Finishing a Basement

[cycloneworld]

I've been considering finishing part of my basement...about 600-700 sq. ft. Anyone been through this before? Anyone have an idea of approximate cost?

I'd like to do a lot of it myself because I enjoy doing home improvements and it would save money. How much of it is possible to do myself? Or contractor recommendations?

Any general advice?

 

[cybsball20]

I just got done finishing mine. Put in a built in dry bar, built in desk, and bathroom. Total costs ran about $5000. I did use all waterproof drywall so that was a bit more expensive but got good deals on pretty much everything else.

 

[redrocker]

My only advice is if you want it to look good, hire out someone to do the Mudding / Taping / Sanding / Texturing. If you do not have any experience doing it, let someone that knows what they are doing do that part. Hanging drywall is easy, but everything else about it sucks! Especially sanding!

 

[dmclone]

I have a guy at our company that does it on the side do it for me. The cost really depends on what you're looking to do with the basement. I'm not handy so I did absolutely nothing.

Here is how it broke down:

800 sqft no plumbing

I bought all the drywall, framing, supplies, etc
He charged me $3,000 to frame, drywall, mud and tape. This included areas where he had to box around windows , pipes, etc and also included framing in a bar type area. He worked a couple nights during the weekend and usually once on the weekend. It took him 3 weeks.

The electrician charged me $1,000. He put in a separate breaker for my A/V gear, hooked about 12 canned lights, and put in about 10 outlets.

Another guy charged me $300 to do all the trim work.

The one expense that surprised me was the cost to carpet. I bought cheap carpet and it was still almost $3,000.

In the end, I think it was money well spent. It would have taken me many months and it would have looked like crap.

 

[zumbro clones]

How much time do you have? Projects like this take a lot longer than you might think. You might need to subcontract some if it if you are crunched for time.

 

[clones_jer]

I have a guy at our company that does it on the side do it for me. The cost really depends on what you're looking to do with the basement. I'm not handy so I did absolutely nothing.

Here is how it broke down:

800 sqft no plumbing

I bought all the drywall, framing, supplies, etc
He charged me $3,000 to frame, drywall, mud and tape. This included areas where he had to box around windows , pipes, etc and also included framing in a bar type area. He worked a couple nights during the weekend and usually once on the weekend. It took him 3 weeks.

The electrician charged me $1,000. He put in a separate breaker for my A/V gear, hooked about 12 canned lights, and put in about 10 outlets.

Another guy charged me $300 to do all the trim work.

The one expense that surprised me was the cost to carpet. I bought cheap carpet and it was still almost $3,000.

In the end, I think it was money well spent. It would have taken me many months and it would have looked like crap.

so ~ $7 total ... or are materials not added in?

 

[brianhos]

I did mine before I knew what I was doing...

Now I want to tear it all out and having professionally done.

 

[dmclone]

so ~ $7 total ... or are materials not added in?

I spent about 10K for everything which includes.

PS3
Epson 720p projector
Denon 2307 A/V receiver
100" diy screen
19" LCD on the wall (for treadmill)
Countertop (bought online)
A/V wiring
A/V outlets (Sends the signal to the closet where all my A/V gear resides)
Walls
Doors
Trim
Electrical
Carpet
Paint
Labor
Blackout shades
Permits

You can see pictures of it in my gallery. It's far from being fancy but it's built well and pretty cheap. You can really go crazy with special flooring, granite counter top, bathrooms, etc. We already have 3 bathrooms in our house and there is only the two of us. You have to walk upstairs to get beer anyway so it's not a big deal.

I can't really think of anything I'd do different. It's not a walkout basement. I probably spend 3-4 hours a week down there right now but 20+ hours during tournament time and football season. I've had 10-15 people down there at one time for fantasy football, parties, and playing rock band on the PS3. It's funny listening to people when they are going down the stairs. About half way down the stairs they see the 100" screen and they always say the same thing "hold s***" and then they giggle like little school girls.

 

[KMAC_ATTACK]

My only advice is if you want it to look good, hire out someone to do the Mudding / Taping / Sanding / Texturing. If you do not have any experience doing it, let someone that knows what they are doing do that part. Hanging drywall is easy, but everything else about it sucks! Especially sanding!

Redrocker is exactly right......

I'm currently doing mine now that i've had the entire south side of the house dug up and Rub-R-Wall installed to ensure that my Man's Lounge is not damaged in the future by water.....

Plan it out, sit down sketch out where your thinking everything is going to go....it takes a lil while to take all the dim's and transfer that into a drawing, but, it may help in laying out how you will use the space....

Currently i'm drawing my basement, i'm laying out everything to get a better understanding of where i will need telephone jacks, outlets for lamps, cleaning etc, tv outlets and how high.....a lil pre-planning will help in the process trying to think of everything on the fly always is a bad plan....

Here's some ideas on costs just for the walls:
For approx 600 sq ft you will need about 100 2X4 studs @ 24 in o.c. at about about 200 bucks.
Insulation - great for sound absorbtion during awesome Clone games - family wont hear ya swearing....7 bundles with 9 batts per bundle - 335 dollars
Drywall - 150 bucks around 30 sheets @ 5 bucks a sheet

700 to do the walls....

Now on top of this you will need screws, nails, elec. boxes, ceiling, flooring, paint, tape, mud, texture, base, lights, wiring and other misc.

the walls are cheap, its all the amenities.....

 

[zumbro clones]

Another thing to think about is landscaping around the house to make sure you have good drainage to reduce the risk of water damage in the basement. You'll want to make sure you don't have any low areas or water flow problems from eaves or drainage from your yard. I put in drainage tile from the back of my house around to the front to prevent water problems in the spring or heavy rains since I had a hill sloping toward my house and run-off would leak in.

Make sure your foundation is in good shape before you invest in remodeling your lower level.

Invest in indoor waterproofing too if you have a big investment in the basement.

 

[cybsball20]

I didnt think the mudding, taping, texture was that bad at all. I did all the mudding and taping in a day, then my wife actually did all the sanding (for some reason she liked it). I bought a texture hopper to hook up to my air compressor and sprayed on a knockdown texture, let it sit and went over it with a large taping knife. I think it looks pretty darn good and it hasn't cracked at all, unlike some friends who have had theirs done professionally recently.

 

[cycloneworld]

Did anyone actually get the required permits from the City?

 

[dmclone]

I did and it wasn't that big of deal. I'd rather deal with it now than later.

 

[zumbro clones]

One more thing to think about related to the permit is inspections. Check around to see what is required for inspections in your town (electrical, plumbing, etc.).

 

[ISUFan22]

I did mine before I knew what I was doing...

Now I want to tear it all out and having professionally done.

That's my concern as well. I can do the "rough" work, but finishing, plumbing and detailed electrical work are not my strong suit.

I actually need to get some electrical work done in the basement now. There is a nearly empty panel down there (main in the garage, sub panel in the basement), so it wouldn't be too bad - just not enough experience to feel comfortable doing it.

 

[dmclone]

As a side note, Regency usually put those blankets of insulation in basements. The guy that did my basement just framed those right to the wall(hard to describe) so that I didn't have to re insulate.

 

[zumbro clones]

If you are planning on having an entertainment area in the basement you might want to use extra insulation between the ceiling and walls for soundproofing. My teenagers can play XBOX or watch movies without bothering the rest of the family around the house.

 

[ColoradoClone]

I'm actually taking this week off to continue working on our basement finish. It's 750 sq ft and includes a 3/4 bath, and wet bar. I pulled a permit, and have been doing all the work to local codes (douglas county, colorado). It will be 2 years in August since I started, and I'm doing the final finish work right now (cabinets, baseboards, etc). It will have cost about $15,000 total and that's doing everything myself except Drywall/tape/texture, and carpet installation (really no extra cost having them install it). I'm doing a pretty high end finish for the sq footage, so I'd assume you could do a simpler finish for about 10 grand if you hire the drywall done (ours was $2800 for them to supply, hang, mud, and texture).

This thread gives me a chance to also say that we're putting in my secret bookcase door this week! I'm stoked. It wont be stained and finished yet, but it should be done today. Pictures to come by the weekend...

 

[Wesley]

Bathroom is the most expensive. I used a extra large tiled shower area, a big 28 golfball flush toilet, a slick modern sink. I painted the concrete walls candy apple red with nmortar color in the seams (no drywall needed in the inside bathroom wall). It actually look like real brick.

Good finish work is worth the expense. Matching doors upstairs is good idea. Open painted ceilings is possibility. Berber carpet for basement is not bad. Lots of flooring materials other than carpt can go down easy by you. Do not forget incandescent light bulbs will be gone in 2009, so pick fixtures to accomodate the change. Wire for extra cable outlets now. Greenboard dry wall in bathrooms. Use exterior wood for bottom boards that sets on concerete if you want. Sometimes basement floors get wet. No paneling - it is so outdated.

Plan for the future with floor arrangement with an overhead HD projector that gets you a 130 inch screen on a white painted wall. Blu Ray movies from PS3 look great. Projector ran about $2800 now but they should be much cheaper next year. Just like the movie theater.

Think big.

 

[Cy Heavy]

Personally, I always cringed when we were looking for a home and the realtor would say "the owner is a real handyman and finished the (insert room/area here) himself." There was just something comforting in knowing that the basement was finished 'right' and I didn't have to worry about a light falling on me during a football game.

That being said I am also reminded of the wisdom of Big Tom Callahan "I can take a crap in a box and mark it guaranteed if you would like but I've got better things to do."