Extreme Makeover: Creepy Basement Edition - Phase 2

With the paint up on the walls and all dry (detailed in Phase 1) it was time to start preparing the board and battens.  Due to budget restrictions, we decided to use MDF.  During our Depot run, we picked up three 4'x8' sheets of MDF and had them make the initial cuts so we could squeeze them in the back of John's Escape.  They still stuck a bit out the hatch window, but luckily (not to our wallet), we only live about three minutes away from the Depot.

The MDF sheets chilling in the dining room.

Since we didn't finish painting until 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning, cutting these guys would have to wait until... later in the morning.  Poor John thought he was going to get a chance to sleep in, but unfortunately, was awoken by me around 9:30 or so.  I just couldn't help myself.  I'm definitely a would rather never see the morning person, but the excitement of power tools was too great for me.  After fueling up with some chocolate chip pancakes, we bundled up and headed outside to start making the B&Bs.  Using John's table saw, we worked out a system of John feeding the sheet in, me directing it, John pushing it through the end, and then I catch the pieces on the other side.  Once we got this figured out, cutting down the boards took no time.  I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy, out in the freezing temperatures, dashing about, tossing boards into a pile, and coating ourselves and backyard with MDF fuzz.

Our pile o' boards.

Me cleaning up in the wake of our MDF destruction.

A mountain of MDF shavings.

We started the process of affixing all these pieces to the walls by installing the boards (the horizontal pieces).  There was a snag with the air compressor that set us back (note to newbie air compressor owners: check your drain valve...), but once we got that figured out (thanks again, Papa Harold!), it started moving pretty quickly.  The boards were cut 8' long and 5" wide and we hung them 4' up the wall... except our basement is nowhere near level, so the boards are initially 4' up, but then vary as you move about... extremely annoying.  This oversight also resulted in the orange not being painted down far enough in about half the basement, so I was reunited with my Shur-Lines to fill in the gaps.  Definitely a pain, but also a learning experience.  *sigh*

The boards.  And yeah, we eat at KFC/Taco Bell.  Don't judge us.

The plan was to have the battens (the vertical pieces) to be 4' long, lying between the bottom of the boards and our floor trim, and 12" apart from each other.  Unfortunately, the sloping basement required John to individually measure for each batten and cut them each to size.  I'm pretty sure there was a better/different way we should have done this, but oh well.  We're just beginners.  To make the process quicker, John made a 12" template block and started measuring for each batten, marking the wall with a number and writing down the corresponding length so he could make several cuts at once.  He also cut the bottom of each batten at a 45 degree angle so they slope nicely down to the trim instead of sticking out and just looking like... well, a board nailed to the wall.

Our first battens.

My job in all this was to go through and patch all the little holes the nails left behind.  I started off using Elmer's Carpenter's White Wood Filler, which I absolutely hate.  Even more than the blue tape.  It's extremely hard to squeeze out of the tube, so anyone with limited use of their hands (due to arthritis or the such) would be unable to use it or in horrible pain afterwards.  I was and I'm young and viral virile.  Once you're able to squeeze out a bit, it's very hard to work with and often crumbles or just completely falls off.  Forget trying to patch anything larger than a nail hole.  You'll spend an hour trying to carefully mold the compound, only to have it just fall off or be destroyed in subsequent sanding.  Yeah, then you have to sand the junk down which also takes forever (especially when someone has gone drunk with pneumatic nailing power...) and creates all sorts of nasty dust to clean up and inhale.

Abandon all hope, ye who decide to use this junk.

After endlessly patching with this stuff, I felt full of despair and on the verge of tears as I saw I still had hundreds of tiny holes to patch and sand.  Luckily, John had mercy on my poor soul and bought a new option: Red Devil's Pre-Mixed Glazing Compound.  OK, so I guess it's not technically for patching holes, but it worked sooooo much better, it would make my Grandma say, "Well, goodnight!"  Instead of a nasty paste, it has the consistency of a putty, so it goes right into the holes without forcing it and scrapes off clean, thus eliminating the need for subsequent sanding.  It's almost immediately ready to be painted, so once we got going with our Red Devil, the pace picked up.  We used a system of John applying the putty and me following behind, scraping off the excess.  If you can see in the photo below, the board holes were patched with Evil Elmer's while the battens were filled with Red Devil.  Look how clean the Red Devil scraped off, without any sanding required.

As you can see above, I also went through and Frogged the boards in preparation of painting the whole deal white.  At the time, I thought it was a waste and my Shur-Lines would be able to handle it, but after painting, I'm very glad I did.  Otherwise, it would have been another round with Flaming Torch.

So, we eventually got all the B&Bs up, all the holes patched up, and the only thing left was to paint them all white, or as we call it: Phase 3.