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[derek]

This is the thread in which I start to plan the finishing of my basement.  Since this is an area I don't know a whole lot about, I figure this way I won't make any stupid astonishingly stupid mistakes.


So tonight I went and did a Google sketchup model of the area, basically learning as I went.  It's not perfect, and some of the measurements are slightly off, but for visualization and planning purposes, it's bang on.


Those of you who would like to download the sketchup viewer can do so http://sketchup.google.com/download/gsuviewer.html]here.  My sketchup render is here.


Pictures from the render:

[tapokata]

[steve] You forgot the water feature [/steve]

[derek]

I'll crop those pics later when I'm not so damned tired.  They're biggish.

Currently, the floor is concrete, with a 2'6" high concrete wall on three of the existing walls, as shown.  everything else is framed and insulated, including the ceiling.  I have forced hot air, so could pretty easily run heat from the furnace to this area.  not sure how many heating vents I'd want/need there.  Like the rest of the house, the outer walls have 2" of spray foam + r19 fiberglass, so the basement should be pretty damn energy efficient.  The blue rectangle in the middle is where the support beam is across the top of the ceiling.

My plan right now is to finish the 12'8" x 14'4" (181 square feet) area (up to the support beam) and leave the section with the furnace and washer/dryer as storage and basement.  That way only one door is needed to the furnace area and I get the most use of that space.  I can't think of a way to do it otherwise that doesn't result in dead space.  I thought about moving the washer/dryer over to the furnace, but there's not enough space over there unless i got a washer/dryer combo that can be stacked, and i can't stack because the hot water heater is mounted on the wall next to the furnace, in the corner.  so the washer/dryer are pretty much stuck there.  i suppose if i really wanted i could move them to the other room, the unfinished bathroom area, and make that a laundry/sink area.  only problem there is there's not a ton of storage space in the house anyway, so that washer/dryer section is probably best kept as a storage space.  as it is the bathroom area (not shown, i'll add it later) will be too.  the last thing i want is to have to use the garage as storage, cause there goes my car.

I'm also thinking about putting a half-height door into the wall between the existing doorway and the outer wall with the window - that's where the stairs are.  because it's a split entry, there's a good 3x6ish area under the entryway that is totally unused - could be a great place to store stuff like the christmas decorations.

There will also be a power box located on the wall to the right of the washer/dryer.  When the house was built I had them run a line specifically for the purpose from the main power box in the garage - didn't really want to have to run something all the way to the garage later, since I knew I'd be wanting to power the basement, bathroom (if I ever finish it) and air conditioner.  The garage has sheet rock and a finished ceiling, so running that line now would suck and probably involve conduit.  I like my way better.

I'm pretty excited for this.  I think it's gonna be a real nice space.  Hopefully with everyone's help I can get a better idea of costs and what it's going to take, plus get the best possible use out of the space.  I'm sure there are ideas I haven't considered yet.

[derek]

[steve] You forgot the water feature [/steve]

This basement best not flood.  While it could, I'm hopeful.  It's only a four feet or so below street level.  Most likely point of entry is the garage, and the driveway is pitched so that water drains to the right, where there is a drain to daylight running to the back of the property.  I'm at the bottom of a hill, to be sure, but I'm not close to the lowest point, either.  I should be ok.  In the future I'm likely going to take the area next to the driveway, which I've already noticed can get a bit soggy, and put in crushed stone to further help with drainage.  That, plus the drain to daylight, should prevent problems.  Plus there's crushed stone all around the foundation.  Water problems suck ass.  I think things have been thought through well enough that I won't have any.

[derek]

One of the things I'm thinking of for the floor is that pre-made stuff that creates a 1/4 inch air pocket between the slab and the floor.  Seems like the floor would be warm that way.  I'd like to hear what others think on that though, since that is most likely the most expensive option, and may not be really necessary.  Either way I'll be carpeting this room, I expect.  hardwood in the basement seems chilly to me.

also planning on drop ceilings.  i don't love the look but i imagine i might want access at some point.  they also lend themselves nicely to recessed lighting.  it's a toss up between that and wall mounted lights of some sort.

[Death_Waits]

Figure where your shitter will be cause you'll need to jack hammer the floor.

[case sensitive]

ok, first of all, your sketchup sketches suck. 

2nd of all, i would probably do an engineered wood floor with some sort of membrane or underlayment underneath.  what do you want to do with the space?  what is your ultimate goal?  what about carpet for the floors?  that's the cheapest/warmest option by far.

[case sensitive]

here are some real sketchup models:

[ertzog]

I'd go with the plastic dot flooring base stuff that makes the airspace and throw rugs.... wide baseboard and wainscotting rather than paneling so when it floods, you have a couple of nice dividing lines on what gets ruined.  the floor should be as utilitary as possible, the rugs fancying things up / keeping things warm.  at least they can be pulled out to dry.

imagine an out of the ordinary spring thaw (your drain line still frozen solid) flowing down the street, into your basement.

[tapokata]

I'd skip the carpet as well- how much time do you want to spend hoovering the basement floor?


It's a utility/storage area, or at least should be.

[Smithers]

^ Unless you want additional living space, which I'd kill for.  Unfortunately my basement stinks.  Derek's looks to be nice and I'd finish it in a second.  I wouldn't spend money on good carpet until I was pretty sure it wouldn't get wet.  Not being able to see the lay of the land, I'd take Derek's word that he should be fine.

[derek]

yeah, those are good points.  not sure how i'll handle the carpet.  maybe start with cheap stuff (it will be a kid  room most of the time, so who cares) and then upgrade later.  i dunno.  by the time i do this, i'll have been through a spring thaw and will have an idea of what to expect.

eric, i don't really give a crap that you think my model sucks.  i threw it together in about 20 minutes -including time spent climbing around my messy ass basement measuring things - having never used the software before, for the purposes of visualizing the space - which it 100% succeeds in.

[soypwrd]

I can't recall from where the basement is accessed to the rest of the house. The garage? It would be good to see the areas adjacent to the basement before commenting. It appears that no staircases land in the area to be finished, right?

[soypwrd]

... by the time i do this, i'll have been through a spring thaw and will have an idea of what to expect.

 
I'd be careful about judging flood and groundwater issues from one year's experience.

[derek]

no staircase in the area to be finished.  the garage is on the right side of the house.  between the garage and the basement area above, there is a storage/future bathroom in the back, an entryway from the garage, then the stairs/landing at the front of the house.  the garage is about 4 inches lower than the basement.