Basement Floors, Basement Floods

I’ve been thinking about replacing the wall-to-wall carpet in the basement with something that would better suit my needs… primarily, the ability to get dirty. And let’s face it… peed on. Now, before you think I’ve created some den of kink in my basement, let me clarify: it’s a workout space for me, and a play space for the dogs. Sometimes the little fur babies get so excited they just can’t control themselves. And sometimes the older fur babies decide they love it here, and claim it as their own. Either way, pee happens. Carpet is a bad idea.

So I browsed. I ordered samples. I measured and calculated and drew diagrams and 3-D mockups. But mostly, I procrastinated.

The ‘Romper Room’ area is getting carpet removed, and rubber flooring installed.

Rubber is exactly what I need. Shock absorbing and easy to clean, this will create a perfect exercise floor for humans and canines alike. It’s easy enough to install myself… just a straight edge and razor to shape the pieces around corners. No glue required.

• 8 mm 23”x23” Strong Rubber Tile Designer Series - “Toffee Nut”

So while I was in the midst of all that procrastination, the basement flooded because the refrigerator water-dispenser line disconnected itself and streamed down the wall all night long. It’s just water… not sewage or oil or anything gross. But still, it’s annoying. The rug pad was glued down to the concrete, and (to its credit) had a moisture barrier on the top side. While this is a great feature for preventing spills and accidents from seeping down into the pad, it is the opposite of helpful when the basement flood soaks up from below. The pad was the consistency of wet cake. Out it went.

Also, I ordered a freeze/flood sensor. It might not stop water from ever touching my basement again, but at least I’ll be able to react faster next time.

Yeah, okay… so, I could have bought new rug pad for the soaked corner, and set up the basement with dehumidifiers and fans and smoothed the carpet back out. But where’s the fun in that? Out came the utility knife. Out went the soggy carpet.

The new flooring is 70% black recycled rubber and 30% colored virgin rubber. My 154 rubber floor tiles saved 62 tires from ending up in landfills. YAY! 🌎 ♻️

This is what 1100 pounds of rubber looks like. These tiles are HEAVY!

The first corner.

Laying down the edge to the workshop, with a step-down transition strip to keep it from lifting, and prevent people from tripping.

First day’s effort: 16 tiles. Only 138 more to go!

40 down, 114 to go. I fought with buckling and gaps for quite a while today trying to insist that my basement is square and my measurements are perfect. In the end, it’s easier just to trim another 1/4” off the tile and call it good.

Making progress! Time to move all the junk over to the completed side.

So close… at this point the OCD is kicking in, and I’ll be done in no time.

DONE! I have 14 tiles left over, which will be plenty to fill in the side closet when the oil tank gets pulled out.

Basement Storage

My basement came with a storage closet in the corner that is also home to numerous plumbing pipes and my hot water heater. There was some minor shelving, but nothing that would accommodate my storage needs. There is also a small counter with a pass-through opening through a set of louvered bi-fold window shutters… the only thing I can imagine is that this had been intended to be the bar for some sort of basement lounge space. Or a strange addiction to louvered EVERTHING.

The thin shelving on the right side came out easily. I cut down the bar-like counter on the left to make room for more shelves on that side too.

Then came the storage bins. Not giant, too-heavy-to-manage totes, but matching 25- and 50-quart Sterilite ShelfTotes designed to stack neatly into the new 5-shelf storage rack.

Basement Drop Ceiling

My basement ceiling is truly horrible… the rectangular tiles are floppy and dirty and torn. But because I have utilities that I’ve had to service more than once in the last five years, I really like being able to pop out the ceiling tiles and get to whatever’s up there… electricity, gas pipes, cable, etc.

So, I’ll get the ceiling re-done someday. For example, the Boulanger EMB80WHB Embassy Ceiling System (shown below, right) is simple and clean. I’ll also swap out the big fluorescent tube lights for recessed LEDs.

Cable Tangle

Before the days of wifi came the days of cable splitters. My house had coaxial cable running everywhere. I pay for premium internet service to support my work-at-home needs (and my HD streaming habit), and it’s frustrating to have crummy signal. Luckily, I have a dog-walking neighbor who works for Comcast. He told me to suggest egress (signal leakage) and noise as possible reasons for my signal degradation.

As it turns out, the line from the telephone pole had probably been chewed by squirrels, and had water inside the casing. Once inside, the line fed to a splitter, then to another splitter, then stretched to an amplifier in the workshop area, then doubled back on itself before reaching - you guessed it - a third splitter.

Wound up with all that was a nest of telephone wire. Like, for someone (not me) who maintains a land line. Instead of feeding to a neatly-installed junction box in the wall, these wires were fed through holes drilled in the floor… this made it especially easy to rip them out.