the space.
Day 1: Dricore laid on entire 600 sq ft floor.
Day 1: Dricore laid on entire 600 sq ft floor.
We ALWAYS appreciate home-baked goods. Sue thoroughly spoiled us.
(Not to mentioned their helpful pre-planning and drawing of the space.)
By day 10 the electrical, framing, drywall and mudding was done.
Day 10 by the numbers: 54 sheets of drywall, 500 feet of tape, 2 buckets of mud, and 176 feet of metal corner bead.
Sue and Benoit’s basement renovation day 12: Three and a half hours of constant sanding. Shoulder workout anyone?
Day 13: Homemade zucchini bread with lemon drizzle. Thanks Sue!!
Day 15: The walls and ceiling are painted, and the laminate floor is going down. The floor is Grey Oak from the Timeless range.
day 16: Built closet doors this morning from the reclaimed barn board from KJP Select Hardwoods.
When you finish a reno, it’s Friday, and your happy clients give you beer and baked goods.
And the basement is done! Sue and Benoit were kind enough to send these photos once they’d set up the basement. Enjoy!
Alex and Janine recently moved to Ottawa. We worked on their plans long-distance and it all came together so well.
Ripley looooooves to play tug with his octopus. (We started a new bathroom and kitchenette reno this week, but know you’d much rather see pictures of the dog than an empty space.)
Day four: We’ve created a basement bathroom where there wasn’t one. Brought in licensed plumbers and electricians. Next up is the city inspection (which we always pass).
Day 4: Basement kitchenette where there was previously a blank space.
You will give me the banana, Don.
Basement bathroom day 9: Floor tiles are going down. 12×24 “enigma” tiles from Home Depot. Paint is ‘Frozen Pond’ by Behr.
Basement reno day 11: Subway tile installed for the kitchenette backsplash. The basement will be finished this week.
Day 14: Alex and Janine’s basement renovation is done!
Day 14: Alex and Janine’s basement renovation is done!
Stephanie and Todd have two children and wanted 850q ft of the basement in their Orleans home renovated as a family area, play area, separate gym room and storage room. A bathroom was also framed for a future renovation.
Day 1: Exterior walls were already framed. We got to work framing the interior walls for a gym, family room, furnace room, storage room and future bathroom.
Day 5: Basement renovation walls are framed, drywalled, mudded and sanded.
Many buckets of drywall mud for all the new basement walls.
West Coast Grey going on the basement walls.
Day 15: Homeowners chose an Ikea TV unit and ‘Sassy Stone’ from Home Depot for the entertainment area.
Completed entertainment area with corner shelves and recessed lights to highlight the stone.
Day 17: Completed gym area with closet and laminate floor in “Autumn Hickory” from Home Depot.
Orleans basement renovation complete!
Rick is adding a 6.5′ x 6.5′ 3-piece bathroom to his basement… in place of his current tiki bar.
Before: Tiki bar. Who needs to go south when you have this in your basement?
Day 1: The tiki bar is gone. We’re breaking up the concrete to create channels for the new bathroom drainage.
Day 5: Dricore is laid, leaving the plumbing exposed. Next we’ll frame the room.
Day 5: Framing is complete for this bathroom in the basement.
Day 8: A layer of sound insulation followed by two layers of drywall and the first coat of drywall. And, the shower wall system, chosen by the homeowner, is installed.
Day 10: Drywall sanding and priming complete, ceiling painted twice in white, one coat of Martha Stewart ‘Hydrangea’ on the walls AND floor tiles laid. Grouting on Monday.
Really looking forward to having a light in here.
Day 12. Everything is installed and Donald is caulking the shower. Just paint touch ups to do and a good clean.
Day 12: Vanity is installed.
Day 13: Great tile choice.
Day 13: The bathroom is complete.
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| Day 1: Basement ‘before’. |
This morning we started renovating Belinda and Ron’s basement in Orleans. We were recommended to the couple by Sylvie and Ed, whose basement we renovated last year.
We’re renovating a 520 sq. ft. L-shaped section of basement, while the other half is already used for laundry.
The renovated section will be used for an entertainment area. hobby desk and workout space.
Day 1: First up is demolition, which went so smoothly that we were framing by 1 p.m.
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| Day 1, 1 p.m.: Demolition done. Bringing in 2x4s for framing. |
Day 2: We finished framing, then self-levelling compound was spread over uneven floor areas, followed by 156 sheets of Dricore subfloor.
Day 4: 38 ten-foot-long sheets of drywall were delivered. At the end of the day, all of the framing is complete, the insulation and vapour barrier is in place and most of the ceiling has drywall installed. Belinda sent a very nice email tonight:
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| Day 5: Ceiling, all bulkheads and partial wall drywall done. |
Day 5: Ceiling, all bulkheads and partial-wall drywall done. Now we’re leaving the client’s home like you should for the weekend: tidy.
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| Day 9: Drywalling and mudding done. |
And then….
Day 20: Renovation done!
We are enjoying our new basement! We are slowly setting up the spaces and make many (many) trips up and down the stairs.
The stairs are fabulous! I think, at this point, they are my favourite part. We had so many discussions about them and my ‘idea book’ was over-full of photo-options. They really work and are even ‘elegant’. Plus, you equalized the riser height so no one trips at the top any more!
Thanks to you and Don, for all the good work and attention to detail.
Belinda
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| Day 20: Belinda and Ron in their finished basement. (Um… I’m better with a drill than a camera, sorry) |
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| Day 20: Basement renovation complete. |
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| Day 1. Before. |
Bernie and Pat’s children are grown up, so the couple are renovating their 1,500 sq ft Nepean basement in preparation to sell the home.
For the past four years I’ve volunteered at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre Christmas tree sale. Bernie volunteers on the Christmas Tree Sale committee and that’s how we met.
The basement ceilings are 8-feet high. A drywalled basement ceiling needs to be 6’11” to meet code.
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| Day 2: Framing around ceiling ducts and pipes. |
Day 1: We’re starting Bernie’s basement renovation. Exterior walls are already finished. We’ll be creating a storage room, gym and living area.
Day 2: We’re strapping and framing the ceiling. The pipes, ducts and I-beam paths call for a two-level bulkhead.
Ceiling strapping is usually done with 1x3s, but to keep the ceiling as high as possible and avoid the gas and water pipes when screwing in drywall, we used 2x3s instead. 60 2x3s were used.
Reminds me up the multi-level ceiling we did in Drew and Lisa’s Westboro basement.
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| Day 4: created storage room with wide doorway. |
Day 4: Framing and strapping complete. We’ve framed the storage room, main plumbing stack and all seven bulkheads. The storage room doorway is 36″ wide so they can get larger items in.
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| Day 6: hanging drywall. You can see three ceiling heights in this picture. |
Day 6: 48 sheets of 4’x8′ drywall were delivered yesterday for the walls and ceiling. Larger sheets wouldn’t fit down the basement stairs. We rented a lift to help with the ceiling pieces.
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Day 8: installing 260 feet of metal corner bead and
200 feet of mesh tape.
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Day 8: Installing a whopping 450 feet of paper tape, 260 feet of metal corner bead and 200 feet of mesh tape. That easily beats our previous record of 400 feet of corner tape in Drew and and Lisa’s Westboro basement.
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| Day 10: all seams and corners are mudded. |
Day 10: With all of those edges and seams, you can imagine how much mudding is going on.
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| Day 12. And then we sanded. |
Day 12: And then we sanded.
A few words from Bernie:
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| Completed Basement. |
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| Completed basement |
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| Completed basement. This shelving unit covers pipes. |