The Daily Done: June 13

On June 13, I cleaned out my basement. While it certainly wasn't auditioning for an episode of "Hoarders," it was far too cluttered for me. I had brought things down and just left them near the door too many times.

Clutter! Argh!

stuff piled on the floor = unacceptable

disorder = unacceptable

The basement cleanup was actually a multi-objective mission. Objective one: Despiderwebbing. Practically every time I go to the basement, I walk into a strand of spiderweb. I curse "Damn spiders!"and then spend two hours feeling like I have spiders all over me (though I never see any actual spiders).  I've learned to wave my arms around in front of me as I walk, which I'm sure makes me look totally sane. :P So before I spent any time in the basement, the spiderwebs had to go. I made quick work of this task with my trusty Shop-Vac.

Objective two: Set up the table which came with the chairs I bought off craiglist a while back. It's ginormous and will make a great work table. But the table top has been propped against my garage wall since I bought it. Why? Because I can barely move it. That mo-fo is HEAVY. One reason is that there are steel slides underneath which allow the table to be split so leaves can be added.

The good news is that I could take off the slides by removing some screws. 36 screws. With a power driver, of course. I love power tools!

With the slides off, I could easily carry the two halves of the table down the stairs one at at time. I reconnected the halves and put the slides back on. 36 screws. Did I mention I love power tools?

Then I attached the legs, which are held in place by a bolt and nut. A square nut. Maybe there's some great reason to make nuts square, but I had never seen a square nut. And I certainly didn't have the right tool - power or otherwise - to tighten the thing. I had to make due with pliers.

Finally, I righted the beast and added the leaves. The table will make a great work surface in my "saw shack."

The saw shack is a corner of the basement where my chop saw sits. I hung plastic to create a third "wall" behind the saw.

Across the front of the "room," I hung a piece of plastic on magnetic hooks stuck to the metal beam. I can easily pull it closed to keep sawdust from getting on everything in the basement.

As an aside... If you look closely at the picture of the table, in the bottom left corner you can see a footprint. It's one of several. Whatever that white stuff is on the floor -- it's not paint and it's not something loose that can be vacuumed up -- somebody was walking around in it barefoot.

Objective three: Banish the creak. There was a spot on my floor that creaked when you stepped on it. Not a sound like a squeaky floorboard, but a sort of groaning creak that somehow sounded like metal. It was such a disconcerting sound that I would often walk around the other side of the room to avoid stepping on that spot. Investigation revealed that the cause was another of the previous homeowners' home "improvement" projects.

When they built a dividing wall, one stud was cut too long, and it ended up directly under the metal HVAC duct. The stud bowed the top plate (the horizontal stud) up and squeezed the duct between it and the floor above. Every time weight was put on the floor, increased pressure on the duct caused the groaning sound.

I was afraid to cut the stud because an electrical wire was stapled down the entire length of it. There was no slack in the wire, so I couldn't pull it out of the way. Eventually, I had an electrician disconnect the dubious DIY basement wiring. With the wire no longer live, I felt safe to cut the stud. It was not easy! Because of the pressure on the stud, the saw kept binding. Luckily, the wood was already cracked, and eventually I triumphed with a combination of sawing and hammering. I ran upstairs and walked across the floor... no creak! :D I might have danced a little.

Objective four: Get rid of a few things and organize the rest. After the ordeal with the table and the battle with the stud, this was the easy part. :) In one area went furniture to be refinished.

In another, various items to be used in future projects.

Across from the shelves, assorted pieces of wood. The stack of small crown molding at the bottom was a great find at the reuse store. It's new, I paid $4 for the whole stack, and there's enough for the entire bathroom. :)

The wood storage is simply pieces of 1x2 that I screwed to the studs.

Behind that, seasonal decor items and empty boxes. I'll save some of the useful boxes and break down the rest for recycling.

Now the basement is once again within acceptable neat freak parameters.

Tidy basement... Done!