Working in the basement

Yesterday I painted one wall in the "mechanical room." I call it the mechanical room because it will house a furnace, sump pump, electrical thingy, and other mechanical/electrical type stuff. I only painted the one wall because 1) the other walls aren't up yet! and 2) Dave wants to start working on putting stuff on that wall, and I would prefer to paint it before he puts stuff on it, so I don't have to trim so much.


I was painting O.S.B. It's like a glued little pieces of wood pressed together to make a board. You can see it better in the picture below. It's what we used in the garage and are using in the basement. It's easier to handle than drywall, it is heavier, but it's harder to paint. And I didn't realize until I was finished painting, that the garage paint is Exterior paint. The paint store sales staff recommended exterior paint for the garage because of mold and dampness. Oh well...I won't use this paint anywhere else in the basement, just the one room.

This room above is going to some day be Dave's workshop. But for now, we will store everything from the house that we live in now, in that room, while we live in another part of the basement.

After I finished painting, Dave gave me a quick lesson on using some power tools. I've used them before, but it's been awhile. I've never drilled out outlet holes in O.S.B before.

But there's a first time for everything and I want/need to help him build this house. I love to learn stuff like this. I was actually enjoying this part of the work.

You first use this drill tool with that specific bit which I cannot remember the name, but you make these holes. See the drawn on box?


I make a hole in each corner of the box.

Then I take this saw and put the blade in the hole

and saw on the lines Dave drew. I go from hole to hole.

Which looks something like this...

until I clean it up a bit.

This is Dave measuring more box holes.

If they fit just right the O.S.B. will go right up.

We had a little trouble on the sheet of O.S.B. that had the three outlet holes. Dave had to take it back down and re-cut some openings (darn it) but it was also a wee bit off. Just a sliver off, but it makes all the difference. So he also had to shave the side of the O.S.B.

Here you can see how the holes fit.

I was proud of us yesterday. I got the wall painted, Dave and I got two walls up in the storage room. We have one wall to go and the upper half of all of the walls.

And I cut all of this insulation, which I plan on hanging today.

Dave is out there wiring this room right now. I'll hang the insulation while he finishes the other wall in the back storage room.

Cindy Bee