The weather outside is frightful. Inside is not more delightful.
As unpleasant as it can be to spend hours in a drafty basement all winter, it's extremely gratifying to watch a room start to transform back into a room from a concrete and cinder block rectangle. Step one was attaching some 2" R10 rigid foam board insulation to the walls. we have the insulation behind the framing in the room to act as a vapor barrier. The insulation went in pretty quickly considering we are learning different skills as we go or building on pretty basic levels of proficiency.
The framing....much less quick to get up. Part of the issue is that the room is about 11'x19' and the center was filled with our delivery of construction supplies so we had to work around this mountain of stuff, move it, work on the next section of room, move it, etc.
The framing for this room is not structural--it's just there to hold up the drywall. being able to decide where we want things in the room is probably the best part of doing most of this ourselves. We might move slower than professionals, but that slowness allows us to change plans as needed or to think a little bit about what we want to do before we proceed without being under any pressure. We know where the TV and AV equipment is going to go in the room so we've made sure we have studs and outlets in the appropriate places.
Mr. Handy is a physicist and engineer who has designed whole electrical systems so he was more than equipped to handle installing a new breaker and new outlets. We also decided to run all the AV wiring for the surround sound through the walls so that we don't have to look at ugly cables running across the floor.
Once we started putting the room back together it felt like so much progress! We must be getting close to being done.... all we had to do was box in ductwork and pipes, hang drywall, tape and mud, sand it all, paint, put up furring strips, install a pocket door, build additional built-ins.... hrmmm....never mind.