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Finishing a Basement

travman23 said:
I found here in Des Moines that good plumbers and electricians are hard to come by unless you have a big job or are a business. Took me 3 tries to ever get a plumber out to do about a job that took less than an hour to do. Some places just completely blew off returning my phone call and 1 place did not show up till I called and asked where they were. They showed up and gave me a quote and said they could do it next week. By that time I was PO'd cuz I had taken 1/2 day of work off under the impression that they were going to do the job then.

Electricians have had almost the same luck, first just have to find someone willing to come out to your home unless A. you have an emergency or B. a big job for them to do.
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It is the sad truth, the quality and professional contractors can't waist their time with small jobs, they just aren't profitable to them. Which leaves you with the hacks looking to make beer money. Chances are they finished another job before yours so they had enough money for the weekend already.
 
KMAC_ATTACK said:
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.....
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There is right to do things that do it your selfers have no clue about. Hire a pro. BTW, put your studs 16", not 24. That will make the drywall easier. Also, check the local codes, some cities require 16.

Hire a good trim carpenter. You will be glad you did.
 
I guess that depends on how many connections you will need. But Cat 5 cable is cheap. And not everything can be wireless. Plus if it can it might end up requiring another external device. taking up more space.
 
I know a few people who have used Kimball Home Improvement and have been very impressed by the quality of their work. I just found the website, Welcome to KHI.com! and it has before and after pics of a basement as well as letters from past customers. Might be worth checking out at least, I've heard nothing but good things.
 
PolkCityClone said:
A wireless router is a lot easier and cheaper than running cat 5.
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Wireless is NOT an acceptable alternative to wired, especially if you're dealing with digital media. It may work fine for surfing the web, but start streaming high definition content and it'll choke badly. Not to mention it can be taken down by a cordless phone.
 
Just a thought from the construction industry- almost all companies have set policies forbidding working on the side. So those guys who do side work for cash- not only are they willing to break their own company rules to do so, they are also willing to break the law by evading taxes. Small wonder that a large percentage of these guys disappear when things go wrong. I've talked to many, many homeowners who were stuck in mid-project after their "contractor" walked out, leaving them an expensive mess to clean up.
 
My dad recently finished his basement (that virtually doubled the living space of his house) by himself - with a little bit of help from my sister and me. He did it in his spare time. He elevated the floor off the concrete (using furring strips, foam insulation, and subflooring), put up walls, put in plumbing, put in electric, foam-insulated the walls, drywalled, flooring, installed the fireplace, did the bathroom, and the ceiling tiles (among other things). About the only thing he DIDN'T do himself was installing the carpet. It took him more than 5 years to do this massive project. About the only thing I'd say he should have had done professionally (or at least had help doing) was the drywalling as it doesn't look "great" in places. That being said, for a 5 year project he did an incredible job and doubled his living space. When I purchase an actual house, if it doesn't have a finished basement, I plan on doing something similar (although I probably won't elevate the floor like he did, and I plan on getting help with the drywall). If you have the time, patience, and are willing to work, you should be able to do most of it yourself.
 
The key thing to remember is time. If you don't mind spending a couple years on a project than you can save some money and do it yourself. If you're like me, I didn't have a lot of the tools and knowledge and I wanted it done quickly. Within 3 months everything was completed.
 
My wife and I finished the basement of our CO home ourselves. We did the framing, electrical, trimwork, and painting ourselves. We contracted our copper piping and the drywall. The carpet was installed as part of the carpet purchase. We also put in a giant wetbar that I designed and built. I don't recall the exact numbers but I think we finished almost 1500ft2 and the carpet and drywall probably totaled $10K alone. The rest was only about 2 or 3K.

Drywall was expensive but it was done in a week and it looks great. It would have taken us probably 2 months to do the same amount of work and I'm sure there would have been noticable flaws. So here is another recommendation to hire drywall. Or hang it yourself and hire a mud man.

My only word of advice would be to plan, plan, plan. Think about the future. Especially with wiring. Even if you won't use it, having specialty wiring like CATV or 7.1 surround and multiple cable jacks (think dual tuners from dish) might help sell your house later. If you are doing your own wiring, do circuit diagrams of each circuit and really think through where switches, lights, and outlets need to be.

Lastly, save money where it makes sense but don't cheap out just to save a few bucks. Finishing your basement can be a real investment and it is best to do it right the first time. For example, when you are about done, don't put cheap hardware on doors and cabinets.

Have fun. IT is a TON of work.
 
My biggest problem in finishing the basement was my wife :wideeyed: or then fiance (don't tell). I had no problem working on the basement a few days a week after work and weekends but then she would complain I wouldn't spend time with her. After spending time with her she would complain I wasn't getting anywhere on the basement.... Luckily, with the wedding approaching she had to spend some weekends in CR so I got alot done on those weekends!
 
Another thing with the basement project was that everything goes on sale, and normally you can save a pretty good amount. I got all the drywall on sale at Menards, about $2/sheet cheaper than anywhere else. The bathroom fixtures and toilet on sale at Lowes again at a pretty considerable discount. The sales might not be at the time you are ready for them but it pays to buy them when they're cheap.
 
cybsball20 said:
Another thing with the basement project was that everything goes on sale, and normally you can save a pretty good amount. I got all the drywall on sale at Menards, about $2/sheet cheaper than anywhere else. The bathroom fixtures and toilet on sale at Lowes again at a pretty considerable discount. The sales might not be at the time you are ready for them but it pays to buy them when they're cheap.
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...and hope for no hurricanes or other disasters. The price of building materials goes through the roof after that happens.
 
At the time I was working out in Urbandale about halfway between Menards and the new Home Depot. I used to just spend my lunches walking through, comparing prices, etc.

I'll have to add some pics of my basement. We had a pretty good plan based on the layout, what we wanted, and the age of the house so we are pretty happy with it. We didn't want to make it TOO nice since it is a small, older house but we probably spend 80% of our time down there now.
 
Where did people buy most of their supplies? Lowe's, Menards, Home Depot? Combination of the 3?

Also, what did others do to seal the basement walls and floor if anything? My house was built in 1990 so there is a subdrain and I haven't had any water problems in the basement except for the walls sweating a little bit at times.
 
cycloneworld said:
Where did people buy most of their supplies? Lowe's, Menards, Home Depot? Combination of the 3?

Also, what did others do to seal the basement walls and floor if anything? My house was built in 1990 so there is a subdrain and I haven't had any water problems in the basement except for the walls sweating a little bit at times.
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I got stuff at a combination, rarely Home Depot though, seemed things were always a bit pricier there...

I sealed the floor with a basement sealer and ran it up the walls a couple of feet. I also vented the drywall about ever 8 feet to get air in there and also so I could remove the vents and check it from time to time.
 
Does anyone know approx. payback for finished basement in resale? I'm sure its market dependent but, just a rough number? I'm having a hard time justifying doing it as we don't really need the extra living area.
 
Todd said:
Does anyone know approx. payback for finished basement in resale? I'm sure its market dependent but, just a rough number? I'm having a hard time justifying doing it as we don't really need the extra living area.
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Too many variables but basically 110% retun on finsished basement with no bathroom or bedroom. 125% on finsihed with bathroom. 130% finished with bedroom and bathroom.
 
cybsball20 said:
Too many variables but basically 110% retun on finsished basement with no bathroom or bedroom. 125% on finsihed with bathroom. 130% finished with bedroom and bathroom.
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Sounds like I should seriously consider it....thanks
 
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