Our Basement Renovation - More Walls and a Door

In my last update, we finished the second part of the plumbing and ran some of the electrical.  Since then, we have mainly been working on getting the rest of the walls framed out (boring stuff...I know!) At the time of the last post, we had only built the walls that were necessary for the plumbing, so we still had 1 wall in the bathroom, along with framing the two doors in the bathroom; the doorway wall in the laundry; and the closet in the hallway.  We also installed the main door to the bathroom; be sure to read on for my #1 tip on installing a pre-hung door!

We framed out the door going into the laundry room, which will have a sliding door that we will make using a slab we bought on our recent trip to the salvage store and a sliding track kit.

Here is another view of the laundry room, including our new utility sink.  I spy Big Yellow! (our name for the long level...yes, we name our tools!)  We obviously use it  A LOT since it is photobombing every shot so far!

We are adding a closet in the hallway in order to take advantage of the wasted space in the hallway. We will use this to store our out of season jackets and seasonal decor.

We had purchased a pre-hung door from the salvage store, thinking that would be easier on us being newbies...and it was...sort of.  We took so much time getting our framing accurate, measuring and re-measuring to make sure the door would fit.  My husband educated himself from various articles and videos on the internet so when the time came to hang it, we would get it right.

We were so proud of ourselves! It took us no time to get the door in, leveled, and plumb, and nailed in place.  We removed the cardboard pieces that were stuck around the door, keeping it shut (so we thought) and got ready to test the door....it would not open. (Seriously??!!)  So after quite a bit of investigation, which included taking the molding off from around the door frame so we could see the sides, we determined there were little nails tacking the door in.  So, we had to take the door completely out, remove the nails and start over. (Whomp whomp...sad face)

We probably should have noticed the nails, but we are just regular DIY'ers doing this for the first time, and we didn't.  I will risk being laughed at if it keeps one of y'all from making the same mistake.  So that's my #1 tip....make sure the door will open BEFORE you nail it in.

Anyhow, we eventually got the door back in and the molding reattached.  Yes, it will require touch up and additional trim to fix what we broke, but the door opens and shuts, so I am happy!

We also framed out the doorway for the hallway into the main room.  We will be building a sliding barn door to cover the opening.  Please ignore the ugliness through the doorway...one day it will be a nicely finished living room!

Speaking of the Big Room...my hubby got ambitious one Saturday and removed that large, hideous duct work running across the entire room.  We are taking it down back to the wall so we can keep from having a ceiling you can touch.  He also knocked down all the pieces of wood that was holding up the dropped ceiling.  It made SUCH a big difference; the room feels so open!

Before:  Framing to hold dropped ceiling

After: Ceiling without dropped framing

We also spent a couple of hours pulling all of the nails out of the wood we pulled down, so we can re-use them to pad out the ceiling in the  new bathroom and laundry space, in order to hang the drywall and clear the pipes.

I am excited that we finally have actual rooms (and a door) and that we are getting closer to being able to hang drywall!

Check out the other posts in this series:
And So it Begins...
Demo Time!
Breaking Ground
Let the Framing Begin
More Plumbing and Electrical