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As of many old ranch house our basement walls were covered by paneling. Although adding paneling has been a design trend for the last a few years, the 50 years-old orange paneling in our basement did not achieve a desirable and high-class look.

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With the rest of the basement finished with drywall, the paneling started to look unbearable. Initially I had wondered if paint could make it look OK, until we found more than a few gaps and unevenness upon close inspection. It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

1. Demolition

Slav has been a long time advocate for replacing the paneling. Once we decided on drywall he could not take these paneling off fast enough.

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Left on the wall were 1″ x 3″ wood studs, which held the paneling onto the concrete foundation. The wood studs were mostly solid, except a few have separated from the wall. The good news is that there was absolutely no sign of water damage. Our concrete foundation was bone dry and based on the appearance of these wood studs, it had never had water issues since the built.

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Interestingly, the junction boxes are recessed by digging into the foundation wall! I am wondering if this was a common practice at the time this house was built.

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2. New Framing and Drywall

Before attaching the drywall, Slav got masonry anchors and secured all the wood studs to the concrete foundation. He also framed around the water main in the corner of the room.

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After everything was secure we started putting up drywall. This room is large and only has one window, one doorway, and one column, which made things a lot easier. However, I had little experience working with drywall and Slav’s drywall days go way back. So it still took us two 4-hour evenings to finish hanging the drywall.

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Drywall shims were used at places where the walls/studs are not straight.

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Ta-da!

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3. Drywall Finish Marathon

Putting up drywall panels is just the first step. Since then, Slav has been busy at taping, mudding, and sanding.

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It is interesting to see how different corners are finished using different materials. Paper tape was used on inside corners and butt joints, metal beam was put on the outside corners, and specialty L beam was used against the window.

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Working on just a few joints is definitely not as bad as skim coating all the walls on the main floor while living there. That being said, it is still time consuming. Slav worked for a whole weekend and we still have the last coat to go.

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We expect to finish the drywall in the next a few days and by weekend, we should be able to paint! Cannot wait!