The Many Foibles of Basement Construction

 *Sigh*
I wanted to have the basement finished by March 1st.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen, although we have made progress.  (That's good, right?)  I still have more mudding to do, although it's getting close, and Patrick is working on hanging the doors.  A funny thing happened as Patrick went to hang the first door (okay, Patrick wouldn't call it funny, but I think it's sort of funny, but he doesn't need to know I was laughing on the inside).

(First of all, let me backpedal just a bit..and point out that Patrick and I are not, nor have we ever been, or claimed to be, contractors.  We have been plagued with problems since we started our basement that all stem from the fact that we know nothing about building anything...but we're trying.  So when Patrick framed the doorways,other than the ones the actual BUILDER of our house put in for us, we assumed that the doorways built by the BUILDERS were the size of ACTUAL DOORS that you go and buy and hang....but we were wrong...and Patrick built all the doorways the same size...which is the wrong size....which means all the doors have to be cut, which we learned when we went to buy the stupid doors...but that's not the funny part...okay maybe it's a little funny)

So...back to the story...
Patrick goes to cut the first door and realizes the clamps he bought to hold the door while he cuts it are too big.  So he goes to Home Depot to exchange them for the smaller clamps.  Then he realizes that the clamps are in the way of the saw anyway, he has to put them on a different way, and the bigger clamps would have worked better. (Top this off by the fact that we can't find the wrench that came with the saw to tighten the blade and the instructions say explicitly to NOT use any other wrench. We used one anyway so I hope no one calls the saw police on us.)  He thought about going back for the bigger clamps again but decided against it.  We use the small clamps, and he gets that first door cut (which in and of itself is quite a tale) and he takes it into the furnace area to hang it.  Now he can't find the level...or the right kind of nails.  So he goes to Home Depot to buy the right kind of nails.  He finds A level--not the big, good level, but one that will do the job.  Now he can't find the nail punch to drive the nails in far enough.... We know we have one, because he's used it before...but it has mysteriously disappeared.  By now he's mad and doesn't want to make another trip to Home Depot, so he just hammers the nails in good enough for now and PRESTO...we have a door hung.  But wait... as he swings the door open, he realizes that it WON'T open, because the pipes that drain from the furnace and the water softener are in the way.  So after an entire evening spent trying to cut and hang ONE door...the door will only open about 2 feet.  And the nail punch is still missing. Funny, right? But it gets better...
So fast forward a couple of days to Patrick telling a friend about his experience hanging the door and the friend says, in a moment of complete wisdom, "You need a nail gun."  This is the funniest part of the whole story, you see, because Patrick HAS a nail gun.  He's been waiting so long to use it he forgot he even owned it.
We're hoping to have the basement ready for when Colby comes home to visit from college...