Tiled the Shower in the Basement

Yesterday we tackled the job of tiling the showing in the basement bathroom. This was an adventure!

First I would like to thank Mark and Ron for coming over to help with this project. I it always nice to have help.

The shower to begin with was just framing, so we put up some tar paper for water proofing and then the cement backer board. Unfortunately when putting up the first piece of backer board I screwed the board into the hot water line. But not only did I screw it into the hot water line but the screw went into the elbow piece that connects the line to the mixer! We had a sideways old faithful that shot water across the bathroom, across the hall and if the hall wall wasn't there it would have shot I'm sure all the way to the back of the basement! Chelsea went to Home Depot to get some replacement parts since we didn't have any on hand. Meanwhile Mark and I finished cutting the other pieces of cement backer board for the rest of the shower surround. Boy cutting that board sure was a dusty job, worse than drywall.

Once Chelsea got back we fixed the leak and put up the cement board without any further incident. By this time Ron had arrived and helped to water proof the seams of the surround which was a big help since I don't do so well with those kinds of detail oriented things. We then took a break for lunch.

After lunch we were all ready to go to cut some tile and start putting it up but the tile saw that I purchased months ago didn't come with a blade! OIE! So Chelsea and I took the kids to the store to get a saw blade. But Ron and Mark had to get home so that was ok.

Once home with the saw blade we started cutting the tile and putting it up on the wall. Don't worry Chelsea only handed me one piece at a time, perfectly safe for her to do at this stage of pregnancy. It took us about 4 hours to tile the whole 32" by 32" shower from floor to ceiling. We barely had enough thin-set to finish the job, but we think it turned out great!

Decorative Tile Detail

Full Shower

Ceiling Tile Detail

We have Carpet in our basement!

We now have carpet in our basement! It took all day to be installed but it is done! And it looks, and feels great. We are so excited to be almost done with this project. We just have the bathroom to finish out and then we will be totally done. Yea!

Finishing the Basement

This year chelsea and I decided to finish our basement to create more livable space and hopefully increase the value of our home. We bagan in April, and with the help of my family, (Dad, Mom, Jacob, Kelly) we were able to go from a bare basement to having all the framing and electrical and plumbing done all in one week! We were grateful for their help and sacrifice of a weeks vacation to do this with us. We put in some grueling hours that week, working from 7 in the morning to 11 at night some days. But the amount of work that was accomplished was tremendous.

The next weekend my dad came back up to help start the drywall, which again was much appreciated. And with the help of my brother Ron we got a lot of drywall installed.

Over then next few months Chelsea and I worked on the basement little by little doing work after our full time jobs in the evening. Today we are having carpet installed! We are almost done. The only major project left is to finish the bathroom out.

Enjoy the Pics.

Closet Framed in the Living Room

Sofit Framed around ductwork in front of bedroom.

Drywall installed in the ceiling of the hallway.

Hall way painted and finished with base board and trim around bathroom door

Bedroom Painted and trimmed with baseboard.