By Tim Gillette, Community Voices 

In the last six months I have been learning lessons that about what it means to do the suburban thing and finish my basement. Little did I know that the all the fears where justified. But since I have tried to learn from my experiences I have been noodling as I go. Here are seven lessons that I have learned in this project. Take them for what they are worth.

Tim Gillette

To finish you have to start. I know it sounds like a large item, but it took me three and a half years and a layoff to get at this project. It was always easier to get behind the lawnmower, or put a tree in, or cultivate the garden, or, well, you get the idea. Big projects take a push to get started. As I look back on my life’s journey I should have remembered that the bigger the project or plan the more I need to focus on that one thing and take the first step. Bruises and cuts and tolerating glue for plastic pipes and now I am coming to pretty good end.

Plan to pay. Now this is something that I remember from a Bible story, but it is so true. Make sure that you count the cost before you begin to build. I learned this when I first built the house, but it came back to bite me. Have the basement Sheetrocked at the time of the house construction. Finish work is fun since everyone sees it and pats you on the back. The grunt work is hard and out of sight and I have paid with sore muscles, bruised shins, and cuts all over my hands. The one price that was worth it was the 17 pounds I lost in the process.

You will be humbled. I was an idealist when I first took this all on. I thought that I could do it in record time and that I knew enough to get it right at ever juncture. WRONG! I have found that my time requirements were far beyond my expectations, that it took real time to plan out a next step and I could not do the project alone. The great independent found that dependence would be required to finish.

Don’t work tired. Oh did I mention that I was trying to find a job and that my church was in need of my time and that I took a short term consultancy to help make ends meet. The work on the house was being done at the end of the day and on weekends just as if I was working. And I pushed when I shouldn’t have and now have to correct those Sheetrock errors that came from trying to work late when the muscles could not lift the 54-inch by 12-foot sheets of plasterboard or from not watching where the last end of board landed (no place to screw the next board to). Timing still is everything.

A friend who helps is a friend indeed. When you are in the midst of a major undertaking it doesn’t always follow that you will find someone to come and work with you. I know it isn’t much to some of you who have extended family in the area or friends from high school living in the neighborhood or at least in the Cities, but I had a retired banker for a portion of three days. We probably did not hang as much rock as we could have with 20 less years on our bones, but for me the experience was so stimulating that I was able to really get going and finish the sheet rocking myself. I was impressed by the willingness of someone to come and put up with my inabilities and add his abilities. And we did some of the harder work and that made such a difference.

Perfection is not obtainable. Yes, I am an out-of-the-closet perfectionist. While I have learned over the years not to expect it from my children or my wife, I still hold myself to a high standard. Construction does not allow for perfection. If you want perfection, use metal. When you add lack of expertise, tired human flesh, and lack of time all together you naturally get imperfection. I hired a framer early in the process to put up some soffits. He told me that if he got his work within .25 inches he was doing his job. Now you know why your house is a little out of plumb and that finding a square corner is a challenge. I expect the mudding will cover my Sheetrock errors. And the paint, ceiling texture, and trim will cover the mudding errors.

The end is worth it. Big projects take huge amounts of energy and will power, but the result really does remove the memory of long days and hours of discouragement. Will I do it again? Probably not! Will I count the costs, and find a lot of friends. You betcha! 

(Tim Gillette is one of about 10 people in the Savage community who write for Community Voices. This column features a different writer each week and is one of several opinion and commentary pieces appearing regularly in this newspaper.)