i've been over every inch of that floor and haven't found a low point yet. :fingerscrossed:

gonna bust my @$$ 2morrow and tuesday to get the sanding done and then paint before the weekend.

hoping to get the floor in this weekend and then be able to grout early next week and be more or less done in time for the super bowl!!! :rock:

Super Bowl Party at Benny's :rock: :rock: :rock: :D


Need pics before the painting starts :cool:

u want to see my sanded walls?? :confused2:

i'm probably going to get crucified on here for this next comment but i'm probably going to go w/a cream colored paint for the walls!!! :panic: something that matches the color of the tile pretty close.

it's not just a spot for my HT, it's going to be an entertainment area w/a full bar as well as the sitting area.

take it easy on me. :o

No one will give you a bad time ~ :baseballbat:

The color will be fine if you are trying to have the room flow & blend color wise Benny. I am sure with it being the basement underground it will be plenty dark even with the lighter color on the walls....

that's what i'm hoping for.....i've started looking into others' galleries and see quite a few w/lighter colored walls.

before i start painting though, i'm going to grab a bunch of samples from the store, cut out the color i'm considering, and tape about 24 of them together and put it on the wall.

EVERY time we painted something in the house, the color was never what we thought it was once u put it on the wall.

so this time i want to make a 1'x1' or 2'x2' sample and see how it's really going to look.

and there's only 1 window down there and that's on the far side from the tv.....so that shouldn't be too much of an issue i don't think.

i'm hoping my back isn't quite as sore 2morrow so i can finish the sanding....it's killing me today afte yesterday!!! :cringe:

Hope your back is feeling better Benny, I can imagine with all that work it would be sore.

Just an FYI ~ I have one big window in the front of my condo in the HT room & have been able to have total darkness in the room. Rather then hanging blackout curtains, I tacked them to the wall. I know you have just the one small window in the room during the day you might want it covered if the sun is shinning thru it..

thanks crazy.....it feels better this morning.....just in time for me to start sanding again 2nite!!! :ohnoes:

hopefully i can get the last 2 walls done 2nite. then 2morrow i can sand the ceiling and i s/b done then.

i'm going to finish off the window w/oak boards and trim and will most likely have some black out curtains that i can close if need be. :thumbsup:

stopped @ menards this morning....the oak paneling i'm going to put on the i-beam is on sale for $10 off this week!!! :rock:

the mail in rebate from the suspended ceiling came in last week so it looks like now is the time to pick that panneling up!!! :banana:

Suggestion: Pick 4 or 5 colors that you are SERIOUSLY considering and get some sample cans made up (HD does this for $3 a can I believe), then use those and prime and paint (unless the primer is built in) a test piece of drywall and pick the one you like the best. I did this to get the shade of gray I ended up using.

Bill

I’m gonna have to do something like that b/c no matter what color we pick off of those little sample cards, it never ends up quite the same as what we thought it would be and I do not want that to happen when it’s my basement!!! :shakefist: :D

Just make sure you do a fairly Matte finish..... Like "one step above completely FLAT" it might be "Egg-shell" I can't recall.... the finish is quite possibly even more important than the color itself.....

EDIT:

And if all else fails.... paint it black and tell your wife it's "Dark Cream"

:lolcry: if she doesn't buy that try "Burnt Cream"

Bill

:lolcry: :rotfl:

have i said how much i hate sanding drywall?? :banghead:

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/7580/img2905c.jpg

here's the pillar:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2545/img2911q.jpg

and 1 side of the duct work:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5729/img2912zn.jpg

here are some shots of the sanded walls:
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5045/img2907d.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/4070/img2908o.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3965/img2909o.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/990/img2910qc.jpg

Missed a spot :p :rotfl: :D

Looks good so far & you got dusty today benny :eek:

all that i have left is to put a bit more mud on the bottom of the duct work by the edges to build it up a bit more and then sand the whole bottom side of the duct work.

everything else is sanded down!!! :rock:

as long as i can finish that 2morrow....which shouldn't be a problem.....i'll be able to start painting wednesday!!! :banana:

then a 2nd layer will go on thursday when my wife is home during the day and thursday night i can start laying the floor. i'll keep working friday night, then pick up a tile saw from the hardware store for saturday and hopefully finish it off.

then sunday i can grout and start cleaning the tiles.

the end is in sight!!! :relief:

:eek: where?!?!?!

:shakefist:

:p

:D

thanks crazy. yeah, @ least i wore a banana 2nite....otherwise my whole head would've been snow white.

pretty much had a whole sheet of drywall on the floor when i was done.

Did you get a picture of that :p

Bill

Take a break, and go watch "Powder" :lolcry:


EDIT:

laugh as I will...... I am home all day, and once my 1-year-old goes to sleep, I'm going to be mudding some drywall :( :( :(

ALL OF THE MUDDING IS DONE!!!!

THE ONLY SANDING I HAVE LEFT IS THE STUFF I FIND WHEN I'M WIPING DOWN THE WALLS.

while not a great picture.....here's a shot of the color for the wall w/the tile and what the trim will look like

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3173/img2915g.jpg

it's not a bright yellow but more pale.

very nice work! I am taking a break from mudding right now..... my back is sore, and my hands hurt, and I don't even have a large area to do! I did finish all of the bead-board tonight though.....

I have to finish the mudding/sanding before I can put up the chair-rail.

Thanks beta!!!

I was a little nervous of the color last night to be honest but looking @ it again this morning I was a bit more sold on it.

I stopped @ home depot this morning and they have a grout that will be a bit darker than the trim when it’s done and up so I think that will be enough color in the floor to balance out the walls.

So after I found that, I’m really excited to see how it’s all going to look when I’m done.

Hey Benny... Basement looks good. I've been following your work, just haven't said anything. Did you look into getting a bonding agent for the tile? I would get something so you make sure the new tiles stick good to the vinyl tiles.

I'm starting a full basement next month, so check it out if you like.

Thanks man…..i’m glad people think I know what I’m doing down there. :D

I stopped this morning to check out how much mortar I’m going to need to stick the tiles to the floor. The tiles that are down now aren’t vinyl actually; they are made w/asbestos and are some kind of ceramic I think.

I’ve got half a bag of mortar left from when I did our breeze way and am just going to mix that in w/the new stuff. I’m hoping to get the majority of the floor in the HT area laid 2morrow night!!! :rock:

Then Friday night I’m hoping to get @ least half of the other side laid and then I can work on fitting in the cut pieces along the wall on Saturday when I have the tile saw.

I was sanding the last 2 nights and all I can smell while sitting here @ work is drywall/mud dust. :sick:

I'll be sure to check it out!! :thumbsup:

They're actually vinly asbestos tiles. Read the back of the your mortar bag and see if it'll stick to VCT (same as what you have without the asbestos). Otherwise you may need a separate bonding agent. You don't want all the new tiles popping off. Just trying to save you some grief down the road.

BTW - great job mudding and taping. I'm having someone do mine.

:thumbsup:

thanks for the tip. i didn't think they were vinyl b/c there are spots in the floor that have broken and some small pices are chipped out.

they are about the same thickness as the tiles i'll be putting down. :confused2:

i would totally recommend having someone else do it.....i don't plan on ever doing this myself again. :banghead:

i guess i'll just appreciate it more when it's all done.... :shrug2: ......@ least that's what i'm going to keep telling myself. :D

Very nice! I just got done fighting with my floor-heating-system for 3 hours to correct the incorrect wiring job :dizzy:

Of all things, the "Line" and "Load" wires on the back of the thermostat were incorrectly stickered by the manufacturer...... I kept looking at the installation instructions, and online PDF instructions, and thinking to myself.... "My "Line" is above the "Load" why does everything else say it's the other way.....

I talked to the support rep etc... and they said to call an electrician.... said if I swapped them it could damage the thermostat, etc.... finally I got pissed and just did it, and now it works great! Floor is heating up even as I type this!

my wife asked me if i was going to put in a heated floor.

i told her how much it costed (i looked @ it while @ home depot 1 day) and she freaked.

w/the paint 2day and grout and mortar 2morrow, i'll be using up the rest of my money. :(

so for the trim, i'll either have to wait for any tax return we get or dip into my business money. :shrug2:

i'll be doing 1 or the other, i'm not going to leave the trim off when that's the only thing left.

then i'll just have to save up for equipment. i've got 5 small speakers that will get me by for the time being, i'll be buying a recv'r and 1 sub to start me off.

my wife just emailed me here @ work.....she got 1 coat of paint on all of the walls except 1!!! :rock:

all i have to do 2nite after i get home is wipe down the ceiling and finish off the last wall!!! :banana:

then when she's home 2morrow, she can put a 2nd coat on the walls for me so i can start laying tile 2morrow night!!! :rock: :rock:

the end is in sight!!! :relief:

I can't get my wife to allow me to work on a project while she's home/awake/etc. let alone have her help me!

Just tell her to use headphones plugged into a movie player or a music device. ;)

she owes me.....i've had to help paint the living room (3x), our bedroom (including the trim coming off and being redone), the 2 bedrooms on the main level (3x each), the stair way upstairs to our room and downstairs into the basement, both bathrooms, and the breezeway.

Yeah my silly mum is the one that's always had work done to her house, my father is the one that likes their house the way it is. :p

i was perfectly content w/white in every room....she’s the one that couldn’t decide on a color….or when she did find a color, she changed her mind after she saw what it looked like.

Or something like the kids being born and she needed to repaint. :rolleyes:

like i said, it's a lighter color, hopefully these pix give u an idea of how it looks.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4777/img2927e.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2635/img2928kp.jpg

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/1790/img2929i.jpg

all of the paint is on!!! :rock:

my wife is going to put a 2nd coat on today and when i get home 2nite i'll be starting on the floor!!! :banana:

i'm hoping to get most of it laid 2nite and 2morrow so when i have the tile saw on saturday, all i have to do is cut the outside pieces and fit them in.

will post pix of my progress 2nite.

Hey Benny. It's great to see the progress you've made. It's coming along well. I have to go back and read through alot of past pages to follow but I wanted to check in and let you know how great it's coming. Keep plugin brother. :rock:

Thanks man…..i can’t wait to go home 2nite and get the wall plates on everything and start laying the tile.

Feeling a little anxious about the tile….i don’t want to start and have it not be straight!!! :ohnoes:

Straight, AND level.....

Do yourself a favor and run to a Home Depot/Lowes/Manards whatever, and get one of the small, cheap levels with a built-in laser-line..... Then you won't have to worry, and just double check every couple of rows by measuring.