Hi all, thanks in advance for all the great info I have gathered here, it is a fantastic resource.

I am about to finish my basement and have become a self-described TV junkie when it comes to all the remodeling/decorating shows that have cropped up. Monster House, Trading Spaces, good lord, the list goes on and I just keep on watching.

In the spirit of a deadline, I am thinking of setting up a similiar scenario for finishing my basement over a weekend.

My idea would be that over a 2 day weekend, I get about 6 friends together and we go hard for 2 days and hopefully get the basement framed and drywalled. As well, one of my friends is an electrician, and he would be there to do his thing so that by the end of the Sunday all the framing is in, the walls and ceiling are drywalled, and all appropriate wiring has been run.

I have no delusions of going any further than that, in fact, I will probably hire someone to tape it, as that is not my favourite job and I am quite slow.

I suppose my question is do you think that 6 fairly handy guys can do the above in 2 days working pretty hard on a totally gutted 700 sq. ft. basement?

Just curious as I have only done little bits of this type of work on an ongoing basis, and I have no real idea as to time frames when you are going at it full time for a few days.

As mentioned, the basement is totally unfinished, we have good tools, and all people involved have some experience with this type of work although none are professional. (With the exception of the electrician)

Can it work? Your thoughts? I think it might be fun although my friend's may disagree ...

 

bcard74,

First thing is building permit? Guess not huh?

With 6 people and fully gutted, framing is no big thing but no permit is a bad thing. If you had then you wouldn't be asking about doing all this work in a 2 day period. If you did, then you already know the answer on time frame. Need to do inspections.

Simply put, if there is no plumbing, heating issues etc. that need to be done, then framing and start of electrical can be done in one day and then drywall hung the next.

I stress that obtaining a building permit is very important and don't tell me about "but my taxes will be raised!" So will the value of your home! Do it legal and do it right.

Hope this helps!

 

If you still want your friends to be friends,,,insurance to be intact,,,and never worry of permitting issues. Schedule the fast track over a few weekends.....

I personally would reduce the amount of friends to 4 including yourself...

Why???
you ever see how much they argue on trading places.?? If the project time was truly limited to the air time then I doubt it would get much further than introductions.

the last thing you need is as a problem is too much help at any given time....as it leads to the non workers conversing with the workers who then become slow workers.

"mike,, i think that screw is off a few inches
noooo,,It's where it's supposed to be....
no mike,,it's supposed to be 8" up from the other,,yours looks like six"
Hey Guys...Knock it off,,,we have lots of work to do...
No Nohhh,,,,I know this screw is 8" from the other,,,well I mean, It might be 8.5 or even 7.5 but it's not six...I'm getting a tape measure...
GOOD,,I"ll bet you lunch it's off by more than one inch.
Your on!
HUH I told you it was right on a dead center 8 inches..
Your right...gee Sorry Mike,,,I guess I owe you a lunch....




setting a schedule too tight leads to pressures and stress...

if you enable enough time in the schedule so you can play monday quarterback a few times and still get back on the field ,, any seemingly critical issues which arise will not criple the project, and your team will accomplish the the bulk load of the work.