Death is NOT the Worst of Evils

Basement Finish/Remodel Step 1.

So now that your pocket tee is all damp with tears and slobber, its time to get to work. I know that most of you are ready to head down to Home Depot and load the back of the half ton with a bunk of 2X4's. To which I say, "WHOA THERE HOSS!". You're not going anywhere till we've had a little talk. See, first off, you have NO CLUE what you need to buy. (no you DON'T) Nor do you have the faintest glimmer of HOW MUCH of that elusive "what" you need. Now let me stop for just a minute and fill you in on something. If you don't finish reading this tutorial you're going to add 3 weeks to this project before you've even started, so pay attention. So here's what you're going to do first. First, you're going to call your wife down to the basement. No you're not going to go get her. See, that was going to be your 2ND mistake, and we haven't even started yet. ( The first mistake you ask? Remember when you told the general contractor that built the house, "Naw don't bother finishing the basement, I can do that myself." Ring any bells?) No, you're not going to go off with that the-lights-went-out-30-seconds-ago-and-I-still-can't-find-the-flashlight yell. And not that panicky sort of yell like when you got your finger stuck in the cream soda bottle. No tough guy, you're gonna give a you-need-to-come-right-now-and-tell-me-where-you-want-the-family-room-and-how-big-you-want-it kind of yell. See right off she's gonna know who's in charge of this project. Whew, glad we plugged the hole in that dike, that could have been ugly.