OT: Basement renovation/finishing

[vav]

Hello forum;

Looking to renovate or finish the basement. Around 300 sq ft.
How much is a realistic quote?

I know its hard without seeing the place or knowing more details so ballpark estimates are good :)

Floor concrete is a bit uneven so I'll need to level it and then tiles or laminate I guess.

Put up walls with insulation

Sheetrock ceilings with recessed lighting

A couple of boxes / soffits to hide some ducts

And if anyone in RI or MA area knows / is a contractor and want to give me an estimate or refer someone for the job, I am all ears :banana:

TIA
Vincent

[Mikej]

20K easy.

[93legendti]

We did that. We also renovated kitchen floor and bathroom floor and we were under $20k-but this was 2005.


Carpet in a basement is a terrible idea in areas where basements can flood....or your fridge water line goes to...

Vinyl/Laminate would be my choice if you have any chance of a flood.

[ultraman6970]

If you want to save there's stuff you can do yourself like floors, laminate tile is easy to install, same than floating floors.

Even now a days recessed lighting is super easy to install.

[zmudshark]

We did that. We also renovated kitchen floor and bathroom floor and we were under $20k-but this was 2005.


Carpet in a basement is a terrible idea in areas where basements can flood....or your fridge water line goes to...

Laminate would be the choice if you have any chance of a flood.Curious why laminate?

I have a MI home w/basement and carpeting, but would consider tile over laminate if I was remodeling. I have not had flooding issues as a norm, not that there has never been water in my MI basement ;)

Why laminate? Just a cost effective replacement? I think a tile floor could last past one or two floods, laminate not so much.

[numbskull]

Absolutely plan for a dehumidifier and a means to empty it.

[93legendti]

Curious why laminate?

I have a MI home w/basement and carpeting, but would consider tile over laminate if I was remodeling. I have not had flooding issues as a norm, not that there has never been water in my MI basement ;)

Why laminate? Just a cost effective replacement? I think a tile floor could last past one or two floods, laminate not so much.
Laminate/Vinyl is what I meant to post and I revised my post.

I have vinyl in my basement -it was there when I moved in 25 years ago. I assume it is original and dates back to the 60's like everything else in the house did. It has survived 4 basement floods since I moved in. We put carpet over it 2x and the carpet got ruined in flood numbers 2 and 3.

Tile done right would require a level floor. Vinyl wouldn't necessarily, depending upon how anal you are or how bad the floor is.

I see many sites say tile can withstand water, but I have seen tile floors in bathrooms require expensive repairs due to water damage. Just last summer I had to put $850 into a bathroom tile and floor repair due to water damage.

Tile in a basement would be colder than vinyl.

Tile could run as much as 2x more than vinyl, all things being equal

We've had floods from a leak in our fridge' water line, power failures, and 2 burned out sump pumps. We now have a generator (not just for basement floods) and a back up pressure operated sump for emergencies. Approx half of my neighbors have had basement floods. Across the street, my neighbor's basement flooded last summer due to holes in his walls from age.

We have a high water table and summer rains can be hard around here.

Maybe we are towards the extreme end, but my experience here and in my rentals doesn't want to make me want do tile in a basement ever again, especially since our vinyl has held up so well.

[zmudshark]

That explains it. Vinyl is not what I call laminate. I equate laminate with a wood product.Laminate/Vinyl is what I meant to post and I revised my post.

I have vinyl in my basement -it was there when I moved in 25 years ago. I assume it is original and dates back to the 60's like everything else in the house did. It has survived 4 basement floods since I moved in. We put carpet over it 2x and the carpet got ruined in flood numbers 2 and 3.

Tile done right would require a level floor. Vinyl wouldn't necessarily, depending upon how anal you are or how bad the floor is.

I see many sites say tile can withstand water, but I have seen tile floors in bathrooms require expensive repairs due to water damage. Just last summer I had to put $850 into a bathroom tile and floor repair due to water damage.

Tile in a basement would be colder than vinyl.

Tile could run as much as 2x more than vinyl, all things being equal

We've had floods from a leak in our fridge' water line, power failures, and 2 burned out sump pumps. We now have a generator (not just for basement floods) and a back up pressure operated sump for emergencies. Approx half of my neighbors have had basement floods. Across the street, my neighbor's basement flooded last summer due to holes in his walls from age.

We have a high water table and summer rains can be hard around here.

Maybe we are towards the extreme end, but my experience here and in my rentals doesn't want to make me want do tile in a basement ever again, especially since our vinyl has held up so well.

[F150]

Just remember, concrete is porous. Even if you've never had a drop of water appear, there is still moisture vapor transmission through the concrete. Left a cardboard box with excess garage door hardware in it, such that it was in good contact with my garage floor, and two weeks later the cardboard was disintegrating in a moldy mess. FWIW.

Sheet vinyl probably best bet, unless etched/stained concrete is an option.

[vav]

If you want to save there's stuff you can do yourself like floors, laminate tile is easy to install, same than floating floors.

Even now a days recessed lighting is super easy to install.

I don't really want to tackle anything myself. Right now my time is worth more doing something else that I enjoy (not house reno, I am not the DIY type anyways.)

@ 93legendti: The couple contractors that have seen the basement don't see any tracks of humidity and the house sits on a hill. I am planning on running a dehumidifier regardless.

Gotta couple more contractors giving me estimates in the next couple of days so will see :cool:

[93legendti]

I don't really want to tackle anything myself. Right now my time is worth more doing something else that I enjoy (not house reno, I am not the DIY type anyways.)

@ 93legendti: The couple contractors that have seen the basement don't see any tracks of humidity and the house sits on a hill. I am planning on running a dehumidifier regardless.

Gotta couple more contractors giving me estimates in the next couple of days so will see :cool:

That's good news for you...like I posted, I've had bad luck- well, so have most of my neighbor...:crap:

Then again, my Mom lives 1 mile away and hasn't had a flood in over 30 years...


My basement also has a dry lock system, but that was installed before I bought the house.

Amazingly, August 2014 homes south east of me near Ferndale had basements backed up by the sewers-the freeway at some points had sludge/water almost up to the overpass.

Anyway, so I am posting about worst case scenarios...but a pin prick hole in our water line for our fridge leaked for a while before I happened to go down stairs and see water on the basement floor. Insurance paid to repair, but it was a headache.

Good luck!

[ripvanrando]

This data is from five years ago.

1200 sq-ft basement. Basement specific drywall with insulation. Lowdrop ceiling (more expensive than sheetrock) with a mix of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. I already had carpet.....basement is totally dry. $23k. I had quotes from $15 to as high as 28K. Done by a reputable carpenter. The low end bid had illegals and did not pick them for that reason.

[Mikej]

I would highly suggest the drop ceiling as well. I've been in mine so many times...Also, you will always have a moisture / humidity problem in a basement. It's just physics-ground absorbs water, warm air causes moisture to rise, through concrete wood etc. Here is a test you can do on your own, and the warmer temperatures the better. Get some aluminum fail and foil tape, tape a big 2ft square on the floor and on the wall. Check under after several days. Look for moisture. Porcilen tile can be rated as impervious to moisture , but that moisture has to go someplace, so it may end up messing with your house through absorption or you foundation. I actually recently tore all of my basement out - after 12 years there was significant moisture signs. I basically have a lighting and receptacle design and a ton of table space - I just couldn't keep a basement living space, regardless of 2 dehumidifiers grading etc. I guess living across from Lake Michigan doesn't help! Good luck and possibly consider an above ground addition. It be 3x the amount but resale and use wise you would be better off imho.

[ripvanrando]

With proper site work and gutters that drain well away from the house, I have never had moisture issues in the basement of my homes. Most houses have poor site work and most just drain the gutters right next to the foundation and basements do get damp and smelly. Mine doesn't (except the wine cellar). I get 46+ inches of rainfall per year. I also seal the concrete foundation and floor with epoxy based paint and the edges are sealed, too. YMMV

[AJM100]

I would first ask what is your budget and what is your intended use for the basement. Definitely want a good floor plan to separate out utility/storage areas - which in turn may dictate whether you frame out a sheetrock ceiling or go drop for easier access. I would definitely consult with a contractor who has done work to prepare the concrete walls to insure a vapor barrier or solve a water issue before doing anything.

[paredown]

This data is from five years ago.

1200 sq-ft basement. Basement specific drywall with insulation. Lowdrop ceiling (more expensive than sheetrock) with a mix of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. I already had carpet.....basement is totally dry. $23k. I had quotes from $15 to as high as 28K. Done by a reputable carpenter. The low end bid had illegals and did not pick them for that reason.

Nice to see real numbers.

Basements are not 'hard' in a technical sense, but they are hard to do because of the annoyance factor--lots of puzzles to solve as you go, and it takes time to get a decent job.

Plus moving materials in and out can be a PITA (I think I may already posted about doing an elevator install where we poured new footings in the basement and carried the mixed concrete in buckets through the house and down the finished inside stairs since it was the only way to get 'r done). Last part of the job then was me balancing on a plank and stepladder repainting the walls of the inside stairs, because even when you paper etc, and the guys are careful, inevitably there are wall dings and marks.

Along with hiring a licensed and insured contractor, I would also check with your local building department to see if you need to pull permits. I did some remediation this spring on a house where no permits had been pulled for a basement reno done by the homeowner, and it held up the closing/sale for a few weeks while we scrambled to do an electrical survey (and remediation), and redo some other stuff not done to code.

[unterhausen]

One thing to think about is taxes. 300 sq feet probably isn't that much, but in some places it is. I think I'm paying taxes on a finished basement. I have a friend that finished his basement, and the taxes went up quite a bit. I'm not sure it was really worth it.

If you have basement walls that are above grade, insulation can be a significant energy savings. Insulating the rim joists and air sealing penetrations inside the walls should also be done. Probably worth getting a contractor that knows what they are doing wrt air sealing and insulation, doing that in an older house can improve the livability quite a bit. And decrease energy usage. In a house that isn't tightly constructed, which is most of them, the air from the basement gets sucked up into the living spaces and you get to condition it then.

[IJWS]

$75-150/sqft depending on what you want and remember that number can always go up especially if you want internal cable routing and 44mm head tube:crap:

[JustinMBeckett]

I made sure that the contractor that I contacted for my basement resurfacing did all the work in time and on point. In the end they did, and so I opted to have my concrete flooring resurfaced with polyurea polyaspartics. You might want to try it out too?

[Louis]

Absolutely plan for a dehumidifier and a means to empty it.

+1

Simplest way to deal with that is to run a line to the floor drain, or if that isn't practical put in a condensate pump.

In addition, even if the probability of there being water issues down there is as small as 1 in 10^9999, think long and hard about whether you really want to do this. There aren't many home-related hassles that are worse than a finished basement with water issues. If it isn't finished and you just use it for storage then it's not big deal, but if it's finished and you get water everything is an order of magnitude more difficult.

[ColonelJLloyd]

You have insurance for a reason, but just know anything can happen. Several years ago we got more than 6" of rain in something like an hour. Goodbye, carpet.

[unterhausen]

You have insurance for a reason, but just know anything can happen. Several years ago we got more than 6" of rain in something like an hour. Goodbye, carpet.

a lot of policies will not cover flooding of a finished basement

[ColonelJLloyd]

a lot of policies will not cover flooding of a finished basement

True. Not sure if mine would have, but I didn't file a claim.

[old fat man]

One thing to think about is taxes. 300 sq feet probably isn't that much, but in some places it is. I think I'm paying taxes on a finished basement. I have a friend that finished his basement, and the taxes went up quite a bit. I'm not sure it was really worth it.

If you have basement walls that are above grade, insulation can be a significant energy savings. Insulating the rim joists and air sealing penetrations inside the walls should also be done. Probably worth getting a contractor that knows what they are doing wrt air sealing and insulation, doing that in an older house can improve the livability quite a bit. And decrease energy usage. In a house that isn't tightly constructed, which is most of them, the air from the basement gets sucked up into the living spaces and you get to condition it then.

This is a good point. Our basement was used as living space by the previous owner and has some 70's finishing - wood panel walls, built in cabinets, asbestos tiles that they removed, an older dropped ceiling, and some doors to separate from the utility area. My father and I are going to freshen it up as a play space for the kids (paint the walls, synthetic wood floor, new recessed lights and new drop ceiling) but I have no intention of making it a permitted basement space. I don't need to add 400 square feet to my taxable property.

If you're not running new electrical or plumbing, consider having an informal job done that doesn't include permitting this new space as part of your total living space. Unless you think there is a positive resale opportunity in doing so.

[pbarry]

Cellulose insulation above the ceiling will make the space more sound proof--isolating from noise above.

300 square feet or 3000? If the former, this can be done for cheap.