You’ll want to double check if I am correct. Let’s say you use Schluter DITRA uncoupling membrane. I would have a 1/8 inch space between DITRA and the wall. Then I would crease a 5 inch Kerdi membrane in half and bond it to the DITRA and the wall with thin set.

What type of anchor were you given?

Technically, you can skip PT on the bottom and sill plates if using sill guard. But the cost savings for non-PT aren't worth it imo.

The paint will never sand down flush, there will always be a little lip which will look like a crater once painted, especially with a smooth ceiling and textured walls.

I wont see your ceiling cracking from my house, but I would cut it back at the edges of the crack, and use drywall mud or those little tubes of spackle and a putty knife to properly apply a patch. It's just paint cracking so you won't need much of it at all, just enough to create a smooth finish once sanded so go past the edges of the crack about 3 or 4 inches with the drywall mud.

Let it dry, sand it flat, do another coat if this is your first time because you'll make mistakes, let it dry, sand flat and paint.

>I’ll touch up after caulking.

Not if it's silicone, you won't.

For applications where you're going to paint the caulking, use Latex Acrylic caulking -- the best tier you can find. Urethane elastomeric caulkings are great too, like Big Stretch and Pro Stretch.

For applications where you need maximum durability and weather resistance, use 100% silicone.

Depends if you want the quick or the right way.

Quick way: with soft joint compound.

Right way: with hard, durable plaster! Plaster takes quite a bit of time to learn how to do well, but results in a really tough wall.

Lot of good advice - I agree with the foam board, then wall, but the one thing I would do prior to putting the foam board up is to seal any cracks on the concrete wall with hydraulic cement then put a couple of good coats of drylok paint to help seal the wall. You've never had water in the basement, but you don't want to find out you have an issue behind your framed out wall and foam. - where you'll likely find the first sign of a problem is a large patch of mold.
If you're leaving part of the basement unfinished, I'd also recommend keeping a dehumidifier going in that space to help keep the humidity level at a consistently low-to-moderate level.

Enjoy your new brushless drill!

One thing to keep in mind though: No standard drill is designed to mix concrete and thick mortars. That requires so much torque, it's likely to burn out even the best drills. If you're mixing up very dry or thick mortars, you should get a mixing drill. They're geared for very slow rotation but very high torque. Useless for anything other than mixing, but at least they can handle the application.

That's not plaster that's drywall bro

In some Victorian era houses, rooms at the front of the house got nice millwork, and kitchens and other backrooms got cheap wood which was painted. I've seen kitchen and other doors which were literally oak or better hardwood on one face, and pulp wood on the other. If this is the case in your house, do you really want to make the effort if one side of the door was painted for a reason?

I have also seen GFCI outlets fail outright. They’re somewhat expensive but may be worth the cost in exchange for the headache.

You're going to want half of those paint layers to be lead paint if you really want to be authentic.

Ours started tripping because a lizard crawled inside and died lol. No new outlet needed just had to be opened and removed…. I love Florida

Exactly - why would you want air movement behind the interior walls? All it does is guarantee that if there's one cold spot, instead it makes the whole area behind the insulation a cold spot. Especially the ground level cold will migrate to the basement floor level, spreading the love. Insulation flat against the walls makes sure any cold does not spread beyond where it's cold through the wall.

In Canada, where winters are probably colder at times, the standard now is 2x6 exterior. Or... for basements, a sheet of styrofoam insulation, then insulated 2x4. If you plan to put weight on the walls as others mention, with cupboards, shelving, or tool pegboards- you want the strength of 2x4 on standard 16-inch centers.

The vapour barrier should be on the hot side of the insulation, so inside humidity in winter does not migrate inside the walls to condense. Usually for pink fiberglas insulation, this is plastic sheet on top of the wall, stapled to the studs. Typically, it's "glued" using acoustic sealant so the holes from the stapes are sealed. Electrical outlets 9and cable TV, network, etc.) are on the warm side of the plastic, using tape to seal the wire coming through the plastic. the key is NO AIRHOLES.

(Alternative construction is sprayed in expanding foam, which is then sawed flat level with the studs when it hardens. Since it's sprayed as a liquid and forms a continuous piece, a vapor barrier is unnecessary, it's already airtight.)

Take pictures as you do the work, especially of the walls before sealed from view. Not sure where you are, but here you can do electrical yourself if (a) you know what you are doing and (b) with the supervision of a qualified electrician. (I.e. he/she says "yes, that's up to code".)

Some municipalities require a building permit, especially if you touch electrical or plumbing. I has a relative in the USA, when she sold her house 20 years later, someone somewhere went through the house's building permit history (house inspector?) and claimed the family room behind the garage was never issued a permit to be finished. AFAIK she bought it finished. Then bought and remortgaged when she bought the half it from her (ex)husband, with no hassles. I sold my house in Canada with no such hassles. How persnickety is your municipality?

For a basement, would it make sense to frame with metal studs instead of wood? I'd probably use a pressure treated stud for the base.

Just skim coat everything.

Scookum? do we have a fellow AvE fan in the house? :)

This is time consuming to fix with just mud. Cut out a square and put up drywall

GFI outlets don’t trip based on moisture, they trip on a difference in the current between the line and neutral. The most likely cause is a bad bulb, or bad socket on the lights that is leaking current to ground and causing the trip. Obviously moisture can also cause current leaking to ground, but moisture is not a requirement to have “nuisance” tripping.

The temperature of that bare concrete floor will be pretty cold in the winter (45 F? maybe). If you intend to heat the space, doing something to reduce heat losses there will save money in the long run. And, a little insulation there will reduce the heating bills in the rest of the house, as it is probably a major source of heat loss if the bottom of the first floor isn't finished. If the bottom of the first floor is fully insulated, then the heat loss to the rest of the house is a minor issue.

You can use a "subfloor panel" which is osb with a plastic spacer to stand it off the concrete, or build your own with some high density foam, pressure treated sleepers, and a plywood floor.

There's bad advice here. The lathe originally was covered by a plaster blend, plaster mixed with horsehair (readily available then) and sand, both of which added strength and "bulk". You can look it up with some research. If you want it "restored", find a plaster who knows the old ways.

Far more practical, and what I've done, is to cut drywall to fit, screw it to the joists/lathe, using 5/8, 1/2, and 1/4 inch boards to get as close without going over to the original thickness.

Get some 90 minute setting type plaster/joint compound (NOT the bucket of pre-mix) to fill in the "gap"; Don't over fill because sanding is a huge pain. Use paper tape to bridge from old plaster to new to prevent cracking

Final level happens with the sandable pre-mix stuff, then sand smooth.

Make sure what is left is well attached, there are kits to help secure remaining plaster if its loose.

Even if all the paint is off the surface, you need to then sand down to virgin, uncontaminated wood to get a stain to take properly.

Me too

Same here. When I first did lights they were incandescent and they were too much of a load for my one plug. I replaced them with LED and it stopped tripping.

Then one year it was really wet and I started getting tripping again. My LED strings were too wet so I got some of those waterproof outdoor plug covers to put the plugs in. Haven’t had a problem since.

Depends on ehat you are hanging