<p>For those of you who have done this in the past… I have a question…</p>
<p>If you are looking to finish your basement with different areas… laundry room… bathroom… living/family room… furnace room… and a tool/work type room (like a place to work on projects with a work bench, saws, drills, etc)… do you finish the work room with a nice floor and ceiling like you do in the living/family room bathroom and laundry room? or do you leave that work room unfinished so you can work in there and not ruin it? or do you keep it open as part of the furnace room? I guess these are all personal choices I just wanted to get some feedback from others. We’re looking into finishing the basement at the other house and I suggested leaving the work room open with the furnace room (that’s how it is at this house as well as my parents), but my other half suggested finishing it that way future owners have a finished room that they can use however they want?</p>
<p>We have done a few - my advice is to make the work-shop room finished at least as far as taped wallboard. Open rafters and wall joists and exposed insulation mean cobwebs and dust and mess that is hard to clean. Make flat surfaces that you can wipe down/dust off. Also bare concrete floors are always shedding white concrete dust that gets tracked into other areas. Cover the floor with something cheap and hard to harm. Beware that if you paint it, you can’t ever tile it with ceramic tile without chipping the paint off…</p>
<p>Check with some local real estate agents. In my area, you cannot count a room as square footage (for resale) unless it has a finished floor and walls.</p>
<p>Right… beyond that, appraisers (in some areas) cannot consider square footage that is below grade, even if you’ve finished it off like the Taj Mahal.</p>
<p>So, in some areas, finishing off your basement adds value. In some it is money down the drain - you might choose to do it for your own use because you know your family will really use the space. But you need to go in with your eyes open that it might return a very small percentage of your investment (if any) - again, depending on the area.</p>
<p>I come from an area where there is little added value, so I would NOT finish off the furnace/work room. Also, consider what size “rooms” you will have - if it will end up very chopped up, that is something to consider.</p>
<p>Don’t really care about adding it into the square footage of the house. It’s going to be mostly a DIY project so cost wise it shouldn’t be too much. </p>
<p>We were designing layouts the other night in a software program… it’s looking like the living/family room will come to be about 15x15, and the work type room will be about 15x12. The nice thing if it’s open to the furnace room is that you gain a little bit more work space because you aren’t putting up a wall between them… and since that is added space we could make the living area a little bit bigger. It’s a walk out basement, the stairs lead into where the living area would be. The living area has a couch, tv, fooseball and dart board. Basically a man cave, haha.</p>
What are you going to be doing in the work space?</p>
<p>If you will be doing projects that will create a lot of dust like sanding furniture, I would seal off the furnace room, particularly if you have forced hot air. Same if you will be using stinky fluids like stain or paint - you will want to seal off the furnace room and give it its own air supply, otherwise it will spread the fumes through the whole house.</p>
<p>notrich, that’s a good point. I didn’t think about that part of it. House projects get done in there so cutting of wood, sanding, and painting as well. It’s a hot water radiator type system fueled by oil. Would that type of thing pick up fumes and dust?</p>
<p>With a forced hot water system you don’t need to worry about fumes getting spread through the house, but dust and open flame is not a good combination.</p>
<p>Dust and any kind of machinery is not a great combination, come to think of it. Dust can be managed with the right equipment but it would be unusual for a DIYer to have it unless you are really serious.</p>
<p>Check with your building department about what you are allowed to do. I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve had where I’ve had to clean up the mess left by illegal work. In our town what you are contemplating requires an architect and a building permit.</p>
<p>You should enclose your furnace with noncombustible materials, but make sure it has the combustion air the equipment requires. I think you are better off with a somewhat finished work area.</p>
<p>I don’t really know when this is all going to be happening. A recent ER trip (it’s been a long week… but everything will be fine… ) may have erased some of the money for it so it may be pushed back a bit. (not technically my house so not my money.)</p>
<p>Where I am, finished rooms add more to the property tax bill too.</p>
<p>We finished our basement…and have three rooms.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The furnace room which is NOT finished…it also has metal shelves along all the walls for storage of large kitchen items (think that HUGE tupperware jello mold, and the like), and canned food…plus dishes we don’t use often). Our large freezer is in there as well as is the central vac canister.</p></li>
<li><p>A large “great room” which is L shaped. It has a pool/ping pong table in one section, a sitting area with TV in another, and the last part has a space with cabinets and shelves. We thought we might put a table and chairs there but never did.</p></li>
<li><p>An office…this is also finished and has sufficient space for home office “stuff” and storage.</p></li>
</ol>
<h1>2 and 3 are carpeted…the furnace room is NOT.</h1>
<p>We finished a basement years ago. It was to be a guest room & bath, home office, and utility room and storage space. Our kids were small, so we put studs on walls and floor with styrofoam insulation and drywall and masonite on the floor then carpeting. Had a devil of a time with the drywall ceiling because the joists were not completely even. And it took me a day of measuring and re-measuring before I realized that the stairway was not square to the basement.</p>
<p>We put drywall in the storage/utility areas, but left the concrete floor and open ceiling joists.</p>
<p>We had the construction teacher at the local vo-tech school do the electrical wiring, plumbing and duct work. There was already a drain plug for toilet/shower. He chipped away the thin level of concrete to access those drains, installed the shower, but did not seal off the opening around the pipe from the shower, saying it wasn’t necessary. I would have preferred it to be sealed but as the job was done, I let it go. However, about 3 wks later, I opened the dishwasher one morning to find it filled with ants! Tracked them down and they were climbing up the shower pipe. So I made him come back and fix it.</p>