Butch Cassidy

Actually, I dont mind the colours.

ann m

Well, look at you Mr Fancy Pants!

Looks great - well done - and what great extra space for you all, in your yellow submarine

(Actually, I love the yellow and it's a great basement colour).

Well done you

Edit - where's the Xmas tree?!

Hobbess

Good job Iain, I think you did more than we did yourself, we just finished a couple of weeks ago, just in time for the first visitors when my mum and sister came to visit. We "only" did the painting and base/case, but all the finishing touches to do that felt like it took forever.

Now just need to get the TV - boxing day sale maybe if I feel brave and get elbow pads for Christmas.

Great thing was that we already have our cheque from the government for Eco-Energy Retrofit. Had heard it could take up to 3 months, but probably took about 6 weeks after getting our 2nd inspection. Also Alberta is now matching some of the rebates so another cheque is on the way for our insulation work

Souvy

Nice job (apart from cocking-up the alignment of the joins on the floating floor).

twotoast

Another consideration with a basement is whether it ties in nicely with the rest of the house. We have a walkout basement with an open entrance from the main floor. The carpeting/paint/doors/bathroom fittings etc are the same as the main house so the basement appears to be part of the main house and not something that was added on at a later date.

When buying a home that has an unfinished basement, try and plan the rooms out in your mind, taking into consideration the features that are already there - the furnace, supports, ducting etc. Some houses don't have finished basements for a reason - they have not been planned very well and may not be aesthetically pleasing - low ceilings, joists in the middle of a open area etc.

Almost Canadian

Very nice - I hope your new tax assessment in the middle of next year isn't too shocking

Hobbess

Me too! I take it that comes from the permits we filed for the work, be intrigued to see how they change our house "value" come next year.

PatciyMkc

Those basement finishing systems you see advertized are expensive. we had a quote of better than $40,000, just for the perimeter walls with no partitions.

I think we could get someone to studd and sheetrock it for less than that

PatciyMkc

Make sure it doesn't leak before you waste your money!

iaink

For sure. Total material cost for ours was about $4k for the SM blue, Roxul and Drywall. Plus the latex sealant paint.

Damned right you had better address any leakage before you start.

HPJOS

Our neighbours started their basement by themselves, then got contractors in. They started with no permits, realised in order to sell the house they needed permits and then had to pay more (only additional $100) for retroactive permits. The inspectors (gas, electricity & buiding) came in and were on the verge of making them tear down the initial work because it was not up to code. There were delays while this was all sorted out and what was supposed to be a 6 week project is still going on 4 months later.

We know of another couple (British) who developed their basement, went to sell and were forced to knock $20k off the asking price because the home inspector deemed the electrics unsafe. They had also not got permits.

Our property tax for 2008 worked out to $.0057 for every $1 your house is worth so if a basement development does add $100k to a property value it would cost an extra $570 per year. That would have to be one heck of a development to do that (certainly no where abouts I live would do that). We were told we would be lucky to make back what we put in to it and, as a result to develop it for yourselves rather than to try and sell the house.

iaink

Strange, permits seldom get mentioned around here. Perhaps its one of those areas of canadian life where there are local discrepancies. I guess expectation also vary depending on whether its a $150k house or a $550k house too.

HPJOS

They are really strict here in Airdie (AB) to the point that there was an article in the local paper saying that the council had noticed a number of home renovation projects going on and that if you didn't get the required permits they were within their rights to request that these be dismantled. This includes deck extensions more than 2 feet off the ground!! We live in new build land here though so they are wanting to make sure they get every penny out of you that they possible can...

Chookie

Permits seem to be a big thing here in Calgary...

We also started our basement by ourselves, realise that dealing with the permits was beyond us and got a company in.

All in all, it was worth every penny - $25K for a fully finished basement with a (HUGE) 4 piece bathroom with a whirlpool tub, bedroom and storage area (where the furnace and hot water heater is located). OK we already had the bathroom fittings (they were in the basement when we moved in - the previous owners had also decided to start doing it by themselves and realised it really was not worth the effort!)

And it took far less time to pay someone to do it than to try to fit in doing it by ourselves as Mr Chookie seems to have to do an awful lot of weekend overtime at the moment.

PatciyMkc

A lot of these permits require have more to do with collecting more money from us and less to do with demanding good work.