Our Basement Renovation - Drywall, Drywall, and More Drywall

In my last update, I shared some of the random projects we were finishing up so we could embark on our dry wall journey. We have mostly been consumed with hanging drywall over the last few months. We had a ton of area to cover..three entire rooms, a couple of hallways, a mudroom, and the ceilings. I am not going to lie...hanging drywall sucks, but the upside is that it is starting to look finished!

I am just going to give you a recap of our experience, since we are not professionals...not even close. My advice would be to hire one! Really though, hanging drywall is doable by a DIY'er. We watched lots of YouTube videos and read posts from other bloggers for the best tips. We also borrowed a drywall lift from a friend which made it possible for us to install the ceiling pieces without injuring ourselves. The hardest part is cutting the holes for outlets, vents, and lighting...and making it fit.

After we had finished hanging drywall in the bathroom/laundry room area, we called our electrician friend to come install 8 can lights in the ceiling in the main living area and finish the wiring for the light fixtures in the laundry room, hallway, and mudroom area.

We also had our carpenter friend, Kenny come work on the main living area. We had moved as much of the plumbing, duct work, and wiring as possible, but there were still areas around the perimeter of the ceiling that needed to be addressed. Kenny suggested we box out around the ceiling, with diagonal cuts at the corners, which resulted in a trey ceiling effect.  He also went ahead and hung the drywall for us in that area. Trust me, the few hundred dollars we spent to get this room finished in less than a week was well worth it.

A couple of things that made the drywall process tedious was padding out the ceiling to accommodate the copper plumbing and wiring, so we would not have to install a drop ceiling, losing headroom. We also had to frame out around some of the duct work in the hallway/mudroom area that we had painted and were going to leave exposed.

We also built the last remaining wall between the mudroom and garage and installed the door frame. (which I forgot to take pictures of during the process) We decided to leave the door off for now, until the renovation is over and we move some of the furniture pieces back in the room. Below is the mudroom area that leads to the outside. You might be wondering about that gap between the ceiling and wall. There was a bundle of wires that would have been a pain to move that kept us from running the drywall all the way up to the ceiling. We are going to address it with a piece of molding, so you will not be able to see the gap when the space is finished.

I am finally feeling like we might just finish this renovation before  summer! We still have to finish taping and mudding, which has not been too bad so far. My mother is a pro at it (since her father was a drywaller by trade) so she trained us and helped us get the first coat done on most of the space.

Hope you enjoyed these progress pictures and I look forward to showing you a mostly finished space next time! Until next time, lets enjoy the HUGE difference some drywall and lighting makes.

Catch up on the other posts in this series:

And So it Begins...
Demo Time!
Breaking Ground
Let the Framing Begin
More Plumbing and Electrical
More Walls and a Door
More Demo Plus a Window and Door