| How to Finish Your Basement Jan 6th 2013, 20:00 When you bought that house, you saw all that empty space down there, practically begging to become something wonderful. But so many choices, and the expense! Do you do the whole basement, or just part? Do you put up walls? What about that media room honeybunches is always dreaming of? Or that guest bedroom for Aunt Agnes' interminable visits. Fear not, here are some suggestions and ideas that will help you turn that sunken treasure into gold. Lay it Out - Draw a floor plan. Basements tend to be a little quirky, so the best way to get started is to figure out what you have. To do this, start with a floor plan:
- Get a sheet of graph paper, a tape measure, a ruler, and a pencil. (There are also online programs or apps which allow you to digitally draw on graph squares if you'd rather.)
- Measure the outside walls. Using the ruler, draw these out. Outside of the lines, note the length of each side.
- Make the drawing as big as you can—–if you have a huge basement, use 1 graph square per unit (foot or meter). If your basement is small, maybe use 4 or 5 graph squares per unit.
- Once you have the perimeter drawn, measure and draw in any walls.
- Draw in the location of any doors or windows that are there.
- Assess your space. If it's large, you can partition the basement into rooms. If it's small, you can still do some wonderful things.
- Take a look at the options suggested below. These are starting points, and you may have other ideas in mind. As you decide on a room, draw it onto your plan. If you're adding multiple rooms, take into account hallway space, new walls, electrical needs, and of course everybody's favorite—–making sure all this new construction is up to code and getting the proper permits.
The One Small Room Solution - Pick a purpose. With one room, you may not be able to have that big media center, you can still do some pretty great things.
- Have kids? It's a good size for the young ones to grow and play in, so build a space with a soft carpet, good lighting, a table to draw and do projects on, and plenty of places to store toys.
- Have hobbies? Hubby might enjoy building ships in bottles, or tinkering with electronics. Turn that space into a workshop, with plenty of electrical outlets, long tables, and a wood or cement floor to make it easy to find that little thingamabob he just dropped.
- Love wine? A small room can become a big wine cellar: keep the stone or concrete walls and floor, add low-wattage lighting, and plenty of rack space. You could even add a wine cellar air conditioner which will keep your 1982 Bordeaux at the perfect temperature for aging.
- Upstairs closets too small? As with a wine cellar, a small room makes a big closet! Fill it with hanger space, shelf space, and a small closet for those special things.
- Do you work at home? Turn your small space into a sweet office with good lighting, lots of table space, bookshelves, and places for your files, printer, and internet. If you have room, you could add a comfy chair, or even a treadmill workstation to stay fit while you work.
The Big Basement Bonanza - Make use of your space. If you have a large basement, you have many options—–add walls, create separate rooms, and more—–and your limits are only how much time and money you have. Bear in mind that a finished basement will add value to your home, and time can be managed by working one room at a time. Here are some ideas for rooms in a larger basement:
- Media room. Add a wall for your music and movie watching, and make bays for your speakers, electronics, and big screen TV. When you build out the outside walls, you can embed surround speakers—and their wiring—as well. If you have the space to spare, consider making a small room behind the speaker/video wall, so that you access the back of your gear easily. Add lighting on dimmers and lots of seating, and you're ready to go!
- Guest bedroom. This is a great place to put those guests who arrive by surprise, as well as the ones who plan months ahead. This need not be fancy—a little closet space to stick the suitcase and hang a few things, a bed, chair, and maybe a little alcove with a mirror. But be careful—Aunt Agnes will want to move in!
- Bathroom. If you have a guest room and a media room, you may want to consider a bathroom. It's a substantial undertaking that you will probably not want to do yourself—plumbers for this sort of thing are worth their weight in gold—but it's a great use of the space, and handy for that moment during the big game when don't want to be too far away, or when you don't want Aunt Agnes using your shower.
- Party room. Oh yes, it's that time! Make it fun, colorful, and open. Add in a space to put your stereo system, add a little bar (assuming there aren't young would-be-imbibers in the house), and a fridge big enough to keep the brews chill. Don't use carpet, that's a chore waiting to happen, but don't stick with concrete, either—one slip and there's glass everywhere. A cushioned laminate would be great here.
- Music room. Maybe you play guitar, or piano, or the Sousaphone, and you want a place to practice or jam with your friends. Dimmable lighting, lots of electrical outlets, and maybe some sound treatment if you are into recording. As with the media room, be careful with your dimmable lighting—the cheap dimmers will add a lot of noise into your electrical circuit, and make for an unpleasant experience.
Ready to Build - Finish your plan. Decide what rooms will be built, and where they'll be located. Based on that, you will want to consider some details:
- Flooring. Finalize your choices, based on how you will use the space. It's easy to go with concrete slab, or wall-to-wall carpeting throughout, but easy is not always best. A basement bathroom with carpeting is just asking for trouble, and a kid's room with a concrete floor is a great way to get your kids not to use it.
- Lighting. There are many types of lighting to consider, from fluorescent tubes to recessed incandescents, to track lighting. Each choice will depend on both what you've chosen as a ceiling, and your use of the room. Some rooms are fine with on and off—such as a bathroom, kid's room, or closet. Other rooms are well-served by dimmable lighting, as mentioned above. A workshop might have several spotlights around the perimeter, plus overall room lighting. Let your needs dictate what you do for each room.
- Get started. Now that you have decided what to do with your space, find a general contractor who can assist you in many of the details. You may want to do the entire project yourself, and this is fine—but a contractor can help get you lower prices on many things, and knows the ins and outs of City Hall, and can help you avoid costly mistakes.
- Clear and clean your basement. You may find that you've accumulated a lot of clutter and junk in your basement. This may be a good time to hold a garage sale or Freecycle.
- Moisture-proof walls and floors. One of the challenges of a basement is that it's built underground, and is subject to moisture problems.
- A basement is typically a box of concrete or brick surrounded by dirt. As the building settles, cracks will often form in the foundation. While this is perfectly normal, when the rains come they will find those cracks, and can ruin all the work you've done. Before you start anything significant, make sure you take care of this. See How to Waterproof Your Basement for more information.
- Install sub floor. This is optional, because you can paint or carpet the floor directly, but because it sits directly on the earth, it's generally too cool for most people's preferences. Still, take into account how you plan on using the room.
- A wine cellar would do well built on the plain concrete slab, whereas a kid's playroom should be cozy and comfortable.
- To put down a sub floor, lay down 1" or 1 1/2" (3cm) polystyrene sheets directly onto the concrete floor and then cover them with 1/2" (1.3cm) plywood.
- Pre-drill holes in the basement floor and fasten everything down with concrete screws. Alternatively, consider products designed specifically for basement sub flooring, which are laid down in one step and don't take up as much vertical space. This is especially a consideration when the basement ceiling is under 8 foot (3 meters). [1]
- Frame the walls and ceiling. If keeping the basement warm is important to you, build the perimeter walls using 2"x4" construction so you can add insulation. Otherwise, leave the walls bare, or install furring strips and install drywall.[2]
- Frame in obstructions typically found in a basement (pipes, duct work), but be sure to follow code here. You may need to include cabinet-style doors to access junctions, meters, or valves.
- Rough in electrical, plumbing, cable, and telecom. If you're not required by your jurisdiction to have a qualified electrician install new wiring and you want to do it yourself, take every precaution, since incorrect wiring can cause a house fire.
- Assess your electrical needs carefully. On the back of most electrical equipment, or in the manual, it will tell you the amperage the unit consumes. Add up the total amps that you plan on putting on each circuit, and make sure it doesn't exceed the rating of the breaker switch for that circuit in your electrical panel when everything on that circuit is turned on. A typical circuit is 15 amps, though you can wire in 20 amp circuits as well—you just need the proper wiring and a 20 amp breaker.
- If your unit only lists watts, you can find the amperage using this formula:
- Amps = Watts/Volts. For example, a 100 watt light divided by 110 volts = .9 amps.
- Rough-in plumbing. Adding a full bath to your basement can be a great return on investment for your house. You can learn to do some of the basic plumbing your but rough-in may require a jack-hammer to breakup a larger portion of your concrete floor. Discuss this with your contractor, and consider hiring a pro for this.
- Have your electrical and plumbing inspected. This will be the first inspection. They will come out, inspect the work done so far, and either sign off on it, or tell you what must be done to pass inspection. If this is the case, repair any problems and have them inspect again before proceeding with finishing.
- Install insulation and vapor barrier. This will keep your basement rooms warm, dry, and comfortable.
- Install drywall. This is a demanding job, requiring strength and dexterity. Consider having a friend help you with this, as it will not only relieve some of the physical burden, it will make it a lot easier if one person is holding the drywall while another is screwing it to the studs.
- Install the ceiling. When considering your ceiling choices, remember that there are benefits to each choice.
- Suspended ceilings tend to make a basement look even more like a basement, but allow access to water pipes, electrical wiring and other "need to access" things, so use some common sense when choosing a ceiling type. Consider how much easier running speaker wire or cable will be when you can remove the ceiling tiles to do so.
- Drywall looks more finished, and is more cost effective. If you need access to the plumbing and wiring, you can build in removable access panels.
- Tray ceilings are also an alternative. Although they're more expensive, they're high-quality and better-looking.
- Install flooring. Like drywall, this can be a physically demanding process, requiring both strength and dexterity. Invite your drywall friend back over, and be sure to say "thank you."
- Install light fixtures. This is one of the best parts—you start to see your rooms come to life when you add lighting.
- Add the finishing touches. You're almost there, and you can visualize all the things you'll soon be doing in your new space. Just a couple more details to go!
- Install trim and baseboards. This will give your basement room a totally finished, professional look. It will also hide any unsightly seams or gaps you may have run into thanks to walls that are not square—a common bugaboo of basement walls.
- Prime and paint the walls. Light-color paint on the walls can make a big difference in the room's ambiance. It's always better to go a couple of shades lighter than your upstairs rooms because it opens and brightens what's naturally a darker area.
- Widen doorways as much as possible, and employ arches and columns to dress them up. Consider French doors with lots of glass for offices or solid doors for any other room requiring complete privacy. For partial separation, a door with decorative glass brings elegance to the room.
- Paneling may be simple, but the refined look of drywall makes it the material of choice for finished spaces. Paneling looks dated and doesn't last long, so it's cheaper in the long run to spend more up front on long-lasting drywall.
- When you need a precise measurement between two walls, or you simply can't reach the whole way across, use this technique. Push your tape against the far wall, extend it almost to the middle of the room and mark the wall at the nearest whole foot. Jot the dimension on the wall for reference. Turn your tape around and measure from the opposite wall to your mark. Add the two dimensions for the total length.
- Buy a top-quality 25 or 35-foot tape with a 1 inch wide blade. The extra stiffness provided by the wide blade allows you to extend the tape farther before it buckles. This is a great help for all kinds of measuring tasks but is especially useful when you're working alone. It's also useful when you're working from a ladder.
- If at all possible try to add an egress-size window so that in the event of an emergency people are not trapped inside. Additionally, install smoke and fire detectors as per your local building code. (interconnect these new alarms with the existing alarms in the main house)
Edit Warnings - Be sure you understand that finishing a basement is a big project.
- Look for signs of water leakage before starting your project. Be sure to evaluate any water problems that could affect your finished basement to determine what repairs are needed and take preventative steps to avoid future water problems. Look outside for obvious potential problems like clogged rain gutters, downspouts emptying next to the foundation and surface grades that don't allow surface water to run away from the property.
- Finished basements can end up with mold and other moisture related problems behind the walls adjacent to the outer masonry walls. Be sure you or your contractor understand the details of waterproofing, minimal insulation, proper ventilation of wall cavities, and foregoing vapor barriers. Unless your stud-wall is at least 18" away from the masonry wall, any vapor barrier attached to the stud wall will trap moisture between the masonry wall and the barrier, thus breeding mold.
- Ventilation and Dehumidification. Be aware that allowing outside "fresh air" into your basement via open windows or fans, can cause problems with moisture, humidity and condensation when outside humidity levels are above 40%. Get a good dehumidifier to mechanically remove the natural high humidity in your basement and keep your windows and doors closed all year round. Central air conditioning also offers good dehumidification.
- Gather as much information as possible about it before you get started.
- Make sure that you protect your investment by getting an emergency power supply and monitoring devices for your sump pump. If you rely on a sump pump to keep ground water out of your basement, consider a secondary pump as a backup in case your primary pump fails or, a battery backup secondary pump for power outages..
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