Project Townhouse: 1st Time Buyers

[JPolen01]

Our neighbors just sold their townhouse (4 bed, 2.5 bath) for $337k. We have been kicking around the idea of finishing the 4th bedroom in the basement and this finally gave me the motivation to get started. We bought for a shade under $300k about 4 years ago and with the equity we currently have in the house we will easily get the money back on this room and then some. 

But in order to make a profit on this room I needed to do the work. No problem! I've been learning by helping a buddy flip houses. My skills aren't sharp enough to do this alone so I recruited the same buddy that flips houses. I've helped him a lot, he's helped me a lot. I knew this would be a more in-depth project than just a day and require his truck to get materials, go to the dump, etc. Typically when framing we use drills/screws. I wanted to save time and he wanted a new toy so I agreed to buy a framing gun and compressor for this job and give them to him after as a trade for his work (now I can use the gun and compressor whenever I want!! I think he kind of figured this though...)

I let him pick it out and on Friday I stopped by Home Depot and grabbed this Ridgid 3 1/2" Framing Nailer and 4.5 Gallon Compressor. Did not expect to have so much fun, but a nail gun sure puts a smile on your face. Got 100ft of hose for the compressor so we could put it outside - it says it is something like 75% quieter than the competition and only 77lbs so not too heavy you can't move it yourself. I'll say this thing is pretty quiet for what it is. We stood next to it talking at normal volume and could hear each other fine. Ear protection is definitely needed when firing the gun as well as using the .22 caliber Ramset HammerShot to secure the footer to the concrete. That bitch is loud! 



Here is a portion of day 1 framing. In the past we have found it is much easier to frame the wall on the floor in pieces and then stand it up against the wall. We did this here and saved a ton of time. You can see by the header where the two modular pieces match up. We had to double up on the header because we didn't realize they sold 2x4s that were less than 8ft long. We made it work, but now we know to double check the racks at Home Depot. It ain't perfect, but it's going behind the drywall so...


Plan to finish framing and hanging closet doors next Saturday and hopefully start drywall on Sunday. I've got a buddy coming by to put in 4 recessed cans and a couple outlets and another coming by to look at dropping a HVAC vent in this room. Luckily the furnace is in the same room so it shouldn't be too much work.