Painting the Basement

Holidays, work, 
life and of course, the Patriots football games (What? We're going to the Super Bowl!) have kept me away. I’ll work on fixing that. Let me check those PowerBall numbers…

Jumping back in time to shortly before we actually saw completion on the horizon, I felt the need to go and start to do some work myself. Truthfully, I was bored and it was too early for yard work (a yard didn’t exist anyways) and I needed something to do. And my better half had said more than once “You need to find something to do. Other than bothering me.” So I did.

At this point, pretty much all of the construction debris in the basement was cleared out. OK, I did that. It was driving me nuts seeing piles of rubble and junk wood. And the basement was dry now that the roof had been on for a while. Note, don’t sweat the puddles that you’re bound to get in the basement during construction. They will dry. Other than moving the water around to help with drying, I also picked up all the nails to prevent rust spots. Ya, it’s the small things in life.

The Dark, Gray-Green Cement walls needed something.

And the unevenness of the colors made the walls look dirty.

Concrete Form Pins

At this point most of the concrete form pins had been knocked off. Thankfully there were only about 2 dozen left. The other 1,000 plus (I’m guessing) had already been knocked off.

After Removal

So I took my 5lb sledge and made quick work of them. The trick is to hit them from the top and bottom. They’ll break off easier than side to side.

And the Floor looked (and was) Dirty as well.

And I Needed Something to do.

So standing in the basement after cleaning it, and thinking it looks dark down here with the dark gray-green cement walls. Hmmm, maybe painting it will lighten it up. And I do need something to do. So off to the big box home store I went.

Outside Foundation Walls with Rubber Waterproofing

Worth the extra cost for future protection

When talking with the friendly paint counter person, the first question they asked was if water was coming in through the walls. If it was, they would recommend the DryLok masonry water proofer paint. Fortunately, they are new walls and even more so, when the walls were put in, we spent the extra money to have the outside coated with a rubber membrane to keep the water out. Just a little added protection.

Seal-Krete Epoxy paint

 So I went with the Seal-Krete epoxy paint for the walls and the floor.

I started first by sweeping the walls down with a large floor broom. They had been up for almost a year so the debris that was attached to them was pretty dry. You’ll need a mask when doing this because of the dust. The next day I swept the floor down and waited another day for the dust to settle before painting.

Starting the Walls

Before painting I went around with silicon to seal the small space between the floor and the wall. My thinking was that it might stop any water seepage from coming up between the two. I’m not sure if it will work but it made me feel better.

It looked Brighter (and Cleaner) Immediately

One coat should be enough.

Painting, while tedious, is easy. The paint, which went on very smooth, is one part epoxy so it only requires stirring. There’s also no trim to cut around so I just rolled away with a regular wall roller with 3/8” nap and a long pole handle. The heavy nap is useful for all of the air pockets that are created during the concrete pour. Also, having a cheap brush around came in handy as well. Honestly though, it’s not worth the bother to try to fill every small hole. You’ll drive yourself nuts and it will take forever. I also wasn't really neat about the wall meeting the floor either. No need to be. And there just isn 't enough time in the world when it comes to being neat on rough concrete.

One coat was enough in my book. The walls looked brighter and they no longer had that dirty look. And I managed to stay out of my better half's hair. For short amount of time anyways.

Next up. Painting the Basement floors.

Enjoy your week.

Larry

Painting Wrap Up

Master Bedroom

Rockport Gray

Guest Bathroom

Misty Memories

Hallway

Collingwood

Dining Room

Collingwood

Dining Room

The painters have wrapped up the interior painting and cleaned up their gear and moved onto the next house. The ceilings, walls, trim work and doors are all done and they look great. Of course, I was so enthralled by it all and how it looks I just didn’t take enough pictures.

I’m glad we decided to stick with a few primary colors until we move in and get a feel for each room and the lighting. I found that with walking from room to room or even looking at the walls in any one room, the shades of color seem to change. What makes it even more interesting is the Collingwood, which we used in all of the main living areas, seems to take on a different color as you move from the hallway to the Living Room to the Dining Room. The amount of natural light coming in really makes a difference. Who knows, we may never need to repaint any time soon.

The other part that paint really makes interesting is how you can now start to see the character of the house and every room starting to come through. All that planning. All that swearing (yes, I’ve had some moments) seems to be paying off. Having it go from a piece of paper to a plan to something that you can touch is awesome and makes it all well worth it. Most of the time.

So what’s next? The floors should be coming in and I expect that part of the project will take a couple of weeks. 

Enjoy your weekend.

Paint in Progress

Master Bath Vanity

As you may have seen in the last post, everything was masked off. Once that was done they spray painted primer on all the walls and ceilings. With everything masked off, this made for quick work.

Living Room

I stopped by after work one night to see how the paint was progressing. They were using a sprayer to do the ceilings.

The air was thick with latex paint spray. The painter wore a respirator.

I didn't have one, so my time was limited to a about two minutes. Long enough to get a couple of quick pics.

Dining Room

After the primer and ceilings were done, they went to work on the wood trim. Again, having it masked off enabled the painters to use a sprayer.

Even the doors were sprayed. I liked the idea of spraying the trim and doors because it gave the woodwork a smooth, even finish. That's hard to do with a brush.

Dining Room

The bottom half with the wainscoting was sprayed white. The upper half will be painted Collingwood like the Living Room and Kitchen. We may change that once we move in and get a feel for the room.

Room Over Garage Stairs

Even the oak treads were masked off so that they could paint the stair trim.

Room Over Garage Stairs

The next step was to paint all of the walls using an 18" roller. This made for quick work.

18" Roller and Tray

I was thinking that "I need one of these". Then I thought, "maybe not". Mrs. OSH will then have my weekends booked if she changes her mind about the colors.

Guest Bathroom

The first coat was put on as a base with cutting in around the windows and corners done later with a brush. Then they will then go back and do the final coat with the roller.

Tools of the Trade

Now that everything is masked off the painters (DJ Rasmusson Paint Restoration Co.) are making quick progress. 

First it was painting primer over all the drywall to provide an even background color and give the paint something to stick to. Then they painted the ceilings using a sprayer which I’m guessing saved them a ton of time. After they were done with the ceilings, they went on and painted all of the trim work in place. They are painting the walls so this doesn’t hurt anything doing it this way. They also spray painted all of the doors giving them a nice smooth, even coat. Now they’ve broken out the rollers and started on the walls. 

We can’t wait to see what the finish colors look like in our new rooms.

Enjoy your weekend.