Couches

We were browsing around at the Lazyboy Gallery just before Christmas and found this couch and loveseat set on an end of year sale. They are both reclining couches and are super comfy.

Grid Ceiling

I purchased my materials at Lowes and went with a plastic grid system vs the aluminum rails because I thought it looked a lot easier to install, and wasn't that much more expensive. I was right and it was worth it. Cutting the parts is very easy to do with standard shears. I chose Armstrong Home Style 2'x2'x1/2" Tiles. The style number was Brighton 266.

I'm not sure what I was thinking back when I framed the soffit around the duct, but I left the space for the grid ceiling at 6'-4". Oops. This would essentially leave a 1-1/4" gap on either side of three full tiles. If I installed it this way, I would have to cut twice the number of tiles and use a fourth connecter grid. That seemed like a waste of time, so I fought the urge to have everything perfectly centered and installed the grid with three full tiles starting on the back wall, leaving a single 2-1/2" gap behind the duct soffit.

After marking a level ceiling line, I installed the square angle perimeter rail using drywall screws. The main beams I ran across the space so I wouldn't have to create any joint connections along the way.

To make sure they were level I ran two strings across the length of the room located off the bottom of the perimeter rail. Then I just installed the drop wires and tied them off to length when the beam touched the string. I used the simple nail in hooks to connect the wire to. Every other cross beam lined up with a ceiling joist, so I just nailed into them for the drop wires. For the in-between locations, I put a 2x2 nailer between the joists and connected into that.

The cross bars snapped into place in the beams using a rib and detent system. The first one I didn't realize the ribs were even there... after struggling with it for a few minutes I figured it out and the rest of them snapped in easily. Once these were in place, I loaded in the ceiling tiles. Cutting the embossed tiles for the short sections was pretty irritating because you have to manually create the relief so it drops down in the grid. It was tedious, but the finished product turned out nice.

The recessed light fixtures came with tiebars that had connection hooks for drop ceiling grids. This made installation very easy. I just created the circle cutout in the tile, set it in the grid and placed the fixture over it. When I ran the lighting circuits, I put standard outlets above the locations for the lights. So I just terminated the fixture service wire to a plug so I could just plug them in after I installed them. This also makes it very easy to take them out if I ever have to.

Here's the finished product looking down the room, and from an angle. Initially, I was a little concerned with the drop ceiling looking "cheap", but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

HVAC and bouncy steps

For the HVAC, I added standard registers in the wall and tied into the main supply & return trunks. We only have a single air handler, but there was an existing register pushing air into the basement, so I wasn't too concerned about robbing air from the furthest rooms on the circuit. To start, I removed the existing register and patched up the hole in the duct board. I cut in a standard 8" take-off and ran insulated 8" diameter flex duct to a 12x6 register box. I sealed everything off with foil adhesive to ensure no leaks. I ran a single low supply so the heat would enter the room on the floor.


On the return side, I left one stud space without insulation so I could use it as my return chase. So here, I just cut into the wall space and the return trunk with 8" take-offs and connected the two with insulated flexible duct. I only opened up a single 12x6 low return so I would pull cold air off the floor in the winter. We'll see how things go this summer to determine if I need to add a high return to pull hot air off the ceiling. With the AC on in the house, the basement was always comfortable, so I may not have to bother with it.

Here's the return register...

And the supply on the other side of the room.

So far I've been pleased with the performance and the finished space stays very comfortable.

After the drywall was installed, I noticed that the steps were a little bouncy in the middle of the run. To fix this, I fastened some nailers to the wall using Tek screws and screwed the stringer to them. On the framed side, I did the same thing and tacked some nailers on the studs and tied into the strigner...... No more bouncing.

Baseboard Molding & Door

I installed standard baseboard molding around the perimeter of the room to finish off between the carpet and the walls. It was very easy to put it and I didn't have any troubles. I purchased primered composite molding and I was very happy with it. It only required one coat of paint to cover sufficiently and I had no trouble cutting clean edges with a 12" 40 tooth blade.

I planned a 36" interior door into the unfinished section of the basement and purchased it as a pre-hung assembly. I cut the door frame to length so I could screw the top to the header, which was level. Then I shimmed the hinge side square and nailed it in. Finally, I installed the door on the hinges and shimmed the jam side to even the gaps. I installed a standard interior door knob set into the pre-cut openings in the door. It shuts smoothly without binding, so I'm happy.

I finished around the door with standard door casing molding.

My miter saw and brad nailers paid off huge for this effort and made cutting the corner joints and nailing on the molding a simple task.

This was the first time I had a chance to use the brad nailers that were included in the air tool set. I'm very happy with them and they worked flawlessly.

Carpet & other stuff

After talking with some friends and family that had recently purchased carpet we ended up going to Home Depot based on their experience. They have a $199 install fee and a wide selection to choose from. We knew we would be spending a lot of time on the floor, so we were strongly considering the polyester for the softer feel even though it would "shed" for the life of the carpet. Then we found a Shaw branded Nylon product called EverTouch R2X. Basically a Nylon carpet that doesn't shed, but it feels like a softer polyester. We were sold... and it was a rapid install selection as well, so we could have it installed quickly. We ordered it on Friday 12/5, a service came and measured on the 9th, and it was installed on the 18th. The color of the carpet is Sugar Cookie... how can you not love that?

The walls got a little scuffed in spots where the installers were un-rolling the carpet. They warned us that would happen. It really isn't that bad though.... all surface marks I can either wash or paint over. I ran around last night and marked the spots with tape so I can touch them up later.








We went with a waterfall install style on the stairway.

I pre-wired for surround sound speakers, and installed screw terminal wall plates for the speaker hook ups. I used the Leviton "quick port" system. Basically they have open ports in the wall plates and you purchase clip in features depending on what you want to do.

I installed a new Kiddie AC/DC smoke detector where the old smoke detector was in the room. It's hardwired and linked in with the rest of the system. When any one detector is activated, all the other detectors sound the alarm.

Paint & Lights

The painting is done save for some touch up spots. For the wall surfaces, we chose a neutral color "distant tan" PWL-83 from the Behr White & Light collection at Home Depot. I was very happy with the paint coverage over the Kilz primer as only one finish coat was required. I used an interior eggshell finish as it hides marks much better than a flat and isn't as "shiny" as a semi-gloss. I'm going to put a short crown molding on the ceiling interface in the front side of the room, so you can see in the pics below that I just rollered up to the ceiling and didn't bother with trim work.

The previous homeowner had left a can of Duron brand paint they used on the walls and ceilings in the rest of the house. I wanted to try and match that for the ceiling, so I painted a piece of scrap drywall and when I was at home-depot picking up the wall paint, asked them to match it. They tried to match it with an eggshell and failed miserably. I'll give them the credit that they didn't require that I purchase it. I asked them to try with a flat finish, and they got close enough that I almost couldn't see the difference. I ended up using this also for the stairwell. I've always been a fan of Behr paint and after this experience, I still am.

For the trim paint, the previous homeowner had left a can of that as well, but this one had a full label. Rather that take a gamble matching at home depot again, I looked up Duron and was suprised to see they had a store right in Lancaster. I stopped in over lunch with the info and they were able to look it up and mix up an exact match on the spot. Sticking with tradition, I'm using a semigloss finish.

Here's some pictures after cleanup....

The main room has 10 6" recessed fixtures and I have one 4" fixture at the bottom of the stairs. I decided to finish these out with a standard black baffle and white trim rings. The fixtures were Halo brand, but I used Commercial Electric brand baffles as they were a few dollars cheaper each. They installed fairly easily with two extension springs engaged in slots in the recessed housing. I put in 65Watt BR30 interior floodlights to replace the standard incandescent bulbs I put in for the rough in inspection. The floodlights are great because they have a softer light and don't buzz. The 4" fixture got a 45W R20 bulb.

Primer

Arrggh.. so I found the bad primer and the good primer for this project. I was at Lowes using up a gift card and bought 2 gallons of the Valspar premium primer to put on the drywall.

It was noted to be "tintable", but most of the other brands said that as well. Maybe that was my mistake, but anyhow.. 2 gallons later, it looked like I hadn't done anything. You might not believe it, but the right side actually has a coat of this stuff on it.

I gave up at that point and went back to the Kilz primer, which was the same cost and worked great. Easy application and good coverage.