Basement Finish

[Scott34]

This.

When setting your doors you are still going to want to set them on a block or something to keep them off the concrete. You don't want moisture getting into the wood and rotting it out.

 

[cloneteach]

I'm doing my framing now. I had an architect buddy draw up the plans I sketched. Some Jethro's wings and a good bottle of scotch and I had a floorplan to give to Menard's to order me wood, drywall, mud, tape, etc. They figured it all out so we'll see how good they are. I had it all delivered for $59 and did it during their 11% rebate.

I had to start with hiring Iowa Concrete to cut my floor for plumbing. I moved the bathroom 20' from where it was stubbed. $400. I rented a jackhammer to break it up smaller and set it aside. $35. I hired three high schoolers from church for $20/hr and they hauled the pieces to my truck in 15 minutes. Since that went so quick I had them carry my lumber down for me. Another 15 minutes. Best $60 I ever spent. The plumber dug out the trench and laid the drain pipes and carried/mixed/poured the concrete for $1,000. Once I finish framing, hopefully this weekend, he is coming in to set the shower/tub and all the plumbing for toilet, bar, sink, etc. for the additional $875

I have the electrician scheduled for the 24th and the drywall a week later. I'm taking three days off this week to finish the framing.

I went through a few contractors, and finally found a buddy that gave me names of great guys that do these things on their time.
~$3,000 in materials, including shower/tub, drywall, lumber, cabinets, etc.
$1,875 in plumbing
$1,900 in electrical with him giving me a sub-panel in basement.
$1,800 for drywall labor. Material already included above.
$300 for 'warm tiles,
$400 for HVAC, two returns and one heat vent plus fart fan
$1,500-$2,000 carpet installed
$1,000 for granite and sinks for bath and bar
$1,000 for cabinets and trim
$200-$300 for home theater wiring
~700 sq. feet finished and ~150 sq. ft unfinished

So I'm hoping to stay around $16,000 or less. Everything below drywall is still estimated as I'm not there yet. I have taken four days off after this week and won't plan to take any others. I'm planning to be done in 4-6 weeks total. So, this is around $23/sq. ft. My contractor buddies say that the going rate is around $30/sq ft. Depending on what you do for material and design, and the challenges, like moving plumbing across the whole ******* house.

Good luck, I love this stuff.

Thanks. Great information. I will probably leave the bathroom where it is stubbed at.

 

[cycloneworld]

Finding the cheapest contractor may not be the best option...typically you get what you pay for with contractors. It may look worse than if you did it yourself. So I'd say either 1) hire it out to a contractor that has good references (I would call the references) or 2) do it yourself. Keep in mind that the contractor isn't going to give you any references that won't give him a good review.

If money is a big concern, I'd do it yourself. If not, might as well hire a contractor to do it. Personally, I would do it yourself. None of it is rocket science. If you've never drywalled, I would hire out the mudding and taping. You can easily hang the drywall which will save you $. Hire out the electrical but you can run all of the wire (if you know what you are doing) which will also save you $. I would also hire out the plumbing, again unless you know what you are doing. Finishing work (painting, trim, fixtures, etc) you can easily do yourself and save a ton of money.

Again, if you have the time and want to save money just read books, watch videos online, take classes at Home Depot, etc. and you can do it yourself.

 

[chuckd4735]

If you're looking at sketching up a floor plan your self use this site: Floorplanner Login | Floorplanner - Create floor plans, house plans and home plans online Works great! I am a long ways away from doing some improvements, but I have spent some time creating the floor plans already!

 

[mramseyISU]

I'm having a house built right now but I'm going to finish the basement myself. Like everybody before said this isn't rocket science. I'm having it framed and the plumbing stubbed in for a bathroom and wet bar. Hanging drywall isn't a big deal, getting it down to the basement is a pain. I'd rent a drywall jack for hanging the ceiling and you can get it hung pretty quick. Electrical isn't a big deal if you're not doing a bunch of 3 and 4 way circuits, just remember white to brite and black to brass or you'll get knocked on you @$$ and you can wire any light, switch or outlet. I'd hire out the taping and mudding of the drywall and carpet if you're doing that. Millwork is one of those things you can do yourself but it's pretty easy to make it look really bad. I'd say take swing at it and get some credit on your man card.

 

[cloneteach]

What types of wiring and electronic setup do people wish they had done before they drywalled that they didn't do?

 

[VeloClone]

What types of wiring and electronic setup do people wish they had done before they drywalled that they didn't do?

I'd recommend putting some insulation in the wall for sound attenuation between the finished area and your unfinished area which I assume has some potentially noisy mechanical in it (washer, dryer, furnace, water softener, etc.). I know when my water softener recharges at o-dark-thirty about once a fortnight it wakes my daughter up about half of the time and she is on the next level. Even the water meter can be a little noisy when the lawn sprinkler kicks on and all of my money is screaming through the meter. Even moderately noisy mechanicals can be a concern if you are planning on putting a guest bedroom down there (better have an egress window).

On the other hand, if you are putting your home theatre down there, consider the sound insulation between this level and the rest of the house.

If you do this, use fiberglas insulation rather than foam. Foam is not very efficient as sound insulation. You can find better insulation for sound than your standard fiberglass insulation, but you will pay more.

 

[NickTheGreat]

IF you are doing a theater, now is the time to wire in all your speakers and such. Run lines for future equipment like a projector. Run the CAT-6 to where you're gonna have a TV and receiver. Heck, you could wire in a whole equipment rack somewhere.

I'd kill to have the opportunity to do this. Wire is cheap, so do it now while the walls are open. most guys in your shoes put in an empty 2" conduit for future stuff. And document where it is :twitcy:

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'd recommend putting some insulation in the wall for sound attenuation between the finished area and your unfinished area which I assume has some potentially noisy mechanical in it (washer, dryer, furnace, water softener, etc.). I know when my water softener recharges at o-dark-thirty about once a fortnight it wakes my daughter up about half of the time and she is on the next level. Even the water meter can be a little noisy when the lawn sprinkler kicks on and all of my money is screaming through the meter. Even moderately noisy mechanicals can be a concern if you are planning on putting a guest bedroom down there (better have an egress window).

On the other hand, if you are putting your home theatre down there, consider the sound insulation between this level and the rest of the house.

If you do this, use fiberglas insulation rather than foam. Foam is not very efficient as sound insulation. You can find better insulation for sound than your standard fiberglass insulation, but you will pay more

Fiberglass insulation is better than nothing, but not much.. It doesn't do crap for your low frequencies. To do it right, you need to decouple your walls from the structure of your house.

Like I said before, for theater builds a guy should really go to AVSForum and read up. There's a lot of useful threads about soundproofing, and it is a little bit of work.

Here is a link to a good resource recommended on there. This is for dedicated rooms, not so much for casual "man caves"

 

[VeloClone]

Fiberglass insulation is better than nothing, but not much.. It doesn't do crap for your low frequencies. To do it right, you need to decouple your walls from the structure of your house.

Like I said before, for theater builds a guy should really go to AVSForum and read up. There's a lot of useful threads about soundproofing, and it is a little bit of work.

Here is a link to a good resource recommended on there. This is for dedicated rooms, not so much for casual "man caves"

I think that would fall under "you will pay more". A lot more.

 

[WalkingCY]

I thought this was about KU football?

ba-da-ching!


(sorry if this has already been used...didn't read the thread at all.)

 

[00clone]

Just an additional word of caution for the 'hang the drywall yourself and hire the tape and mud'...make sure you have this lined up before hand.

#1: A lot of drywall places I contacted wouldn't even bid it during the summer.
#2: There were several places that I called that said...let me be honest with you, we'll charge you the same as if we hang it...it's usually more work to do it if not hung by us.

*edit: same price for labor of course...the drywall is paid for either way...

 

[cloneteach]

Deciding between bar/counter behind couch facing television and counter against back wall or bar in corner with room to walk behind.

 

[kingcy]

Just an additional word of caution for the 'hang the drywall yourself and hire the tape and mud'...make sure you have this lined up before hand.

#1: A lot of drywall places I contacted wouldn't even bid it during the summer.
#2: There were several places that I called that said...let me be honest with you, we'll charge you the same as if we hang it...it's usually more work to do it if not hung by us.

*edit: same price for labor of course...the drywall is paid for either way...

Good luck finding a someone to just mud your drywall. They know all the haning tricks to making mudding quick and easy. If they hang the drywall there will get the best use out of the drywall.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I think that would fall under "you will pay more". A lot more.

Not really. With bare studs, it is just a matter of purchasing the clips to mount to. It does add cost, but is the only way to keep sound from getting out of your theater and sound from getting in.

I just don't want the guy to stuff a bunch of a fiberglass batt in and get yelled at for being too loud. Or worse yet, get scammed for some "soundproofing" insulation.

 

[cloneteach]

Figured I would bump this thread. Has anyone finished a basement and utilized space under stair case as shelving? Also, having multiple televisions downstairs do people wire televisions together?

 

[07Clone]

Figured I would bump this thread. Has anyone finished a basement and utilized space under stair case as shelving? Also, having multiple televisions downstairs do people wire televisions together?

I used the space under my stairwell for storage, but did not put up shelving - we just use rubbermaid tubs. We only use this storage area for things we rarely need (xmas decorations, electronics boxes, etc.)

I dont have a great picture, but I installed a removable door for access, as a full sized door would not fit.

For television question, I just routed coax cable to any areas I thought I might want TV and finished it with a wall plate. This works perfect if you have cable, if you have Dish you would need a separate receiver box for each location.

I would HIGHLY recommend HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more! for cables. I bought all my cables for my basement project from them.

I think others have given you a pretty good range of what you can expect this to cost. Though cost can go up very quickly depending on the price of finishes you choose. I finished 965 SF of my basement and have approximately $20,000 invested - I did everything myself except finishing the drywall.

You never mentioned if you were doing a 'dedicated' theater room, or if you were just installing a projector in a large open family room. If you are doing a dedicated theater room NickTheGreat gave some great information regarding soundproofing options. It would add cost, but I feel that it is some of the best money I spent on my basement.

 

[CascadeClone]

Keep a big portion unfinished, as others have said.

Also, pay an expert $500 to draw up some prints with clever use of space - I did mine myself and never was happy with how it was laid out.

Luckily, I get a second chance, because it got flooded the other night and it's all a wreck.

 

[cloneluke80]

Figured I would bump this thread. Has anyone finished a basement and utilized space under stair case as shelving? Also, having multiple televisions downstairs do people wire televisions together?

you are in luck, I just did this. As earlier posters said, wire coax everywhere. In a addition since i want to share 1 satellite box in 3 tvs in basement (bedroom, theater and treadmill), I wired HDMI everywhere also. The trick here is that HDMI does not run more than 40ft on its own.... So any way, I use an HDMI splitter box, then convert HDMI to cat6 to run long distances, then convert cat6 back to HDMI closer to the tvs.... seems odd but works like a dream. All available on monoprice. I even had to power the line to get it to travel 70ft... Also wired speakers in the walls (ports and speakers) so I dont have to have all of the speaker wire everywhere... Basically end of the day, I have HDMI, coax and speakers at all TV points with a centrally located theater area for all the equipment. With a little forethought this all becomes very slick later on. HDMI doesnt even have a solid successor yet, so you should be safe for years.

 

[cloneteach]

Thanks for the replies. No, I will not have a dedicated theater room, just projector (although I'm open to large flatscreen) in open family room. The HDMI to cat6 idea is just what I was wondering, although I'm not exactly sure what it means yet. Thanks for the site for cables.