All The Basement's A Stage

When I finished renovating the basement in November 2011, turning 300 square feet of it into a playroom for the kids, I was really happy to be done with it. Especially since it meant that The Wife had a side for her desk, scrapbooking stuff, and sewing, and I had 72 square feet of space to call my own. The Wife calls it my "Man Cave." I prefer "Fortress of Solitude."

The basement had some water issues from the moment we bought it. It took a while to get it taken care of, sealed up, waterproofed. We had almost two years of no water seeping in through the cinder block wall, so we painted, installed the floor, moved a ton of toys down there, and everyone was happy.

I wasn't worried about it anymore. So when when we had a week of heavy, heavy rains last year, I wasn't worried about it. Until I took the dog outside late one night to find that almost the entire backyard was under a few inches of water. Considering we have a daylight wall (that means, it's not buried and there's a door that opens up to the backyard), I ran into the basement to check it out. As expected, water had come into the basement under the back door, flowed along the wall, under the washer and dryer, under the wall, and under the new floor.

Now, this flooring was chosen because it was inexpensive, the number one attribute in flooring for a playroom. Mostly durable, takes a beating, and in a decade or so when they're done beating the ever-living out of it (assuming we're still in this house), I'll replace it with something nicer. I'm thinking...slate with a heating element in the bond so the floor stays warm in the colder months. Other plans include a projector, surround sound, stuff like that.

Here's the basement with the 4'x12' (approximately) section of ruined floor removed.

Again, the flooring was relatively inexpensive, and from Ikea. Except they don't make this flooring in this color anymore. Of course they don't. I had a few boards left over, but not enough to cover an area that size.

So...I did this instead.

Five whole ingredients—2x4s, MDF, pink sheeted insulation, adhesive, screws. This covers a 5'x10' area, and I replaced three rows of boards on the end closest to the stairs. It needs some paint on the front and side, and I'm looking into an actual layer of dance flooring to go on top. The only problem is that it costs $200-$250 (including shipping). I want to put that on top of the floor, but I don't want the expense. Still, she can use it for now until I figure that out.

Of course, seeing that the cat threw up a hairball on it Monday night/Tuesday morning, I should probably speed up that process.

Word to the Nerd