Home Office Floor 2.0

The old rec room before it became a home office

The summer of 2006 is one I’ll never forget. Fresh off a layoff, I was working FedEx and editing a few projects, hoping to find enough work to stay home and not have to sell our circa. 1926 house and move. At the same time, my parents and my wife’s parents came alongside and decided to help. And help they did.

During the renovation I edited and wrote at the dining room table.

We had an eyesore of an old basement rec room that needed a complete overhaul for me to claim it as “home office” and location for my freelance writing. lt was a very hot summer, and I set up my editing and writing workstation on the dining room table. I worked there after FedEx and between projects tackling that old rec room and converting it into a home office. Frankly, it’s not a a summer I’d want to do over again, but God sustained us.

In fact, He provided everything we needed along the way, and I had a lot of muscle to come alongside and provide the encouragement I needed during what could have been a pretty discouraging, uncertain summer.

We did it all: new studs; drywall; electrical; drop ceiling and lighting; paint; trim; even the excavating, patching, and tarring of the exterior western wall down to the foundation (due to moisture seepage problems). God brought it all together.

My wife painted a beautiful burgundy-and-white checkerboard pattern on the new “waterproof” floor.

Then my wife, Kim, undertook a true labor of love by painting a beautiful burgundy-and-white checkerboard pattern on the office floor. It was truly beautiful . . . at one time.

Unfortunately, our journey with the basement floor isn’t over yet. In spite of undergoing masonry work on the western wall and sealing the floor numerous times, moisture problems continue to plague the home office.

Soon the moisture deteriorated the beautiful checkerboard design. Eventually I painted the whole floor burgundy and sealed it again with Drylok “masonry waterproofer” paint.

Still no go. So much for waterproof paint. Moisture collects on the cement floor directly under my office chair mat and beneath any furniture that sites directly on the cement floor. And paint the floor again? Forget it. The paint just comes up.

Well, enough of the cement floor. Today, the Lord willing, that floor is history. My father-in-law is here, and we’re tackling the floor with a product called DRIcore subfloor. The two-by-two floor panels actually raise the floor a bit off the moist concrete, create a moisture barrier, and allow the concrete below to breathe.

The point is, now I can get my feet and my office furniture up off the moisture-prone cement and even put some carpet down. Some moisture may continue to collect below the flooring, but I should stay high and dry in my home office.

Will it work? Well, DRIcore has some great reviews at Home Depot. We’ll give ’er a go and see what God wants to do with a nearly $500 investment (floor panels and carpet squares). I’ll report later on how the project goes and on how the new floor looks. Then we’ll give the floor some time and see how it handles the moist cement down below. Thanks as always for your prayers and support in this continuing journey of working from home as a freelance editor and novelist.

What about you? Do you have a home office or “writer’s den”? If it’s in the basement, have you ever had moisture problems or other challenges?

Note: DRIcore isn’t paying me a dime to promote their product. I’m just being frank about our next step on this journey to attaining a better home office floor. If the floor doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know.

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