Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
Remodeling Strategies for the Basement
For years we've been warned not to over-improve a house by putting too much money into its basement. We've heeded the advice, but always tapped the basement's potential as additional living space or storage area. We see a basement as a bonus room, one that's easily and inexpensively improved because little, if any, structural work is required.

We've moved into old houses with basements in a variety of conditions. Most often previous owners had relegated them to storage, were dimly lit, and was the keeper of the furnace and hot water heater. In our first house someone had "remodeled'' the basement with a surplus of cabinet door fronts, which were nailed to the walls. Because they were square and installed in nice even rows they looked like doors to body lockers in a morgue.

Another basement had been commissioned as a workshop and outfitted with makeshift workbenches thrown together from scrap wood. The most elaborate basement had been transformed into a Hawaiian village, complete with rattan wall coverings, bamboo sheeting stapled to the ceiling, and coils of rope wrapped around the foundation posts to conceal them.

Inventive as these improvements were, we gutted the basements and started from scratch. But before we started, we spent time assessing their potential.

Just How Wet Is It?

To decide whether a basement can be easily converted into living space or is better suited as a storage area we use these criteria.

1. Ceiling height. For living space, the overall ceiling height has to be at least 7 1/2 feet. In our experience, there usually was no ceiling, so we measured the distance between the lowest point of pipes or heating ducts and the floor. Anything greater than 7 1/2 feet was a bonus. Anything less meant that, even if transformed with finished walls and ceiling, the basement would have a dungeon-like quality. It was better suited for storage.

2. Dampness. Twelve of our 14 houses have had basements, and we feel fortunate that none had serious water seepage. We repaired the minor cracks we found and always tested the walls and floor for dampness before deciding to cover them. We used the old trick of taping plastic wrap or aluminum foil to the cement, then waiting a few days to see whether condensation formed on the wrap or between it and the cement.

If there was condensation on top, the basement was damp, but we usually could solve that problem by increasing the ventilation and covering the walls and floor. Wetness between the plastic or foil and the concrete meant that moisture was coming through the walls or floor. We cured one such problem in a basement by directing the downspouts away from the foundation and giving the walls a coat of cement paint. We would not consider remodeling a basement with a serious water problem.

3. Location of stairs. As in the attic, the location of the stairs is important. The most advantageous placement is the middle of the basement. For a storage-only basement, a stair that opens in the middle allows for easy maneuvering of bulky items, and in a basement being converted to living space a center staircase lets you create a hall with rooms partitioned off it.

4. Location of utilities. The location of the furnace, hot water heater, and other utilities has forced us to abandon some basement conversions. One house we owned had an old octopus, a coal convection furnace that had been converted to oil. It sat in the center of the basement with 12-in.-diameter air ducts spreading out from it. It consumed the entire basement. Until the monster was replaced, there wasn't much we could do.

While a furnace replacement is a hefty item in anyone's budget, newer ones are much smaller than their forefathers and more energy efficient. We wait to remodel a basement with an old furnace on its last legs, so we can design a floor plan around a newer, smaller heating plant.

We Do Most of the Work

Basement remodeling usually does not require many structural changes to the house, so we're likely to do most of the work ourselves. That said, here are the exceptions.

Fixing a wet basement can be a tough assignment, so if there is a serious dampness problem we call in a professional waterproofing contractor. But first we try rerouting the gutter runoff away from the foundation and grading the area next to the house so water cannot puddle and seep into the basement. If that doesn't solve the problem, we shop carefully for a contractor who comes with copious references and a solid reputation.

Another job we don't tackle ourselves is installing a new furnace or changing the heating ducts. The sheet metal work required to fit the new furnace into the existing duct system or reroute a duct can be a real hassle and demands special skills and tools we don't have.

Virtually anything else we do ourselves. If we've deemed a basement "for storage only,'' we paint only the walls and floor. A rented airless spray gun works well because the tool can apply paint quickly to a large open area. Getting the basement ready to paint means protecting everything that has not been painted, which takes considerably more time than the actual spraying. Spraying is impractical unless the basement is empty.

To paint the floor, we use a roller with a porch-and-deck paint designed for rugged use. Again, this job requires much more time than talent. We divide the space into sections while we move stuff from the to-be-painted to the not-yet-painted areas and then onto the just-painted floor.

If the basement is a candidate for remodeling, we first do the carpentry work needed to make wall partitions, install insulation, and run basic wiring for new lights and electrical outlets. Then we paint and decorate.

On several earlier basement projects we installed wall paneling, but today we prefer drywall to make the basement appear more like an extension of the first floor. We like to use paneling as wainscoting with drywall above it.

Most of our basements have had typical awning windows that open inward. Replacing these windows is too expensive, so we keep them and build new partition walls with openings slightly larger than the window. Then we box in the window with an extension jamb. After the drywall is in place, we trim out the opening with the same-style molding used around the door. This treatment creates a nice shadow box effect.

Covering a cold cement floor is another improvement that goes a long way in transforming a basement into usable living space. What we use depends on several factors. Surprisingly, except for an economy grade of floor tiles, we have found that an inexpensive carpet is the least expensive floor covering. In a basement office, we use seamless sheet vinyl flooring, but in a sitting area we use wall-to-wall carpeting.

In all the basements we have worked in, nothing has done more to make the place look like a real room than installing a ceiling. If there is sufficient headroom (7 1/2 feet or more) we usually put up a suspended ceiling with acoustical tiles and recessed fluorescent light fixtures. Its removable panels provide easy access to overhead pipes and wiring.

In one basement, we installed a simulated wood plank ceiling made from the same material as the acoustical tiles. This material is available in long strips and, when installed, looks like pine planking. Of course, drywall is probably the least expensive alternative if the ceiling joists are reasonably level.

Written by the editors of HouseNet
Copyright HouseNet, Inc.

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