Rotten basement room? No thanks! – Igor's LAB in the dry or "We build ourselves a modern office" | Part 1

Once new, please! Chisel off plaster, pull strings, set cans

Inside, the first thing to be removed were the smelly wooden panels. I still shudder at the sight of the pictures.

Of course, the damp and smelly plaster inside had to come off the wall completely.

The neighbors acknowledged the caulking work on Saturday evening with loud music, but did not complain. In order to cool down the machine, which got quite warm in the meantime, and the worker, breaks were taken regularly.

Almost there..

By removing the wood paneling, a few unattractively laid cables (e.g. trapped behind the hot heating pipes and already coal black!) came to light and because everything in the old building was wired and installed a bit scary anyway (classic zeroing was just as common in construction as the breakfast beer) I decided to renew the entire installation. Drying out the wall ended up being a core renovation.

 

 

So I came up with a concept for the room, thought about where I would need outlets and network connections everywhere, how I would light the room, etc. When I presented the concept to my wife and estimated the costs, I was glad we didn't have a rolling pin in the house. Ultimately, however, this is the place where I will earn our bread and thus everything was grudgingly nodded off. After the wall had dried for a few weeks on the inside as well, it was time to make some holes in the wall!

A few slots for the cables were also milled at the same time.

Pro-tip: Never do this with the flex! I didn't have a slot milling machine with dust extraction at hand and thought to myself "you can make the few slots quickly with the angle grinder".. i later had a rattling in my lungs the whole evening despite FFP2 mask.

Even the 300mm rear exhaust had massive difficulties to cope with this situation and suffers since then from quite ugly grinding noises from the bearing area..

After everything was chiseled out, the cans and pipes could be test-fitted. I pulled the network cables all in corrugated tube for protection and later replaceability.

A drain pipe in the middle of the wall? What's the point? I'll solve it later..

Cans plastered…

 

Before we continue with the electrical installation and the plastering work in part 2, here's something to smile about. In the middle of the inner wall I found a very small patch of maybe 3cm in diameter. Curious about what might have been patched there, I opened the wall. A cut pipe?

I was flabbergasted when I found this scenario on the other side of the wall behind an old shelf:

WTF!? An intact pipeline still carrying water! So there was only the tap turned off and the pipe cut off. It's as if such a shutdown were sealed for all time. Better out with the stuff.

Closure on it, close the hole, ready.

By the way, in 1964, a ticket in the Northwest German Class Lottery cost a proud 48 deutschmarks 😉

 

To be continued..

So, that was quite a lot of pictures and impressions, but I was far from finished. How it continues, you will learn in the second part, because in the meantime everything is ready!