Basement Cleanup

Last month I cleaned up and organized the laundry room and all the closets in the entire house.  This month we cleaned out the basement.  Our basement is unfinished.  We were using it as a storage room, but we decided it would be nice to make it usable space.  We’re not ready to finish it (sheetrock, ceiling, flooring, etc) so we decided to clean it up, organize the stuff we’re storing,  and make it so we can move the exercise equipment in there.

So, the first thing we did was clear out the mess.

We temporarily moved the stuff we plan on keeping into the garage  and took all of the things we no longer wanted to store to Goodwill.   Next, A washed the concrete floor with bleach and water and let that dry.

We then primed the floor with Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer/Sealer.  But first, A shut off the pilot lights for both the furnace and the hot water heater.  We did not want to take chances with the fumes.     We followed the directions on the can and allowed the primer to dry for 6 hours (really, overnight).   Then we used Behr’s Porch and Floor paint.  This paint acts as a sealer too.    Finally, we put on a top coat of polyurethane (a water based, fast drying, nonflammable brand from Home Depot).

To be safe, we will use plastic over the insulation until we put up sheet rock.

It’s not a beautiful makeover but it feels great to declutter and clean up.  I’m glad we finally got around to it.  Now that the space is usable, I see the need to paint the basement stairwell since we’re up and down it more often.  It seems the painting never ends!

To end on a pretty note,  my first set of paperwhites are blooming!

And the second set is rooting and on it’s way.

So cool.   Are you cleaning and organizing to begin the year?  Hopefully we’ll get to the garage next.
-J

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