Who knew that one of the most time consuming tasks in finishing the basement would be figuring out how to construct the walls. I agonized over the approach I would take, knowing that the wrong decision could cause me to tear down everything and start over. I hope my story here will help you make a good decision too.

The Walls I’m Working With
My house was built in 2005. We chose the particular lot we are on because it seemed like high ground with respect to other homes in the neighborhood. The walls are constructed of 12 courses of cement block which, despite my location, get saturated in different areas during heavy rains. I was shocked that a brand new basement could be so porous to water. I don’t get streams, but I would not say the basement is bone dry either. If we run a dehumidifier on high after a few days of dry weather the walls will dry out.

Last year I called EverDry in frustration, hoping that they could diagnose the water problem and propose a remedy. After the doom and gloom sales pitch of the dangers of deadly mold and crumbling foundations, their solution came out to a cool $17,000. It involved digging out around the outside of the foundation, trenching the interior perimeter of the basement and installing an industrial dehumidifier. This would guarantee dry block and also $17k less in my bank account. I decided to finish the walls without the massive expense, but the specter of water made my decision making far more stressful.

The Vapor Barrier Decision
The builder had originally planted the seed that putting a vapor barrier against the block walls (even if damp) leaving an airspace, and installing 2×4 studs would be a suitable way to finish the walls. I had a ton of questions about EXACTLY what to do though.

• What kind of plastic should I use?
• How far away from the walls should the studs be?
• Should I install fiberglass insulation between the studs?
• Do I need a pressure treated floor plate?
• The most nagging of all questions: Will the walls get wet on the inside if I use this approach?

To answer my questions I followed Google to this great forum entry on how to vapor barrier a basement. There were some differing opinions, but THE BEST resource was referenced; Building Science Corporation’s Basement Insulation Systems Guide. Hallelujah! This is the advice given to builders on how to insulate/finish a basement. It has detailed pictures of the effects of what my builder had suggested (putting up a plastic vapor barrier and insulation)…it retains water and mold. MY solution was found on page 13 of the guide which explains the use of extruded polystyrene insulation and furring strips.

The Dow Styrofoam Solution
With a solution in mind I went looking for where I could find this extruded polystyrene (EPS). Lowes saved the day again. I found 2″ thick EPS sheets in either 4×8′ or 2×8′ tongue and groove sheets. Then I wanted to know how to install the stuff. Lo and behold the Dow website has this very thorough Dow Styrofoam Wallmate XPS Installation Guide. It gave me the plan I needed to purchase the rest of my materials, which included 1×3 furring strips for every 2′ and plenty of Tapcon screws.

A Special Note on the Tapcon Screws
For my project thickness the right size Tapcon screw was the 1/4″ x 3 3/4″ HEX head Tapcon screws. First, they are the thick ones to prevent any chance of them snapping on me when I installed them. Secondly, you MUST use the hex head for ease of screwing it into concrete. Don’t even think of using a Phillips head or flat head. Finally, buy a LOT of them, and NOT at Lowes. Tapcon screws are insanely expensive there, and these big ones run out of stock. I probably used 6-8 boxes of 25 screws each to do my single room. Buy them online in bulk if you can.

The Right Mix of Tools and Technique
It took me a couple of nights to get into a rhythm of how to best install the stuff. Let’s start with tools because they mean the difference between extremely slow, and super efficient. You’ll need:

• Tape measure
• Drywall square
• Permanent marker
• Utility knife
• Spare 2×4′ board
• High power CORDED hammer drill for drilling concrete
• High quality masonry drill bit
• Another electric drill for drilling countersink
• Cordless drill/driver for installing Tapcon screws
• Hand ratchet for finishing off stubborn Tapcon screws
• Chop saw for cutting furring strips to length
• Level to ensure furring strips and styrofoam are plumb
• Ear protection
• Work gloves

A menagerie of Craftsman tools helped me efficiently install the insulation

Working from one corner of the room, you begin by cutting the styrofoam to the height of the block wall so that it fits underneath the floor joists. To cut the material I marked a line with a framing square and permanent marker, then scored the line with a utility knife. The final step was to break the styrofoam over a spare 2×4 as shown below.

Once a couple of pieces of styrofoam are dry-fit into place, you then cut a furring strip to cover the seem between them. Using a level I made sure that the furring strip was vertical, and had my trusty assistant hold it while I went for the hammer drill…

A Special Note on Hammer Drills and Bits
Not all hammer drills are made alike, and neither are masonry drill bits. Trust me. The first rig I used was my Craftsman 19.2V Cordless with the 3/16″ bit provided in the screw box by Tapcon. That was slow and painful. Then I thought I’d try my dad’s Black and Decker corded hammer drill from the 1980s thinking the electric power would help. Nope. I nearly burned out the drill. Check out the lean and grimace I’ve got trying to use that sorry rig.

So, I went to Kmart and bought a reasonably priced Craftsman corded hammer drill, and I went to Lowes and bought the toughest sounding 3/16″ masonry bit they had - the Bosch Blue Granite 6″ long Hammer drill bit. This combination cut through concrete like butta, and made this portion of the project take days not weeks!

Drilling and Screwing With Protection
I’m obliged to warn you that I used protection when hammer drilling and screwing. Muffs for the ears and gloves for the hands (padded for my pleasure). The sound reverbed throughout the basement and could have spread a WTD (Work Transmitted Disease). Without gloves, my hands would have developed some nasty sores. OK, enough with the stupid jokes…

1. I drilled into the concrete
2. I countersunk the hole
3. I drove in the Tapcon with the cordless drill and hex driver
4. I finished off the screw with a ratchet when needed

The end result is a securely fastened piece of Styrofoam insulation with Tapcon screws that are flush on the front so that drywall can be installed directly onto the furring strips without obstruction.

Closeup of furring strip with countersunk Tapcon screw

The insulated basement wall completed

This portion of the project took about 5 days, and the end result was actually really fulfilling. I could have very easily left the basement looking like this. It is now insulated, and the blue looks much better than block. Unfortunately I think there is some code that says you need to cover over the Styrofoamwith wall board for fire protection. Well…that and we can’t have Tricia’s clients working out in a half-finished room, now can we?

Next up…how I installed the electricity and painted the ceiling with a Wagner Power Painter.

This is a great spoof video showing the show 24 as if it were 1994. It reminds me of how far we’ve come in a very short period of time. I love when the boss picks up the phone and cuts off AOL - priceless. There isn’t any point in trying to explain vinyl records and cassette tapes to my kids anymore. Even the interweb look vastly different than it did before they were born. They’ve never even heard modem tones.

My web activities have slowed to a crawl as we have begun yet another home improvement project in the Rzepkowski household. This time we are finishing an area of our basement to serve as a workout room for Tricia’s personal training business. My web marketing strategery caused an inflow of clients a few months before she may have been fully prepared, so here we are in the middle of the best part of summer locking ourselves “down in the hole” to prep some much needed home fitness space.

I’m going to post a series of entries outlining the project. I’ll try to write down as many notes-to-self as possible so that I don’t make the same mistakes again the next time I go to do some DIY home improvement. If you learn from any of the choices I make, awesome! If you want to comment on what an idiot I am, go for it! I’m way behind on documenting the steps I’ve already done so your advice will likely fall into the too little too late department. Without further ado, let’s get going…

What Are We Going to Do?
This whole thing started with a simple wife whimper, “Honey, I really need a wall between this one part of the basement and the other part so that all the kids’ junk isn’t in the way of my workout sessions.” I said, “OK, a simple stud wall with a door opening will be no problem. Let’s just put it up. So, I got the car keys and just as I was stepping out the door to go to Lowes I thought, “Gee, maybe I should measure a few things.” I brought my expert consultant to the basement and we literally moved furniture around for an hour trying to figure out how to configure the space.

Visio 2003 Beats the Back of a Napkin
After we tired ourselves out, we decided a floor plan was in order. I popped open Visio Professional 2003 on my computer and draw up a plan of the space and the big items we needed to fit. That way the heavy lifting would be done on the computer, not with our back. The plan you see is by no means an expert architectural blueprint. I misused and abused Visio because I didn’t want to spend the time to learn how to do it 100% right. I wanted to get building the friggin’ basement, not become a Visio Jedi Master. Nonetheless here were a few brief tips on how I made a simple drawing above out of Visio.

1. Create a New Drawing by going to New > Building Plan > Floor Plan. This opens a ton of VERY helpful Visio shapes for creating walls, staircases, furniture, dimensions, etc
2. Set the Scale under Page Setup > Drawing Scale tab. Measure you long outside walls and fiddle with the scale so that the entire drawing will fit on 8.5 x 11. Trust me, you at least want to do the drawing to scale. This is extremely helpful!
3. Use the shapes in the Dimensioning - Architectural palette to show precise measurements on your drawing. These measurements allow you to measure on paper for everything from studs to wiring.

The left side of the drawing is what we are currently building. The rest (including the bathroom) are for a future phase. Learn about the tough decisions we made on insulating and waterproofing cement block walls in my next posting.

For our 10th anniversary weekend we headed off to Chippewa Bay in the 1000 Islands for a couple days of fun with our friends Marc and Janet and their kids, Mia and Lucas. On Sunday morning we hooked up our boat and left the house at 9:45. We took a really nice drive east on 104 through all of the eastern Lake Ontario fishing towns like Sodus, Pulaski, Oswego, and Mexico. We arrived at around 12:30pm at the public boat launch. There, we left our boat trailer locked up and drove the boat over to the cabin which was less than half a mile away.

Jesse’s Island
The cabin is at the end of a steep road to the water’s edge. On the land where we stayed was the owner’s cabin, and a guest cabin that the 8 of us stayed in. The cabin is on Jesse’s Island, which I would suppose is one of the 1,793 islands that make up the area.

Mia and Anna on Jesse’s Island

Here Fishy Fishy

I brought the Fish Fry, but the best “yacht” in the place was the pontoon boat
We took the boat out fishing while Marc’s family went on the 24 foot pontoon boat they had rented. We spent a good amount of time out on the water drift fishing with worms. We got tons of small perch. As we peered over to the fishin’ barge we saw Janet hook a nice 3.3 pound walleye, and a small Northern Pike. We knew who we were fishing with the rest of the trip for sure. The pontoon boat worked out much better to get the whole crowd of us to have fishing fun together.

Anna pets the nice Northern pike lovingly.

Island Hopping
Perhaps the best part of going to the 1000 Islands is island hopping. There was a nice state park right by where we fished every day, so it gave us a chance to explore. The island had a few tent sites and a beautiful picnic shelter. Someday, it might be fun to camp there.

We parked the boat on shore and poked around the island.

Mason and Anna Go Down the Tubes
On Monday afternoon the weather was kind of crummy and we had been fishing all morning. Rather than sit inside, I thought we could try a water activity. Heck, we were going to get wet anyway. I had purchased an inexpensive tube and tow rope from Dick’s to bring with us on the off chance that I might entice one of the kids to hop in the water and get dragged around by the boat. Sure enough, Anna was game for the adventure, but Mason wasn’t feeling well.

We took out the pontoon boat, hooked up the tube, and I hopped in for a trial run. Anna saw me getting dragged around having a good time, but was a little concerned when I flipped off the tube after doing some tricks. Nonetheless, she hopped into the tube giving me explicit instructions not to go fast or do tricks to flip us off. Well, I had Marc start off really slow. After a while we sped up a bit more, and Anna was having a blast! We talked the whole time together about how much fun we were having. Then I had Marc goose the throttle a bit more so we could get the tube on plane and get my legs out of the water. That’s when Anna had enough. She started to scream like she does on a kiddie coaster, “This is a nightmare!, This is a nightmare!”. I just thought that was priceless. So, we slowed down and congratulated Anna on her first tube ride. (The pictures are still on Marc’s camera). It was awesome!

Mia and Lucas both had their first turn on the tube as well (with Marc and Janet riding along). They both had a blast in their first experiences too. We went in after the first round of tubing to pick up Mason and Tricia. Luckily Mason was feeling better and he wanted to give tubing a whirl. Tricia was the first to take him out. She had the boat up to full speed, and had Mason outside of the wakes! He loved it. Then it was my turn to go out with the boy. I got even more aggressive with it at full speed, and he just never wanted to quit. Nothing beats the smiles that the whole crew had on their faces.

Tricia takes Mason on his first tube ride

Kris and Mason go outside of the wakes

Tourist Fun
We also had a chance to check out a few spots in the tourist mecca of Alexandria Bay. My favorite, of course is the 1000 Islands Bait Store, the ultimate fishing shop. My kids really liked our scavenger hunt at Mazeland. Mazeland is a labyrinth of bushes that you try to find your way through. You go through it looking for letters that make up the word of the day. If you get the word of the day right, the kids get a prize, and the adults were entered into a drawing for one too. Mason enjoyed the life sized chess board in downtown Alex Bay. When we got back from the trip all he wanted to do was learn to play chess. That is one of his new favorite things.

The Krolczyk clan in their favorite part of the world

Thanks to Marc, Janet and the kids for sharing their yearly family vacation with us. It was a lot of fun.

According to the calendar, today is my 10th anniversary. Tricia and I have been through a lot since July 18, 1998. Here’s a quick review:

• 2 kids
• 10 different jobs (between us)
• 5 different home addresses

We’ll probably spend tonight watching the wedding video that I spliced together from some grainy VHS tapes just recently. I’ll save the hour long version for our own personal viewing. Here’s the abridged version of our wedding ceremony.

A special ‘I love you’ goes out to my lovely bride, of course. I so look forward to what adventures the next 10 years will bring.

For the fourth of July, we had some good times at Conesus Lake. Much of the Rzepkowski clan came into town to enjoy the Ring of Fire on the 3rd. Wendy and Ian even drove up from South Carolina, and with them came both of my grandmas and Barb Polasik, my grandma’s cousin from Virginia, who is just a terrific lady.

A Flame Lit for Lefty
At dusk we started off the fireworks show by writing messages to grandpa on a Chinese lantern. We had a lighting ceremony with some prayers and then sent it off into the sky. We expected it to go thousands of feet into the sky and see its way to heaven. Instead it went about 100 feet, then came down like the Hindenburg. It was still very touching, and beautiful.

Uncle Neal lights the Chinese lantern. If you look closely you can read the messages to Lefty

Ian also brought with him about $300 worth of fireworks that we lit off at the end of the dock, adding our own personal show to the thousands of crazies trying to outdo each other.

One of the many fireworks shot off at the lake

The children’s ahhs tell the whole story

On the 4th we made a HUGE breakfast of Belgian waffles and egg casserole. Then, Ian, Dad, Mike and me went to Livingston Country Club for a round of golf. I was on my way to my goal of breaking 100 for the first time. But, at hole 15 my stamina went out the door, and I had 7’s and 8’s for the rest of the round, leaving me with a 111. Luckily we are all in the high-scoring club so that was good enough for second place.

Dad “executes” a 60 ft. putt while Ian provides the typical hi-jinx

Th rest of the weekend we had great weather, so we took the kids swimming in the not-so-warm water and went on a nice long boat ride. There was plenty of drinking and fishing to keep us occupied too. As is our tradition, we topped it off with our yearly family photo in the Old Navy flag tees.

At Nana and Poppy’s House
After our trip to the lake we went to Nana and Poppy’s house for some more relaxation and Mush for dinner. It was hotter than blazes on that Sunday, so the kids convinced Poppy that they should all go in the sprinkler. That set us up for some ideal photos of grace and beauty in action. Have a look:

Poppy and Mason having fun in the sprinkler

Grace in action: Poppy and the kids jump through the sprinkler

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Thanks you Internet for your support! I’m going to be deciding on my running-mate in the very near future. It’s a toss up between Luke Duke and Chewbacca. Let me know who you think I should choose.

Last weekend we hopped in the car and made the trek to Watkins Glen for some “kamping” with friends at the Watkins Glen KOA. First, let me say that K is the best letter of the alphabet, so the fact that everything at KOA starts with K (a not so-clever use of metaplasmus) makes it even better. In fact we stayed in Kamping Kottages which is about as luxurious as camping gets. I highly recommend them.

Of the many amenities right there in the KOA is a Jumping Pillow. Unfortunately I went on with little Anna first and 3 jumps into the fun she landed wrong on the pillow and twisted her knee. She was hobbled the rest of the weekend after that one, so we learned a lesson there. Anyway, Tricia, me and all of the kids on the trip had a grand old time getting high. Check it out:

Tricia goes airborne on the Jumping Pillow

Kris gets high on the Jumping Pillow

Crayfish are a Hit
There was a big gully behind our cabins with a creek running through it. The boys always wanted to go down into the creek to find crayfish. So, after spending lots of time getting muddy and collecting some of the mini-lobsters, Marc got the bright idea to throw them into the fishing pond as bait. Lo and behold that was the ticket. So the secret is now out. KOA fishing pond + crayfish = big bass.

Lucas Krolczyk puckering up to one of the big bass he and his dad, Marc caught

Not to be outdone, Anna and I hit the pond hard with the Barbie pole and some fresh night crawlers. We both practiced lots of patience and came up with a few nice sunfish for our efforts.

Anna and Daddy wait patiently for a fish to bite.

Lots of Exercise
Tricia wrote about how much exercise she got on the trip, so we weren’t just lazing around, for sure. We had a wonderful time with all of our friends this weekend. Thanks for the memories!

The Kamping Krew.
Back Row (From Left):Lucas Krolczyk, Kris Rzepkowski, Mason Rzepkowski, Anna Rzepkowski, Mike Gregoire, Bonnie Gregoire
Front Row (From Left):Janet Krolczyk, Mia Krolczyk, Tricia Rzepkowski, Marc Krolczyk, Oscar Gregoire

It has been over a week now since my grandfather’s funeral, and I’m getting back into the swing of things before this upcoming holiday weekend. I wanted to post a photo from the event because, as with many families, funerals are like family reunions. It’s also a really good excuse to get dressed up and take a nice picture. So here’s the family:

The Rzepkowski Family in front of the Dunkirk Kosciuszko Club
Back Row (from left): Neal Rzepkowski, Ian Vosper, Duane Mallaber, Kyle Rzepkowski, Michelle Rzepkowski, Terry Rzepkowski, Dick Rzepkowski, Marlene Rzepkowski
Middle Row (from left): Esther Rzepkowski, Taryn Rzepkowski, Wendy Vosper
Front Row (from left): Michael Short, Lindsey Short, Lilyan Short, Mason Rzepkowski, Anna Rzepkowski, Tricia Rzepkowski, Kris Rzepkowski

This same crew is getting together for the 4th of July at my parents’ lake house. It will be nice to see everyone again and continue to heal.

I’m just returning to the real life of home, work and responsibilities after 4 days spent mourning the loss of my grandfather. While I’ll remember him forever, I need to write down all that I’m feeling now while the pain is still fresh. I know that time heals, and time helps you forget the difficult emotions that come with losing a close family member. It’s just that right now, I don’t want to forget. Not yet.

Which memories are mine?
I listened all weekend to the fond memories of the generation before me. Grandpa’s boys, his daughter, his wife, his friends, his nieces and nephews. There were so many stories, so many one-liners, so many “lefty-isms” that encapsulated his life and influence. They are stories I’ve heard so many times though, it’s almost as if I were there. As if they were my memories. I had a hard time distilling what I had really been a part of and what was just a part of family lore. I struggled to put a finger on exactly what it was about grandpa that made me cry so hard when I saw his last sickly days 2 weeks ago when he didn’t recognize me. What was it that made it so difficult to see him in that casket?

His legend is great
These are the grandiose legends that you like to tell everyone about your predecessors. When we played volleyball together at family picnics and I thought I knew everything, he showed me the way he had done it as a young man - and he was good! When we fished together and I was having no luck, he could flick his wrist and have a fish. When we went hunting - my dad, my uncle and him, I was the one who could not steady myself for a shot and he would take one shot off hand and get it done. He was known for his creativity; having the patience to carve elaborate duck decoys and Christmas angels out of wood. I know exactly where I got my perseverance in my design career.

Kris graduating from UB in 1997, with Grandma and Grandpa Rzepkowski.

His wisdom was greater
It was not his skill that was the best thing about grandpa though. I realize today that his wisdom is what I will miss most. He would always ‘teach a man to fish’ before ever taking an ounce of credit for anything that he himself had done. He was humble - much moreso than I can ever try to be. He spoke more with with his eyes than with his mouth. A wink of his eye was all you needed to know that he loved you.

Grandpa, if you are reading this blog entry from your place in heaven (which I doubt because your computer was ‘a pencil and a pad of paper’) this wink is for you.