Finishing a basement

Parent Cafe
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<p>We are getting ready to be the contractors of our basement remodel. We have lots of “toys” - a pool table, ping pong, air hockey, we have a small gym with a treadmill, elliptical and weights, and we want to have a hang out area with a comfy couch, tv & fireplace. We’re going to add a full bath down there, we chose ceramic floor tiles that look like wood, and we’re putting in a gas fireplace. It’s a walkout, but that sliding door is the only above ground area in the basement, so there is not a much natural light.</p>

<p>Any things you did you loved, or wish you did or would recommend now before we start?</p>

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<p>We put in LOTS of storage space, and a separate office for DH. The walls are painted a light butter yellow, and trim is white. It is very cheerful.</p>

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<p>Can you add a wet bar and a small fridge or ice maker?</p>

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<p>If the floor is a concrete slab, make sure to put a vapor barrier on top of that before you allow any wood to touch it. I learned the hard way that concrete retains moisture, which then seeps into the wood floor and baseboards.</p>

<p>If you plan on carpeting, put a waterproof vapor barrier over the concrete; then put the best, thickest pad money can buy; then put the carpet. </p>

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<p>couch opens to a bed? lots of electrical outlets and cable outlets. office space and placement of tv screen calculated.</p>

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<p>I had selected a gorgeous wool carpet for our almost fully above ground basement. (Property slopes gently to back and the finished area of the basement was above ground.) Carpet store owner would not allow me to buy lovely, soft wool carpet and instead sold me something synthetic for less than a third the price. He also told me to install w/o padding b/c if the carpet gets wet, you can shop vac up the water, but once the padding gets wet, you have to tear everything out.</p>

<p>While we never have water come into the house (unusual, as many neighbors have permanent sump pumps running) we have had the ejector pump fail more than once. The ejector pump was installed to accomodate the full bath we installed. Since you mentioned the same plan, I thought I should mention the carpet padding.</p>

<p>We don’t have as much headroom as would be needed for a proper gym set-up so I think the only thing we regretted was not excavating deeper. Oh—and the baseboard heat runs around the entire perimeter and has been known to freeze during extended January cold spells. Solution is to run the heat but since the basement isn’t used daily, we often left heat set low. See if anything can be done to run some sort of electric heating coil along the baseboard heat, if you are using that type of heat. </p>

<p>Contractor used some type of MDF doors (am sure that is the wrong name). The rest of the house has six panel wood doors but he was afraid wood might warp in the basement. These have almost the feel of wood doors in the heft, but you don’t have the expanding & contracting of the wood and subsequent paint touch-ups needed. </p>

<p>While the plumber is there for the bathroom and heat work, can you have a utility sink installed in an unfinished section near the HVAC? We run a dehumidifier during the warm months. The water runs directly into the utility sink and it is shocking just how much water drains daily.</p>

<p>Lots of closets….</p>

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<p>If you have to use ceiling tiles (our basement wasn’t tall enough for a tray or coffered ceiling and the ductwork was too low) use plastic ones instead of the traditional ceiling tile, and pick a fun pattern. We used this company and love it <a href=“http://www.atilaminates.com/mirroflex-luminous-ceiling/”>http://www.atilaminates.com/mirroflex-luminous-ceiling/&lt;/a&gt; And if there is any condensation from A/C piping its easy to clean up.</p>

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<p>More basement ideas :</p>

<p>Add extra exterior outlets, garage outlets, and water spigots to the outside before proceeding with inside work
Keep a utility room, and have water and other utility turnoffs in there.</p>

<p>Move duct work for better ceiling levels, and for recessed lights if possible</p>

<p>If not a walk out, make sure that you have a legal egress
If adding a bathroom, and aren’t adding radiant heat to the floor, add a ceiling fan that also has a heater
If you don’t want a bar, put in a kitchen area with counters, sink, refrigerator and microwave – it’s a great place for extra food for the holidays</p>

<p>If it would help for light to pass from one room to another, use French doors with glass inserts
Add a gas fireplace for winter warmth
Add a ceiling fan; constant air flow keeps it smelling fresh</p>

<p>We have the main run of lights on a switch that can be turned off from three places, including the top of the stairs. This one circuit controls the stair lights and lights onto the pathway to the spare bedrooms and bathroom. I don’t have to go downstairs to turn off several lights.</p>

<p>Keep it from looking like a basement: put major utilities behind doors, not just water turnoffs in the wall
Frame shutters or window treatments to camouflage small windows</p>

<p>If the area will be used for guests add extra towel hooks in the bathroom</p>

<p>We added an extra pantry, cedar closet, bedroom closet, under stair closet, and broom closet, plus storage In a built in bench seat, and other cabinetry.</p>

<p>Consider the stairs and how you will move furniture. We had to bring a long counter in through a window and we had to choose a sectional sofa as it could make the turn on the stairs.</p>

<p>I hope something here helps!</p>

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<p>My one basement room, which I planned, was made for moisture exposure. Blue or pink board insulation, bathroom quality dry wall, the simplest possible baseboards. As the head room is a little lacking, and we are tall folk, I painted the joists white. This is not so great for sound proofing, but made the room feel more spacious. I painted the floor, and then put an area rug down that could be taken up in case of flooding. </p>

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<p>I thought of one more thing. We also ran a special electrical line to the main floor kitchen to have it there for a future remodel. At that point in time I was hoping to add an Aadvantium oven in the main kitchen.</p>

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<p>Great project. Our walk out is fished similarly and it has gotten lots of use. We divided the space so it could easily be used as an au pair or in-law suite and put a patio out the door. Additionally, I added what could be a wet bar area - counter with deep sink. It was mostly used for cleaning up art projects, but could be helpful for entertaining. One room is an office, but has a closet and windows, so could be used as a bedroom as well. We have a visible indicator light for the plumbing ejector pump so we know if it is in order. We told any overnighters that in case of a power outage, no water/toilet use could happen.</p>

<p>My biggest tip is to be very careful if using acoustic ceiling tiles. While we had no trouble with the original ones 20 years ago, we recently replaced one room’s ceiling. Many tile brands leached a horrible odor, especially in damp weather. My basement is dry, windowed, with cement walls pre-painted with moisture resistant paint. It is heated and benefits from central AC. In other words, this is likely to be a problem almost anywhere. We were allowed to return one type and the replacement was not much better. It took a long time to improve and I was glad that space was rarely used. Who knows what chemicals were there, so research carefully. </p>

<p>Enjoy the space!</p>

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<p>No one has mentioned the most important thing - talk to your local building department and find out what you are allowed to do. Zoning and/or building code issues may limit or prevent your plans.</p>

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<p>Well people are officially crawling all over the place! I took your advice and decided on two changes - we’re adding a gas fireplace down there and we’re having the plumber run a line for a rough in for a future sink for a bar area. The staircase is right in the middle so it’s as if we have 3 separate areas. We’ll have it as a den with fireplace, a gym area and a game area. It’s really super duper easy to go crazy and spend a fortune. We’re adding a full bath down there as well. I know the return on investment is not fabulous, but I’m not planning on going anywhere. We’re our own contractor so we’re coordinating the framer, plumber, electrician, etc and saving ourselves 20k that way! I went and got the permit in about 15 minutes, the contractor made that sound really complicated. I just walked in there and asked for help and they literally walked me through the whole process. I’m most excited about the fireplace and the floors. I ended up choosing a ceramic floor that looks like hardwood. I’m waiting on prices now to just install it straight vs a herringbone pattern. </p>

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<p>May be a silly question, but how do they add a full bathroom in a basement when they can’t run sewer/drain lines underneath?</p>

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<p>They install a pump to pump the waste up to the sewer line.</p>

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<p>For our basement bathroom, they cut into the basement foundation to run a line to the pump. They filled the trough with new cement. </p>

<p>On codes and permits, we followed to the letter. I wanted a full (summer) kitchen I the basement but couldn’t get it approved.</p>

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<p>If there is any chance the basement has water seeping through, it is a good time to install a French Drain system.</p>

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<p>Regarding the light, In many new houses I’m seeing large window wells constructed to allow for some natural light. I think it’s a good idea, and there isn’t any reason (that I can see) why that couldn’t be done in the course of a remodeling. It depends on what is on the other side where the window would be, and how large you want the window to be. It also takes wall space and turns it into a window, so that has to work out right for you.</p>

<p>I just recently added some artificial light to a shop area in my basement using an LED light fixture from Home Depot. (About $120 for the fixture, but I installed it myself, and its for the shop area so it didn’t have to look stylish.) It gave off way more light than the normal bulbs you see, and I like that. Your mileage may vary, but, depending on the proposed uses, you might want to consider upgrading your lighting plans from a “total lumens” standpoint. When things are super bright, it changes the way you fell like using the place. </p>

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<p>In our town if you add a large window well with an escape sized window the basement then gets figured into the floor area ratio which on a typical small lot may be an issue. I think it’s a dumb rule - make the basement safer and punish the owner.</p>