Basement Build - Schlepping Drywall

For the past couple of weeks I've been busy building a basement for a customer in Brampton. The layout was done in conjunction with the homeowners. The framing has been done, wiring complete, insulation done and vapor barrier installed. Time for drywall - EXCEPT - with a 36" wide stairwell with a 180 degree turn, the drywall just would not go down in it's existing state. Cutting it in half would double up the butt joints as well as the cost of the mudding and taping which is to be subcontracted.

I decided after perusing many forums, to lift the carpet, remove a section of the sub-floor between the joists and pass the drywall down into the basements. It worked like a charm, but it's not a job that I'd like to undertake anytime soon. This operation was only possible as the floor was carpeted. Were it to be hardwood or tile, I would be forced to cut the drywall in half and go the route of the costlier mud and tape.

My cousins helped me do this and without them I would have been well and truly stuck. Thanks guys. You know who you are.

Getting started - This will be the TV wall. Have to work around the plumbing stack. Planning to convert an obstacle into a feature 

Probably the only straightforward wall in the entire room

Awkward ducting and another plumbing stack to work around

West wall insulated and complete

There's a lot of stuff in this picture, but I turned that plumbing stack into a feature. I bumped  out the wall on the opposite side thereby creating an alcove for the TV and Media Cabinet

This wall was pending final connections to the octagonal boxes that will hold the wall sconces 

Hated the way that this came out, but I had no other option. The ducting could not be reworked on account of the way the load bearing beam and the way the floor joists ran

Finally - the hole in the floor

A different vantage - and me. That's Dan the Man to the side (wondering what he got himself into this time) - It's official - I have the greatest cousins in the world.