Home Improvement Tips

We've compiled the following home improvement tips to help you with your basement remodeling project or any do-it-yourself home remodeling project. Of course the complete book on the subject is also available on the site.

Tip:

Before you "mud" the newly hung drywall, put rosin paper on the floor to catch the mud that spills as you apply it. Tape the sections together with duct tape. Remove the paper after you've finished your drywall work. The paper is a lot easier to clean up than scraping dried mud off the floor.

Tip:

Use a treated 2 x 4 for your bottom plate. The treated 2 x 4 will not absorb moisture into the walls from the floor as a regular 2 x 4 might. Do this even if you are using metal studs. You can screw the bottom track into the 2 x 4. This will make it easier to attach a base molding as you'll have something to nail into. Use a "powder activated tool" to attach the 2 x 4 to the concrete floor.

Tip:

If your house is relatively new, and you have removable basement windows, ensure that your framing is set up so that the window is still removable when the project is complete. If you have a metal frame you can paint it with a paint specially designed for metal such as a Rustoleum product. Be sure to clean up the frame if need be before you paint it.

Tip:

Use a string between the 2 opposite walls when building the lower frame of a duct box. Ensure the string is level. Then use this to measure off of and you will have a very straight duct box.

Tip:

Always hold your exterior wall frames off of the concrete walls, be it poured or block by about 1" or so. As the concrete walls aren't perfectly straight, you will have some fudge room to ensure your wall is straight. Use a chalk line to mark the floor and go off of this. Use the 3, 4, 5, triangle method to ensure your corners are square.

Tip:

After you've finished sanding your newly drywalled walls, here's an excellent way to finish prepping them for paint. Get a bucket of water and a sponge. Wet the sponge and wring out the water so that the sponge is only damp. Then wipe down your walls with the damp sponge. As you go over the wall areas where you have the drywall compound, take the sponge and "trace" the "outline" of the drywall compound. This process will do 2 tasks for you. (1) It does a great job of getting rid of the dust on the walls, and (2) tracing the outline of the mud compound on the wall board will also help to feather the materials better.