DIY Basement Workout Room Step 4: Getting Muddy on the Rubber Floor
Mon, 06 October 2008, 9:39 am
In front of all that awesome Styrofoam insulation and furring strips, we needed to install dry wall. I should say right now that I hate installing drywall. I actually don’t hate hanging the drywall so much as mudding and taping it. If I were smart I would have Googled a bunch of different advice on how to hang drywall, but alas, I jumped in feet first. I was on a deadline and there was no time for deliberation.
Hanging the Drywall
I bought 4×8′ sheets of 3/8″ drywall, enough to cover the room laying the drywall sideways so that the long seems ran horizontally. I placed a furring strip on the floor to rest the bottom drywall sheet on while I attached it. This provided a 1/2″ gap beneath it, so if the basement ever does get wet the water will not immediately soak into the drywall. To fasten the drywall to the furring strips I used standard drywall screws and this ingenious drywall screw setter.
It is magnetic so that you can screw with one hand. Plus it sets the screw into the drywall with the perfect depression (dimple) for concealing the screws with mud.
I measured my cuts with a drywall t-square and cut the drywall by scoring it with a utility knife. I found measuring and cutting holes for electrical boxes to be easiest using a cardboard template the exact size of the desired outlet hole.
Mudding and Taping
At this point I should have stopped the project and hired a professional. I told myself this, but because of my impatience, I went and got what I needed to do the job myself. We used Fiberglass Joint Tape to tape all of the butting seems. It’s self-adhesive unlike paper tape which I think takes professional skill to make stick. For the corners we used steel corner bead tape. I thought this might make the corners easier to deal with. Probably the best choice we made was to purchase Sheetrock Joint Compound with Dust Control. This stuff was slightly more expensive than standard joint compound, but it made for much more clean sanding.
After getting up a few thin coats of joint compound, we moved on to sanding…
Tricia does her best impression of the Karate Kid training routine
As we sanded, we got more and more tired of the project. Days turned into a week, then 10 days, then 2 weeks… Finally, I called it quits. The mudding and taping came out nowhere near as flawless and smooth as a professional. But, it was good enough for a basement workout room. The only person who will be annoyed by all of the flaws is me. After finishing the drywall, we applied primer and 2 coats of paint to all the walls. This was great so that we could be messy instead of dripping on a brand new floor.
Sump Got You Down? Make it into a Closet
One of the more rewarding parts of this basement project has been our decision to build a closet around our sump pump area. We didn’t want to look at the well, nor hear the high pitched whine of the de-humidifier. Plus, we needed a place for storage. I framed a closet with the intent to put mirrored doors on it. This way we’d get workout mirrors as part of the deal. We also planned to face the part of the closet holding the de-humidifier with peg board, allowing the de-humidifier to pull water from the main room (not just the inside of the closet) and giving us a place to hang random straps and workout paraphernalia. We framed and drywalled the closet after doing the basement perimeter so that much of the inside of the closet was finished first. For the floor of the closet we used adhesive vinyl tiles that look like ceramic.
The closet provides a perfect place to stash a de-humidifier close by to the sump well
The Rubberized Floor
It took a long time to decide on what type of floor to put into the workout room. We considered carpet, hardwood, laminate, and vinyl tile. In the end, none of them gave us the durability and warmth we wanted on a basement workout floor. We wanted something easy to install directly on the concrete as well. What we ended up with was rubberized “Flexi-tile” that we purchased at Lowes.
Flexi-tile went down easy with its interlocking “puzzle piece” edges
To install the tile, we worked from the far corner of the room laying down tiles in both directions. The floor was laid right on the concrete without any adhesive. We used a rubber mallet to easily pound the interlocks together.
Tricia pounds the floor with a rubber mallet. Who knows what she’s thinking about?
Because of the weight of the the floor when tied together, it really doesn’t move. In 3 hours the main part of the room was done. All I then had to do was the trimming for pieces when we reached to opposite side of the room. For this, I used a simple t-square and utility knife. I cut the pieces on scrap wood to prevent my knife from getting dull. This part of the project was probably the easiest and most rewarding. When done, we knew that we had created a perfect surface for working out. The rubber provides great traction for stretching and aerobics, while providing enough warmth underfoot for and barefoot activities. Plus, it will be easy to clean with a mop when it gets dusty.
In my next posting I’ll have pictures of the finished room. We have moved onto trim work now, which is going slowly. Since we’re in the Fall and the kids are in school, we’ve begun to use the room in it’s current state of “almost finished”.
DIY Basement Workout Room: Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5
Posted in: Home Improvement, Life
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