Last Minute Gift Idea: Contractor Offers Comments

Dec. 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Camp Hill, PA – Stumped as to the perfect gift this holiday season, time is running out. Here is the opportunity to offer a really fantastic gift that will benefit the whole family for years. Why not fix up a room in the house, like maybe the basement?

Where can a beginner start? A trip to a home improvement store will get the right tools into the shopping cart quickly. At the check-out, the choice of DIY books will be overwhelming. It is difficult to know where to begin. This is where this gift gets tricky.

“The real difficulty is knowing everything that you will need to complete the project,” said Eddie Case, a 20 year veteran basement finishing contractor and DIY instructor. “Each of the books is great explaining the subject that it covers, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you how to get to that stage, or what to do next. And books are just written words with pictures. Some people might not learn as well reading a book as seeing exactly how to complete the task.”

Many people prefer to see a task completed in front of them. Watching a video or going to a class often helps people to understand exactly the steps to take, while a still picture is just that a one shot of the task. There are, of course, some videos available to complete individual tasks in finishing up a basement, but it may be difficult to put all the information together in a continuous flow.

Possibly the best method of a DIY basement finishing project would be to have videos that begin at the beginning and take the DIYer all the way through, step-by-step.

“Go ahead and buy the book that looks like it tells the basics on finishing the basement. Wrap up the hammer and the tape measure. Then see what classes the home improvement box store offers, what videos are available online for immediate download,” said Case. “Go ahead and download the videos to get a head start on the project. But make sure the videos cover everything. They should start with the design and help you find the appropriate local building codes to follow. They should cover plumbing, framing, electrical wiring, heating and air conditioning, hanging interior and exterior doors, installing window, proper exits and fire safety, installing bathrooms with up-flushing toilets, insulation, lighting requirement, moisture control, drywall, trim, stairways, storage and maybe even wet bars and custom finishes.”

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About Eddie Case

Eddie Case began his basement construction career over 20 years ago. Since then he has completed over 550 basement finishing projects. Nearly a decade a ago, he began to film his expertise to share with DIY aficionados. Since then thousands of people who had never held a hammer properly have completed basement remodel projects by following Eddie's instructions.