30 May 2020
Work on the train room is progressing nicely now.
Most of the lighting is up:
And taping and mudding of the sheetrock began May 26th. It's about done now - just a bit of sanding and touch-up to be done tomorrow. I'm sure glad I was able to convince my wife to let me hire somebody!
How it looks as of this afternoon:
Monday I'll be able to start priming the walls. Getting exciting - Completion is in sight!
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Pruitt This response gets you my "reply of the year" award, Rich! I couldn't stop laughing!
This response gets you my "reply of the year" award, Rich! I couldn't stop laughing!
Yeah, Dave's comment was hurtful and surely directed at me.
Actually, the truth hurts and Dave was spot on. My basement layout is in an unfinished basement, and 21 years after our home was built, tiny wood chips can still be occasionally found on my layout. The likely culprit is the harwood flooring on the first floor where the nails protrude through the plywood underlayment.
Rich
Alton Junction
hon30critter richhotrain HEY!!! Ooops! Sorry!! I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes. All I was trying to say was that Mark had come so far that it might be disappointing to not go the rest of the way. Just to make you feel better Rich, I haven't figured out how to make my garage even close to looking respectable when I start taking pictures. I'm thinking of buying a bunch of flat blue bed sheets and just covering everything in sight. Dave
richhotrain HEY!!!
Ooops! Sorry!! I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes. All I was trying to say was that Mark had come so far that it might be disappointing to not go the rest of the way.
Just to make you feel better Rich, I haven't figured out how to make my garage even close to looking respectable when I start taking pictures. I'm thinking of buying a bunch of flat blue bed sheets and just covering everything in sight.
Dave
HEY!!!
richhotrainHEY!!!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter I was worried that if you had left the walls unfinished you would have become quite disappointed over time. Now it's going to look like a proper 'train room' instead of just another layout in a basement.
I was worried that if you had left the walls unfinished you would have become quite disappointed over time. Now it's going to look like a proper 'train room' instead of just another layout in a basement.
PruittAfter we talked further about taping and mudding, my wife relented and agreed to let me hire a guy to do that work. He should be starting in a few days. So we're back to the original plan - a nearly fully finished train room!
Hi Mark,
I'm glad that your wife has agreed to hire a professional drywall finisher. I was worried that if you had left the walls unfinished you would have become quite disappointed over time. Now it's going to look like a proper 'train room' instead of just another layout in a basement.
22 May 2020
And lighting work continues. I'm now just over half done with train room lights. The old lights have been disconnected.
One of the new LED panels had to be mounted to the underside of a heating duct. Here's that job in process:
The black strips on either side of the fixture are the visible parts of a carpet square I put up as an insulator between the duct and the light. Forced air heat doesn't get all that hot, but it made for cheap insurance.
Disconnecting the old lights in the train room meant I also had to modify the remaining existing lighting for the other side of the stairway. Where a single pole switch used to turn all the basement lights on from the bottom of the stairs, I now want to control them from three locations - bottom of the stairs, middle of the hallway on the side of the stairs opposite the train room (location of the new - someday to be built - library), and the wall the behind the stairs, which will be the entrance to the train room (and where the train room light switches are). It'll make sense someday, I promise (I hope!).
That meant pulling the switches out of the box at the bottom of the stairs, and replacing the single pole switch (to the left in the following photo) with a new 3-way. The other two switches are 3-ways for the lights at the top and bottom of the stairwell.
Boy, what a mess of wiring! But by proceeding methodically, checking off each connection on my wiring diagram as I made it in the box, I completed the task in a couple of hours with no major hiccups.
And also this past week, I trimmed out the windows and we finished installing the sheetrock on the stairway and furnace walls. Here's the stairway wall:
After we talked further about taping and mudding, my wife relented and agreed to let me hire a guy to do that work. He should be starting in a few days. So we're back to the original plan - a nearly fully finished train room!
And the beat goes on...
Lighting installation is going good. At the end of the week, I'm a bit less than halfway done, but the results even now are apparent. In the areas where the lights are up, the coverage is much brighter and more even than before.
Here's a comparison of lights off and lights on:
11 May 2020
I appreciate everyone's thoughts on making the mudding and taping less onerous. But, having had very sensitive lungs for my entire life already (asthma when I was 5, and my mother smoked like a Big Boy through all my years at home), I'm just not going to do that work myself. Even with a decent respirator (which I have), I don't want to expose myself to the dust over the weeks it would take me to do the work.
So that means train room prep is nearly complete! I have a few sheets of drywall to hang yet, and I need to trim out the windows and hang the lights. Beyond that the room is done. There will be no mudding and taping and sanding of joints and screws, and no paint either. With the walls only semi-finished, there will also be no finished flooring. I can walk on OSB just fine. That should all save another $1500 or so.
Here's the first light, hung today. The rest will be done in the next few weeks.
riogrande5761
Rio, Jim if I remember correctly I hope.
For someone that does not do Plastering for a living that sure is a fine example of some quality work! Nice
I have been taping and Plastering my own sheetrock for so many years and have worked with so many different professionals. It seems most of them have their own system of methods doing their job.
Only about five years ago I learned from someone and changed one of my methods. I learned about ADFORS Fibatape.
This tape has to be used with setting compound for the first coat for it never to crack which it never does. It is about $11 per roll and worth every penny as other mesh tapes are junk.
The beautiful thing about this Fibatape is it saves you at least 3 hours taping a basement.
Your tape and first coat is done in one step. Then the setting compound accelerates the dark blue lid mud second coat. Then I finish with the light blue lid lightwieght third coat last. All plaster, plus 3 products.
I by no means am boasting or bragging here as I have been doing this crap for too many years. The nice thing now-a-days, my finished edges are feathered out so fine all I have to do is knock off the buggers with a 10 inch knife. Believe me I'm a real happy man I don't have to sand anymore. I hate drywall dust.
Again, that's a fabulous looking plaster job you did!
TF
richhotrain ROBERT PETRICK Hey Mark- One way to help clear the airborne dust that is floating around the room . . . Fill a big (empty) windex bottle with water. Hold the spray bottle high Statue-of-Liberty style and walk all around the room misting as you go. Wait a few minutes and vacuum the floor. Repeat as necessary. Yikes, that sounds like the world's biggest mess just waiting to happen. So much better to use the Shop Vac sanding screen. No dust whatsoever. Rich
ROBERT PETRICK Hey Mark- One way to help clear the airborne dust that is floating around the room . . . Fill a big (empty) windex bottle with water. Hold the spray bottle high Statue-of-Liberty style and walk all around the room misting as you go. Wait a few minutes and vacuum the floor. Repeat as necessary.
Hey Mark-
One way to help clear the airborne dust that is floating around the room . . .
Fill a big (empty) windex bottle with water. Hold the spray bottle high Statue-of-Liberty style and walk all around the room misting as you go. Wait a few minutes and vacuum the floor. Repeat as necessary.
Yikes, that sounds like the world's biggest mess just waiting to happen.
So much better to use the Shop Vac sanding screen. No dust whatsoever.
No reason to panic. I've never produced any discernable mess, much less the world's biggest. This is not the primary dust control measure, but the final effort to deal with the residual suspended particles.
Absolutely, vacuum as you go, or some variation thereof. If there is so much dust in the air that the atomized mist causes it to reconstitute back into globs of wet plaster, then there are more serious issues afoot to deal with.
By the way, this is the same sort of technique I use before applying a lacquer or varnish topcoat to anything anywhere outside of the spray booth hood.
Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
richhotrain selector I did a lot of the mudding and sanding when we finished our basement years ago. Wasn't a good time. And the result was obviously sub-par in places. Then, after we moved and the missus had a train room built in the double-wide garage, I did the drywall mounting, mudding and sanding. Never again. Whatever they pay those guyz 'n gals, it ain't enough. I used to feel the same way, and my mudding and sanding jobs were awful. But, I have become somewhat expert, if I may say so.
selector I did a lot of the mudding and sanding when we finished our basement years ago. Wasn't a good time. And the result was obviously sub-par in places. Then, after we moved and the missus had a train room built in the double-wide garage, I did the drywall mounting, mudding and sanding. Never again. Whatever they pay those guyz 'n gals, it ain't enough.
I did a lot of the mudding and sanding when we finished our basement years ago. Wasn't a good time. And the result was obviously sub-par in places. Then, after we moved and the missus had a train room built in the double-wide garage, I did the drywall mounting, mudding and sanding. Never again. Whatever they pay those guyz 'n gals, it ain't enough.
I used to feel the same way, and my mudding and sanding jobs were awful. But, I have become somewhat expert, if I may say so.
I got my feet wet with drywall in my previous basement after we had water issues so got some good practice. The previous owner had re-drywalled one wall and it looked all lumpy and crap. So along with replacing some bottom sections affected by the water, I fixed the crap job done by the previous owner. After that I felt confident that I could drywall an entire 700 sq ft basement.
I don't know if I would call myself an expert, but quite frankly it's as good as the main house that was done by professional builders. I am picky and did take the extra time to do all area's till I was satisfied. I didn't want the basement finishing job to detract from the home or it's value.
Here are 3 important considerations to become a Master Mudder/Sander. 1. I learned this from a YouTube video from a pro. He adds water to the pre-mixed joint compound to thin it. That is the key. Then, he applies a 6" wide strip of thinned joint compound, then puts on the tape, then applies an 8" strip of thinned joint compound, and presses the blade to force the excess joint compound to ooze out. When it dries, no bubbling of the joint tape. From that point on, he uses the undiluted pre-mixed joint compound for subsequent coats.
Here are 3 important considerations to become a Master Mudder/Sander.
1. I learned this from a YouTube video from a pro. He adds water to the pre-mixed joint compound to thin it. That is the key. Then, he applies a 6" wide strip of thinned joint compound, then puts on the tape, then applies an 8" strip of thinned joint compound, and presses the blade to force the excess joint compound to ooze out. When it dries, no bubbling of the joint tape. From that point on, he uses the undiluted pre-mixed joint compound for subsequent coats.
I watched a lot of youtube video's but didn't see that one. That said, I didn'thave any issues with my joint compound on the before taping. Some buckets were a little dryer than I would have liked so I did add some moister if needed.
2. NO WET SPONGE. You will never get it as smooth as dry sanding.
I tried the web sponge. It actually created grooves so I stopped that and had to repairt. Dry sanding worked best.
Dust? Not if you buy a drywall sanding adaptor kit for your Shop Vac. The kit includes a special drywall bag to place inside the Shop Vac and a special hand held tool that connects to the end of the Shop Vac hose. You place a type of screening material onto the hand held hose and sand away. Trust me, or should I say, trust my wife. NO DUST.
My wife got one of those. It attaches to the hand sander and makes a big difference.
3. The key to a smooth finish is to hold a trouble light up against the drywall on 90 degree angle for the final sanding. The light will reflect off of the slightest imperfection causing a dark spot to appear. You follow these three steps, and I guarantee a professional, dust free mudding/sanding job. Rich
You follow these three steps, and I guarantee a professional, dust free mudding/sanding job.
Yep. I took my LED shop lights and would shine them down along the wall and I could see any imperections. I didn't need Youtube for that; it was pretty obvious when I moved the lights around.
There is one thing I would have done differently, I would have mounted all the sheets of drywall vertically. Before I started, I saw some recommend horizontal and others vertical - 50/50. Having done the basement on hind site, if I ever hung drywall again, I'd do vertical to minimize butt joints.
By the time I was done with the walls, my wife wanted the ceiling in the wife-den done with drywall, but I had had enough so it was all suspended ceiling. I found suspended ceiling pretty easy to do.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
So much for the "wise choice."
The wife unit nixed having someone do it - too expensive, she said. Cost would have been at most about $1350 dollars, and probably a bit less. They charge by the hour, and gave me an estimate of two full days maximum.
I was ready to jump on that, but now we have to do it ourselves. Probably a couple weeks' work, at least. I've done it before, and I HATE that part more than anything else. But the boss has spoken. so...
PruittAnd my favorite - hire someone to do the mudding and taping and sanding. If it isn't prohibitively expensive, I'll go that way, I think. It will be a lot faster, I'll likely get a better job, and I won't have to deal with it. Win-win-win!
Okay, be like that! Take the easy way out!
Seriously, I think that is a wise choice!
I have done my share of drywall but I will never do it again! The gentleman who did the drywall work when we renovated the kitchen is not a tradesman, he is an artist! He straightened out wobbly walls and ceilings, his seams are invisible and he even re-did some corners that were crooked that weren't in the contract. He said he just couldn't put his own work next to those corners so he ripped them out and fixed them without changing the price. He is a keeper!
2. NO WET SPONGE. You will never get it as smooth as dry sanding. Dust? Not if you buy a drywall sanding adaptor kit for your Shop Vac. The kit includes a special drywall bag to place inside the Shop Vac and a special hand held tool that connects to the end of the Shop Vac hose. You place a type of screening material onto the hand held hose and sand away. Trust me, or should I say, trust my wife. NO DUST.
3. The key to a smooth finish is to hold a trouble light up against the drywall on a 90 degree angle for the final sanding. The light will reflect off of the slightest imperfection causing a dark spot to appear.
Thanks for the feedback, everybody.
I know of several different ways of smoothing the mud:
Hey, thanks for noticing, Bear! I really spent a lot of time to make that ceiling something special!
I echo the others, Mark. You and your wife are making great progress, and the results look great. You should be starting benchwork some time in late June if things go well.
Great progress, Mark. BTW that ceiling looks Good.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I use a sponge, as well, when ever possible. WAY less dust, and you still can achieve a smooth finish.
Mike.
My You Tube
Great progress! Looks very professional.
You mentioned that you will be starting to apply drywall compound in May. I have a suggestion that could save a lot of the mess associated with sanding. My brother taught me to use a moist sponge to smooth the drywall compound. There is no dust involved! It helps if the compound has been applied as smoothly as possible, and it requires a gentle touch, but it works well at least for me. The sponge has to be rinsed frequently. There are drywall sponges specific to the job available.
Nice update Mark!
You can also drill pilot holes for screws, to stop splitting the wood.
It looks like you have a space between the drywall and the floor, which is perfect. You should leave about a 1/2". When I don't have my drywall foot jacks, I use pieces of 1/2" OSB, or plywood, or whatever I have.
3 May 2020
I just posted the lastest construction update video:
Sorry, but still no layout construction. Train room preparation isn't my favorite thing, but it is necessary. At least it's progressing at a decent pace now. I may be abe to begin working on the layout within the next few months!
I used to have a reciprocating saw. It was ruined in a flood.
What a little trooper your wife is Mark.! I have a corded and cordless reciprocating saws I use for stuff like that. I also like those "Sharky" type short hand saws with the big teeth, they cut fast.
Finally - Stud walls are complete!
Here's a very short video of my wife cutting away a small corner section of the stud wall behind the stairs to provide clearance for a heating duct:
That particular wall was a bit more difficult than most of them, for reasons I mentioned in my previous post. Not particularly hard to solve, though - I made a couple of spacers out of two stacked pieces of red oak 1X2, and screwed those to the bottom of the joists:
Then it was an easy matter to install the stud wall by attaching the top to the spacers.
The 4' long stud wall in the center of this shot was the last wall. It went in this evening:
So tomorrow I'll be able to start electical rough-ins by placing outlet boxes. Other than lighting, I don't think the rough-ins will take more than a week or so to complete.